Connor Hall Takes Victory at New River in Debut CARS Tour Race with JR Motorsports

Connor Hall took a decisive win in Saturday night's CARS Tour Late Model Stock season-opening race at New River All-American Speedway, the 28-year-old driver's first start with JR Motorsports.

While he started from the pole, led the most laps, Hall was left wondering if he would walk out of New River with the trophy as a late-race caution allowed Bobby McCarty one last-ditch effort to attempt to get by him for the race win.

"Obviously, I would have liked to have seen it go green," Hall said in his victory lane interview. "I knew Bobby had a really good short-run car. I was a little worried for sure. Kade [Brown] is hungry, I didn't know what those guys were going to do. It was nice to kind of race one out."

Fortunately, for Hall, he was able to power his way to the finish line to win by a margin of 0.779 seconds over McCarty. Now, Hall, the two-time and defending NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series champion, is set to begin his bid for a CARS Tour Late Model Stock championship with a win right out of the gates.

"It feels good just to be in Cook Out Victory Lane here with the CARS Tour," Hall explained. "[We] Put our Johnny Morris Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet in victory lane. I'm trying to catch my breath because I tried screaming a little bit to sound excited. I'm just pumped and really excited to get the year going with these guys."

Hall, who started the event from the pole, managed his tires through the early portions of Saturday night's race, as did the rest of the field, which led to a wild number of lead changes, and comers and goers through the opening laps of the event.

While many were rising and fading massively through the running order, Hall refused to let himself lose sight of the top couple of spots all race after seeing how important track position was in the night's lead-in CARS Tour Pro Late Model race.

"Yeah, usually you see me fall a little bit further. But just kind of after what I saw in that Pro [Late Model] race, I was like, man, track position here is so crucial because the exit of the corners is so sharp that the guy on the top can pinch the guy on the bottom down so bad," Hall said. "So, we tried to play the track position thing."

As for the tire-saving strategy racing, Hall says it's tough staying disciplined when everyone is breathing down your neck.

"It's really, really hard to not look in the mirror when there's a whole field pushing you through every corner," Hall stated.

To put it in perspective how wild the running order was changing in the early portion of Saturday night's race, Chad McCumbee, who started from the 29th position in the 30-car field, took the lead of the race on Lap 38.

While Hall and McCarty were the class of the field all race long, and finished the race in the top-two spots, Ronnie Bassett Jr., who was one of many drivers swept up in early-race crashes, was able to battle back for an incredible third-place finish.

Carson Loftin came home in fourth, and Ryan Millington, who was also involved in an early-race crash, where he sustained a lot of damage, was able to finish fifth.

Caden Kvapil worked his way from the last starting position (30th) to finish an impressive sixth while Doug Barnes Jr., Kade Brown, Donovan Strauss, and Lanie Buice rounded out the top-10 finishers in the race.

The National Dodge 225 at New River was marred by several multi-car accidents, the first of which occurred on Lap 5. Lanie Buice got turned by Bryce Applegate to kick off the incident. Buice turning sideways caused a stack up in the field, which resulted in Tristan McKee, who finished second in the Pro Late Model event, and Bassett to collide. McKee would suffer major front-end damage, but would be able to soldier on in the event with his radiator hanging out.

McKee, a Spire Motorsports development driver, would finish in the 18th position, the final car on the lead lap in the 125-lap race.

The next major melee would occur on the restart following the Bassett/McKee crash, and it would be sparked by Jake Bollman missing a shift from the second position. Bollman's missed shift sent a ripple through the field, which resulted in Mini Tyrrell taking several hard shots, one to the front of his No. 81 machine, and one to the side, when he was t-boned by Conner Jones.

Jarad Fryar would also be involved in the crash, and while the incident would spell the end of the race for Jones and Fryar, Tyrrell would continue on, much like McKee, sans front-end bodywork. Tyrrell would at one point rally back up to the 11th spot before ultimately salvaging a 21st-place finish on the night.

The final big crash of the evening would take place on Lap 86 when Carson Haislip would collide with Mason Diaz, which sent Diaz spinning to a stop in the middle of the track. With the front of Diaz's car facing the oncoming group of cars, he would be suffer a major impact from Bryce Applegate, who slammed directly into his stopped car.

The crash between Diaz and Applegate would lead to a lengthy red-flag, but fortunately, both drivers were able to walk away without injury.

Next up for the CARS Tour Late Model Stock Series is a contest at Wake County Speedway in Raleigh, NC on Saturday, March 29. That event will be broadcast live on FloRacing.

Cars Tour Late Model Stock at New River All-American Speedway Race Results

Photo Credit: Screengrab from FloRacing Broadcast