Cole Butcher victorious in 53rd Winchester 400

Attrition was the headline of the 53^rd Winchester 400 on Sunday afternoon and, when the 400-lap race in Indiana concluded, it was Cole Butcher hosting the Winchester rifle in victory lane.

Butcher was able to flash past defending race winner Gio Ruggiero with 60 laps remaining, as Ruggiero ’s car suffered mechanical problems, and survived a series of late race restarts and a charge from Ty Majeski.  In the final sprint to the finish, Majeski was able to draw even with Butcher.  However, Butcher had saved his best for last and pulled away in the closing laps.

“It would’ve been better if my wife and my baby boy were here, but this is awesome,” Butcher said in his victory lane interview with Charlie Krall.  “Can’t thank Wilson Motorsports enough.  It was a rough weekend to be honest.  I didn’t know what we had going into this thing … It was a long race and I’ve given two of these away, so this feels good.”

Ty Majeski dominated for much of the first 275 laps of the race, but his motor lost a cylinder late in the race’s second stage, relegating him to the last place car on the lead lap.  Shortly after Chris Cater and team made repairs to the motor, Majeski was caught up in an incident when trying to pass Austin Nason on the inside, sending Majeski’s car around and making contact with the inside wall.

Depiste the issues, Majeski was able to recover and rebound for a runner-up finish.

“I don’t think we totally fixed it,” Majeski said after the race.  “We were on seven cylinders with a heavy miss there at the end.  Super disappointed, but very thankful for everybody from Michael Hinde Racing.  It was a pleasure to drive this thing, a lot of fun.  I love coming to this racetrack, this is the most badass racetrack in America, so it’s fun to come here and have the opportunity to drive a great racecar.”

Majeski went on to say, “half the battle in this race is attrition,” which rang true through the entirety of the 400 lap race.

Majeski surrendered the lead on lap 288 to Gio Ruggiero.  52 laps later, Ruggiero would also suffer mechanical problems for the lead, ending his bid for back-to-back wins in the Winchester 400.

“Motor blew up,” Ruggiero said.  “I was going to win the race, I’m pretty sure.  There were six or seven cars left.  We played it smart and I took care of the tires and the car, and we had a fast car to be there at the end.”

Several other contenders suffered problems early.

First, Stephen Nasse was forced to pit road with issues on the right rear of his car on lap 90, and would come back to pit road under green flag 23 laps later.  Then, on lap 142, contact between Gavan Boschele and Michael Hinde triggered a multi-car accident that also swept up Logan Bearden, Jake Garcia, Jonathan Knee, Albert Francis, and Dawson Sutton.

Billy VanMeter had run inside the top-five for much of the race, but his race ended on lap 41 as front end damage, caused by contact when racing for position with Ty Majeski a few laps earlier, resulted in him crashing and ending his run.

Pole-sitter Casey Roderick also fought attrition after leading the first 44 laps.  On the 279^th lap of the race, Roderick’s car sustained significant right-side damage when he hit the wall, putting him several laps down.  He was able to get most of his laps back before late race problems knocked him out in the closing laps.

Kyle Steckley went on to finish third while Chase Pinsonneault and Roderick rounded out the top-five.

Unofficial Results

1. #28 – Cole Butcher
2. #91 – Ty Majeski
3. #30 – Kyle Steckley
4. #14P – Chase Pinsonneault
5. #26R – Casey Roderick
6. #32 – Chris Shannon
7. #24 – Gavan Boschele
8. #14N – Austin Nelson
9. #23 – Billy VanMeter
10. #22 – Gio Ruggiero
11. #18 – Chase Burda
12. #33 – Albert Francis
13. #5 – Jonathan Knee
14. #69 – Michael Hinde
15. #35 – Jake Garcia
16. #66 – Logan Bearden
17. #26S – Dawson Sutton
18. #131 – Blake Rowe
19. #3B – Jon Beach
20. #51 – Stephen Nasse
21. #3M – Chris Munson