Stephen Nasse won the 41st All American 400 at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway on Sunday. The win adds yet another crown jewel trophy to his ever-growing collection, this being his second All American victory. His first came back in 2022 and he becomes only the eighth driver to win the All American 400 multiple times.
This becomes the second crown-jewel race under Nasse’s belt for the season, having already won the World Crown 300 at Cordele Motor Speedway back in October.
For this win, Nasse had to battle to keep teammate Carson Brown behind him. After the race, Nasse was asked about his thoughts as he crossed the line.
“I mean, there was a lot of emotions,” he said. “Those restarts about killed me there at the end. They came over the radio after we got our tires and went to go back green, and they were like whoever wins this restart is probably going to win the race. And then I let Carson beat me. I thought I had a good restart, but he just got a better one. He’s a really good driver. Yeah, he had me worried. I didn’t think I’d be able to get back to him, and the car wasn’t handling that well in traffic. I just knew if I could get a restart, then I might be able to make something happen. And then, sure enough, that comes around, and here we are.”
It took until the final stage for Carson Brown to find the lead. Once there, it looked as though Brown was in full control and would sail to the win. However, with 11 laps to go, the caution flew for a stopped car. This set up a 10 lap shootout to the finish. On the restart, the Campi duo lead the field side-by-side into Turn 1. Coming out of Turn 2, however, was chaos as slight contact between the two resulted in Brown sliding into another car, and while Brown was able to continue, the ensuing multi-car car crash ended Browns’ bid for the win.
“I slid up and slid in front of Carson,” said Nasse. “He went to go cross me over and I think somebody was already there and clipped him and just spun him out. I felt terrible because I mean, we just came over the radio talking about how we need to race these cars in the Derby, so let’s make it exciting and race hard, but try to keep it clean. And then, of course, that happened.”
The incident rendered Brown to the rear of the field and in the final ten laps he was able to make his way back to eleventh.
Meanwhile, Matt Craig found himself the beneficiary of the moment. After starting second to pole sitter Dawson Sutton, Craig slowly drifted back a bit, but remained in the top ten. When those final two restarts occurred, Craig used the restarts and the incidents to gain track position.
“Yeah, we fired off okay and got a little too free,” he said. “Then we had a pit stop and made the car a little too tight. And then the last pit stop, we got it back and it was better. You know, we weren’t great, but we were better, and to make a couple passes, get a little luck here and there with dodging some wrecks and end up second. And I can’t complain. I mean, the car was really good. Can’t thank everybody enough.”
Jade Avedisian flew under the radar to a third place result after finally having a race where things just fell into place. She was in the mix late, and started the final restart in second on the inside of Nasse but was passed in those final laps by Craig.
“It was a good race for us and a good day,” she said. “Started 11th, didn’t make too much headway early on but just kind of got my car a little bit better, and my team did a really good job. So thanks to them, and all weekend my car was really good.
“We definitely haven’t been the best over the summer in the last few weeks, but just really focused right now and focused on the last two races before we go dirt racing, so I’m glad we could walk out of here with a good finish and a clean day.”
Dawson Sutton led the field to the green, and led most of the first stage until losing the lead to Treyten Lapcevich on lap 84. Lapcevich went on to win stage one.
In the second stage, the battle shifted to Sutton and Nasse, with Sutton leading early in the stage but eventually succumbing to Nasse who took the lead following a restart with 59 laps remaining. Nasse went to claim the second stage win, and from there he and teammate Brown controlled the race up to the chaos of the final ten laps.
41st All American 400 – Official Race Results:
1. 51n Stephen Nasse
2. 54 Matthew Craig
3. 24 Jade Avedisian
4. 30 Treyten Lapcevich
5. 22s Kyle Steckly
6. 22p George Phillips
7. 89 Dylan Fetcho
8. 3 Kasey Kleyn
9. 5m Tristan McKee
10. 26 Dawson Sutton
11. 81 Carson Brown
12. 6 Brandon Lopez
13. 62 Casey Roderick
14. 22b Buddy Shepherd
15. 35 Jake Garcia
16. 14p Chase Pinsonneault
17. 9k Derek Kraus
18. 96 Derek Thorn
19. 9s Wesley Slimp
20. 45 Michael Simko
21. 91 Dylan Bates
22. 51f Jake Finch
23. 29r Cole Robie
24. 5s Penn Sauter
25. 7 Ridge Oien
26. 44 Cole Butcher
27. 15 Gabe Sommers
28. 33 Albert Francis
29. 14n Austin Nason
30. 71 Johnny Brazier
31. 29t Trey Craig
