The first half of the 2024 CARS Tour season has not been kind to Landon Huffman, and now the reigning CARS Tour Most Popular Driver is stepping back from full-time CARS Tour competition effective immediately. 

Huffman did not make the trip to Langley Speedway over the weekend and then announced on his social media on Monday afternoon that he was changing his plans for the rest of the season, as well as stepping away from the Jimmy Mooring Racing No. 37.

Through five races, Huffman’s best finish was a 15th-place effort at his home race track of Hickory Motor Speedway in April. He’s posted finishes of 15th, 24th (New River All-American Speedway), 29th (Orange County Speedway), 16th (Ace Speedway), and 25th (Tri-County Speedway), with a total of 33 laps led at New River. 

Huffman’s CARS Tour journey began in earnest when he took over the Nelson Motorsports No. 22 ride from Cale Gale early in the 2023 season. Huffman and Nelson Motorsports went on to win the $30,000 “Old North State Nationals” at Tri-County last summer with the CARS Tour and then barely missed out on winning the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 by just a few feet at Martinsville Speedway last fall. Soon after the race at Martinsville, Huffman was informed that he would not be driving the No. 22 in 2024.

Over the offseason, Huffman announced that he had teamed up with Jimmy Mooring Racing to drive a second car out of their stable. Huffman would prepare and maintain the cars under the JMR banner with the goal of competing for the CARS Tour championship.

That goal quickly became unreachable after Huffman and the team failed to qualify for the season-opener at Southern National Motorsports Park in Kenly, North Carolina back in March. 

From that point forward, 2024 has been a rollercoaster ride for Huffman, only the rollercoaster is still on its downward plunge with no indication of leveling out any time soon. It became obvious that a change had to be made, and now here it is.

Huffman said in his announcement that he intends to compete at five more CARS Tour races this year including the annual throwback race at Hickory on July 27, the rescheduled Window World 125 at North Wilkesboro Speedway on August 3, Wake County Speedway on August 24, Tri-County Speedway on October 12, and the season-finale at North Wilkesboro Speedway on October 19. 

Huffman will run those five races in his family-owned equipment with the No. 37 on his Huffman Racing cars.

In addition to those five CARS Tour events, Huffman also plans on racing at the weekly level at Hickory Motor Speedway and Tri-County Speedway with the goal of racing for wins again, beginning this weekend at the Jack Ingram Memorial at Hickory live on FloRacing.