Hall, Shaffer Lead JRM Late Model Team into zMAX CARS Tour Season

February 27, 2025

On Saturday at New River All-American Speedway, Connor Hall will begin his quest for a zMAX CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car championship in the zMAX CARS Tour. The Virginia native has finished runner-up the past two seasons and is looking for that final step up the ladder.

For team manager and crew chief Bryan Shaffer and the rest of the JRM Late Model team, it will open the quest for a third LMSC crown in the past four seasons. For Hall, it is about winning races, improving his race-craft and growing as a driver.

This weekend’s event also features Caden Kvapil in the team’s No. 8 Carolina Carports Chevrolet. The young driver finished second in the Icebreaker 125 at Florence (S.C.) Motor Speedway earlier in the month and will run a limited schedule with the team this season.

The key to winning any championship-especially one as tight as the CARS Tour LMSC crown–is consistency, and Hall said that minimizing the damages race to race as a driver is a big part of it.

“I think you have to minimize your bad days,” the new driver of the No. 88 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Boats Chevrolet said. “The past two years, the bad days have been really bad. If the bad days result in a 10th-place rather than a crash, that will help. One of those bad days being a tiny bit better would have made the difference for me in the past. We just need to miss small. If we just go in and do our job, we’ll be fine.”

Heading into the season, Hall said he had some good opportunities to win on this year’s schedule…as well as a few bigger races he has an eye on.

“I’d like to win at North Wilkesboro,” he said. “That would be cool and I really want to ride the elevator. This weekend should be a good opportunity at New River All-American. Florence, Langley, South Boston…I have worked pretty hard to refine my tools at most of these places. I should have won Caraway last year, Hickory too. The tracks I need the most growth at are probably Tri-County (Oct. 4) and Wake County (March 29).”

Wins in the zMAX CARS Tour are hard to come by and decision-making and race-craft are vital, Hall said.

“I want to refine my decision-making,” the 28-year-old driver said. “I think that these wins have gotten so much harder to get in the Tour as the years have gone on. You have to have confidence in your thought process and plan.

“If you can pass a guy on lap 75, you might want to wait until lap 100 to do it and set yourself up for more success. That’s just being savvy about what you’re trying to accomplish. If I can master that, it should translate into every part of my race craft.”

The popularity and quality of racing in the series, Hall said, is a big factor in making it a destination for the top drivers in the discipline.

“The competition and the spotlight makes the CARS Tour a great series,” Hall said. “Dale and the rest of the ownership group have done a very good job of making a short-track series more than just that. That gives me a bigger chance to show that the drivers in the series are very competent and belong at the next level.”