CONCORD, N.C. Warmer springtime weather means that the weekly grind of the World of Outlaws Late Models season has arrived.

The season-opening events at Volusia Speedway Park have come and gone, and a pair of weekends at two southeast staples are next on the docket for The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet.

Heres a look at whats coming up:

Smoky Mountain Speedway | Tennessee Tipoff (March 14-15)

Few regions of the country love their dirt Late Models quite like east Tennessee, and the World of Outlaws will kick off the spring slate with a two-night showdown at one of the areas most historic tracks.

Smoky Mountain Speedway has historically been kind to the locals, as Volunteer State drivers Scott Bloomquist, Jimmy Owens and Mike Marlar have combined to win five of the 11 World of Outlaws races in track history.

The trophies that didnt stay on Rocky Top didnt travel far though, as Georgia gassers Shane Clanton, Brandon Overton and Dale McDowell, as well as South Carolinas Chris Madden have all won with the Outlaws in Maryville. If a driver from outside the region takes the checkers this year, they would join 2004 winner Rick Eckert as the only non-southerners to win at Smoky Mountain.

However, this version of Smoky Mountain is very different than the one that welcomed the Outlaws in the past, as the track was shortened from a four-tenths-mile facility to a three-eighths-mile a few months after the series most recent visit in 2022.

Several Outlaws have already found success at Smoky Mountain 2.0. Current points leader Ryan Gustin won a Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series event at the track a year ago, while Overton and Ricky Thornton Jr. stand as the two most recent winners of the Mountain Moonshine Classic held each June.

Swainsboro Raceway | Battle at the Crossroads (March 21-22)

The second of back-to-back events in the southeast will bring the World of Outlaws to Swainsboro Raceway for the first time since 2012.

The 3/8-mile oval in east Georgia was an annual stop for the series in the early 2010s, with Tim McCreadie, Eckert and Madden all picking up wins. The track has hosted plenty of Super Late Model racing in the years since, as the likes of Dennis Erb Jr., Carson Ferguson and Ashton Winger all have Swainsboro victories on their resume.

However, none of them have turned as many laps around Swainsboro over the years as Brandon and Cody Overton. The brothers grew up just over an hour north of the track, and both have made Victory Lane a second home throughout their careers. Brandon has collected four wins with the Southern Nationals Series and one each with Hunt the Front and Crate Racin USA, while Cody has a double-digit win total in a Crate Late Model at Swainsboro.

Kyle Busch narrowly won the race of his life on Sunday afternoon at Texas Circuit of The Americas.

Busch, who entered the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix on a 59-race winless streak, was more than hungry to finally break through.

For much of the 95-lap race, Busch looked to be the driver in control as he led a race-high 42 laps and would see himself filter back to the front of the field despite various strategies playing out.

However, a caution flag with 18 laps to go due to teammate Austin Dillon spinning into a gravel trap would stack the field back up to Busch, who was enjoying an over two-and-a-half-second lead prior.

With Busch not having as fresher tires as his closest competitors behind him in Christopher Bell and William Byron, he was in a vulnerable position.

Despite being at a disadvantage, the driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet held off heated pressure from Bell. That was, until six laps to go when Bell finally found a hole, which allowed the Joe Gibbs Racing driver to drive away.

That was all Buschs car could handle as hed eventually fall to fifth by races end.

That was it on pushing the car, Busch said. We had a really good No. 8 Rebel Bourbon Chevy to be able to push that hard. I just wish that maybe we had equal tires to the No. 20 (Bell). I dont know if that was all the difference. I know he was really fast and he had a good race car.

I feel like that might have been able to help hold me on a little bit better to him, but even that last yellow flag that we had, I felt like the gap that I had to the field, I was far enough out front that I could run the clean lines, the lines that I wanted, to preserve the tires and take care of them as much as I could to see if he could get there.

But once we had that yellow, then it was just defensive mode, Busch continued. Youre in complete and utter just beat the heck out of the tires at that point, and I just didnt have it over the No. 20. Hate it that the contact that we made between two and three ruined our race car too. It bent the right-rear toe link and knocked everything out of it. I just didnt have anything there at the end to compete with those guys.

As disappointed as Busch was, the two-time champion sees a silver lining from the day that he feels can turn into more stellar results as the season progresses.

Randall (Burnett, crew chief) and the guys did a great job adjusting it through practice, qualifying and into the race, and giving me a piece to go out there and do that well, and to get this Rebel Chevrolet up front like we did, Busch said.

Appreciate Zone, Cheddars, Lucas Oil, Chevrolet and everyone at RCR and ECR for a really good piece this weekend.

If we can keep getting top-fives and running in the top-five, the wins will be right there.

On Saturday, Connor Zilisch was enjoying his second career NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Texas Circuit of The Americas.

Less than 24 hours later, the 18-year-olds much-anticipated Cup Series debut came to an early end.

Starting from 14th, the Trackhouse Racing driver ran into trouble on the first lap as he was forced to pit due to a flat right front tire. That pinned the driver of the No. 87 Red Bull Chevrolet deep in the field.

Hed claw his way inside the top 15 by the beginning of stage three. However, Zilischs good fortune came to a crashing halt as he was unable to avoid his spinning teammate, Daniel Suárez as Zilischs No. 87 ricocheted off the No. 99 and into a tire barrier off turn 19.

Hed be unable to continue and finish in last, 37th.

All I saw was a cloud of smoke, and by the time I saw him it was way too late to do anything, Zilisch said. I saw him spinning off to the left and I thought he was going to keep going in that direction or stay there. I guess he flipped back right and he started coming towards me.

Really unfortunate way to end my Cup Series debut. We were one of the top-five fastest cars in the second stage there. I went from outside the top-30 to 14th, and I felt really good about our Chevy.

We made a lot of gains from practice and qualifying. Its just an unfortunate way to end it.

Despite a disappointing result, it was a dream come true for the young driver to get his first taste of Cup Series action.

Ive had so much fun preparing for this event, Zilisch said. That second stage, driving from outside the top-30 to 14th, was a lot of fun. I was passing a lot of guys that I used to watch on TV growing up.

Hopefully Ill get the chance to come back and do this again. I had an absolute blast driving through the field, and I wish it didnt end early.

AUSTIN, Texas Christopher Bell was prophetic.

After winning at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Feb. 23, Bell said 2.4-mile, 17-turn Circuit of Americas was a track he had circled for another potential victory.

Sure enough, after passing Kyle Busch for the lead and staving off defending race winner William Byron over the last five laps at COTA, Bell was a back-to-back winner in the Cup Series for the first time in his career, having claimed victory in Sundays EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix.

Bell beat Byron to the finish line by 0.433 seconds, as the reigning Daytona 500 winner raced Bell cleanly over the closing laps. Pole winner Tyler Reddick was third, followed by Chase Elliott, who made a miraculous recovery from a Lap 1 spin in Turn 1 resulting in a broken toe link.

Busch fell to fifth on the final lap after side-to-side contact with Bells No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota during the battle for the lead which took all the juice out of Buschs No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

The victory was Bells first at the Texas road course and the 11th of his career.

Whenever Kyle was leading, I was just trying to be so cautious, said Bell, who spun Buschs car in Turn 1 in the 2024 race. Obviously, we know what happened last year. I didnt want that to happen. I wanted to pass him clean. He was just doing such a good job at running his race, and he could get off the corners just good enough that I couldnt get inside of him.

But there I started peeking a nose, and he bobbled and allowed me to get out front. Whenever I did, Im, like, Okay, just dont beat yourself. Those were about the five or six sloppiest laps Ive ever run.

Just super proud for everyone on this DeWalt No. 20 team. We didnt count (on) last week. Last week was a speedway. We didnt have that one circled. We definitely had this one circled. Im ready to keep adding to it.

Having pitted two laps earlier than Bell during the final cycle of green-flag stops, Busch, who led a race-high 42 laps, held a 2.6-second margin over Byron and a 4.0-second advantage over Bell on Lap 78 when Denny Hamlin locked his brakes into Turn 6a and knocked Austin Dillons Chevrolet into a gravel trap to cause the third and final caution.

Busch took command on the restart on Lap 83, but Bell had superior tires and an arguably superior car. With a run off Turn 20 on Lap 90, Bell had the lead before the cars reached the start/finish line. At the top of the Hill in Turn 1 on Lap 91, Byron followed into second place, and Reddick soon had third.

Yeah, it was really close, Byron said of his attempt to challenge Bell in the late going. I felt like the battle between (Bell) and Kyle was just kind of sitting there waiting for one of them to bobble or slide their tires. Bell got by him. I felt like once he got clear, his car was super loose, and it kind of gave me a couple of shots at him, and I just couldnt ever get beside him.

Weve always raced really well together, so I didnt want to like move him blatantly and all that kind of stuff. Just sliding around a ton at the end So just sucks to be so damn close, right? You can be on the bumper of the guy coming to the line, and that sucks. A lot of races ahead, and hopefully we can just keep bringing the speed.

Busch rued both the inopportune caution and the effect of the tire disparity after the final restart.

I wish we could have had a little bit more there at the end, Busch said. I feel like maybe the two-lap fresher tires the 20 had was the difference But I also hated to see that yellow that came out.

I felt like we had a little bit of a gap there that I was protecting my tires, and I could run the lines I wanted to run. I didnt have to run defensive lines and use up my stuff even more so, (which I did) when the 20 was right on me.

Ill give Christopher credit, though, where credits due. He ran me really hard, and I was a complete butthead. But he did a great job working me over and just doing it the right way and being able to get by.

Elliott fell to the back of the field when contact from Ross Chastains Chevrolet sent him spinning in the first corner of the first lap. When the majority of the field came to pit road before the end of the first stage, Elliott stayed on track to collect fifth-place stage points.

Pitting during the stage break to repair the toe link broken in the accident, Elliott restarted 36th and worked his way forward. Crew chief Alan Gustafsons call for fresh tires during the final caution allowed Elliott to charge to fourth place.

Yeah, it was just a crazy day, really, Elliott said. I got run over, I felt like, there in the first corner. Im curious to see it. I still havent seen it to know whether or not I did something wrong. Im happy to own it, if I did. I just felt like it was the first corner of the first lap, and its just a bummer to get behind, and then we had damage.

Alan and the guys did a great job fixing it and getting it that close. We got behind on a restart there and just had to play major catchup there. Alan made a great call there at the end to put tires on it. We were rolling up through there really good at the end.

Obviously, when you have a good car like that, I would have liked to have been in the fight with those guys, but it was a great recovery from where we were at during the end of the second stage.

Shane van Gisbergen, Chris Buescher, Noah Gragson, Alex Bowman and Todd Gilliland completed the top 10.

The Cup debut of 18-year-old road course phenom Connor Zilisch came to an early end in a violent collision with Trackhouse Racing teammate Daniel Suárez on Lap 50.

Charging through Turn 19, Suárezs Chevrolet bounced off the curbing and spun wildly as cars behind him scattered to avoid calamity. As Zilisch steered to the right, Suarezs car spun into his path, and Zilisch plowed into his teammate and careened into the outside SAFER barrier.

Both cars were too badly damaged to continue. The wreck ended a valiant rally by Zilisch, who was collateral damage when Chastain dive-bombed into Turn 1 and turned Elliott on the first lap.

Zilisch pitted with a flat tire and fell back to 33rd, but by the end of the second stage he had worked his way back to 14th, his original starting position. On the restart lap after the second stage break, however, Zilischs race ended against the fence.

All I saw was a cloud of smoke, and by the time I saw him (Suárez), it was way too late to do anything, said Zilisch, who won Saturdays NASCAR Xfinity Series race at COTA. I saw him spinning off to the left and I thought he was going to keep going in that direction or stay there.

I guess he flipped back right and he started coming towards me. Really unfortunate way to end my Cup Series debut. We were one of the top-five fastest cars in the second stage there. I went from outside the top 30 to 14th, and I felt really good about our Chevy. We made a lot of gains from practice and qualifying. Its just an unfortunate way to end it.