CARS Tour, a series that’s been quietly stealing the show and giving NASCAR a run for its money. It all started back in 2015, when Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, and Justin Marks decided it was time to dust off the old CARS Super Late Model Tour and give it a new lease on life. This wasn’t just any revival; it was a mission to keep the heart of short-track racing beating strong.
The CARS Tour didn’t just pop up out of nowhere, though. It’s got a rich history, tracing back to the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series, which kicked off in 1997 under the wing of restaurant mogul Robert Brooks. By 1998, that series had ballooned to 20 races, showing just how hungry fans were for this kind of racing.
Fast forward to 2022, and Earnhardt Jr. found himself at North Wilkesboro, a track with as much history as a granddad’s photo album, chatting with Jack McNelly, the former CARS Tour president. “Jack was thinking about selling the tour or bringing in partners because he wanted it to live on, but he was ready to step back. At that North Wilkesboro race in 2022, when we brought the track back to life with the CARS Tour and Modifieds, we started talking seriously about who could keep this thing going. I said, ‘I’ll be a partner,’ but I wasn’t about to run a series—I’ve never done that before in my life.” It was a moment of decision, a pivot point where the Tour’s future was on the line, and Earnhardt Jr.’s involvement was the spark it needed.
“We wanted to create something that felt like the racing we grew up with,” he said, and you can hear the nostalgia in his voice, the longing for a time when racing was about the track, the cars, and the people. The CARS Tour’s focus on late models, those beefy, no-nonsense machines that hark back to NASCAR’s roots, is a direct challenge to the corporate sheen of modern racing.
And it seems Dale is succeeding in his mission, as seen by Josh Berry’s glowing comments about the series. “I’ll be honest. I watch ARCA races and they’re horrible. CARS Tour puts a way better product on to be on TV and they deserve a spot like that. I think hopefully tonight they do that. Hopefully, they don’t get too crazy – everybody getting wild on television. Hopefully, we can get the races started and stay on time, but I’m excited to see how it does. I think it’s a great product. The series is obviously really competitive. It’s more competitive than ever and way more competitive than even when I was a part of it, so it’s a lot of positives for that deal. Hopefully, they knock it out of the ball park.”
The CARS Tour’s success is a gut punch to NASCAR, a reminder that the sport’s soul lies in its grassroots. Earnhardt Jr.’s hesitation to “run a series” shows a humility that’s rare in this business, a recognition that this isn’t about him; it’s about the sport. “I wasn’t ready to run a series. I’ve never done that before in my life,” he admitted, but his partnership has been the glue holding it together. The CARS Tour isn’t just competing with NASCAR; it’s redefining what racing can be, and fans are taking notice.
Fans Let Out Their Wrath on ARCA
Now, let’s get real about ARCA. The fans are pissed, and they’re not holding back. “ARCA has been awful for a while. It’s brutal to watch three competitive cars start lapping the field on lap 4 at a place like Kansas. If you’re trying to make your way up the ladder, what are you truly learning?” one fan vented, and you can feel the frustration dripping off the screen.
These fans aren’t just blowing smoke. Take Nick Sanchez, who won the 2022 ARCA Menards Series championship with three, nine top-5 finishes and sixteen top-10 finishes in 20 races. On paper, that looks impressive, but dig deeper, and you see the problem. Sanchez faced so little competition that his victories felt more like a foregone conclusion than a test of skill.
Compare that to Conner Hall, who clinched the 2023 Late Model Stock Car championship in the CARS Tour, where he had to battle through fields averaging 27 cars per race. That’s racing, folks, where every position is a fight, not a gift. ARCA’s field size has shrunk from 28 cars in 2015 to just 22 in 2023, a trend that’s as telling as a flat tire. At Kansas in 2023, the top three cars, led by Landen Lewis, were lapping the field by Lap 15, a scene that’s become all too familiar. It’s not just about the laps; it’s about the learning, and ARCA’s not delivering. Another chimed in, “ARCA has been a joke for about a decade now, anyone who actually takes results from that series seriously or treats it like an actual development series is clueless.”
And then there’s this gem: “ARCA is worse for driver development now too since the competitive cars are so good you only have a challenge from maybe like 2 other drivers and minimal challenge doesn’t push you or teach how to get better since you’re already dominating the field.” It’s not just a complaint; it’s a diagnosis, a recognition that ARCA, once a promising path to NASCAR, has become a dead end. And if you see the growth of the CARS Tour, what Berry is saying might just make sense.
By 2024, the Tour had grown into a bona fide contender, with events like the Throwback Classic at Hickory Motor Speedway drawing 15,000 fans and offering a $100,000 purse. That’s not just a number; it’s a community, a crowd that’s hungry for real racing, not the watered-down version. The Tour’s average field size of 27 cars in 2024, compared to ARCA’s dwindling 22 in 2023, tells a story of growth and engagement. It’s not just about the cars; it’s about the people who show up, week after week, to watch something that feels authentic.
Berry’s not just talking; he’s lived it. He knows what good racing looks like, and ARCA’s not cutting it. “I can’t think of any ARCA ‘highlights’ that aren’t some combination of human and mechanical failure,” a fan added, and Berry’s experience backs that up. The CARS Tour, with its competitive fields and engaging races, is stealing the spotlight, and fans are voting with their remotes. ARCA’s got a lot of work to do, and the clock’s ticking.
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