Gloves Come Off | CARS Tour at Wake County Speedway 3/28/26 | Highlights

We are green flag racing here in Raleigh. Lap number one led by Carson Hayslip. It'll be Mini Tyrell who's able to wrestle it back here on lap number two, so he won't go flag to flag like he did last year. Great battle going on here, though, for third. That's Landon Huffman, 57 on the bottom, and Treyton Lapsovich, which you'll see many times here. These drivers trying to get back down. Mason Diaz not going to make that easy, though. Sirius is, oh, trouble in one and two. The rear bumper has been sheared off of Brandon Lopez's number six. Mini's looking for his second victory in a row here at Wake County as we're back underway in Raleigh. Good restart there on the top, but that's exactly what Huffman wanted. He was in third. He got to choose. He went to the outside, quickly found a hole to get down into second. Perfectly executed restart there. Oh, trouble. Got a car into the wall. It's Tate Fogelman off of turn number four. And he almost got it slowed down and stopped before tagging the outside retaining wall, but Fogelman, for the second week in a row, is going to find trouble. This time it happens off of the fourth corner. It's now Mini Tyrell. Treyton Lapsovich through the iRacing restart zone, puts us back underway at Wake County. Lapsovich trying to give it a good fight up on the top side. Look at the 77 get a good launch off turn two, but Tyrell lunges his car to the bottom to cement the lead off turn four. Oh, and a big slide off of four there for Treyton Lapsovich. It's going to allow Huffman a bit of a hole there to try and make it work on the bottom. Contact made. Huffman still trying to hold him off as Lapsovich. You can see him sliding off the corner. Wants to close the hole, but can't quite do it yet. Lapsovich is trying to do all he can to hold that tight line. Late apex off the corner to try to pin the 57 down. That's the second time that they've come door to door and bounced off one another. Lapsovich cuts it down to the bottom to slide into third for the moment. ...driver right now for that $10,000 bonus. The driver closest to him to challenge, Jayden Cuapo as we got Landon Lewis around after contact with Bassett and a major crash in one and two. And we're back underway as Mini Tyrell gets us going through the iRacing restart zone. And much like we've seen a couple of times already, Doug Barnes, a great restart. In fact, he may have a nose on Mini Tyrell as they go down into turn number three. Bit of a slide behind him there by Parker. Even in the four, no harm, no foul. Everybody continues on. Barnes still trying to give it to Tyrell off turn two. Bit of a slide off the corner for the 88. He will lift going into three and duck in line. How about a crossover for Barnes for the lead as they go to one? Looking low, and he's going to give Tyrell a shot. Mini's going to save it. Doug Barnes, Jr., new race leader here at Wake County. And Tyrell not able to get him back as Connor Jones trying to take advantage. He's up into second, but Doug Barnes, Jr., into the lead. Barnes went down from the bottom. Tyrell trying to cover the spot, and Doug thought this was his chance. Now Tyrell jacks up Jones. What a save by Connor Jones in the 44. A pair of amazing saves here at the front of the field at Wake County Speedway. Here comes Caden Quapo. Bowman gouges Huffman out of the way just behind him. 83 to go. Talked about the gloves have come off. Multiple pairs of gloves have come off. And, in fact, Tyrell is all over the back bumper of that number 88. How do they play things out here going into turn three? Tyrell just a little bit of a nudge off of turn four to try and get the lead back. See if Doug wants to respond. Remember, Doug's racing for $10,000 in the flotium. A crossover. Big contact on the back stretch as Barnes goes back to the lead. Tyrell up in the window net of Doug Barnes. They survive the contact, but the back end of Doug's car is destroyed. So Barnes holds the lead. Can't imagine. We'll see what the officials elect to do. And, in fact, no, he can't hang on any longer as Barnes is going to try to lift the back tires and dumps Minnie Tyrell into turn one. Caution is out. Into the iRacing restart zone to bring us back under way of Wake County. There's Huffman having a look. Kane and Quapel thought about a three wide on the back stretch. We've seen that before here at Wake County. Doesn't work. Jones will protect the lead. Huffman still fighting back as Eatman struggles with his four car in the top lane just behind. Yeah, some of that damage is dragging with the low air pressures for Parker Eatman who it seems like he needs a lap or two to try and get that number four car going. As there's trouble at a turn two, Ronnie Bassett Jr. is spun around, and Mason Diaz is facing the outside retaining wall. We're back under way here at Wake County. Kane and Quapel got quite a jump, and Jones gets in the side of him. Kane and Quapel to the point off of turn number two. First time we've seen all night that a driver has gone to the outside and been able to lift a tail-to-tail and grab the race lead. Quapel does it much like he did four weeks ago, driving from the back of the field all the way to the front and with 66 laps to go. He's slide up to the line. 17 to go. The battle is on at Wake County. Quapel gets shoved aside. Here comes Jones to the inside with his teammate looking three wide. That's a little bit of teammate courtesy right there. Checks up for him. New leader again. Connor Jones, 16 to settle it here at Wake County. New race leader. Quapel going to try the crossover into three. Quapel could not get down to the inside and try to give it back. Here comes Huffman and Brown in the five car. Quapel now in the back of Jones to turn one. Should be settled in about two minutes as Carson Brown goes up in smoke with eight to go, running fourth. Again, his teammate is now one of the race leaders. He's restarting second. Quapel is leading the top lane as Quapel has trouble getting going through the restart zone. He may be out of gas. Quapel falls through the field. Huffman away with the race lead. Race stays green. Quapel's falling to the rear of the field. Landon Huffman out in front with Clay Jones, the hometown hero, up to second. Treyton Lapsamich able to get through for third, and Quapel spins in one and two. Caution is going to be back out. Two drivers with one win apiece looking for their second as we come to the iRacing restart zone. And Tate Fogelman may be out of fuel on the front stretch. They're going to keep it green for now. Huffman and Lapsamich side by side trying to make it on fumes to the end of this race. Here they go. Landon Huffman back to the stripe. Eight to go. Can Fogelman make it back to the pit lane? He's still off the pace on the back stretch. Huffman was the leader last time through. Here comes the field off turn four. Caution is out. Two miles away from deciding the winner here at Wake County. We are back underway. Lapsamich with a great launch on the outside line. Side by side, they go into turn three. They'll come around this time, seven to go, but Chase Burrow will hang on to it as they go three wide on the front stretch. Incredible. Clay Jones has got the bodywork ripped off his car, and Huffman clear to the lead with six to go. Lapsamich is off the pace. He may be out of fuel as he sputters on the front stretch. Now the car picks back up off turn four. And the rest of the pack is snarling behind him. Huffman's out of fuel. Huffman's out of gas. He is low and slow on the front stretch. Burrow runs into him. Five laps to go. It is Clay Jones that is now the leader. Jones now up front. Whoa! Lapsamich comes to a stop right as the leaders got there. There's Clay Jones trying to scrape some of the bodywork off the car. Shades of what Kyle Busch did in a truck race not that long ago. Maybe trying to avoid the potential of a black flag as the leader with the right front fender hanging off the car. Yeah, he wants that damage to come off naturally. He doesn't want to have to answer a black flag. He's going to be issued the black flag anyway. The efforts to try to get the bodywork to peel off for Clay Jones is going to be futile. Five laps to go. Connor Jones, Landon Lewis side-by-side for the lead. Jones trying to make the topside work off the corner. He's got the run. Contact already before they get to three. Sam Butler is behind him, but to our timing and scoring, he's not on the lead lap at the moment. We'll have to confirm and make sure that that's correct because he's trying to challenge Landon Lewis for second as Connor Jones drives away with the lead. Lewis now to the inside. Butler scored third on the racetrack, but in timing and scoring standards, not third as things run right now. Chase Burroughs scored in the third spot as Jones has been able to run and hide for now. Two laps to go for Connor Jones. Just about ten laps ago, Connor Jones was leading this race under red. He ran out of fuel and could not get the car refired. He since has been able to come back down, refuel this race car, and drive all the way away from this field. Connor Jones survives at Wake County, and he wins it.