LUCAMA, N.C. — Caden Kvapil and Mason Walters both surged to victories with late-race charges in Saturday afternoon’s zMAX CARS Tour double feature at Southern National Motorsports Park.
Kvapil, who was victorious in the Folsom Fence Supply 125 for the CARS Late Model Stock Tour, methodically worked his way through the field from the 29th starting spot to take the lead from Lee Pulliam on the backstretch on the race’s 107th lap.
From there, Kvapil survived a series of late race restarts and challenges to hold on for the win.
“We kind of missed it in qualifying and had to take a provisional,” Kvapil said in victory lane after the race. “Starting in the back like that is tough when you have to save tire all race and have track position too at the end. We were kind of biding our time the whole race and picking them off when we could. When we got inside the top-10, I realized how good our car really was. By then, I feel like we had a lot of tire left, hadn’t been sliding the whole race, and once we were in the top-five, I knew we had a really good shot at it. Survived those restarts at the end, with minimal damage.”
On the race’s final restart, inside 10 to go, Doug Barnes, Jr. lined up to Kvapil’s outside and drew even coming out of turn two. The two drivers raced through three and four and then Kvapil’s car moved up the track, squeezing Barnes into the wall – which allowed Kvapil to pull away with the win.
Barnes displayed his frustration with Kvapil in victory lane.
“He was a little upset, which I would be too,” Kvapil said. “He had a good restart and I got into [turn] three a little deep, hit some water, and slid up into his door. My right front made contact with his left front and it just kind of connected us. I was trying to steer out of it the whole corner. Unfortunately, I got him in the wall and probably hurt his car a little bit.”
After CARS Tour officials de-escalated the confrontation in victory lane, Barnes spoke his mind following his third-place finish.
“[Kvapil] ran us square in the fence,” Barnes said. “I got a monster run out of [turns] one and two and I could’ve closed the door on him. I left him a lane to get to, partially on the apron. He had the momentum and he ran me square in the fence. Just KO’d it man. Like, I’m so pissed off at this moment. I have a lot of respect for Caden Kvapil, so for him to run me like that, I’m just pissed off.”
Pulliam, who led the most laps, finished in the runner-up position for the second straight race at Southern National Motorsports Park.
“We had a really good racecar,” Pulliam said. “I had to run too hard to stay in front of [Chad McCumbee] tonight. Just super thankful to be able to do this [with my sponsors]. Proud of all my team for working hard. It was a lot of fun, leading most of the race. Just lapped cars. Ran out of tires and lapped cars wouldn’t work with us. Went to the top of one and Caden just went to the bottom. I don’t think I could’ve held him off either way.”
The KevinSaysYes.com 100 Pro Late Model feature saw a similar complexion, with Keelan Harvick dominating the race. However, it was Mason Walters who scored the win with a pass with five laps to go.
“It’s super exciting,” Walters said. “Keelan’s won a lot of this so it means a lot to beat him and it means a lot for me and the crew going forward this season. A lot of good momentum. I didn’t think we had the better car. I knew we were really even. I’d get him sometimes, he’d get me sometimes. It’d be like, we kept playing cat and mouse the whole time. I just played my cards right. It worked out in my favor, he got tight up off the corner and I was able to get by him.”
The finish:
Caden Kvapil, Lee Pulliam, Doug Barnes Jr., Chad McCumbee, Carson Loftin, Jared Fryar, Clay Jones, Landon S. Huffman, Treyten Lapcevich, Carson Brown, Mason Bailey, Sam Butler, Donovan Strauss, Landon Huffman, Ryan Millington, Chase Burrow, Conner Jones, Mason Diaz, Riley Gentry, Brandon Lopez, Jamey Caudill, Parker Eatmon, Aiden King, Austin Somero, Ronnie Bassett Jr., London McKenzie, Tate Fogleman, Jake Bollman, Brady Penny, Jace Hale.
