Thomas Stanford claims inaugural CARS Tour Northwest race at Tri-City Raceway

by Rence Brown

Thomas Stanford won the inaugural CARS Tour Northwest Pro Late Model ICCU 125 at Tri-City Raceway on Saturday during Apple Cup weekend.

The East Wenatchee native ran inside the top three for the most of the race and took the lead after Keelan Harvick and Ethan Ebert made late-race contact, setting up the first win in CARS Tour Northwest history.

“This feels like the biggest win in my career, to be honest,” Stanford said. “I was pushing pretty good, trying to keep up with the 62 and the 9. I wish we could have raced it out to the end.”

Stanford dealt with an oil leak all weekend and credited his team for getting it fixed.

“We fought an oil leak all weekend,” Stanford said. “I do all the prep work on my car and setup, so I felt really responsible for that and felt bad that they were burning themselves on the headers trying to seal that thing up. I just want to thank my crew because they really busted tail this weekend.”

Stanford earned the pole with a new track record and led the field of 26 to green in the 125-lap race at the half-mile tri-oval.

Ebert, who qualified second, took the lead on Lap 4, while Stanford fell back to third after Haden Plybon also worked past him early on.

Plybon pressured Ebert through a caution-free first half, but lapped traffic stalled each run he made for the lead.

The caution flew for the first time on Lap 62 for the halfway break. Some drivers including Kole Raz, elected to pit for adjustments and fuel.

Following the halfway break on the Lap 63 restart, Ebert slid up the track in Turn 1, briefly going three-wide with Plybon and Harvick. The caution would fly by the time the field reached Turn 2 as series officials ruled Plybon, who just took the lead, jumped the start.

The caution flew once again on Lap 65 after Todd Connell and Chase Gardner made contact off Turn 3, sending both cars towards the apron on the front straight.

On the Lap 65 restart, Ebert again slid up the track in Turn 1 with Stanford passing on the outside, then led for the next 10 laps.

The caution flew again when on Lap 75 after Connell spun into the grass in Turn 3.

On a restart with 50 laps to go, Ebert retook the lead, passing Stanford with a similar pass around the outside.

By Lap 90, Harvick, who had waited patiently to this point, passed Stanford for second and began closing on Ebert, eventually reaching the leader’s back bumper.

On Lap 96, the pair made contact in Turn 2 after Ebert appeared to slow on corner exit. Harvick climbed over Ebert’s left rear, briefly lifting off the ground. The contact tore off Ebert’s left-rear quarter panel, while Harvick sustained some front-end damage and a flat right-front tire. Both drivers made it to the work area for repairs and rejoined the race in the back of the field.

On the following restart, Billy Coles tagged Harvick’s left rear quarter panel in Turn 3, sending both drivers into the outside wall.

Harvick sustained heavy front-end damage, bringing out the red flag and ending both drivers’ afternoons.

Following the restart on Lap 97, the second red flag flew after Johvan Dillon and Kasey Kleyn got together in Turn 1 in a fight for third place. Dillon ramped over Kleyn’s left front, sending both cars into the outside wall.

As both drivers exited their cars, neither was happy with the other.

Dillon felt Kleyn didn’t leave enough space entering the corner, while Kleyn viewed Dillon as too aggressive.

When racing resumed, Stanford pulled away from the field, leaving Plybon to fend off a charging Raz and Haley Constance.

With two laps to go, the caution flew after Ken Bonney and Chase Gardner made contact off Turn 3, erasing Stanford’s four-second lead and setting up a two-lap shootout.

Stanford pulled away on the late-race restart to become the series’ first winner, with Plybon finishing in second.

“It was fun,” Plybon said. “We kind of battled the car a little bit. It was tight through the dogleg and had to walk it back a bunch. We’ll be better for the next one.”

Raz finished third after Constance spun on the final lap in Turn 2 following contact with Zach Riehl.

“It was a day,” Raz said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a Pro Late Model and I just had a lot of fun. We figured we could gamble on putting more fuel in case we got those cautions. Unfortunately, they turned into red flags, so it didn’t help us. Nonetheless, it was a day.”

Wyatt Gardner finished fourth, while Ebert, who led the most laps, rallied to finish inside the top five after the late-race contact.

After the race, Ebert viewed the contact with Harvick as a racing incident and didn’t place blame on either driver.

“We’ll definitely have to go look back and look at some tape,” Ebert said. “I’m not putting blame on anybody. I think it’s just a racing deal, and I think it just is what it is.”