The summer of Cole Butcher continued on Saturday night at Anderson Speedway as the Wilson Motorsports driver won the Redbud 400 for the second time in three years.
This was also the fifth Super Late Model victory for the No. 28 team this season.
“I mean, I used to shoot for three wins a year and I was pretty happy with that, but now we’re more double that now, so I just can’t thank everybody,” Butcher told Short Track Scene after the race. “Great team. We never gave up all day. We kind of unloaded really good. I was pretty happy when we unloaded. We never really had that qualifying speed. I think we lacked a little bit of drive in the first portion of the race and qualifying, but we were able to get that just killed them at the end.”
In addition to a good handling car, crew chief Bond Suss also waited as long as possible to take their last set of sticker tires and gave Butcher a tire advantage at the of the race where he was able to overtake Austin Nason with 109 laps to go.
He led the rest of the way from there.
“(Nason) was a little bit better than us with those right sides, I think they took at the second stage, but we were still right there,” Butcher said. “So once we got the lead we were just matching times and just having a good time.”
Gavan Boschele, teammate and championship rival to Butcher needed to overcome this multicar accident on Lap 90.
“I don’t know what’s bent,” said Boschele. “It looks like a lot of bodywork. I just had to muscle up and drive it. I ran out of water about lap five, so I’m not a wussy, I swear. I’m freaking gassed, though. I can’t thank these Wilson guys enough. They gave me a great race car.
“Congrats to Cole, they were really fast. I wish we’d had an intact car to battle with him there, but we’re happy with second place and happy with the runs we’ve had lately. Just have to get back in the swing of things, hoping we can knock off a few more wins this year.”
Making matters worse is that Boschele was then given a Pedilyte bottle that couldn’t fit through his helmet so he ended the race dehydrated.
“This race racetrack is probably one of the most physical racetracks I’ve ever been through besides Slinger and it was just hot and humid in Indiana today,” Boschele said. “I don’t care what anyone says but everyone in this race is a high level athlete. I just need to work a little harder in the gym and get in a little bit better shape.”
Defending winner Kyle Steckly completed the podium ahead of Carson Brown and Steve Ulman. Butcher joins Jim Blount, Scott Hansen, Scott Hantz, Don Higgins, Mark Martin, Bob Senneker, Dick Trickle and Johnny VanDoorn as multi-time winners of the Redbud 400.
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.
