Landen Lewis ran across the orange choose-V cone at Caraway Speedway on Sunday afternoon. He picked up a penalty for it. He got dropped to the back of the field for it. He apologized for it.
Then he won the race anyway.
Lewis is the reigning CARS Late Model Stock Car Tour champion. He drove the No. 29 Kevin Harvick Inc. car to four wins on his way to the 2025 title. He is exactly the kind of driver who is not supposed to hit the orange cone before an early restart.
He hit the orange cone.
The TCPS Plumbing & Septic 250 was a 125-lap LMSC feature in front of a short-track crowd that had already been waiting through Saturday's washout. The choose-V error sent Lewis to the rear before an early restart. He had a long way to go.
"I want to apologize for making a mistake that I'm far above making," Lewis said in victory lane. "I shouldn't make those mistakes where we're at in racing. I guess I'll never hit the orange cone, but I'm so thankful for my guys. Discipline is what it really took to get back to the front, pick them off one at a time and make up for the mistake."
Yeah. Victory lane. Lewis came back. Came back through the field, came back through the leaders, came back to Cook Out Victory Lane.
The pass that won it.
Caraway had been partially repaved over the offseason, which meant the Sophia, North Carolina bullring was running with two diverse sets of corners. The drivers were figuring it out in real time.
Lewis figured it out faster than the field. By the time the cautions cycled and the leaders settled into a rhythm, he was working his way back through traffic. He reached the front group ahead of the final restart. Then he had to deal with a three-time Caraway winner and the driver who had led the most laps.
The three-time Caraway winner was Jared Fryar. Lewis dispatched him.
The driver who had led the most laps was Conner Jones, in the No. 44 Carroll Speedshop entry. Jones was not handing back the lead on a discount.
"It was hard racing the whole time," Jones said. "I feel like I used and abused my rear tires there towards the end. That just gave the advantage on the restart."
That advantage held for 25 laps. Lewis' sixth career CARS Tour LMSC win was the first of 2026 — coming in his third LMSC start of the season — and it counts among his favorites.
"This is probably one of my favorite wins I've ever raced, being able to come from the back, back to the front. It taught us all discipline and not to give up."
Jones, second again.
Conner Jones' Caraway runner-up was the third top-five in his last three CARS Tour LMSC starts for the Carroll Speedshop driver. He won at Wake County a month earlier. Then he led the most laps at Caraway and finished second.
Caraway has not historically been Jones' track. Until Sunday he had never finished better than 12th in an LMSC race there. Then he ran up front all day and lost to a guy who started the race in last place by his own admission.
"This is the fourth race on this nose now and I think we can probably make number five," Jones said, referring to the body damage on the No. 44. "When you don't tear up the race cars, you can go back and work on them. come here, bust their ass all weekend and give me a really good race car."
Jones is now second in points to Caden Kvapil — who finished P3 at Caraway and continues to lead the standings at 165 over Jones' 150. Kvapil stole the previous race at Nashville. He is two wins through four events. Treyten Lapcevich sits third on consistency, with four top-tens in four starts and zero wins.
Honeycutt did both.
The PLM Tour ran the same afternoon. Kaden Honeycutt won that one too.
Honeycutt is the 2024 PLM Tour champion, a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular, and one of two drivers who ran both divisions at Caraway on the same day. He drove the No. 54 in PLM and the No. 17 in LMSC. He won the PLM race and finished P4 in the LMSC.
It was Honeycutt's 10th career CARS Tour victory across both divisions — four in Late Model Stocks, six in Pro Late Models. He had won at Caraway in PLM before, in 2023.
The 100-lap PLM feature came down to restarts.
"I just needed to take control on the restart," Honeycutt said. "It's really difficult here to choose the bottom or the top. As the leader, you can go either way, but I wanted to make the right decision there and thankfully we did. It's amazing to run in front of a short track crowd and I'm looking forward to seeing if we can get another one later."
Honeycutt also had a restart violation during the race that moved him back a row. He won anyway — through Lapcevich, Conner Jones (running both divisions himself), and Rodney Dowless Jr.
This is the part of the CARS Tour ecosystem that does not get enough air. Cup veterans and Truck regulars show up to this series because the racing is hard. Honeycutt said it himself.
"I love the Pro Late Model stuff and the CARS Tour is as hard as it gets right now. When the CARS Tour guys went to the Derby last year as part of the , we put on a really good race and we were all up front. This series is no joke across the Pro Late Model scale and the Late Model Stock scale."
Daniel Hemric ran the PLM in the No. 54H, finished P11. Reps in front of a short-track crowd. That is what this series is.
Standings.
Through four LMSC events: Caden Kvapil leads at 165 points with two wins. Jones at 150. Lapcevich third on consistency. Carson Brown, Chase Burrow, and Sam Butler are stacked between 124 and 131. Lewis sits eighth despite his Caraway win because he has only run three of the four events.
Through three PLM events: Mason Walters leads at 118 points with one win. Brody Monahan vaulted from fourth to second at 101. Evan McKnight third at 100. Honeycutt is up to 10th in points despite running only two of three races. Full table on our standings page.
Up next: Ace Speedway.
Saturday May 9 at Ace Speedway in Altamahaw, North Carolina — a four-tenths-mile bullring. PLM goes green at 7:00 PM ET. LMSC goes green at 8:30 PM. Doubleheader format like Caraway.
For now: Lewis is back in the win column. The reigning LMSC champion came from the back of the field at a track he should have been able to manage from the front. From last to first. With an apology in between. The 2025 champion looked like the 2025 champion all over again.