Mason Maggio returns to racing Pro Late Models in the CARS Tour with Rick Ware Racing. (Photo: Mason Maggio Racing Facebook Page)
JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — The 2025 CARS Tour season begins this weekend at New River All-American Speedway. The Jacksonville, North Carolina track is .4 miles around and tends to be tough on tires, proving an additional challenge for the drivers at the season opener. The tour has raced at the track three times, resulting in three different winners, including Connor Hall, Brenden Queen, and Bobby McCarty. Hall and McCarty return this year, while Queen has moved on to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and ARCA.
The CARS Tour has become a steppingstone to NASCAR with many current NASCAR drivers having made starts on the Tour. The previous winners include both of last year’s champions Brenden Queen and Kaden Honeycutt, along with Carson Kvapil, Layne Riggs, William Sawalich, Anthony Alfredo, Josh Berry and many more.
The race weekend began on Friday with an optional practice session. The top three fastest cars in the Late Model Stock (LMSC) Division were Connor Hall, Kaden Honeycutt, and Tristan McKee. The top three cars in qualifying in the Pro Late Model Division (PLM) were Tristan McKee, Ben Maier, and Jade Avedisian.
Qualifying takes place on Saturday at 4 PM for the Late Model Stock Cars (LMSC) and the Pro Late Models (PLM) qualify at 4:30 PM. Racing begins at 7:30 PM on Saturday with the PLM and LMSC following at approximately 8:30 PM. The racing will be broadcast on FLORacing.
There are several storylines we are watching this weekend. The first is Mason Maggio’s return to Pro Late Models in the No. 51 Rick Ware car.
“Definitely been a while since I’ve been in a late model but I’m excited to reunite with the RWR short track program at New River Speedway,” Maggio said about the opportunity. “Feels good going to a track where we’ve had success. Hopefully, if we have a good weekend and keep doing what we need to do, building the program up it can lead to more opportunities!”
Modified driver Carson Lofton will begin his first full-time season in the CARS Tour with Nelson Motorsports in the No. 22 vacated by Connor Hall. Lofton made his first Late Model Stock start last year, also for Nelson Motorsports, at Florence Motor Speedway.
“I’m really looking forward to kicking off the season this weekend with Nelson Motorsports, this has really been a dream come true opportunity for me,” Lofton said. “I’m so fortunate to be working with such great people like Barry, Matthew, and the whole team this year. I’ve been going to school in my first couple starts soaking it all up every time out trying to be the best I can be.”
The Nelson Motorsports No. 22 is ready to practice with rookie driver Carson Lofton. (Photo: Barry Nelson Facebook Page)
Keelan Harvick will make his debut in the PLM series. While this is his first Pro start, Harvick did race a street stock last year, which was his first full-bodied stock car start.
“I’m trying to get prepared with my dad,” Keelan told the CARS Tour. “The Rackley W.A.R. guys are on the data and stuff, but I’m definitely excited to try this new thing. The CARS Tour guys are very competitive and I’m excited to see how I can do.”
Caden Kvapil will drive the No. 8 JR Motorsports LMSC part-time this season.
“It’s really special to run this car,” Caden said in an interview with the CARS Tour. “We did good at Florence [Motor Speedway] for the Icebreaker and ended up finishing second. My brother has run New River a couple of times with the same car I’m driving. We have a good notebook and I’m really looking forward to it.”
Finally, two of the series’ most popular drivers have new rides this season. Connor Hall will take over the reins of the No. 88 JR Motorsports, previously driven by Carson Kvapil, and Landon Huffman joins Carroll Speedshop for the season.
