GRANITE FALLS, N.C. — An eventful Blue Ridge 250 at Tri-County Motor Speedway on Saturday evening featured plenty of twists between the two respective championship battles in the Solid Rock Carriers CARS Tour.
Brenden Queen managed to cut into Carson Kvapil’s sizable advantage in the CARS Late Model Stock Car Tour point standings with his third victory of the season, a race that saw him put together a dominant wire-to-wire performance.
Queen’s most recent trip to Tri-County for the Old North State Nationals in August was a crucial turning point in his championship pursuit.
A near-perfect race for Queen was derailed when he ran out of fuel with less than 25 laps remaining, which caused him to lose significant ground to Carson Kvapil in the CARS LMSC Tour standings. Being able to celebrate with his Lee Pulliam Performance crew at Tri-County on Saturday provided Queen plenty of catharsis.
“It feels so good to come back and get that redemption,” Queen said. “We wanted it bad in August and I honestly thought we were going to get it. Things didn’t work out, but that’s racing. Tonight makes up for [the Old North State Nationals.]”
Queen immediately set the tone for the rest of the LMSC Tour field in qualifying by going to the top of the board on his dead lap. The time that ended up giving Queen his fifth pole of the season was a 15.301.
Once the green flag waved, nobody in the 29-car field could match the pace of Queen’s No. 03 Best Repair Company Toyota. Queen credited his strong night to his car owner Lee Pulliam for putting together an efficient setup, along with his spotter Anthony Warren for helping him manage his comfortable lead.
Even though Queen still needs plenty of circumstances to fall his way in the championship, he enters the season finale at Caraway Speedway with an optimistic mindset. Queen is proud of everything he has accomplished with Lee Pulliam Performance this season and knows everyone on his team is going to give it their all for one last title push.
“Winning takes care of points,” Queen said. “If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. One thing is for sure, [Kvapil] didn’t lock it up. We made them go to Caraway and have to sweat. There have been so many good nights and close nights this year, but we’re going to keep digging until it’s over.”
The 75-lap CARS Pro Late Model Tour feature was anything but procedural. Caden Kvapil was the beneficiary of a controversial finish between Ashton Higgins and Gavan Boschele, but his evening featured plenty of obstacles that saw him collide with Katie Hettinger, which effectively ended her title aspirations.
“There’s a lot of emotions,” Kvapil said. “I thought we had no chance starting dead last, but coming out of all of it in victory lane feels amazing. I know everyone was hating on me in the stands because me and Katie got together and caused a big wreck, but there was really nothing either of us could have done.”