With less than 100 days until Rockingham Speedway hosts the finale of the 2021 CARS Tour season, ROSports is providing an update on the season so far as the series exits a throwback weekend at Hickory Motor Speedway to bring the Richmond County audience up to speed with what’s happening.
So far, eight Late Model races have taken place in 2021 with seven races left in the season, including the finale at the Rock on Nov. 6.
The Season So Far
Through eight races, the late models have seen six winners. The only multi-winners so far this year are Justin Johnson and Josh Berry, each having two victories.
Johnson, who sits in fourth in the standings and 10 points behind the lead, has claimed the checkered flag at Dillon Motor Speedway and Caraway Speedway in Sophia. The Sephora native has collected five top-five finishes, six top 10s, one pole, and failed to finish one race.
Berry, of Hendersonville, Tennessee, has only taken the green flag three times this season, putting him at a 66% win percentage, but at 19th in the points. Only 16 drivers have started each race so far. Berry’s wins come from Orange County Speedway and recently at Hickory, where he led all 138 laps.
The front-runners in the standings have a tight battle going on between the top four drivers, though fifth and sixth are still hanging on. Those drivers are as follows:
(Car number in parenthesis)
- (07) Bobby McCarthy, 220 points
- (92) Kaden Honeycutt, 3 points behind
- (14) Jared Fryar, 6 points behind
- (8J) Justin Johnson, 10 points behind
- (49M) Deac McCaskill, 19 points behind
- (95) Sam Yarbrough, 23 points behind
McCarthy currently holds a small lead with a win in the Hickory March race. The Summerfield driver has collected three top fives, seven top 10s, and one pole so far with an average finish of 6.38.
Honeycutt is on the bumper of McCarthy to become the points leader, with a win at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Virginia, to lead the charge of a 6.5 average finish. That stat includes three top-fives and seven top 10s along with one pole. The Texan dominated at Langley, leading all 125 laps. Out of the top six, only McCarthy, Honeycutt, and Johnson have won a race.
Fryar, who tested at Rockingham Speedway in January, is playing the consistency game, bringing in six top fives — the most so far of the season — and six top 10s. Fryar, out of Trinity, has also kept a clean car, having zero DNFs and has the best average finish in the field of 6.25.
Raleigh native McCaskill will be looking to make up a 19-point deficit over the next seven races. He currently has four top fives and six top 10s. McCaskill’s best finishes were taking second at both Orange County and Caraway. He boasts an average finish of 8.13, which has been hurt by two DNFs.
Yarbrough is also still in the hunt for the championship, but will have to overcome a 23-point difference. From Ocean Beach, South Carolina, Yarbrough has one top five, six top 10s, and finished third at Hickory on Saturday. He sits with an 8.38 average finish.
Looking Ahead
The door is still wide open for any of these drivers to claim the championship at Rockingham Speedway. But to get there, seven races stand before them. They are as follows:
- Aug. 28, Motor Mile Speedway, Fairlawn, Virginia
- Sept. 11, Tri County Motor Speedway, Granite Falls
- Oct. 2, Florence Motor Speedway, Florence, South Carolina
- Oct. 9, Wake County Speedway, Raleigh
- Oct. 16, South Boston Speedway, South Boston, Virginia
- Nov. 6, Rockingham Speedway
Wake County Speedway was originally supposed to host a race Aug. 14, but CARS Tour announced via social media that the race would be moved to Oct. 9. The move was made “due to continued tire shortages.”
Motor Mile Speedway will be up next on the schedule. The track is 0.416 miles in length with banking at 15 degrees in the turns and 7 degrees in the straightaways. Motor Mile is located about 50 miles northwest of Martinsville Speedway.
