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By Ronald Young
Photo: NWB Speedway
The 2025 season titles and a trip to victory lane will be on the line this Saturday October 18th as the SMART Modified Tour and the Zmax CARS Tour wrap up their seasons at the historic North Wilkesboro Speedway.
For the modified racers their Chase comes down to these SMART 3 drivers: Luke Baldwin who has led the points all year. NASCAR veteran Ryan Newman or New Jersey youngster Paulie Hartwig III. Which ever of the 3 finishes ahead of the other two will claim the 2025 title.
Luke Baldwin currently leads the SMART Tour with 3 wins and 11 top-10 finishes. He has shown speed and consistency all season and has only one finish outside the top 20.
Former NASCAR Cup star Ryan Newman also has 3 wins on the season and has been near the front most races. The crafty veteran hopes to capture his first modified title ever from the two youngsters after coming up short last year.
Paulie Hartwig III is going for his first title on the SMART Tour and probably has to be considered the underdog. Hartwig III picked up a win earlier this season at Hickory Motor Speedway after passing Baldwin late in the race. He has two wins in the Crate Modifieds at Wilkesboro in 2022 at age 11- which should help his confidence
Don’t be surprised to see some other drama play out this week amongst other drivers as they battle for the win and a ride on the lift to victory lane.
Last Saturday at Tri-County Speedway the race for the win came down to a battle between Carson Loftin and Burt Myers. The drivers made contact a couple times in the closing laps before Loftin took the checkered flag. After the race tempers flared in a heated exchange between the crews and ended with a protest of the winning car’s engine. On Monday, SMART Modified Tour officials confirmed Loftin as the winner
In addition to the 99-lap modified race, the Cars Tour Late Model( 125 Laps) and Pro Late Model (100 Laps) drivers will do battle to determine their champions.
Landon Lewis holds a 12 point lead over Connor Hall heading into the race on Saturday. Lewis picked up the win earlier this year at Wilkesboro in his Kevin Harvick owned car and heads into this race with a ton of confidence.
Hall in his first season driving for JRM has been in title fights on the CARS Tour before along with claiming the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts National title. So he feels good about his chances for the race win and hopes to make up enough points on Lewis to claim a championship in the 125-lap race nightcap.
Ben Maier has basically clinched the Pro Late Model title by starting the 100- lap race. Maier hopes to capture his 1st win to cap off the season.
A lot of the attention in this race will center around the battle between the Harvick’s. Father Kevin and son Keelan Harvick will both be competing.
The Pro Late Models will go green at 1:30PM with the Northwest Automotive 100 and the Super Late Models roll off at 5:00 with the Crossroads Harley Davidson 125. Sandwiched between the two races the SMART Modified Tour finishes its season with the Frontier Natural Gas 99.
