The racing season has yet to conclude and already silly season for the CARS Tour is under way with the first domino falling on Thursday afternoon as Landon Huffman announced that he will not be back with the Nelson Motorsports team in 2024.

Huffman announced the news on social media site “X” (formerly Twitter), explaining that the team informed him that the seat will now belong to a “paying driver.”

“I’ve been informed by Nelson Motorsports that I will not be returning to the #22 car in 2024 as the ride has been sold to a paying driver,” Huffman said in a statement. “This came as a shock, and I am disappointed in the result. However I am very thankful for the opportunity to compete in the CARS Tour and NASCAR regional ranks at a high level.”

Official statement regarding 2024.

Thank you everyone for the continued support during the 2023 season🙏🏻

See you at @SoBoSpeedway57 this weekend. pic.twitter.com/R74AP2pHjH

— Landon Huffman (@LandonHuffman) October 5, 2023

Huffman took over the ride in early May. Cale Gale started the season as the driver of the No. 22, but poor performances in the early part of the season resulted in a change to Huffman. 

In the first few CARS Tour races after taking over, Huffman and the team struggled to find speed, but that changed at the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 at South Boston Speedway. Huffman finished third on track before the team was disqualified for an infraction found in post-race technical inspection.

After that, the team had a lot of speed and success, which culminated in the $30,000 victory in the CARS Tour Old North State Nationals at Tri-County Motor Speedway in August. That win ended a winless drought that dated back to October of 2021 for Nelson Motorsports.

In their most recent race just a couple weeks ago, Huffman and the Nelson Motorsports team then qualified second for the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway and finished second to Trevor Ward by barely a foot in a photo-finish for the ages. 

Huffman said in his statement that the current plan is to finish out the CARS Tour season in the Nelson Motorsports No. 22. Their next race is this Saturday at South Boston Speedway, before going back to Tri-County on October 21, and then to Caraway Speedway for the season finale on November 4.

He added that he is open to all opportunities for next season.

“As for 2024, I am open to all opportunities,” said Huffman. “We are currently searching for partners to potentially run my own equipment on the tour alongside our current partners, but all opportunities are on the table right now.”

Huffman currently is 13th in the points standings heading into Saturday’s race at South Boston Speedway.

Race fans can watch the CARS Tour doubleheader for the Late Model Stock Cars and Pro Late Models from South Boston Speedway live on FloRacing with a FloRacing subscription. Fans can subscribe to FloRacing by clicking here.