Known for his strong short-track pedigree and loyal fanbase, Landon Huffman left it all on the track and some on the wall en route to a gritty sixth-place finish in the CARS Tour race at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Friday, May 16.
His No. 57 Chevrolet Camaro for Carroll Speedshop crossed the finish line battered and missing a left-side door, but the result was a hard-earned reward for what Huffman called a “wild night.”
Landon Huffman Fights Through To Score a Resilient Top-10
“Holy P6 finish!! Wild night at @NWBSpeedway,” Huffman posted on X after the race, along with a photo of the car missing its left-side door. “Bad a** @CarrollSpeed @IBCIpower @joshcellars #57 all weekend. Driver has to qualify better! Proud of our effort week in and week out. We are right on the edge of doing big things.”
Despite the visible damage to the car, Huffman’s result marked yet another strong showing for the North Carolina native, who continues to balance performance with perseverance as both a driver and ambassador for short-track racing.
In a post-race interview with Frontstretch, Huffman acknowledged that his qualifying miscue put the team on the back foot from the start.
“Considering, I think we definitely should be happy with our night,” Huffman said. “But I had a race car that was really damn good, which I knew yesterday. You know, driver makes a mistake in qualifying, puts us way behind the eight ball. You just can’t do that in this series, especially at a place that’s tough to pass.”
Despite the damage Huffman and his Carroll Speed team delivered, working their way through the field to crack the top 10 and challenge the leaders late, something he was proud of.
“Proud of all our Carroll Speedshop guys. Another solid run. I feel like we’re consistently one of the top three to five cars on speed in the race. I just gotta do a better job of positioning us better, so that I’m not behind the eight ball from the beginning,” added Huffman.
For Huffman, a fan-favorite in the CARS Tour and a second-generation racer from Hickory, moments like these serve as proof that his small team is capable of big things. Even if sometimes the car doesn’t finish with all the parts it started with.
“We’re getting better. We just got to keep knocking these bugs out, and we’ll, I think, be in victory lane hopefully soon,” expressed Huffman.
