Cole Butcher dominates ASA STARS at Pensacola

Cole Butcher dominated the ASA STARS Sunshine State 200 at Five Flags Speedway on Sunday and not even a late caution and overtime finish could deny the Wilson Motorsports No. 28 a trip to Victory Lane.

In fact, the Maritime Canadian held a four second plus led over Jake Garcia in the Ricky Turner owned No. 35 with five laps to go when Nicholas Naugle went around in Turn 3 to set up one last chance for the outcome to be changed.

It did not and Butcher simply drove away to his fifth victory in the third-year ASA STARS national championship banner.

“We were pretty good,” Butcher said. “I think the 81 was pretty good in clean air but made an unfortunate mistake and missed pit road.”

The 81 he referenced was pole sitter Carson Brown who led every lap leading to the first pit stops and a miscommunication with Anthony Campi led to him losing track position and a brake failure would later end his race.

For Butcher, this marks back-to-back wins in the Sunshine State 200, which also counts points towards the Southern Super Series and track Blizzard Series points as well.

“I’m just really happy with how everything is going,” Butcher said. “The team is strong and I’m healthy, got a beautiful wife and daughter back home; wish they were here but they got a girl’s weekend.”

Butcher had AFIB surgery last summer and missed the middle stages of the short track season.

Garcia said he has a lot of respect for Butcher and wasn’t going to try to win in an untoward manner.

“The last couple of laps, I was pretty close, within a car length for most of it,” said Garcia. “You know, he’s always raced me clean, so there was no sense in going in there and trying to dive bomb him or anything like that today.”

Matt Craig qualified on the outside pole and finished third for a much needed competitive effort on Sunday.

“We were good but just missing a little bit to be the best today,” Craig said about his family owned No. 54. “We’ve struggled lately on the long run and just making it to the end of these races so it was good to finish one and finish good. We just need to find a little more speed.”

Stephen Nasse and Colby Howard completed the top-5.

Bubba Pollard, expected to be a contender for the win, slowed off the pace and lost a lap on Lap 14 for a spark plug issue.

He rallied to a ninth-place finish.

Stephen Nasse and Gavan Boschele are going to be neck-and-neck for the early championship lead after the former scored a pair of top-5s and the latter has a win and sixth place results.

“It was okay,” Nasse said. “We still haven’t got the handling right on our car. We have to take it to the shop and figure out what we have going on. We’ve been fighting the same thing the past five or six races. We’ve got to figure it out.

“We’ve been fortunate to have put together some good finishes but obviously, I want to win some races. We’re close but we’re not quite there yet.”

This notable incident on Lap 71, Nicholas Naugle racing Kasey Kleyn for a potential free pass …

… led to this photo.

Next up for the ASA STARS National Tour is a new race at Dominion Raceway on Saturday, April 5.

Results

1. Cole Butcher
2. Jake Garcia
3. Matthew Craig
4. Stephen Nasse
5. Colby Howard
6. Gavan Boschele
7. Kyle Steckly
8. Kaden Honeycutt
9. Bubba Pollard
10. Jake Finch
11. Dawson Sutton
12. Derek Thorn
13. George Phillips
14. Connor Okrzesil
15. Jackson Boone
16. Austin Nason
17. Chase Pinsonneault
18. Conner Jones
19. Jacob Gomes
20. Derek Kraus
21. Dustin Smith
22. Johnny Sauter
23. Nicholas Naugle
24. Spencer Davis
25. Buddy Shepherd
26. Carson Brown
27. Kasey Kleyn
28. Ty Fredrickson