Christopher Bell capped off the first CARS Racing Tour Super Late Model Series by scoring his third series victory in the season finale at Hickory Motor Speedway in Newton, N.C. Saturday night.
Josh Berry did the same in the Late Model Stock Car feature, taking his third win of the season.
Meanwhile, Cole Timm wrapped up the Super Late Model championship, while Brayton Haws took the Late Model Stock title.
In the Super Late Model feature, Brandon Setzer led the field to green with Bell alongside to start the final 150-lap SLM feature of the 2015 CARS season. Setzer, who set an all-time fastest lap for super late models at Hickory in qualifying, jumped out to an early lead in pursuit of his third career CARS Tour win.
Josh Berry, the only driver still eligible to win the MTP Tire Double Duty Dare started his first career SLM race in 13th.
The race took a huge turn on lap 43 when Setzer and William Byron tangled in turn while battling for the lead. Setzer was collected by Steve Wallace and both drivers were done for the night. Bell inherited the lead after Byron was sent to the back for overaggressive driving by CARS officials.
The drama of the championship took center stage in the second half of the race as Kyle Grissom and Bell dueled for the win and, for Grissom, his only shot at the title.
Cole Timm, the incoming championship leader, was in a fight to stay in the top ten throughout most of the race, a position that may have seen him lose the championship battle.
With 50 laps to go, Bell and Grissom were faced with a new challenger, double duty driver Josh Berry who quietly moved his way towards the front in pursuit of the $40,000 bonus.
Bell appeared to have control of the race until a caution came out with 11 laps to go for an incident in turn one.
Bell and Grissom restarted on the front row, with Berry immediately behind. Bell got an exceptional restart to take the lead while deeper in the field, Cole Timm ascended to seventh, which ultimately would be good enough to claim the championship.
Bell quickly pulled away from the field and, for the third time this season, held off all challengers to take his Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota to victory lane. Grissom duplicated his season-best second place and Josh Berry came up just two positions short of completing the MTP Tire Double Duty Dare in third. William Byron recovered to finish fourth while Zane Smith rounded out the top five.
“I was saving pretty good at the beginning, but I was hustling it pretty good at the end,” said Bell in victory lane. “That’s pretty much all we had, but thankfully it was enough. I just can’t thank these guys enough, they work harder than anyone else in the pits and it really shows.
“I’m new to the pavement scene so every race I do I’m learning every time,” he continued. “So it’s always good to get out here and get laps.”
“I’ve never been that stressed in my life before,” said an emotional Timm after wrapping up the title. “We were doing what we could. We didn’t have the best car and this was probably one of our worst finishes all year. We just rode it out as long as we could. I thought we had a pretty decent shot of at least a top five or something somewhere around halfway but things didn’t go our way and the tires burned off real quick. We were definitely lucky and definitely sweating it there at the end of the race.
“It means the world to me, and not just me but everyone who’s been here to help me along the way, my sponsors and everything. This is just awesome. I definitely thought we more than lost it (in the midstages of the race). I thought there wasn’t even a shot anymore, but we pulled ourselves together and rallied back.”
In the Late Model Stock feature, championship contender Haws and Berry led a full field of cars to the green flag for 150 laps. Haws took the lead early while needing to outrun championship rival Myatt Snider who led by three points coming into the event.
Clay Rogers, another competitor trying to win the double duty bonus, took the lead from Haws on lap 10. Unchallenged for the first half of the event, Rogers led until lap 94 when Josh Berry overtook him for the top spot.
After taking the lead, Josh Berry cruised to his third win of the 2015 season despite the best efforts from Tommy Lemons, Jr., who finished second. Californian Tyler Ankrum quietly finished third, followed by Rogers and 2015 series champion and three-time race winner Haws in fifth.
“I believe in these guys,” Berry said of his crew in victory lane. “We had a great car. I told you last week we had a great car and these guys really worked hard the last couple weeks and we haven’t won in a long time, but tonight’s a good one to win. We’re going to have our work cut out for us in the second race (tonight). It has been an unreal year and a lot of great things are happening and I hope to keep it going.”
Haws was overjoyed on the front stretch as he celebrated winning the title fight.
“Before Motor Mile I thought we were good and we were leading when we blew a right front,” he said. “After that we ran like 13th and then went to Orange County and blew another right front, but still got a top five there. After that, we just worked our butts off and it came down to a close battle, but we came out with a championship.”
Haws said winning the title was his biggest accomplishment yet in his career.
“I’ve dreamed about this since the inaugural CARS Tour race at Southern National. It’s just a dream come true right now for me, my family, Hawk-McCall and everyone. It’s just a dream come true.”
Myatt Snider, the point leader entering the evening, had a sub-par night and struggled throughout the race and finished tenth, while the other championship contender, Deac McCaskill, had a similar performance and came up short in seventh.
The CARS Tour will kick off its second year in 2016 at Southern National Motorsports Park in Lucama, NC on Saturday, April 2. For more information, visit CARSRacingtour.com.
CARS Racing Tour
Hickory Motor Speedway – Newton, NC
Liberty University 300 (Unofficial) – Oct. 31, 2015
Super Late Model Tour
1. Christopher Bell
2. Kyle Grissom
3. Josh Berry
4. William Byron
5. Zane Smith
6. Christian Eckes
7. Cole Timm
8. Preston Peltier
9. Quin Houff
10. Lucas Jones
11. Riley Herbst
12. Jeff Batten
13. Clay Rogers
14. Clay Jones
15. Dale Shaw
16. Tyler Ankrum
17. Dominique Van Wieringen
18. Joey Mucciacciaro
19. Kaz Grala
20. Brandon Setzer
21. Steve Wallace
22. Lucas Ransone
23. Jake Crum
24. Spencer Davis
25. A.J. Frank
26. Bradley McCaskill
27. Matt Craig
28. Mason Diaz
29. Tyler Church
DNS: Vinnie Miller
Late Model Stock Cars
1. Josh Berry
2. Tommy Lemons
3. Tyler Ankrum
4. Clay Rogers
5. Brayton Haws
6. Shane Lee
7. Deac McCaskill
8. Michael Fose
9. Bradley McCaskill
10. Myatt Snider
11. Austin McDaniel
12. Chris Hudspeth
13. Spencer Davis
14. David Polenz
15. Roddey Sterling
16. Thomas Beane
17. Justin Crider
18. Chris Davis
19. Ronald Hill
20. Robert Tyler
21. Jamie Caudill
22. Justin Hobgood
23. Jake Crum
24. Craig Stallard
25. Tyler Church
26. Christopher Bell
