Carson Brown basically dirt tracked his way towards winning in a Super Late Model for the first time and did in ASA STARS competition at Madison International Speedway on Friday night.
It’s the first of a two-race in three days Wisconsin doubleheader for the national Super Late Model touring series.
The winning move came on Lap 158 of the 250 lap Capital 250 and was over a dominant Gabe Sommers, who up to that point, had led every lap of the race. It was a dirt track move because Brown says he learned on his Dirt Late Model experience to win the race for Anthony Campi Racing.
“Honestly running the top,” Brown told Short Track Scene after the race. “They’ve been putting this traction compound down the past few races, and it’s been really good. I’ve liked it a lot, I’m a dirt racer, so I like running the top and I felt like we were able to make it work better than most and we were really the only car picking the top on the choose and felt really good, the 81 car liked it a lot. Just tried to stay up there, stay out of harm’s way and you either had to be in the grass almost, or way up there where the traction compound was and we liked the traction compound a lot and we’ll continue running up there if there is any.”
“I feel like it helps me a lot with aggression and how to manage a car later in the race. I feel like dirt gets really slick and you run the top, and I feel like dirt helps me with throttle control and just running the top, I feel like I was the only one that could charge entry as hard as I was. I feel like dirt and everything combined kinda helps me run the top better than most, and it’s just kind of more natural.”
Championship leader Cole Butcher owes much of a second place finish to avoiding the below crash when third-running Luke Fenhaus, an early leader, broke an axle.
It damaged Gavan Boschele and also collected Derek Kraus and Austin Nason.
Stephen Nasse avoided it.
“I just saw a tire flying off, I didn’t know if there was a hub still attached to it or what they had going on. Then I just saw the guys going up the racetrack, so I kinda just pulled her low, and backed her down and was able to get a hole thankfully. Yeah, fortunately we weren’t involved in it at all, and went away unscathed.”
Butcher was in the middle of it but slowed without damaging his Wilson Motorsports No. 28.
To that point, Butcher had struggled for a litany of reasons.
“I think we pitted every single caution that we could,” Butcher said. “Until that big wreck happened, it’s unfortunate that all those good cars got taken out, but I guess I’ll take it. We just struggled, with the line – with drive off, with a little bit of everything. My Wilson guys never gave up, a little bit of luck came our way, and here we are standing in tech.”
Ty Fredrickson, son of Midwest Tour veteran Dan, impressed all day and took a competitive car and clean race to a third place finish.
“We made really good adjustments at the break when we put tires on at the end of stage 2,” Fredrickson said. “That setup was really good, we had good track position up til that point. We had a really fast long run car, I think the best of everyone. But our short run fire-off was just too tight, I wasn’t able to get by the 81 on that last restart there but I’m proud to finish third and going for more at Slinger on Sunday.”
With the win, Brown gains marginally on Butcher in the championship but the latter isnt that interested in talking about it.
“I mean I could care less about the points, it’s cool at the end of the year, but I just want to win races,” Butcher said. “So yeah, points take care of themselves if you’re competitive. We weren’t necessarily competitive tonight til most of the field got taken out.
“So once again, a little bit of luck on our side, we haven’t really had the last couple-3 weeks. We’re going to just move on to Slinger, I’ve never been there before, so I’m looking forward to a different adventure.”
Nasse also kept championship hopes alive with a fourth place finish mostly earned via attrition but also needed to get back on the lead lap.
“We got pretty lucky there with what happened with the field,” Nasse said. “But we never gave up. We had on the left front upper, a bolt come loose, and one had broken. We don’t really know when that had happened, I was kinda holding on there for dear life when I got lapped.
“So yeah, it was an interesting night, we didn’t really have anything go our way. That’s why you don’t give up and stay out there and keep digging. We were able to kinda get by some of those guys and had that big wreck and missed it. Happy overall, but got some work to do.”
Brown meanwhile, will go from something like dirt tracking to actually dirt tracking before Slinger on Sunday.
“Racing Fairbury tomorrow in Illinois, we’re racing Summer Nationals,” Brown said. “We missed a race tonight, I’m not quite sure if it got rained out or not. It was supposed to, but yea, racing Fairbury tomorrow in the dirt super late model and back up to Slinger.”
ASA STARS Capital 250 Madison International Speedway June 14 2025
Matt Weaver is the owner and founder of Short Track Scene. Weaver grew up in the sport, having raced himself before becoming a reporter in college at the University of South Alabama. He also has extensive experience covering NASCAR, IndyCar and Dirt Sprint Cars.
