North Wilkesboro Speedway is the already home to some of the biggest races of the year for the zMAX CARS Tour, in both the Pro Late Models and Late Model Stock Cars.
But this year, a special opportunity upped the stakes.
The CARS Tour visits North Wilkesboro twice a year, first for the Reverend 75 and Window World 100 events that were held when the track was first revived in 2022, and again in October to decide both championships.
This year, the Late Model Stock Cars had a little bit more incentive in its annual running of the Window World 100. The CARS Tour and FloRacing struck a deal with FOX Sports to simulcast the race on FOX Sports 1 – the first time a CARS Tour race would be aired on national television.
As such, both the PLM and LMSC races, originally scheduled to run on their typical Tuesday and Wednesday dates during NASCAR’s All-Star Race weekend, moved to Thursday night and Friday night (May 15-16) to allow Friday’s LMSC race to air on national TV.
While the race ended up running longer than its scheduled 90-minute window, FS1 showed the event in its entirety instead of cutting to tape-delayed coverage of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series at Route 66 Raceway. The fans who watched were treated to a show and there were several things learned from the event.
Here are the biggest takeaways, positive and negative, from the historic TV agreement.
Landen Lewis Picked a Perfect Night to Have a Perfect Race
It was all Landen Lewis from flag-to-flag in the feature, with the prospect winning the race in dominant fashion for Kevin Harvick Incorporated. The 19-year-old told Frontstretch that he had always wanted to win at North Wilkesboro, and he was able to do so on a night that was huge for the CARS Tour – and hopefully himself.
Lewis has made a couple ARCA Menards Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series starts already, with impressive results. He earned an ARCA win in 2021 at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds and tacked on two ARCA West wins at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway in 2022 and Portland International Raceway in 2023.
Going out and dominating the first CARS Tour race broadcast on national television, combined with backing from NASCAR Cup Series legend, CARS Tour co-owner and FOX Sports broadcaster Kevin Harvick, ought to have teams in ARCA and Truck Series competition calling him to ask about his driving services this season or next.
That said…
Lewis Isn’t the Only One Who Deserves a Legitimate NASCAR Shot
Lewis may have won the race, but there are several other drivers in the running order who deserve a chance in NASCAR after their performance on national television.
Mini Tyrrell is one of the names who comes to mind after his third-place finish in Wilkes County. As someone who is able to keep his car out of trouble and up front on a weekly basis, Tyrrell’s run at Wilkesboro should ideally earn him a call or two from an ARCA or Truck Series team before season’s end.
Tyrrell is obviously a driver who enjoys the short track scene, so it would be difficult to take him out of it full-time. But perhaps a race or two in NASCAR (like Brenden Queen last year in North Wilkesboro’s Truck Series race) would be cool to showcase his talent behind the wheel. He proved he could drive a racecar on national TV – why not get him an opportunity in a truck?
The only other driver in the top 10 who could find himself with a NASCAR opportunity before season’s end is Connor Hall, who drives for Xfinity Series stalwart JR Motorsports. While an Xfinity start wouldn’t be the most surprising for Hall, it also wouldn’t be surprising to see him get a call from another team owner.
Other drivers who ought to find themselves with NASCAR team’s watching them in the future include Carson Loftin, Landon Huffman and Tate Fogleman, who deserves another shot in a NASCAR ride – after all, he is a Truck Series winner at Talladega Superspeedway.
If the Tour continues to reach a larger audience on national television, some of the grassroots faithful might get a shot in NASCAR or ARCA equipment that they otherwise might not get with appearances on streaming along. With more eyes watching, sponsorships and bigger opportunities could come along for anybody.
FOX Sports Ratings Show Promise for Future Part-Time TV Schedule, But Probably Not Full-Time
Friday’s ratings came out earlier this week, showing that the race averaged 253,000 viewers, peaking at 365,000. Those are numbers that compete with ARCA’s regular ratings.
Those stats also don’t include the viewers who watched the race via FloRacing as they normally would for any other CARS Tour race, so the numbers may even be slightly higher than what FOX Sports brought in.
That’s a promising start, and one that the Tour can build off – but not for every race. It wouldn’t be smart for either FOX Sports or the Tour to put the full season on national television.
Still, placing some of its bigger races on television might be a wise thing to do.
Both Wilkesboro races in May and October, the Throwback Classic at Hickory Motor Speedway and perhaps the season-opener at New River All-American Speedway would be the perfect slate of races to broadcast on national television. Those events would bring in the most viewership and showcase the CARS Tour without over-saturating audiences with a niche motorsport based solely in the southeast.
The Tour Has to Clean Up Its Racing
As mentioned earlier, the race went past its scheduled 90-minute window that FOX provided. Some were worried about that. Series co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. said after the race at Cordele Motor Speedway that the series had to clean up its racing at Wilkesboro because the 90-minute window was strict and fans could potentially miss the finish.
Those words appear to have fallen on deaf ears. The Tour didn’t do a good job of cleaning up its act before the FOX cameras began to roll. Friday’s race was hampered by a massive crash just two laps into the race. The CARS Tour’s rule that caution laps do not count, normally a fan-favorite, greatly extended the race and hurt efforts to fit in the TV window.
The LMSC race was already shortened by 25 laps this year. Theoretically, 100 laps in 90 minutes on a 0.625-mile track should have been a piece of cake, but it quickly became a problem after several quick cautions and minimal actual racing – and that was before the race breaks, which contained scheduled red flags to work on cars.
If the CARS Tour wants to try to work out any kind of deal with FOX (or any sports network, for that matter), there has to be a noticeable change in the racing product so the TV window can be honored.
Fortunately, with an NHRA race airing on tape-delay after the CARS Tour race, FOX likely threw the Tour a bone and allowed the LMSC race to conclude on television before moving on with programming.
But the Tour can’t always count on getting so lucky.
In Conclusion
Friday was a banner night for the CARS Tour, one it hopes will be the start of something special. Hopefully more national television races come down the pike for the series and its drivers can find additional opportunities because of it.
The racing needs to be cleaned up. But if the tour’s drivers can do that, a couple races per season on national television, with the ownership group it has, would be nothing short of huge for the series and late model racing as a whole.
With its national TV debut complete, the zMAX CARS Tour will get back to work next week. It returns to the track with the Late Model Stock cars on May 31 at Langley Speedway.
Anthony Damcott joined Frontstretch in March 2022. Currently, he is an editor and co-authors Fire on Fridays (Fridays); he is also the primary Truck Series reporter/writer and serves as an at-track reporter. He has also assisted with short track content and social media, among other duties he takes/has taken on for the site. In 2025, he became an official member of the National Motorsports Press Association. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight coordinator in his free time.
You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott on X.
