ASA STARS Goes to Kaukauna with Much Happening For 2024

The countdown is on to crown the inaugural ASA STARS national Super Late Model champion and Ty Majeski has clearly separated himself from the rest of the challengers.

The closest would-be points contender is Cole Butcher following his victory in the Redbud 400 on July 15. At 51 points, Butcher is going to have to make up essentially a whole race on Majeski over the final four races at Wisconsin International Raceway, Toledo, Winchester and Nashville. It’s doable but it’s probably going to take some luck.

And right now, Majeski is at the absolute top of his game both as a driver and when it comes to working alongside car builder Toby Nuttleman. It remains a good likelihood that Majeski could enter the first week of November in position to win both the ASA and NASCAR Truck Series championship.

At the same time, it’s not like there aren’t stakes across the rest of season.

For one, Tuesday’s Gandrud Auto Group 250, the legendary race once known as the Dixieland 250, is also a Midwest Tour points race and that championship still has ground to cover too with Gabe Sommers leading Levon VanDerGeest by 45 points and 46 over Gabe Sommers.

From a national standpoint, Bubba Pollard is the one driver and team that has the potential to win every single race the rest of the year and could make up the 131 point deficit even if it doesn’t seem likely. Don’t sleep on Gio Ruggiero, who is poised to break out at any time in his first full season with Donnie Wilson Motorsports.

It’s still hugely disappointing that Casey Roderick had to fall off the tour, due to funding issues within Platinum Motorsports, but also because their Anthony Campi Racing team was keeping pace with Majeski through the first four races.

It was a huge blow to the championship battle, that unless something else dramatic happens, is becoming increasingly a lock for Majeski.

For now, the most interesting part of the remainder of the ASA season will be behind the scenes, as there continues to be a lot of tough conversations about the rule book in advance of next season. Whether it’s how much gets inspected in tech before the race, to what degree bodies are inspected or even engine rules, the Track Enterprise era of Super Late Model racing is carrying the expectation of change.

It was always going to be an uphill battle for Track Enterprises and founder-president Bob Sargent to unite and amplify the discipline, and it also carries with it the challenge of upending longstanding policies or expectations.

Sargent says he feels good about growing the winner’s circle program before next season, the biggest key to growing car counts, because that provides a baseline revenue guarantee of sorts. Said a simpler way, it’s tow or tire money.

The rule book is absolutely important, especially finding common ground between the packages run down south and those utilized across Wisconsin in the Midwest Tour. The strongest car counts are in Wisconsin but the national championship contenders, with the exception of Majeski, are all southern teams.

It’s just a complicated path.

But this is also year one and it’s been refreshing to see Super Late Model racing forge ahead towards crowning a national champion while also establishing something closer to a mainstream presence. This is also true when comparing it to the surge in popularity of the CARS Tour with Late Model Stocks in the Mid-Atlantic.

For Super Late Model racing to grow into this new era, it’s going to require these tough conversations, and the discipline is fortunate to have both a motivated promoter in Sargent and level-headed national racers who have all bought into the general concept of the intended direction.

It’s just a matter of getting there.

For now, Tuesday at Kaukauna just stands to be a characteristically good race with a solid expected car count, which can be viewed below.

Entry List:

Luke Fenhaus
Johnny Sauter
John Deangelis
Paul Shafer
Derek Kraus
Andy Monday
Bobby Kendall
Austin Nason
Gabe Sommers
Gio Ruggiero
Sammy Smith
Billy Vanmeter
Levon VanDerGeest
Bubba Pollard
Cole Butcher
Pete Vandermolen
Jonathan Eilen
Albert Francis
Trevor Vandermolen
Justin Mondeik
Joseph Scholze
Bryan Keske
Barrett Polhemus
Ty Majeski
RJ Braun
Harley Jankowski

Schedule (All Times Central):

Tuesday, August 1
9:00am Hauler Parking
1:00pm Driver’s Meeting
1:30pm Practice
5:00pm Midwest Truck Series Group Qualifying
5:30pm ASA STARS National Tour Qualifying
6:00pm Autograph Session
6:20pm Opening Ceremonies
6:30pm Racing
Midwest Trucks Dixieland Delight
ASA STARS Gandrud Auto Group 250

How to Watch:

Can’t make it in person? The event will be live-streamed on three platforms: TrackTV.com; Midwesttour.tv and Racing America. Subscribers to any of these streaming services can purchase an annual package to catch all the ASA STARS National Tour events at a discount. Subscribers can get a race-by race discount. For more info, please visit starsnationaltour.com/watch

The Gandrud Auto Group 250 will also be broadcast on a tape-delayed basis on MAVTV on Monday, August 7 at 8:00 PM Eastern.

ASA STARS standings

Ty Majeski
Cole Butcher -51
Gio Ruggiero -89
Casey Roderick -111
Bubba Pollard -132
Austin Nason -183
Albert Francis -231
Billy VanMeter -243
Carson Hocevar -254
Stephen Nasse -270

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• Dale Jr. leads an All Star CARS Tour ownership group
• The difference between a Super Late and Late Model Stock
• New Era for Super Late Models Begins Now