
The Redbud 400 trophy is staying north of the border.
Kyle Steckly claimed his first Super Late Model victory on Saturday night at Anderson Speedway in Indiana and the Ontarian did it in one of the historic crown jewels of the ASA STARS national Super Late Model championship.
The Rette Jones Racing driver won the race one year after Nova Scotian Cole Butcher earned the honors for Wilson Motorsports.
Steckly ran up front all evening and took the lead from Austin Nason with 64 laps remaining and never looked back.
“Just a great team, great car,” Steckly said in Victory Lane. “I’ve got to thank all these guys. We struggled yesterday and went to work. This thing was a rocket ship all day. I’m just so blessed to be here.”
Kyle Steckly on his first Super Late Model win, at Anderson in the ASA STARS Redbud 400 pic.twitter.com/GRqmHvvRTo
— Short Track Scene (@ST_Scene) July 21, 2024
Steckly is a six-time winner in the APC United Pro Late Model Series in Canada, and thus no stranger to Victory Lane as the son of four-time NASCAR Canada champion Scott Steckly as well. With that said, he also views this as a big deal for his personal resume.
“I don’t think people realize how big these events are and how special this is,” said Steckly. “I’ve been watching these races since I was a little kid. I just wanted to win something like this, a crown jewel event.”
The race may have been decided on Lap 215 when a caution waved for an incident involving Cody Coughlin and Billy VanMeter, which began when Coughlin and Gio Ruggiero came together on the tight confines of the Indiana bullring.

Several teams opted to take their second set of tires, in this eight-tire race, but Steckley did not. The decision allowed Steckly to be on the attack in the second half.
“I trusted Mark [Rette],” said Steckly. “We saved the tires, saved them the first 280 and made the most of it. I screwed up a couple of times on the choose there but we made it work and had a great car with those fresh tires the final 120.”
Nason did take tires at this point and wonders if the tire life proved to be the difference.
“We pitted a little early there and changed our strategy up,” Nason said. “I don’t know if it was the tires or me driving it hard. I can’t thank the guys enough. They gave me a good piece all day. It was us two at the top of the board every session. We’ll try to come back and do it again.”
Austin Nason gets a P2 in the ASA STARS Redbud 400 at Anderson Speedway pic.twitter.com/xMISxu0wZ5
— Short Track Scene (@ST_Scene) July 21, 2024
Gio Ruggiero, Derek Kraus and VanMeter completed the top five.
ASA STARS championship frontrunners Casey Roderick and Cole Butcher finished sixth and seventh, respectively ahead of Dakoda Armstrong, Stephen Nasse and Albert Francis rounded out the top-10.
Butcher was proud for his fellow countryman.
“It was a good but rough night,” Butcher said. “I thought we had the best car here. Us and (Steckly) and I think they had better tires than us at the end. Hard racing with (Nason). We got into them and he got into us.
“But congratulations to Kyle for keeping the trophy with its Canadian heritage. Cool for them. He’s a cool kid from a cool racing family.”
"It was a good but rough night," says Cole Butcher, who is proud that Kyle Steckly kept the Redbud 400 north of the border.
— Short Track Scene (@ST_Scene) July 21, 2024
P7 pic.twitter.com/0qGMf67gre
Junior Hanley also won this race as a Canadian in 2004.
The ASA STARS National Tour will continue on August 17 for the Michigan 200 at Owosso Speedway, a new stop for the series this season.
58th Redbud 400
Anderson Speedway
July 20 2024
Kyle Steckly
Austin Nason -2.095
Gio Ruggiero -2.987
Derek Kraus -11.729
Billy Van Meter -2
Casey Roderick -4
Cole Butcher -4
Dakoda Armstrong -4
Stephen Nasse -5
Albert Francis -5
J.P. Crabtree -11
Caden Kvapil -68
Cody Coughlin -98
Chase Burda -168
Dylan Bates -227
Dawson Sutton -255
Scotty Tomasik -344
Brett Robinson DNS
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.


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