CARS Tour


The CARS Racing Tour sanctions a pair of late model stock car racing series in the United States: the zMAX CARS Tour and the SPEARS CARS Tour West. They are sanctioned by the Championship Auto Racing Series and sponsored by zMAX and SPEARS Manufacturing. The series competes on paved short tracks in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.

History

The sanctioning body was formed by Hooters owner Robert Brooks. Brooks created the organization to honor the memories of four people who died in an April 1, 1993 airplane crash: Brooks' son Mark Brooks, reigning NASCAR champion Alan Kulwicki, Dan Duncan, and pilot Charlie Campbell. The sanctioning body started as the Hooters Cup late model series in 1995. Brooks decided to stop sanctioning the late model series in favor of the Pro Cup series while at the September 1997 race at the Milwaukee Mile. Brooks wanted to move to steel-bodied racecars much like those raced in the NASCAR Busch Series and ARCA Racing Series at the time. There were eleven races in 1997. The series was expanded to twenty races in 1998.
In 2001, the series devised a "northern division" and a "southern division" that race separately. After the regular season, the top drivers from each division participate in a five-race playoff series called the Four Champions Challenge. Winners of the respective division are awarded a 25-point bonus for the playoff and a cash bonus as regular season champions. The driver who gets the most points in the Four Champions races, and the seeding points, is declared the USAR champion.
At the end of the season, each of the top 30 teams that competes in at least half of the series' regular season races in their division is given entry points based on the number of points one competitor can earn for finishing in that respective position in a race. Beginning in 2006, the top 15 in each division automatically qualified. Each driver collects points for each race they participate in during the Championship Series, adding to their entry points collected from their regular season finish. A ten-point bonus is awarded for every driver who attempts to qualify at every race, although driver must race three of the six races to qualify for postseason bonus prizes. Cash bonuses are available for winning four, five, or all six postseason races. In 2003, Shane Huffman won a bonus for winning three of the five races. The success of this series led to NASCAR devising its own playoff system in 2004. The sanctioning body's owner, Robert Brooks, who also owned the Hooters restaurant chain, died in July 2006, leading to the eventual sale of the series and the restaurant chain's disassociation. USAR officials combined the Northern and Southern divisions in 2009. Hooters dropped its sponsorship of the series the same season, and the series later re-branded itself as the USARacing Pro Cup Series.
On August 25, 2011, Series Director and Owner Jack McNelly announced that the series would be operating under the name "Championship Auto Racing Series". The series picked up title sponsorship from Revolution Oil, renaming the series the Rev-Oil Pro Cup Series through the 2013 season.
After entries began dropping through the final years of the season, during the 2014 playoff, CARS began to transition the series into a Late Model Stock Car series. Late Model Stocks were permitted in selected races. By the end of the 2014 season, with the demise of the UARA-STARS Tour after a year's suspension, CARS effectively transitioned the Pro Cup into the CARS Tour which effectively absorbed the former UARA tour by adding a division for Late Model Stocks and Super Late Models. The new two-division format started in the 2015 season, with car counts averaging 55 cars per stop in the ten-race tour combined.
The sanctioning body once again broke the mold in 2015 by becoming the first asphalt tour to carry its own streaming and broadcast service, CARS Tour TV, a division of Pit Row Media and their Pit Row TV brand. For the first time in asphalt late model history, an entire tour's schedule was broadcast online and has been since the tour's re-inception in 2015. Pit Row Media has a long-term agreement with the tour to produce and carry event broadcasts, including syndication agreements to REV TV in Canada, SPEED SPORT on MAVTV in the USA, and other networks and distribution partners.
The new format consisted of a 100-150 lap race in each division. The Super Late Model Tour has a working relationship with the United Super Late Model Rules Alliance, which consists of the ARCA/CRA Super Series, ARCA Midwest Tour, SRL Southwest Tour and the Southern Super Series for a common Super Late Model rules package to establish teams in any of the major tours can run all series with few changes.
After three seasons with the format, CARS split the two divisions on selected weekends beginning in 2018, in order to prevent conflicts with major Super Late Model and Late Model Stock races from a regional and national basis.
In 2021, the Late Model Stock Tour had plans to once again visit Rockingham Speedway, formerly known as "The Rock" during its NASCAR days, reviving the dormant track for a second time under new ownership and management.
Starting in 2022, the CARS Tour will discontinue the Super Late Model Division and replace it with a Pro Late Model Division in an attempt to draw more competitors.
In 2025, the CARS Tour will make its Fox Sports 1 broadcast debut during the NASCAR All-Star Race weekend at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

New ownership

On January 9, 2023, the CARS Tour was acquired by a consortium of four companies: DEJ Management, Jeff Burton Autosports, Inc., Kevin Harvick Incorporated, and Trackhouse Racing. All four are NASCAR-related, with two current national series team owners, a Cup Series champion, and a Cup Series veteran. FloSports will have media rights in 2024, and the North Wilkesboro Speedway races will be two-day events while the others are one-day events. A new title sponsor deal with zMAX was revealed on November 27, 2023. In addition, the winner of the Cook Out 225 as part of the Prelude to the Southern 500 in Florence will determine pole position for the Charlie Powell Memorial 400 in November at the circuit.
On October 28, 2025, the CARS Tour announced its 2026 East Tour schedule. The 15-race Late Model and 12-race Pro Late Model Tour will feature two Cup Series-adjacent rounds -- on Friday of the Window World 400 at North Wilkesboro Speedway and the Cook Out 225 at Florence Motor Speedway on Friday of the Cook Out Southern 500 meeting. The series will make new stops at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville and Newport Speedway, both in Tennessee, and return to Southern National Motorsports Park.

SPEARS CARS Tour West

On January 5, 2024, the CARS Tour announced that Pro Late Models will be split into an East and West Tours. Co-owner Kevin Harvick made the expansion of the tour part of his goals. CARS West will use the same Pro Late Model rules but will be a separate series for West Coast drivers, with races in California and Nevada. The new West Tour races will be broadcast live on TrackVision TV, which is a partnership with local west coast racing broadcaster Low Budget TV and Speed Sport.
On November 15, 2024, the CARS Tour announced the 2025 West Tour schedule. The current Pro Late Model division will be rebranded to the Limited Pro Late Model running Hoosier 980 slicks. The new Pro Late Model divisions rules and regulations will be exactly like the East Tour's Pro Late Model division. The West Tour will also introduce a Super Late Model and Legends division.
In 2026, the CARS Tour West will split the Pro Late Model series into Southwest and Northwest divisions, which will include crossover races.

2025 SPEARS CARS Tour West Schedule

DateTrackLocationSLM WinnerPLM WinnerLPL WinnerLegends Winner
January 25Kevin Harvick's Kern RacewayBakersfield, CaliforniaDawson Suttonno raceJoey IestBrenden Ruzbarsky
January 25Kevin Harvick's Kern RacewayBakersfield, CaliforniaDawson Suttonno raceJoey IestTaylor Mayhew
February 7-8Havasu 95 SpeedwayLake Havasu City, Arizonano raceno raceDylan ZampaWyatt Sansom
February 7-8Havasu 95 SpeedwayLake Havasu City, Arizonano raceno raceDylan ZampaBrenden Ruzbarsky
March 1The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor SpeedwayLas Vegas, NevadaKole Razno raceParker MaloneTanner Reif
March 15Kevin Harvick's Kern RacewayBakersfield, Californiano raceJace HaleDylan ZampaTaylor Mayhew
April 12All American SpeedwayRoseville, Californiano raceJace HaleDylan ZampaBrenden Ruzbarsky
April 26The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor SpeedwayLas Vegas, Nevadano raceLinny Whiteno raceTaylor Mayhew
April 26The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor SpeedwayLas Vegas, Nevadano raceLinny Whiteno raceBrody Whitbeck
May 10All American SpeedwayRoseville, CaliforniaJacob Gomesno raceDylan ZampaJeremy Doss
May 31Kevin Harvick's Kern RacewayBakersfield, Californiano raceKevin Harvickno raceTaylor Mayhew
May 31Kevin Harvick's Kern RacewayBakersfield, Californiano raceKeelan Harvickno raceTaylor Mayhew
June 7Stockton 99 SpeedwayStockton, Californiano raceJacob GomesJustin PhilpottTanner Reif
June 28Madera SpeedwayMadera, Californiano raceHaeden Plybonno raceBrenden Ruzbarsky
July 26Colorado National SpeedwayDacono, ColoradoBuddy Shepherdno raceno raceSean Salazar
August 16Colorado National SpeedwayDacono, Coloradono raceKeelan Harvickno raceno race
September 6Orange Show SpeedwaySan Bernardino, Californiano raceLinny WhiteJeffrey PetersonChase Burgeson
October 10The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor SpeedwayLas Vegas, Nevadano raceJace HaleJeffrey PetersonTaylor Mayhew
October 25Tucson SpeedwayTucson, Arizonano raceno race
November 14-16Kevin Harvick's Kern RacewayBakersfield, Californiano race