In one sense, Caleb Holman is a newcomer to the Championship Auto Racing Series (CARS) Tour. Holman will be making his debut in the CARS Late Model Stock Tour Saturday at Motor Mile Speedway.
However, the event will also serve as a homecoming for Holman in more than one sense. Motor Mile Speedway is a “home track” for Holman. Holman is from Abingdon, Virginia, roughly 90 miles southwest of the .416-mile facility in Radford, Virginia.
Perhaps more notably, Holman was a long-time campaigner on the CARS Tour’s predecessor, the Pro Cup Series. Between 2005 and 2014, Holman collected 15 wins in 95 starts in the Pro Cup Series. Most recently, Holman was the 2014 X-1R Pro Cup Series Champion, winning six of the series’ 12 races last year.
“It’s gonna be a cool deal,” Holman said. “I talked to [CARS Tour Director of Operations] Chris Ragle earlier this week. It’s going to be great compared to what we used to have with the old Pro Cup Series.”
While it has taken half a season for Holman to get a chance to participate in the restructured CARS Tour, he is very excited about the series’ new look in 2015.
“With 30 cars in each series, it’s great. It just thrills me to see what the series has become.”
Holman is particularly excited for the CARS Tour’s success, considering the close-knit community that developed between competitors, officials, and fans during the latter years of the Pro Cup Series.
“It got to the point where there were so few of us, it became a family instead of all the backbiting and shooting off that happens in racing. It’s so good to see this working out for them.”
Holman will be running in the 125-lap Late Model Stock portion of the Food Country USA 250 at Motor Mile, driving for Bobby Hall. It will be part of a busy weekend for Holman, who is also participating in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event at Kentucky Speedway Thursday evening.
“We ran at Kentucky last year and then went to Myrtle Beach to run the Pro Cup race there, that was a further trip. We’re gonna test at Motor Mile Friday, too. It’s not gonna be a big deal.”
While Holman had plenty of success in the Pro Cup Series, he acknowledges his greatest obstacle this weekend will be acclimating himself to the Late Model Stock car. While he did race at Motor Mile on June 13th, finishing fourth and 12th in the track’s twin-75 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series events that weekend, he has not regularly campaigned a Late Model Stock car for several years.
“I haven’t driven it consistently in seven years. I have driven one race at Motor Mile recently, but it’s a very different rules package. I’m more comfortable with the CARS setup with the bump-stops, it’s what I’m used to.”
Holman has high expectations for his maiden CARS Late Model Stock Tour voyage.
“The optimistic expectation is to win the race. Realistically, if we run top-five, top-ten, that’d be a good day. I want to get Bobby’s car so we can win a race. That’s what we got the Pro Cup cars to do.”
“There’s no excuse with this car,” Holman continued. “If I had to step out and buy a Late Model, I wouldn’t be able to buy anything nicer. To say anything other than ‘We want to win’ would be a slap in the face to the man who bought the stuff.”
Between being close to home and driving a car sponsored by Food Country USA, who is also sponsoring the CARS Tour event at Motor Mile, there is plenty of extra incentive for Holman to spoil the party in his debut.
“It’s good to be at home,” Holman said. “And Food Country has been sponsoring the series for a while. We always wanted to win the Food Country race when we ran Pro Cup, and Food Country’s on the car this weekend.”
