Saturday’s finish to the Late Model Stock Car portion of the CARS Tour “Throwback 276” has been debated every which way possible, but after looking at as much video as possible CARS Tour officials have now made the results official. 

Ronnie Bassett Jr. is officially the winner following the last-corner contact between Ryan Millington and Connor Hall that saw Millington get penalized. But the bigger news item that is now confirmed is Connor Hall’s finishing position. The CARS Tour points leader is being scored with a third-place result with all said and done.

There was much confusion at the end of the night with Hall’s finishing position. Initially he was not on the podium, but then he was instructed to head to the frontstretch for post-race interviews as the third-place finisher. Then, following length discussions involving Hall, car owner Barry Nelson, CARS Tour co-owner Kevin Harvick, and CARS Tour Executive Director Kip Childress, Hall was informed that he would be scored in the 13th position due to being the reason the last-lap caution flag was thrown. 

But now after two days of deliberating all available evidence, that position has been overturned. CARS Tour officials made their results from Hickory official on Tuesday afternoon with Hall put back to the third-place finishing position. 

"We wanted to take the time to make sure that we were making a decision based on the ruling of our rulebook," said CARS Tour Executive Director, Kip Childress told FloRacing on Tuesday afternoon. "We feel that by virtue of what the rulebook said, Connor being placed in the third position is the appropriate call. We feel like based on the wording of the book that we’ve made the correct decision.”

FloRacing caught up with Connor Hall shortly after the results were officially made public and Hall said he was satisfied with the ruling.

“Our argument was that I crossed the line before the yellow was displayed,” Hall said. “After reviewing the footage, that was deemed correct. So, hat’s off to the CARS Tour for taking the time to hear all sides out and make a decision based upon due diligence.”

Meanwhile, Bassett scored an emotional victory on Saturday night by being in the right place at the right time. Bassett ran in the top three for most of the 125-lap race, following closely behind leader Millington for a majority of it before dropping to third late. However, third place proved to be the right place to be in when Millington got into the back of Hall in the final corner, turning Hall around. Bassett drove by the stationary Hall car to take second and eventually the victory when Millington was penalized. Millington was scored in 14th, last car on the lead lap.

Watch: Ronnie Bassett Jr. Reacts After First CARS Tour Victory

This win had been in the making for a long time for Bassett and his family-owned team. His time with the CARS Tour has been that of a thrilling rollercoaster ride. High peaks, but also plenty of valleys, the lowest of which came back in June when he failed to qualify on speed at Dominion Raceway and missed the race. 

Moving into second place behind Bassett is three-time CARS Tour champion, Bobby McCarty. McCarty battled with Kade Brown for much of the race before finally getting by late. Brown ended up fourth with Brenden Queen rounding out the top five. 

Treyten Lapcevich, Mini Tyrrell, Connor Zilisch, Josh Berry, and Katie Hettinger completed the top 10.

Hall entered Hickory with a nine-point lead over rookie Brent Crews and 24 points over Brenden Queen. Now with Hall’s third-place finish official, Hall now has begun to put a bit of a stranglehold on the points standings. Hall now leads Crews by 28 points after Crews finished 19th due to engine issues in the closing laps, and also leads Queen by 29 points after Queen’s fifth-place finish.

The CARS Tour will be back in action this Saturday, August 3 at the historic North Wilkesboro Speedway for their rescheduled doubleheader after getting rained out back in May. Race fans can watch live on FloRacing. Fans can subscribe to FloRacing by clicking here.

CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car At Hickory Official Results