With the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway now in the record books, the competitors of the Solid Rock Carriers CARS Tour are set to regroup for the Puryear Tank Lines 225 at Ace Speedway this weekend.
The race was originally a standalone late model stock event, scheduled for May 6, before it was postponed twice due to inclement weather. The CARS Tour’s second visit to Ace this season will now serve as a doubleheader for the LMSC division and the PLM Tour.
There are a surplus of storylines across the two divisions heading into Friday night. LMSC Tour points leader Carson Kvapil has been suspended after crashing into Zack Miracle during the post-race cooldown, while PLM Tour points leader Luke Fenhaus will be tasked with holding onto a small, but comfortable advantage in the standings.
Kvapil will be replaced by NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Josh Berry.
Heafner Looks To Ride Solid Martinsville Run To Ace
A stellar weekend for Jacob Heafner at Martinsville saw him finish third behind Kvapil and winner Peyton Sellers.
Consistency has been a theme for Heafner through the entire season, but he said showcasing his talent on late model stock racing’s biggest stage has provided him some confidence heading into the final three races on the CARS LMSC Tour season.
“It felt really good,” Heafner said. “I was confident we at least had a shot at a top 10, but we were rolling on Saturday night. Everyone with the Carroll Speedshop crew gave me a really fast car and I thought we had a shot to win all the way until the green-white-checkered restart.”
Despite a slow start to the season, Heafner rebounded to record three consecutive top five finishes during the summer, including a career best run of second at Dominion Raceway. He now sits fifth in the LMSC Tour point standings.
Heafner has done everything possible to eliminate his on-track mistakes and be more patient around his competition. The competitive depth in the LMSC Tour is a quality that Heafner believes has helped him become more rounded as a driver while simultaneously building more chemistry with Justin and John Carroll.
With his first full-time LMSC Tour season about to wrap up, Heafner is eager to deliver a victory for the Carrolls at Ace on Friday night. He expects to be right in the mix for the win if the team is able to build off of what they learned in the ValleyStar Credit Union 300.
“I’m very confident about [Ace],” Heafner said. “We have a lot of momentum going into the weekend after such a great run at Martinsville. There’s some similarities between the two tracks, but we have a shot to win every week despite having some bad luck recently. Any of these last three provide us a good shot to win, especially Ace.”
Burrow Searching For Another Top 5 Finish
Like Heafner, Chase Burrow also impressed many people in the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 by starting on the outside pole and finishing in sixth.
Burrow simply wanted to qualify the prestigious event in his first appearance there, but was pleasantly surprised at how fast he was all weekend despite his inexperience. He intends to maintain his strong pace when the green flag flies at Ace.
“We came in with no expectations,” Burrow said. “I was trying to learn the track as fast as I could before qualifying and had about 52 laps on the track. To run that good [at Martinsville] is crazy, especially since we’re a small team with just one car.”
Burrow’s sixth place finish at Martinsville continued a hectic but successful season for the King George, Virginia, native. He originally served as a replacement for Rusty Skewes in the Old North State Nationals at Caraway Speedway before earning a ride full-time following his sixth place run.
The following 11 races for Burrow in the CARS LMSC Tour have been dominated by positives and negatives. He recorded his lone top five finish at Hickory Motor Speedway in March, but has hindered by mechanical issues that have dropped him further down in the points.
Despite this, Burrow still holds a narrow lead in the Bilstein LMSC rookie points and believes he and Top Gun Motorsports are getting better with every week. While he hopes to break through for a win in the Puryear Tank Lines 225, Burrow is more focused on learning and getting the most out of his car.
“I’m just trying to adapt,” Burrow said. “No matter the circumstances or the track, I just have to do the best I can for the guys. They spend many long nights in the shop on this car and it’s my job to perform. That’s all any of us can ask for.”
Skewes persevering through first PLM season
While Burrow finds himself in contention for the CARS LMSC Tour Rookie of the Year, Rusty Skewes has been working to get Top Gun Motorsports’ Pro Late Model program up and running.
The maiden voyage for Skewes into pro late model competition has been dominated by frustration and inconsistency, but an extra week of preparation for Friday’s Puryear Tank Lines 225 at Ace has allowed him the necessary time to experiment with his car’s setup.
“I wanted to get a straight rail car just for fun,” Skewes said. “We just haven’t hit on the setup yet. We’ve had a lot of trouble with just being tight, but we’re rethinking everything by putting our own setup on the car, so we’ll see how that does.”
Throughout his long career, Skewes has competed in divisions such as the USAR Pro Cup Series, SMART Modified Tour and ARCA Menards Series East, but has only turned a handful of laps in a straight rail car.
Skewes said the pro late model provides more room for him to drive the car as opposed to a late model stock. Despite the differences, Skewes has been comparing notes with Burrow on their two cars and hopes that sharing ideas will help him be competitive with the top teams in the PLM Tour.
Now approaching his 73rd birthday, Skewes is balancing out multiple responsibilities at Top Gun Motorsports but is proud of the progress the team has made this year with Burrow in the late model stock. Skewes wants that efficiency to translate over to the pro late model and is optimistic months of hard work will finally pay off on Friday.
“We obviously want to get Chase up to speed,” Skewes said. “With the pro late, we’ve made a lot of changes to the shocks, springs and the chassis setup. A lot of things have changed for us ahead of Ace this weekend, but now we’ll just see how the car responds.”
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