With just two races left in the zMAX CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car Series season, Connor Hall had work to do to catch points leader Landen Lewis in the penultimate round of the season at Tri-County Speedway.
Hall, driving the No. 88 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Boats Chevrolet, finished third in the 125-lap event and his title rival was ninth at the finish, cutting the deficit with only the final race remaining on Oct. 18 at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
Team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. made his final start of the season on Saturday night, driving his No. 8 Sun Drop Chevrolet to a 12th-place finish on the tight .400-mile oval.
Hall, needing every point he could muster, qualified 15th despite his Chevrolet bottoming out on his lap. At the start of the race, he dropped all the way to 23rd before starting the long climb back toward the lead group.
Using the low line almost exclusively, the Virginia driver—and recent Virginia Triple Crown winner—moved steadily forward over the first half of the event, racing at times with his rival for the series title.
In the closing laps, Hall and Lewis were running together on the track before Hall, running a higher line in Turns 3 and 4, slipped a bit higher on exit, which sent Lewis wide. Hall completed the pass to take the position, while Lewis had to gather it up and lost ground. Lewis finished ninth, setting up the championship battle in the final event of the season.
Earnhardt Jr. made his debut at Tri-County in the No. 8 Sun Drop Chevrolet, starting 24th, and made a solid debut despite catching part of a crash in the middle stages of the event. Earnhardt Jr. had been battling a loose condition on his No. 8 Chevrolet before the car’s handling came in, and when it did, he was running top-eight lap times.
The team owner was up to 15th position before catching Donovan Strauss’ spinning car coming off Turn 2 at lap 55. The damage forced a pit stop for a right rear tire and he slotted in near the rear of the field.
As the laps wound down, however, the No. 8 Sun Drop Chevrolet began to gain steam and move up the ladder and he would eventually finish 12th on the night.
Jared Fryar won the race over Landon S. Huffman after a spirited battle, with Hall coming home third. Parker Eatmon and Brandon Pierce rounded out the top five.
The closing race of the zMAX CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car series is set for Oct. 18 at North Wilkesboro Speedway, with championships in both divisions on the line.
Connor Hall, driver, No. 88 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Boats Chevrolet:
“We had an issue in qualifying where the car was bottoming out and that put us in 15th. When the race started, we fell back to 23rd and regrouped. Once the tire pressures got up, the Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Boats Chevrolet came around and we made a lot of time on the bottom groove, getting all the way up to third by the checkered flag. (The contact with Lewis) was just tight racing, couple of laps to go, both of us trying to maximize our night. We were a little better and able to turn under him and make the pass. We just ran out of time at the end, but the points battle goes to North Wilkesboro in a couple of weeks and we will do everything we can to win that title for Johnny Morris, Bass Pro Shops and JRM.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver, No. 8 Sun Drop Chevrolet:
“It went all right. We had a pretty rough night, got into an accident in Turns 1 and 2, but we really weren’t the race car that we needed at that point. It was really loose, we were going to have to come and work on it. At the end of the night, it came around and we had a seventh- or eighth-place car and were running down some guys in front of us. I’d never raced here and it started off really loose, so I knew we were going to be in trouble. We drove up through there, got up to 15th before we got in that crash. I was wondering how I was going to keep the right rear on it all night. We didn’t run as well as we could have if everything went perfectly, but I will come out of here with 12th and a smile on my face. We had a great weekend, the CARS Tour had a great weekend, so we’ll call it good. I had fun running for Sun Drop up here and it was good to run some of this high-grip stuff.”