Three races into the inaugural CARS Super Late Model Tour season and Kyle Grissom has posted three third place finishes, establishing him as one of the championship favorites with seven races still remaining.
But while Grissom is satisfied, he believes he and his team are capable of doing so much more, especially two weeks removed from winning their first Southern Super Series race at Five Flags Speedway on April 25.
On Saturday night at Hickory, it was a pair of No. 9 Chevrolets that foiled his efforts to return to Victory Lane in William Byron and Chase Elliott. But at the end of the day, Grissom bares no shame in losing to the current K&N Pro Series East championship leader and the defending XFINITY Series champion respectively.
“I can’t complain,” Grissom said. “Three races and three third place finishes. That’s alright. Those two No. 9 cars were just in a league of their own — especially Byron.
“The race just went green forever so we were just holding our own.”
While having a few more Southern Super Series races on his schedule before returning to CARS competition, Grissom admitted that he’s looking forward to the second Tour race of the season at Southern National Motorsports Park on May 30, given his success there in PASS South competition.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Grissom said. “It’s going to be a completely different ballgame because it’s going to be a lot warmer than it was in April.”
The April race was marred by freezing temperatures that persisted throughout the event.
Bubba Pollard Separated From Title Fight
While defending Southern Super Series champion Bubba Pollard never fully committed to running the full schedule, he had once entertained the notion of chasing twin championships in both CARS and the SSS.
But a blown motor at Pensacola two weeks ago forced him to miss the race on Saturday at Hickory, effectively removing him from championship contention. As a result, Pollard will likely be more selective on which CARS Tour races to run from here on out while working to gain ground on the SSS championship leaders — Casey Smith, Garrett Jones and Donnie Wilson.
Although, Pollard can win in bunches and he’s not alone as only Grissom, Chris Davidson and Stephen Nasse are within a full race (36 points) of championship leader Cole Timm.
CARS Tour Super Late Model Championship Standings
- Cole Timm 96
- Kyle Grissom -6
- Christopher Bell -29
- Chris Davidson -31
- Stephen Nasse -36
- Bubba Pollard -36
- Brandon Lynn -41
- Anderson Bowen -46
- Quin Houff -44
- Trevor Noles -45
- Stephen Leicht -51
- Lucas Ransone -52
