When the Championship Auto Racing Series (CARS) Late Model Stock Tour goes to Hickory Motor Speedway for the final race of the season, the top three contenders in the points chase will enter the race just three points apart, setting up a dramatic finale to the series’ inaugural season.
Entering the tour’s most recent stop at Myrtle Beach Speedway, Myatt Snider led Brayton Haws by two points, while Deac McCaskill lurked in third place, 11 points behind Snider.
Snider finished seventh in the race, passing Haws for the position on the final lap of the 100-lap Late Model Stock feature.
“We started on the outside, we cleared the two car [Snider],” Haws said recounting the late-race restart. “We were about to pass another car, and we got pinched up in the wall a little bit. That put us a little bit behind. Then, going into turn three, we were beside the two car, and he just drove it in deep, drove it in hard, and hit me up the track.”
“It’s a racing deal,” Haws added. “It’s behind me now. We had a good night overall.”
“I knew I’d have to go, especially with being stuck on the bottom [for the last restart],” Snider said about the pass after the race. “I tried to roll the corner as best I could, and ended up getting past Brayton Haws just barely across the line. He ended up getting loose off four, and we were able to secure the position.
“We lost some points to Deac, but we had a cushion, so I’m pretty happy about that. Overall, a pretty fair night.”
McCaskill closed the gap between him and the two front-runners with a strong showing at Myrtle Beach. McCaskill started on the pole and led the first 80 laps before giving way to eventual winner Sam Yarbrough.
Furthermore, McCaskill collected bonus points for claiming the pole for the race, leading a lap, and leading at the halfway point of the event. As a result, Haws and McCaskilll are unofficially tied for second in the points standings, three points behind Snider.
“We got pole, we got halfway, and we led a lap,” McCaskill said after the Myrtle Beach event, acknowledging the importance of those bonus points. “They didn’t, so we got a lot of bonus points.”
To tighten the gap even more, the CARS Tour awards also end-of-season bonus points. With three wins this season, Haws will collect two bonus points following the season finale for winning the most races on the circuit. McCaskill’s Myrtle Beach pole was his fifth of the season, cementing his claim on the one bonus point awarded to the driver with the most poles during the season. Thus, Snider’s point lead is effectively just one marker over Haws, and two over McCaskill.
In short, the Late Model Stock championship is up for grabs between three drivers who have competed fiercely throughout the year.
All three drivers noted their previous performance at Hickory, which was also the CARS Tour’s third stop. Haws won a thrilling battle with Austin McDaniel that evening for his second win of the season. Snider finished seventh, while McCaskill was 13th.
“Last time at Hickory, we won,” Haws said. ” It’s one of our best tracks, so we have high hopes going into that race. Hopefully we’ll have some good luck going into it, too.”
“It’ll be a three-horse race, and it’ll be whoever runs the best and has the luck fall their way at Hickory,” said Snider. “We’ll see. Last time we were there, I finished seventh. Ran third most of the time. I think we’ve got something there, and we’ve got a month and a half to prepare.”
“That’s all you can ask for, is to have a shot,” McCaskill said. “We’re looking forward to Hickory. Unfortunately, that was my worst track this year, so we’ve got to go up there and figure that place out.”
