Landon Huffman announced Thursday morning that he will be back with Carroll Speedshop for a second consecutive zMAX CARS Tour season. Huffman will continue to pilot the No. 57 for the Concord, North Carolina-based Late Model Stock Car team where he will be teammates with Conner Jones in 2026.

The Claremont, North Carolina native went winless in 2025, but finished fourth in points with four top five finishes and eight top 10 finishes. His best finish came at Anderson Motor Speedway where he finished second.

The reigning Most Popular Driver of the CARS Tour will be behind the wheel of the Carroll Speedshop No. 57 this year for the full CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car season, all three races of the Virginia Triple Crown, and select races with the new IHRA Stock Car Series. IBCI will sponsor Huffman in this weekend’s Icebreaker at Florence Motor Speedway, as well as other races throughout the season. Huffman said he will announce additional partners for his 2026 season in the coming weeks.

Huffman told FloRacing that the goal for 2026 is simple. He wants to win. He wants to win a lot. And he wants to win a championship.

“The expectation is to win,” said Huffman. I want to continue the momentum we ended 2025 with, and continue to grow as a unit. Last year was very much a rebuilding year for us.”

Huffman joined the race team owned by former CARS Tour driver Justin Carroll midway through the 2024 season. Together they ran four races in 2024. They finished 11th at Hickory in their debut, 13th at North Wilkesboro in the summer, 15th at North Wilkesboro in the season finale, and ninth at Wake County.

In 2025, things started off pretty similar to how they ended in 2024. Huffman finished 15th in the season-opener at what is now Coastal Plains Raceway. Then he finished 12th at Wake County.

But after that, Huffman and his race team found their footing in a big way. They rattled off four consecutive top 10 finishes, including two top fives at Cordele Motor Speedway and Ace Speedway. Huffman’s third-place finish at Cordele was his first CARS Tour podium since the 2023 season finale.

With a full season together under their belt, now Huffman and his Carroll Speedshop team can also look forward to individual races on the calendar. Beyond the Hickory Motor Speedway and Tri-County Speedways of the world where Huffman has won track championships, he said he’s most looking forward to the CARS Tour’s two trips to the Volunteer State.

“I can’t wait for Newport and Nashville,” said Huffman. “I was able to race at Newport for their Ted Caldwell Memorial and the re-opening of the track early last year, and I just fell in love with the place. It has high banks, tight quarters. It felt very old-school 1980’s short track racing to me. It’s right on the home area of my partners at Sugarlands Distillery, so I’m excited to do something cool with them there.

“And Nashville just speaks for itself. The Fairgrounds has tons of history in addition to being an awesome race track. And you get a bad ass guitar. I don’t play instruments, but I’ll gladly pick that thing up for some pictures.”

But overall, Huffman said it doesn’t matter where they’re racing. He just wants to win. 

“We accomplished our primary goal last year, and that was to return Carroll Speedshop back to a front-running program. But we failed at finding CARS Tour victory lane. That’s the main goal in 2026.”