Connor Hall Races to Inaugural CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car Win at Cordele

Connor Hall notched his second victory of the zMAX CARS Tour season on Saturday night, winning the series' inaugural Late Model Stock Car event at Cordele Motor Speedway.

Hall held off Wake County Speedway CARS Tour victor Mini Tyrrell for the win, his seventh career zMAX CARS Tour triumph. Hall also finished second to Tyrrell, continuing a strong start to his first season in the JR Motorsports No. 88.

Tyrrell qualified on the pole for the 125-lap Late Model Stock Car feature, leading most of the first 80 laps of the race. However, his speed up front showed Hall what he needed to do to find speed on the Georgia track that was brand-new to most of the competition.

"I guess watching Mini drive away from me for the last 50 laps made me decide to move up," said Hall in victory lane. "I'm really glad we did. It was just a completely different race car once we moved up. I was just pretty committed to the bottom with how many lower-grip race tracks we try to manage tires at. Usually it's straight in on the bottom, straight off on the bottom is what is best.

"Mini was definitely making some time up there, so once I got clear, I was like, yeah, I should probably try this. Fortunately, it worked out for us."

Hall now will join Tristan McKee in the record books as winners during the CARS Tour's first visit to Cordele Motor Speedway.

"Super, super awesome to win the inaugural event at Cordele. This is a first-class facility. I think it's a complete blessing that the tour decided to come here."

For Hall, it's important to make the most of his opportunity with JR Motorsports. On a night where he competed alongside team owner Dale Earnhardt, Jr. on the track, this season is about making the most of his opportunity with the team and committing to creating a career for himself in racing.

"I think I'm misunderstood a lot," said Hall. "I moved away from my hometown, my girlfriend and I live in separate states now. I've fully committed to making this work. I'm so thankful to Dale and his family, Kelley and L.W. [Miller] for giving me the opportunity to drive this race car. This is all I've ever wanted to do. I'm trying to make the most of it.

"I'm with the best group possible. I've got the best chassis, the best motors. Shotuout to my motor man, David West. He gave me an amazing piece, Hedgecock Racing Chassis, I could go on and on.

"This one's pretty big. I feel like we really had to earn that one 15 times. I was really happy to see the checkered flag."

Tyrrell also enjoyed his first trip to Cordele and searching for speed around the facility known for multi-groove racing. While his speed faded late and he settled for second, he felt more long runs could have played in his favor.

"We had a ton of speed, obviously, at the beginning. I just kind of slipped up off of turn two on the one restart. That's when Connor took the lead from me. I just couldn't quite accelerate super hard off on the outside out of turn two like I could. Maybe it was just a little bit of combination of the tire going away and just the way the track is out there.

"Just a super-unique race track. Corner-to-corner, there are so many unique lines. I was playing around all night, trying to see what was better. Hats off to the 88 and all the JRM guys. That car was definitely hooked up tonight. I think we just need a little bit more short-run speed to fire off just as good as he could. I thought we had the long-run speed, we were slowly reeling him in step by step."

Landon Huffman finished third, his first top-five finish with the CARS Tour since the 2023 season finale at Caraway Speedway. He was on the verge of ending that drought at Wake County before being shuffled back late in the race and finishing 15th, so scoring a strong finish on Saturday at Cordele was particularly rewarding.

"I feel like it should have been a second and a third the last two weeks," said Huffman. "Obviously, misfortune at Wake there at the end, but we were a third-place car tonight. There at the start, I fired off really, really well, and the 69 chopped me down across the entry to three on lap 10 and knocked the right-front in. I felt like I was tight after that, I don't know if that ultimately affected the car long-term or not.

"Just proud of all these guys, man, we've been working really hard. I came over here halfway through last year, we were just trying to evaluate the program and see where we were at and make the steps forward to race up front with JRM and Mini and these guys."

Landen Lewis finished fourth, with Conner Jones rounding out the top five.

Earnhardt, Jr. ultimately finished 21st, completing 117 of the race's 125 laps. The NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee was running in the top 10 before suffering front-end damage on the final restart of the race, forcing him to park the No. 8 JR Motorsports entry.

The zMAX CARS Tour returns to action at Orange County Speedway on Saturday, April 26.

-Photo credit: Jason Reasin Photography

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