Ciint King is one of many drivers who will be competing in the all-new, all-star Championship Auto Racing Series (CARS) Late Model Stock Tour.
King, 19, is a former winner in the now-defunct UARA-STARS Series and a former competitor in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards and NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. Now, King finds himself once again racing full-time in a Late Model Stock Car driving for Greg Marlowe’s elite Late Model Stock Car team. That team and his renewed confidence have given him strong expectations for the 2015 season. King expects to win races and win a lot of them.
“We don’t have any other reason to come than to win them all and win a championship,” King said. “We’re going to run all 10 of them and a couple big races at the end of the year. It’s a good chance to brush up on some skills since I’ve been out of the seat. It will be nice to be in a car consistently all year in a good car with good people and a good chance to hone in on my driving ability again and rack up some wins.”
King does not expect to just win a lot of races. He wants to win them all and he expects to be in contention to win the CARS Tour championship.
“That’s what we’re here for,” King remarked. “We’ve got to be smart. We’ll learn and build and get comfortable with everybody. Fortunately, I ran at Martinsville last year with all these guys and had a decent showing up there so got a little bit of a notebook together. We’re going to keep working on it, get better and be consistently up front all year.”
King’s prior experience in the UARA series gives him an advantage over much of his likely competition. Because he raced in UARA, he has experience running a Late Model Stock Car on bump-stops with a coil-binding setup, two things that are prohibited under NASCAR Whelen All-American Series guidelines and outlawed in Late Model Stock Car racing outside of the new CARS Tour.
“I don’t think it will be a challenge at all,” King explained. “I got to run it in UARA a few years ago. I was bump-stopping the night I won at Kingsport so, nothing new. Technology’s been around long enough that I have the feel of everything. I’ve been on conventional binding. I’m looking forward to it. It gives these guys who are smarter than I am a chance to show what they know and I think it will be an advantage for me. Hopefully it will give us an edge.”
Along with the CARS Tour, King plans to race in the Valley Star Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway and in the Myrtle Beach 400 at Myrtle Beach Speedway. King is already anxious to get back to Martinsville because he feels being credited with a 34th place finish after being caught up in an accident does not do he and his team’s performance any justice.
“We’re definitely going to run Martinsville and Myrtle Beach. Right now, I’m looking at 12 races, the two big ones after the CARS Tour. I thought we had a lot more at Martinsville than what we were able to show before we got caught up in something about halfway. We’re looking forward to running with these guys all year long. We’ll be ready to go when we get there.”
When the season is said and done, Clint King’s experience and motivation could make him the “king” of the CARS Tour. The 2015 CARS Tour season gets underway Saturday at Southern National Motorsports Park.
