MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Feb. 5, 2025) – Aaron Donnelly embarks on his most aggressive racing season yet when he climbs behind the wheel of the No. 71 Chevrolet for Hettinger Racing this Saturday at Florence Motor Speedway in Timmonsville, South Carolina.
The 25-year-old from Stafford, Virginia, is getting an early start on a robust year of Late Model racing beginning with The Icebreaker, a 125-lap race around the historic .4-mile Florence oval that will be streamed live on Ultra Broadcasting.
Donnelly will run the full zMAX CARS Tour schedule with Hettinger Racing, and The Icebreaker serves as a tune-up for his season-long run in the CARS Tour Late Model Stock division.
“I’m definitely ready to get back in a racecar and I’m really looking forward to this year with Hettinger Racing,” said Donnelly, a Late Model regular at South Boston (Va.) Speedway. “Our last race together was the Thanksgiving Classic in December at Southern National. We had a decent run, started 16th and finished top-10. We had good communication and I want to build on that this weekend at Florence so we’re where we need to be when the CARS Tour season starts.”
Hettinger Racing is no stranger to the Late Model ranks. It is owned by second-generation racer Chris Hettinger, a longtime and winning Late Model team owner from Dryden, Michigan. Hettinger began his racing career in the driver’s seat, winning in Midgets and Late Models before becoming a fulltime team owner.
Under one roof, Hettinger Racing provides three crucial steps on the racing ladder, and it begins with the CARS Tour. From there, drivers can advance to the ARCA Menards Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, all with Hettinger Racing.
“Late Model racing is extremely competitive. Teams come prepared with good equipment, drivers are aggressive, and the fields are deep. The Icebreaker at Florence will give everyone a good taste of that. The CARS Tour opener is in three weeks, so the season is coming up fast. We want to be ready,” Hettinger said.
The 15-race CARS Tour schedule begins March 1 at New River All American Speedway in Jacksonville, North Carolina. It, along with other high-profile Late Model races, specifically the June 28 Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 at South Boston Speedway, the July 19 Hampton Heat at Larry King Law’s Langley Speedway in Hampton, Virginia, the Sept. 27 ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, and the Nov. 22 South Carolina 400 at Florence, are all on the docket for Donnelly and Hettinger Racing.
“Aaron has raced with us a couple of times before, but this year marks our first full season together,” Hettinger said. “He’s got a lot of talent and we’re all looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish this year. His feedback in the races we ran with him last year was really good, and to be able to have that all season long will allow us to get better each and every race.”
The CARS Tour is widely considered the nation’s premier Late Model touring series. The experience garnered on the short tracks of the CARS Tour allows drivers to make the next jump to ARCA, where they tackle superspeedways, road courses and dirt tracks in stock cars that once raced in the NASCAR Cup Series.
That background serves as preparation for the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, which features a stock car chassis with a pickup truck body. It is NASCAR’s third-highest division, behind only the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Cup Series. Every current NASCAR Cup Series driver has matriculated through the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series.
“Our goal is to take the success that a driver achieves with us on the CARS Tour and replicate it as they move up to ARCA and Trucks,” Hettinger said. “By having one culture across three series, we provide familiarity and consistency. It helps drivers flatten the learning curve so they can focus on their race craft and, ultimately, win.”
Practice for The Icebreaker begins at 10 a.m. EST on Saturday with qualifying getting underway at 12:30 p.m. Florence’s full slate of feature racing begins at 2:30 p.m., headlined by Late Model Stock class.
Source: True Speed Communication on behalf of Hettinger Racing
