The 2025 SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic Playoffs have delivered no shortage of drama, and the intensity only grew following a wild night at Tri-County Speedway. Now, the stage is set for a thrilling conclusion as the ground-pounders head to North Wilkesboro Speedway for the Championship finale on October 17–18.

The season will wrap up with a winner-take-all, 99-lap showdown at the historic North Carolina oval, serving as part of a triple-header Championship weekend alongside the zMAX CARS Tour — promising fans an action-packed weekend to close out the year.

Late-Race Drama And Finger Pointing

The Freeman Hoosier Hundred at Tri-County Speedway was already shaping up to be a fan favorite, featuring a 28-car field and intense three-wide battles throughout the race. But a dramatic late-race duel for the lead — followed by heated tempers in victory lane — turned the event into one of the most talked-about races of the 2025 SMART Modified Tour season.

Carson Loftin emerged as the winner after a tense strategic gamble. Opting not to pit for fresh tires, the 17-year-old zMAX CARS Tour regular held firm at the front as veteran Burt Myers charged through the field in the closing laps. The two drivers staged a fierce battle in the final circuits, with Myers attempting to pass Loftin on the outside in Turn 4. The cars made contact, and Myers managed to save his Citrusafe No. 1 before taking another run at Loftin through Turns 1 and 2.

Loftin held his line and drifted up the track, forcing Myers out of the groove and into the marbles. From there, Loftin powered ahead to capture his sixth career SMART Modified victory — and first of the 2025 season.

Emotions flared immediately afterward. In victory lane, Myers approached Loftin’s car to express his frustration with the on-track contact. Both teams exchanged heated words, with finger-pointing and shouting adding a dramatic exclamation point to an already electric night at Tri-County Speedway.

“Just another punk kid doing a punk kid thing,” said a heated Myers after his second place run. “It’s just like what I went through at Ace (referring to an incident at an independent Modified race at North Carolina’s Ace Speedway weeks earlier between him and Modified driver Riley Neal). You try to pass a man on the outside and they just drive in there and drive over the top of you.”

Loftin was happy to get the Shady Grady No. 15 team to victory lane but understood why Myers was unhappy with how it went down.  

“I hate to rough him up there,” Loftin said after his live interview on FloRacing. “He had the better car and it was up to me to hold him off. I feel like I didn’t do anything different than he would’ve done. If the roles were reversed I’d expect the same thing out of him. I really didn’t mean to run him in the marbles because once you get in the marbles here you are done. I’m sure we are going to talk about it and get it over with. If he has to get me back he has to get me back. It is what it is.”

Post-Race Tech Sees Protests Between Top-Two Teams 

In post-race technical inspection following the Freeman Hoosier Hundred, the Burt Myers team protested the winning car of Carson Loftin. Moments later, the 15-team counter-protested Burt Myers’ engine. Things were tense as both cars were being inspected and torn-down with only a few feet and a pit box separating them. 

After the Myers team removed the engine from their racecar, the 15-team pulled their protest of Myers. They paid a $500 dollar protest fee to the No.1 team for pulling their engine. The Myers team did not pull their protest of the No. 15 team. SMART Officials took possession of the engine from Loftin’s car for further evaluation.

On Monday SMART Officials released a statement on the findings saying “Carson Loftin is the official winner at Tri-County Speedway. The number-1 team protested the carburetor and camshaft on the winning car (15). The parts were inspected by RYR Engines and deemed legal.”

Three Drivers Set To Compete For Championship

The Tri-County race solidified the top-three drivers, the SMART3, that will compete for a championship at North WIlkesboro.  Throw the points away for these three drivers, as the playing field is leveled and whoever finishes first of the three drivers will be the champion. No bonus-points will be in play to decide the Championship.

LUKE BALDWIN

The defending champion of the SMART Modified Tour comes in with a lot of confidence at North Wilkesboro after a third-place finish there a year ago. Baldwin got caught up as the innocent victim of an accident at Tri-County, suffering his worst finish of the season in 23rd.  The grandson of northeast Modified legend, the late Tom Baldwin, and son of famed NASCAR Crew Chief Tommy Baldwin, has three-wins in 2025 and 11 top-ten finishes in 13-races. The Senator-Stanley Racing, Pace-O-Matic No. 7VA has led more laps than any other car on the tour this season, pacing the field 269-times. The 19-year old has also made four starts in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2025 and 11-starts on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. Baldwin will be pulling double-duty at Wilkesboro racing for a Championship in SMART and competing in the CARS Tour Pro Late Model race for Rick Ware Racing.

RYAN NEWMAN

The 2008 Daytona 500 winner enters the championship finale with a shot at the big-trophy for the second straight year. Newman has wheeled his Randy Renfrow owned, Shiti Coolers No. 2 to three victories on the tour this season. Newman is known most for his 18 NASCAR Cup Series wins, but championships have been harder to come by.  He is a 1999 USAC Silver Crown Series Champion and 2023 SRX Champion. The South Bend, Indiana native, now 47-years old, looks to add his first Modified division Championship to his impressive resume. 

PAULIE HARTWIG III

The 14-year old sensation surprisingly has a wealth of experience behind the wheel of racecars in his young career, ranging from dirt to asphalt. While most expected him to have some success on the SMART Tour during his rookie season, making it the SMART3 has a lot of people in the racing world looking at the talented New Jersey driver. Paulie scored his first ever SMART Mod win at the Hickory Hundred in the spring with a last lap pass beating Luke Baldwin. In 13 races, the Ace in the Hole Landscaping No. 73 has 11 top-ten finishes. While he’s only led 34 laps this season, Hartwig brings confidence to the finale. In August of 2022, an 11-year old Hartwig swept the Crate Modified races at North WIlkesboro’s Race Track Revival weekend becoming the youngest winner in the history of the track. 

Watch It Live On FloRacing

The SMART Modified Tour season comes to an end with the Frontier Natural Gas 99 at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Practice and Qualifying are set for Friday October 17th with the Championship finale being run on Saturday October 18th. The event also has the zMAX CARS Tour Late Model Stock and CARS Tour Pro Late Model Championship finales on the card. All SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic and zMAX CARS Tour races are broadcast live on FloRacing. 

SMART Modified Tour Entry List For North Wilkesboro

01 Melissa Fifield Huntersville, NC

02 Joey Coulter IV Lake Alfred, FL

04 Brandon Ward Winston-Salem, NC

09 Christopher Hatton New Smyrna Beach, FL

1 Burt Myers Kernersville, NC

2 Ryan Newman Statesville, NC

4 Slate Myers (R) Kernersville, NC

5 Tom Buzze Mooresville, NC

7 NY Jack Baldwin (R) Mooresville, NC

7 VA Luke Baldwin Mooresville, NC 

11 Norman Newman Ontario, CANADA

12NC Jake Crum Hiddenite, NC

12PA Anthony Bello Newtown, CT

15 Carson Loftin Clemmons, NC

16 VA Jonathan Cash Oxford, NC

18 Daniel Yates Lexington, NC

20 Eddie McCarthy Brick, NJ

21 Jimmy Wallace Lexington, NC

22 Jason Tutterow Advance, NC

33 Carsten DiGiantomasso Jackson, NJ

38 Bobby Labonte Corpus Christi, TX

39 Cayden Lapcevich Mooresville, NC

40 Carter McMurray (R) Mooresville, NC

55 Jeremy Gerstner Wesley Chapel, FL

65 Danny Bohn Rockwell, NC

73 Paulie Hartwig, III (R) Galloway, NJ

77NY William Lambros Northport, NY

79 Joey Braun (R) Manorville, NY

92 Brody Jones Winston-Salem, NC

98 Landon Huffman Claremont, NC

99 Bryce Bailey Waverly, NY