Lee Pulliam Performance has found its driver for the 2026 zMAX CARS Tour season, as well as some of the bigger Late Model Stock Car races on the calendar. 17-year-old Carson Brown will pilot the No. 5 machine out of the Alton, Virginia stables in pursuit of the zMAX CARS Tour championship.

Brown, who recently signed a development contract with Richard Childress Racing, has spent the last couple of seasons running Super and Pro Late Model races with Anthony Campi Racing, plus some of the bigger Dirt Late Model events. Now he’ll add Late Model Stock Car racing to his resume with LPP, a team that is quite familiar with CARS Tour success.

Brown will drive the GBS Corp, Ebb Logistics, JStar Capital Investments No. 5 Chevrolet for Lee Pulliam Performance. Teddy Musgrave Jr. has been named the crew chief of the car with Pulliam, a four-time NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national champion, serving as driver coach in addition to team owner. Their 2026 season will kick off at Florence Motor Speedway in February at the annual Icebreaker.

The New London, North Carolina native told FloRacing that running Late Model Stock Cars will help him as he begins to work his way up stock car racing’s ladder towards NASCAR.

“Supers are high horsepower, light and agile race cars,” explained Brown. “Late Model Stock Car racing will add another element to my development that’s at the other end of the spectrum of stock cars. This all helps to prepare me for the next steps in racing.”

Brown said that signing with Lee Pulliam Performance, who won the 2024 CARS Tour championship with Brenden “Butterbean” Queen and was also instrumental in the development of 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Corey Heim, was an easy decision to make.

“Lee is a phenomenal guy on and off the race track,” said Brown. “He’s an incredible driver and mentor that I know I will learn a lot from. He runs a great Late Model Stock program and I am fortunate to be able to become a part of it for the 2026 season. It also doesn’t hurt that we both share a love for hunting when we aren’t racing.”

Pulliam, who has 11 CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car victories between his own as a driver and as an owner with Heim, Queen, and Brandon Pierce, shared similar sentiments about the teenaged Brown.

“When we had the opportunity to meet Carson and get to know him, we knew he would be a great fit here at LPP. His demeanor off the track and his ability on the track is something any car owner would love to have.”

Brown and Pulliam quickly found success together as they won the pole for last November’s South Carolina 400 at Florence Motor Speedway. They went on to finish 12th that night. 

Carson Brown finished 12th in the 2025 South Carolina 400 at Florence in his first start with Lee Pulliam Performance.

“To have started our first event with a pole in a marquee event and to run top five for most of the event says a lot about Carson’s ability to adapt quickly,” Pulliam said. “I feel like he and crew chief Teddy Musgrave Jr. are going to be a threat each and every week. I’m looking forward to helping mold him into a better overall driver and just continue his development process.”

The driver coaching aspect of this partnership is what Brown said he is most excited about. He explained that he’s seen the drivers that had success under Pulliam go on to have success at higher levels of the sport, like Heim and Queen who each won championships in 2025 between the Craftsman Truck Series and ARCA Menards Series, and he wants to be the next driver to be in that same class.

“It means a lot to me to be able to work with Lee and I’m proud that he trusts me to pilot his number five,” Brown said. “He has a great history of mentoring drivers like Corey Heim and Butterbean. Even in a short time with him in Florence I felt like we worked well together. Communication and understanding of each other is crucial to a winning team. We got better with each lap, and I look forward to continuing that momentum in 2026. It’s going to be a fun season.”

Should everything go right, both Brown and Pulliam believe that Brown will be a contender for the 2026 zMAX CARS Tour championship and will be fighting for plenty of victories.

“We know it’s not an easy task in the CARS Tour, but our goal is to run for the championship and visit victory lane. We know we have the equipment and people to do just that and put all the pieces in the right places. I think we both realize how special the CARS Tour is right now, and the amount of work it will take to be successful in it. Victory lane will be the goal, and we hope to just continue to improve and get better each and every week together. It’s going to be a fun season, and I can’t wait to see where we stack up.”

It’s going to be a busy season for Brown as he’ll also be racing in the ARCA Menards Series with Pinnacle Racing Group, as well as continuing to run big Super Late Model races with Anthony Campi Racing. His first Super start of the year was scheduled to be this weekend in Georgia at Cordele Motor Speedway’s SpeedFest, but that event has been postponed due to the impending winter storm. When time allows he will continue to race sporadically on dirt. 

“I’ll take all the seat time I can get, whatever car or surface,” said Brown.

Race fans can watch the entire 2026 zMAX CARS Tour season live on FloRacing with a FloRacing subscription. Fans can subscribe to FloRacing by clicking here.