ALTAMAHAW, N.C. — Competitors in both zMAX CARS Tour divisions were faced with two different races in Saturday’s Folsom Fence Supply 275 at Ace Speedway: one among themselves and another against the weather.
A line of showers moving across the East Coast resulted in an expedited schedule, with the Late Model Stock Car Tour kicking off the evening’s festivities. With an unknown amount of time available before the weather arrived, the racing at Ace proved to be frantic and intense, resulting in plenty of attrition.
Landen Lewis remained stalwart as dark clouds gradually approached Ace from turn one, as he dominated the Late Model Stock feature to secure his second career victory.
The rain finally arrived during the Pro Late Model race, which ended on lap 51 with Carson Ware celebrating his first victory in his father’s No. 51 Ford.
Kevin Harvick Inc. is no stranger to success at Ace Speedway, as they prevailed during the most recent CARS LMSC Tour event at the facility last August with Brent Crews behind the wheel.
Despite sporting a different driver and manufacturer, KHI earned their second consecutive Ace victory on Saturday evening through a stellar performance from Landen Lewis. The outing was a refreshing change of pace for Lewis, who was relieved to once again show the composure that netted him his first LMSC Tour win at Wake County Speedway last year.
“The first one will always be the special one for sure,” Lewis said. “Everyone talks week in and week out how competitive this series is. The last two weeks, we’ve been on a rollercoaster for sure. We qualified pretty much dead last and had to run the top every race to make it inside the top 10.”
Lewis’ worst finish through the first four LMSC Tour races was an 11th in the season-opener at New River All-American Speedway.
Although a win did not materialize for Ryan Millington on Saturday evening, he did put together his best performance of the season to date. Millington maintained solid track position inside the top five through all 125 laps but was unable to mount a significant challenge on the race winner in Landen Lewis.
Ace has always been a special track for Millington in Late Model Stocks. The first checkered flag Millington claimed with the LMSC Tour came at Ace back in 2020, where he outdueled current NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competitor Layne Riggs in a photo finish.
Since that day, Millington has gradually evolved his small program into one of the best on the LMSC Tour platform. The 2024 season saw Millington snap a four-year winless drought and finish fourth in the final standings, though the efficiency from that campaign had only translate into one top five this season prior to Ace.
For Carson Ware, securing Rick Ware Racing’s second straight win and his first as a PLM Tour driver on Saturday evening at Ace Speedway came down to perfect timing in two different regards.
Ware watched as the top four in the running order all crashed in front of him after they slipped in fluid laid down by Dylan Garner. With the lead now in his control, Ware just had to manage his equipment and fend off a hard charge from Ben Maier before rain brought the PLM Tour feature to an end just after the halfway point.
“This entire Rick Ware Racing crew is phenomenal,” Ware said. “I had some big shoes to fill with Luke [Baldwin] kicking their butts last weekend [at Orange County Speedway]. I’m glad we could do it again this weekend. My spotter did an excellent job getting me through [the turn one accident] and we had it covered from there.”
The finish:
Landen Lewis, Ryan Millington, Conner Jones, Lanie Buice, Landon Huffman, Kade Brown, Caden Kvapil, Parker Eatmon, Donovan Strauss, Doug Barnes Jr., Connor Hall, Carson Loftin, Buddy Isles Jr., Chase Burrow, Landon S. Huffman, Hudson Bulger, Mini Tyrrell, Ronnie Bassett Jr., Andrew Grady, Brandon Pierce, Mason Diaz, Mason Bailey, Ryan Wilson, Jake Bollman, Austin Green.
