One of the most successful teams in the zMAX CARS Tour is teaming up with one of the sport’s bright young stars. 16-year old open-wheel Modified standout Carson Loftin will pilot the No. 22 Nelson Motorsports Toyota full-time in 2025.

Loftin, a five-time winner on the SMART Modified Tour during his sophomore campaign in 2024, will make his debut in a Late Model Stock Car testing over the next couple of weeks, for the South Carolina 400 at Florence Motor Speedway in Florence, South Carolina on November 23rd. The third-generation racer from Clemmons, NC, will race full-time in Nelson’s iconic No. 22 Late Model Stock Car, competing for Rookie of the Year honors, and the CARS Tour championship. Loftin and the team will also race in the three Late Model Stock Car events that make up the popular Virginia Triple Crown at South Boston Speedway, Langley Speedway, and Martinsville Speedway.

Excited to announce I will be driving the @AutosbyNelson1 #22 for @TeamNelson22 on the @CARSTour in 2025! Super thankful for Barry, my family, and the whole Nelson Motorsports team for giving me this opportunity. Bring on 2025! #22in25 pic.twitter.com/Pch2Gxctgu

— Carson Loftin (@CarsonLoftin) November 1, 2024

“I’m super excited about announcing that I’ll be driving the AutosByNelson.com 22 next year on the CARS Tour and the Virginia Triple Crown,” said Loftin. “It’s going to be a great time. I can’t thank Barry Nelson and his team enough for being welcoming and giving me this opportunity. The goal is to make the most of it and make them proud. I’m looking forward to getting to work with this group.”

Barry Nelson’s track record in developing stars and fielding a successful team is widely known throughout the industry.  He’s excited about helping the talented Loftin in his first foray into Late Model racing. 

“I’m excited, but really I’m excited for this young man the most,” said Nelson. “It’s going to be a good opportunity for him to showcase his talent. I told him, his father, and his grandparents this morning that Carson’s going to be my David. They said ‘David?’ I said he’s going to be my David vs. Goliath. All I am going to do is make sure to give him a slick stone.” 

Carson Loftin (left) will race for Barry Nelson (right) with the CARS Tour in 2025 and chase the Virginia Triple Crown.

In only his second season driving a high-horsepower Tour-Type Modified, Loftin scored a SMART Modified Tour-leading five wins, including three straight on the way to a second-place finish in the SMART Modified Tour championship standings. Loftin knows that the first hurdle he will face early on is getting accustomed to racing in a fendered stock car.

“The biggest challenge I will have is adapting from a Modified to a Late Model,” admits Loftin. “There is less grip and less horsepower so more momentum in the corners. There are a lot of challenges, but with the people surrounding me, that gives me confidence.”

“I think the speed will be there,” said Nelson, “Especially coming from a Modified with such power.  The only thing that I see is he’s going to have to adjust with the Late Model having far less brakes. Him being able to bump and grind with the guys will be another learning curve for him. I told the guys what we have to do is build him a car fast enough they can’t get to him.

“We are going to get him seat time as quickly as possible and take him testing. We are going to try and run Carson at the South Carolina 400. The best test is a race. They poured the seat for him today and he’s going to come spend some time at the shop and we will get to work. I want to get him in the car as fast as I can.”

The most recent driver for Nelson Motorsports, Connor Hall, finished second in CARS Tour points last season with a win at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Virginia. Hall also won the opening round event of the Virginia Triple Crown, the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 at South Boston Speedway, in June. Hall has announced that he has moved to Jr Motorsports for the 2025 season. In 2023, Landon Huffman drove the Nelson mount to a $30,000 win in the Old North State Nationals at North Carolina’s Tri-County Speedway. Bobby McCarty won the CARS Tour Championship three times in the Nelson Motorsports ride, including a Virginia Triple Crown championship in 2021. Other drivers who have piloted cars for the team since its inception in 2013 are Kaden Honeycutt, Jonathan Shafer, Timothy Peters, Brandon Pierce, Sammy Smith and Ty Gibbs.

“It goes back to my days coaching baseball I guess,” explained Nelson. “I want these kids to succeed. I’m not bragging but I have probably put more young men up into the next level of the sport in that series. That’s what I told Carson is that we want him to get in our car and do his thing and we will give him the best car and get him to the next level. That’s just good ol’ coaching.”

Loftin’s tentative debut with Nelson Motorsports will be on November 23rd at Florence Motor Speedway’s South Carolina 400. Race fans can watch the full two-day event live on FloRacing with a FloRacing subscription.