Jared Fryar Returns to CARS Tour Winner's Circle at Orange County

Jared Fryar returned to zMAX CARS Tour victory lane on Saturday night, winning the Folsom Fence Supply 250 Late Model Stock Car feature at Orange County Speedway.

Fryar, a champion in both the Late Model Stock Cars in 2020 as well as the tour's former Super Late Model division in 2018, has scaled back his racing slate in recent years. He made just two CARS Tour appearances in 2024 after missing part of the season with a leg injury, scoring top-five finishes at both Caraway Speedway and Tri-County Motor Speedway.

"Honestly, we just unloaded really good yesterday and just was able to really hone in on a few minor little things that I needed to really help us there late in the race," said Fryar after the win.

"I'm just really lucky to be able to do this and win at this level and not race as much either. I don't get the opportunity to race as much as I'd like, but we make the best of it and I've got a good group of guys behind me."

Fryar took the lead from Layne Riggs just past halfway of the 125-lap Late Model Stock feature, and maintained the top spot for the remainder of the contest.

With a field of 30 cars that included Riggs, fellow NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competitor Kaden Honeycutt, Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman, and the usual host of Late Model Stock standouts, the victory was a special one for Fryar.

"It's so special to win these races. They're so hard. When the stars line up like they did tonight with a good car, good tires, good strategy, everything worked out good. It's so special and it means so much to me and my crew.

"I feel like it's very rare for a guy like myself to be able to race at this level like this. I've been super lucky and just very thankful to do it. It's really cool. I enjoy coming out and running the CARS Tour. I've been running with them for eight, 10 years, whatever it's been. It's been really fun. This series is the toughest, man, I don't think there's anything harder in short track racing or circle-track racing."

Kade Brown finished second, passing Riggs with 30 laps to go for the runner-up spot. He believed he had a car that could compete with Fryar for the win, but an eighth-place starting spot gave him too much ground to cover.

"We were pretty good all weekend," said Brown. "I feel like it comes down to qualifying there. Jared had a little better race car in qualifying or just executed better. We had to start further back and do a little bit more work to get up there. I feel like those last few laps, we were pretty even. It's just he had so much track position, he fired off and got out of the hole real quick and good."

Honeycutt rounded out the podium, all smiles after the race. With an off weekend for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Honeycutt was ecstatic to compete at what he called his favorite race track and lend a helping hand to Hettinger Racing and their other driver, Donovan Strauss.

"For me, I was just trying to come back here and race at my favorite race track," said Honeycutt. "I love this dang place, man. I appreciate Hettinger Racing, Chris, honestly, him and Larry Blount, I can't thank them enough for the opportunity. I really wanted to just come back. I know they've been struggling and I just wanted to figure out how I could make that better, so I'm really happy that this team got a good run.

"I don't care about me, I'm happy for them and I'm happy that I got some good gains on the car for them this weekend and I'm hoping they can carry even more momentum through the rest of the year with [Donovan Strauss].

"Don did a great job tonight. I got by him and he was on my butt trying to push me around the racetrack. He's learning. He's getting better as a rookie, so I'm just really happy for this race team."

Riggs finished fourth, with Ronnie Bassett, Jr. rounding out the top five. Tyler Reif, Landon Huffman, Chase Burrow, Landen Lewis and Strauss completed the top 10.

Newman, making his CARS Tour debut, finished 14th.

The zMAX CARS Tour takes the track again next Saturday, May 3, at Ace Speedway.

-Photo credit: zMAX CARS Tour

Folsom Fence Supply 250 Late Model Stock Car Unofficial Results