Carson Brown wasn’t even supposed to be here.
Well, he was supposed to compete in the Winchester 400 but that was before ASA STARS officials moved the historic Indiana short track event from Sunday to Saturday earlier in the week to get ahead of the remnants of Hurricane Isaias.
That presented a conflict with the NASCAR O’Reilly Series race, which itself was postponed from Saturday to Sunday due to the same storm system, allowing Brown to make a beeline for Indiana as soon as that decision was made earlier in the morning.
As it turns out, Brown was able to make it in time to practice and qualify, and then straight-up dominated from the second starting position to claim his first rifle trophy.
“Yeah, I was pretty bummed that practice and qualifying was rained out of Charlotte, but this opportunity presented itself,” Brown said in his typically understated way. “And just a big thank you to Anthony Campy, the whole crew. Jake Zellmer did awesome on the roof tonight and big thank you to Highway 32 Self Storage for being on the car.
“And man, this one feels really good after last year, just having our issues and just coming back this year, having a really strong year. Confidence is really high, but man, couldn’t have done it without this whole crew and Chevrolet, RCR, ACR and the whole crew.”
To win the race, Brown needed to hold off teammate Stephen Nasse for the entire final stage, driving equal equipment but also one of the best to race ‘The World’s Fastest Half Mile.’ Nasse was unable to force the Richard Childress Racing driver into a mistake.
“I was honestly just being really cautious, but also going just about as hard as I could,” Brown said. “And they kept telling me over the radio to just be smooth because we were kind of running in that second bracket where you were kind of slipping yet being conservative and just that fine line where everything’s still getting really hot.
“So there was one point where I just kind of fired off just to see what we had in the car and just to see what we wanted to do strategy wise and on the pit stops there, but I know this is his proving ground. I was trying to do everything I could to beat him tonight, but ACR brought some really fast cars.”
For his part, Nasse just never got to the lead, and feels like he could have controlled this race if he had qualified better and got clean air.
“Yeah, I mean track position was huge,” Nasse said. “Was really hoping to sneak by him there on a restart, but he was just really good on that outside. And every time I’d get close, that air would just mess me up and I’d be back to the start and just had to run him back down.
“Obviously, they had a really good car and that just speaks volumes about this P1 chassis and Anthony Campi Racing. They put together a really great team and good job to Carson. He drove a really good race. That’s a great guy and a great family there. … Second isn’t bad and we’re getting better and better. I think we’re a huge threat come Derby time.”
The race was a tremendous battle of attrition with only six of the 26 starts making it around to the finish. Specifically there were several right front hub failures but also some ignition box issues.
The biggest challenger to Brown, beyond Nasse, was Rackley WAR’s Dawson Sutton, whom led laps 35 to 55, which each driver failing to retain the lead on their respective starts and restarts. Brown managed the race the rest of the way.
Sutton fell out of the race with an electrical issue.
Only Billy VanMeter, Tristan McKee, Chris Shannon and Chase Pinsonnault finished the race and on the lead lap.
For Brown, it’s one step closer to the ASA STARS championship and another big win in a dream season before going NOAPS racing next season with RCR.
“I would say so,” he said. “And this was one of the races that I truly wanted to win, especially with RCR and the Winchester Rifles sponsorship. This one is really cool.”
55th Winchester 400
Winchester Speedway
October 10 2026
- Carson Brown
- Stephen Nasse
- Billy VanMeter
- Tristan McKee*
- Chris Shannon
- Chase Pinsonneau
- Kyle Steckly
- Derek Thorn
- Jade Avedisian*
- Kasey Kleyn
- Derek Kraus
- Cole Butcher
- Michael Simko
- Donnie Wilson
- Dawson Sutton
- JP Crabtree
- Cody Scott*
- Jon Beach
- Kyle Crump
- Albert Francis
- Jeff Myers Jr
- Chris Munson
- Josh Ebbert
- Gabrielle Grigsby
- Cole Munson*
