DILLON, S.C. — After a long winter, the Solid Rock Carriers CARS Tour will kick off its seventh season of late model competition in the Southeast with Saturday’s Black’s Tire 125 at Dillon Motor Speedway.
It will be the CARS Tour late model stock division’s first visit to the four-tenths-mile asphalt track and will mark just the second time since the CARS Tour was founded that the late model stocks will open the year with a standalone event.
The CARS Super Late Model Tour will begin its season at Hickory Motor Speedway on March 20.
For the late model stock field, Saturday’s opener marks the first leg in a season of opportunity, as well as one of only two races prior to the $30,000-to-win Old North State Nationals at Orange County Speedway in late April.
Twenty-two drivers are pre-entered for the 125-lap event, headlined by two-time CARS Tour champion and defending late model stock division titlist Jared Fryar.
Fryar will pilot Jimmy Mooring’s familiar No. 14 again this season as he chases back-to-back late model stock crowns and a record third CARS Tour championship overall.
Fryar previously won the super late model title in 2018 and is one of three drivers, alongside Matt Craig (SLM titles in 2019-’20) and Bobby McCarty (LMSC titles in ’18-’19) to boast two championships.
Second-generation driver Layne Riggs, son of former NASCAR driver Scott Riggs, and McCarty are expected to be Fryar’s main title rivals. Both will run the full late model stock calendar.
While Fryar, Riggs and McCarty return to the fray, former CARS Late Model Stock Tour full-timers Josh Berry, Corey Heim, Ronald Hill and Chad McCumbee will not be back for championship runs this season.
Berry is in the midst of a partial NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule with JR Motorsports, while Heim will pursue the ARCA Menards Series title with Venturini Motorsports.
Hill planned last year as his send-off from regular racing, moving into “semi-retirement,” and McCumbee’s familiar No. 95 will be piloted by rookie-of-the-year contender Sam Yarbrough, a former standout at the now-defunct Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Speedway.
Yarbrough won’t be the only rookie in action within the CARS Tour late model stock division, as teenagers Joe Valento, Connor Jones and Kaden Honeycutt will all embark on their first full-time efforts with the CARS Tour.
Veterans to watch will include NASCAR Camping World Truck Series star Timothy Peters, who will race for Nelson Motorsports Saturday after competing in Friday night’s Truck Series race at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway, and past Martinsville (Va.) Speedway Late Model Stock 300 winner Mike Looney.
Every CARS Tour event this season will be streamed through CARS Tour TV, a member of the SPEED SPORT Network. Coverage Saturday can be seen starting at 3 p.m. ET.