Loftin Wins Dramatic CARS LMSC Contest at Anderson; Monahan Dominates PLM

Carson Loftin scored his first career zMAX CARS Tour Late Model Stock win in a dramatic three-way battle for the win ahead of Conner Jones and Chase Burgeson on Saturday at Anderson Motor Speedway.

It appeared Burgeson would be the first-time winner for the Late Model Stocks, leading late in the race in his Lee Pulliam Performance No. 22 entry while Loftin and Jones battled for second. However, an issue on the right-front of Burgeson's machine slowed his pace, allowing Loftin and Jones to catch up to him.

Jones, running second at the time, moved to Burgeson's outside, while Loftin muscled his way to the inside as the battle for the win picked up with two laps to go. In the final corner, Loftin pulled away from the three-wide battle to snag the victory.

Loftin bounced back from a one-row penalty for jumping a restart earlier in the race for the win, a milestone achievement for the eight-time race winner on the SMART Modified Tour.

"A lot of people gave up on me in my Late Model career," said Loftin. "The best decision I ever made is drive for Mike Darne. He gave me a really good opportunity here. We have a really good race car everywhere we go, and have just had no results. I was leading the race there. I don't know how I really jumped the start from the lead, I was in the box. It is what it is. I knew I had to capitalize on it.

"The 22 had the best car at the end. I don't know what happened to him. I think he had a flat, but I knew I saw the chance, I had to take advantage of it. You don't really know how many shots you have to win one of these CARS Tour races. It's really special."

Loftin was as surprised as anyone to have a shot at the win late in the race but knew he had to capitalize on the opportunity.

"I didn't really think I'd have a shot at it. I saw the 22 sparking and the 44 to the top. I don't really know, I'll have to go back and look at it. It was kind of a chain reaction. Luckily, I made the most of it and won the race. Just super thankful."

Jones finished second, balancing the excitement of the late-race battle with the disappointment of his fourth runner-up finish of the 2026 CARS Tour season across both divisions.

"It was hard, for sure," Jones said. "The 22 had it until he blew a right-front. Ultimately, I guess I just made the wrong decision going top. It was really the only place my car would rotate at the end there. I was running up there to build momentum and keep it going on the top. If I went to the bottom, I would lose all my momentum in the center.

"It's a mix of it all. It was a fun battle between me, Ferguson and Carson, but it's frustrating. We've had a bunch of seconds."

Burgeson salvaged a third-place finish in spite of his issues in just his second CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car start. He took the disappointment in stride despite the heartbreak of coming so close to a career-defining victory.

"This is the second time we've gone out to race the Late Model Stock race in the CARS Tour, and we made one hell of a statement, I'd like to say," Burgeson said. "I can't thank everyone enough. They gave me one hell of a car from yesterday. We weren't even supposed to be here until last week when we won at Tri-County with a bet with Lee [Pulliam].

"To be two laps short and have the right-front break it for you, it is the hardest, most difficult loss I've ever had in racing. I'm sure I made all my sponsors proud, the people that support me. I can't thank everyone enough that puts a hand on this race car."

Treyten Lapcevich finished fourth, with Caden Kvapil rounding out the top five.

In the Pro Late Models, Brody Monahan led all 100 laps to score his first career CARS Tour Pro Late Model victory.

The victory was an emotional one for Monahan, who has experienced a roller coaster season in 2026. After scoring a victory during the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna, Monahan has made every CARS Tour Pro Late Model event this season almost by mistake.

That perseverance paid off with a dominant victory on Saturday at Anderson.

"I didn't even have any intention of running any CARS races this year," said Monahan in victory lane. "I was going to hang it up after New Smyrna. We've just been coming out here by circumstance and running every race, and we've been getting better and better. There are so many people to thank. I'm super relieved to get a win.

"I've got one of the best teams here. The newly established, I guess you could say, Monahan Motorsports with Scott [Anderson], I mean, he just does a phenomenal job in the shop and at the racetrack, just bringing the best car he can. It was on kill mode all day today and yesterday."

Conner Jones also finished second in the Pro Late Model feature, helping him close the gap on Mason Walters in the CARS Tour Pro Late Model championship fight. Jones acknowledged that his best chance to fight Monahan for a win would have to come on a late-race restart.

"We struggled mainly right down here into one over the bump," said Jones. "Once I figured it out how to straddle it and stuff, it came to me. We were tight in the center. We definitely weren't as good as he was, but I was trying to make it all on the restart. Once we got layered out like that, I just fell back and rode."

T.J. DeCaire, coming off a win at Hickory Motor Speedway in the Throwback Classic, finished third. DeCaire struggled to adapt to a slicker race track on Saturday after dialing in during testing at Anderson on Friday.

"I think the track changing kind of affected all of us," DeCaire said. "We practiced yesterday, and I was content with it. I was really, really happy with it. Today was just a brand-new surface, and it was a lot greasier than I thought it would be. I don't think I did my job, I was hanging on to the car the first half of the race, and I think that cost us a good finish."

Walters finished fourth, with Jimmy Renfrew, Jr. rounding out the top five.

Another South Carolina facility, Florence Motor Speedway, is the next stop for the zMAX CARS Tour. The series heads to Florence on Friday, September 4 during the Labor Day Weekend festivities leading up to the Southern 500 at nearby Darlington Raceway on Sunday, September 6.

-Photo credit: CARS Tour

Bennett Equipment 225 Unofficial Results

Late Model Stock Cars

Pro Late Models