HUDSON, N.C. — Landon Huffman had waited his entire career for a night like Saturday.
Long known for his efficiency in Hickory Motor Speedway’s weekly events, Huffman showcased his natural driving ability and determination on a national stage by taking home $30,000 in the Solid Rock Carriers CARS Tour’s prestigious Old North State Nationals at Tri-County Motor Speedway.
Huffman had to survive an arduous 200-lap Late Model Stock feature dominated by attrition, tight racing and fuel strategy to claim his first crown jewel victory. He joined Caden Kvapil as a winner at Tri-County on Saturday, who bagged $5,000 in the preceding CARS Pro Late Model Tour race.
When Huffman joined Nelson Motorsports, he knew it would take time for everyone to build cohesion and regularly contend for victories.
Coming off a 2022 season with only one victory, Nelson turned to Huffman’s short track knowledge after parting ways with Cale Gale three races into the current year. Although the results were not to their immediate liking, Huffman worked hard with Nelson to get his Late Model Stock program back to the level of success that won them three CARS LMSC Tour titles.
A summer of rigorous effort culminated with the duo celebrating in victory lane at the end of Saturday’s Old North State Nationals at Tri-County Motor Speedway.
“It’s a surreal moment,” Huffman said. “I’m a hometown short track kid whose been working hard to get opportunities at any level of racing. I fought up the ladder, fell back down, and now we’re fighting back up. We’ve worked so hard on this car week in and week out, and we’ve been making slow but steady progress. Hopefully this is the first of many.”
After recording an average finish of 20th in his first three starts with Nelson, Huffman began to see gradual strides with long-run speed before finally earning his first top 10 in the most recent LMSC Tour race at Ace Speedway.
Huffman’s No. 22 AutosByNelson.com Chevrolet had immediate pace from the first Tri-County practice session on Friday. He maintained solid track position for most of the Old North State Nationals and found himself inside the Top 3 with 20 laps remaining alongside Brenden Queen and Kaden Honeycutt.
With several teams being close on fuel, Huffman waited patiently to see whether Queen and Honeycutt would be able to make it to the checkered flag. Queen running out of gas left Huffman to settle the Old North State Nationals with Honeycutt, the latter of which also came up short with five laps remaining.
“I knew I was better than all of them,” Huffman said. “Track position is so key, but I knew [Queen] was going to be close [on fuel] and probably run out. I didn’t know Kaden [Honeycutt] was close, so I was just biding my time. I fell back on that one restart, but we got another shot at it and were able to drive around Kaden.”