The CARS Tour wraps up its Palmetto State swing on Friday night at the extremely abrasive Florence Motor Speedway and for the second race in a row Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be in action behind the wheel of the No. 8 machine for JR Motorsports. 

Friday’s race will be the NASCAR Hall of Famers first trip back to Florence since he came oh-so-close to heading to victory lane back in November when he brought back the iconic red Budweiser scheme to action for the first time since 2006. Earnhardt Jr. drove through the field from 40th all the way up to second before his fuel pump failed and he was forced to park the car prematurely with about 30 laps to go. Friday’s race will be the two-time Daytona 500 champion’s third CARS Tour race of the season. He also raced in Cordele, Georgia in April, and last race at Anderson Motor Speedway.

Vandyke Racing Performance heads to Florence with a new driver behind the wheel of their car with a new number on the doors and roof as well. After starting the season with Buddy Isles Jr., the team owned by Kres Vandyke returns to the CARS Tour with Isaac Kitzmiller behind the wheel of the No. 97 machine, a number often run by Kitzmiller’s father, Jason Kitzmiller. The 16-year-old West Virginia driver will be making his CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car debut. He will also be doing double-duty in the Pro Late Model on Friday as well. Kitzmiller has three top five finishes and five top 10 finishes in seven CARS Tour PLM starts for RackleyWAR. Kitzmiller currently leads the ARCA Menards Series East standings by 19 points over Tyler Reif, who will also be in Friday’s Pro Late Model field as well.

Matt Cox will be looking to keep Friday’s trophy in South Carolina as he tries to defend his home turf from the CARS Tour invaders. The Longs, South Carolina native is a multi-time track champion in the Late Model Stock Car class at Florence Motor Speedway. Cox started eighth and finished third in last year’s CARS Tour race here at Florence. Cox currently sits second in points in the track championship with five victories on the year.

The driver that Cox is chasing in points is Hartsville, South Carolina’s Cody Kelley. Kelley also has five victories so far this season, but he has made one more start on the season compared to Cox. Cody Kelley also competed in the CARS Tour race at Florence last year. He started fourth, but faded to 17th at the finish.

Two CARS Tour drivers to keep an eye on Friday night at Florence are Donovan Strauss and Lanie Buice. Strauss competed full-time in weekly competition at Florence last season, scoring a victory when he drove for AK Performance. Strauss, who has raced all season with Hettinger Racing, currently sits eighth in points. Friday night’s race at Florence might be the perfect place for Strauss to score his first CARS Tour top five finish. 

Meanwhile, Buice also has a ton of laps at Florence. She turned heads in the 2023 South Carolina 400 when she drove into the top three late in the race before burning up her tires. Buice has been fast on multiple occasions in her first full CARS Tour season. She’s qualified on the front row for multiple races, including May’s marquee event at North Wilkesboro Speedway. She’s also driving for a team that has had a ton of success at Florence over the last couple of years with Brenden “Butterbean” Queen behind the wheel. Queen and Lee Pulliam Performance went to victory lane in the 2022 South Carolina 400, and finished second in each of the last two CARS Tour races at Florence.

Buice’s Lee Pulliam Performance teammate, Doug Barnes Jr., will also be one to watch on Friday night. Barnes currently sits seventh in points and leads the Bilstein Shocks Rookie of the Year standings. Barnes went to victory lane at Florence Motor Speedway on multiple occasions in 2023 when he was chasing current CARS Tour points leader Connor Hall for the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national championship.

On the Pro Late Model side, 13-year-old Keelan Harvick returns to the east coast fresh off a CARS Tour West victory at Colorado National Speedway. Florence Motor Speedway is the site of Harvick’s first career Late Model start and victory. He finished eighth in his Limited Late Model debut last November, and then went to Florence’s victory lane in a Limited Late Model back in February. Since then, Harvick has scored multiple Pro Late Model victories in California, Colorado, and in North Carolina at Hickory Motor Speedway.

The last time the CARS Tour Pro Late Models ran on an extremely abrasive surface was in the season opener at Coastal Plains Raceway (then-known as New River All-American Speedway), and the driver that scored the win that night was Clovis, California’s Jade Avedisian. Avedisian became the first (and so far only) woman to win a CARS Tour race in the history of the CARS Tour’s three divisions. 

The full entry lists for both CARS Tour divisions can be found below.

Friday’s CARS Tour live broadcast on FloRacing will begin at 5 p.m. ET ahead of the start of qualifying for the Pro Late Models. FloRacing will carry all of the action on Friday from Florence Motor Speedway, including the weekly racing classes, with racing action for the CARS Tour set to kick off at 7:45 p.m. ET. Race fans can watch all of the action with a FloRacing subscription by clicking here.

CARS Tour At Florence Motor Speedway Entry Lists

Late Model Stock Cars

Pro Late Models