Already four days since the last CARS Tour race, and controversy still hangs in the air. The Window World 125 was a thrilling one, as a Canadian rookie waded through chaos to cross the finish line in the end. However, even as Treyten Lapcevich basked in his newfound glory, Dale Earnhardt Jr.‘s series took it away.

What followed? The young speedster took to social media to challenge the ruling.

Hence, a lengthy debate erupted over the decision to strip the win, as it echoed some questionable rulings made in the CARS Tour in the recent past. Even some NASCAR Cup rulings were under the radar recently. However, even though Dale Earnhardt Jr. reacted neutrally to the situation, Lapcevich’s simmering mood has not calmed down.

Treyten Lapcevich’s dilemma stemmed from his No. 77 vehicle as the Chad Bryant Racing ride was discovered to be carrying an illegal rear-end housing. Canceling all the doubts around the ruling, Dale Jr. even called it a “pretty much black and white” rule. This prompted CARS Tour officials to invalidate Lapcevich’s win and hand it to runner-up Corey Heim. After team owner Chad Bryant was suspiciously barred from Victory Lane, the team and Lapcevich believed some foul play was afoot, and challenged the series, and it looks like the driver’s mood has not softened since.

Ahead of the UARA National Series Battle at Berlin 250, Lapcevich was trying to shift his mood. He turned in a lap time of 16.853 seconds for a 28th-place qualifying spot. Although the Canadian racer was clearly diverting his attention to this race, he chose to offer a one-word label for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s series.

Lapcevich took to X and wrote, “Thank you everyone for the massive amount of support in the last 24 hours. There’s still a lot to come out, but I will say – if it smells fishy, that’s because it is. Putting that aside, it’s time to go after $40k tonight at Berlin! Been struggling a little, but a long 250 laps!”

Venturing into American motorsports for the first time, Lapcevich’s frustrations are justified. He was the fourth driver in the last two seasons to have a win taken away. Two races ago in Hickory, Ryan Millington lost his glory apparently due to rough driving. The same reason also stripped Gavan Boschele of his win last fall at Tri-County Motor Speedway. Then in July 2023, Layne Riggs and his Kevin Harvick Inc. team were disqualified days after the race at Caraway Speedway for a post-race technical infraction.

But upon hearing about Lapcevich’s controversy, Dale Earnhardt Jr. chose to be pragmatic. He explained that since he, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, and Justin Marks bought the CARS Tour, ownership has stepped up. It introduced several changes to the rule book and the way the CARS Tour operates to “eliminate or alleviate hassle or unnecessary hassle.” Although Dale Jr. has already defended the CARS Tour ruling, he did empathize with Treyten Lapcevich.

The penalty was not their fault

Besides the 2023 title, Treyten Lapcevich owns a total of 9 wins in the Canadian series. Those came in a variety of circuits, including road courses and short tracks similar to the ones he is currently tackling in the CARS Tour. So Dale Earnhardt Jr. does not doubt his prowess. The 20-year-old driver is indeed a motorsports icon in the making, and Junior felt grateful for having him in the series. He also commended Chad Bryant’s team, saying “he’s put some awesome cars out on the race track for a lot of really cool race car drivers.”

Overall, Dale Earnhardt Jr. did empathize with Lapcevich’s situation, shaving off any blame from his team’s side. “I think that Chad Bryant and his team weren’t trying to obviously come in and cheat. They read this rule or interpreted this rule a certain way. And when you see it in the rulebook, it’s pretty clear what you’re expected to do. Knowing Chad and his team, I don’t think that they came in going, ‘Oh, we’re going to sneak this under the radar and nobody is going to know,’ and so, I don’t want to pile on too much. Because they’re a valuable asset to this series. All of our teams are. And so, Treyten is a great little race car driver, and the series, the CARS Tour Series is I hope just a part of his journey into the NASCAR top three series.”

Yet even as Dale Jr. tries to level the situation with words of wisdom, Lapcevich may need time to accept his fate. As even Berlin couldn’t be his redemption. The UARA National Series Battle at Berlin is in the books, and Carson Hocevar has nabbed the checkered flag!

Hocevar roared to victory at the Berlin 250, outmaneuvering NASCAR Cup Series star Erik Jones and Super Late Model ace Bubba Pollard in an electrifying showdown. The race was a high-octane spectacle, and Treyten Lapcevich could only manage a P10 finish behind the likes of Brian Campbell, Jeremy Doss, and Chase Burda.