The zMAX CARS Tour is just days away from kicking off the tour's 11th season for the Late Model Stock Car division, which has been a CARS Tour mainstay since the Tour began in March of 2015. But even though that division has been a mainstay, there’s been plenty of change within that division throughout its history. And this year is no exception, so we figured it would be smart to take a look at who is expected to be competing full-time in 2025 to give you race fans a bit of a refresher before Saturday’s season-opener at New River All-American Speedway.

First, let’s take a look at the list of drivers and teams that we expect will be competing in all or almost all of the 15 events on the schedule.

2025 CARS Tour Full-Time Drivers And Teams (Tentative)

As you can see just by looking at that list, there’s been plenty of change over this offseason. Fan favorites like reigning champion Brenden “Butterbean” Queen and two-time champion Carson Kvapil have moved on to race in different series, while other favorites like Bobby McCarty and Deac McCaskill are scaling back their efforts to partial calendars. 

So, let’s start with the teams that have claimed the last three CARS Tour LMSC championships and then go from there.

While Butterbean may have moved on, his legacy at Lee Pulliam Performance lives on. And so does his car number. The 03 will stay on the doors and roof of a LPP car that this year will be piloted by Jackson, Georgia’s Lanie Buice. When the 20-year-old Buice takes the green flag on Saturday it will be just her third start for LPP. She’s made two prior appearances with Lee Pulliam Performance in last fall’s South Carolina 400 at Florence Motor Speedway, and this February’s Icebreaker also at Florence where she finished on the podium. 

Different from last year for LPP is that they will have two full-time cars with a full-time driver in each car. In 2024, the second LPP car was a revolving door of Toyota Racing Development drivers like Isabella Robusto, Gavan Boschele, Gio Ruggiero, and even Corey Heim behind the wheel of the No. 55 car. But this year the car has been renumbered to No. 88, and it will have Doug Barnes Jr. piloting it. The Maryland native nicknamed “Air Doug” has made five CARS Tour starts, but 2025 will be the first time that the 2023 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series National Championship runner-up will be competing for the CARS Tour championship.

Much like LPP, JR Motorsports has a new driver for 2025, and this combo had a lot of people claiming “championship favorites” when it was announced. Last year’s runner-up in the championship battle, Connor Hall, departed Nelson Motorsports for JRM at the end of last year’s CARS Tour season. Hall takes over the seat from two-time CARS Tour champion, Carson Kvapil and will work with veteran crew chief Bryan Shaffer to bring JRM their fourth CARS Tour title. Hall is now a two-time NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national champion and a five-time CARS Tour winner. 

Hall’s shift to JR Motorsports meant there was an empty seat in the Nelson Motorsports No. 22 that needed filling, and that seat went to a driver that many were not expecting. It went to 16-year-old Modified hotshoe, Carson Loftin. Loftin finished second in SMART Modified Tour points in 2024 while scoring the most wins of any driver last year with five victories. Loftin made his debut behind the wheel of Barry Nelson’s iconic No. 22 in November’s South Carolina 400. He came from the last chance race to finish fifth in his first ever LMSC start. 

Another big change heading into this season came at Kevin Harvick Inc. Last year’s Rookie of the Year and winner of three races, Brent Crews, has departed the team to go racing in the ARCA Menards Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Filling his vacancy is Landen Lewis, who will turn 19 years old between the time this article is published and Saturday’s season-opener. Lewis, a native of Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, ran part-time for KHI in 2024 while serving as a mechanic on Crews’ car. But even with running a partial schedule, Lewis was still able to score his first CARS Tour victory last season at Wake County Speedway, as well as win the pole in his very first CARS Tour start at Hickory Motor Speedway last Spring.

Fulford, Texas’ Kade Brown is back for his second full CARS Tour season, but he’ll do it with a different team this year as well. Brown had been racing for Matt Piercy the last few seasons, and that partnership resulted in track championships at Florence and Hickory, as well as the 2023 South Carolina 400 victory. But, their foray into CARS Tour competition last season didn’t go as planned with Brown finishing 12th in points. Last fall Brown announced that he’d be moving to R&S Race Cars to drive their house car in 2025 in pursuit of a CARS Tour title and the Virginia Triple Crown championship. Brown will pilot the No. 4 for the team. 

Other changes heading into this season include 2023 CARS Tour Most Popular Driver and Old North State Nationals champion Landon Huffman piloting the No. 57 for Carroll Speedshop full time, as well as Aaron Donnelly taking over the No. 71 for Hettinger Racing. Parker Eatmon will drive the No. 4 machine for Mike Darne Racing and Donovan Strauss will join the CARS Tour full-time this year as well, though his plans have recently changed as he just announced his departure from AK Performance with the caveat that he will announce his new team in the coming days.

Now that you’re all caught up on all of the driver and team changes this offseason, it’s time to kick back and relax and turn on FloRacing on Saturday, March 1 to watch the CARS Tour get their 2025 season underway at Jacksonsville, North Carolina’s New River All-American Speedway.

For the third year in a row, FloRacing will be the broadcast home to every single CARS Tour event. All FloRacing subscribers will have access to the entire CARS Tour season. Fans can subscribe to FloRacing by clicking here.