Engine builder Jeremy Upchurch called it the strangest thing … that he immediately wanted to give second place finisher Jake Finch half the purse after he lost the Battle of the Bayou 100 by .002 to Cole Butcher on Saturday night at Mobile International Speedway.
It’s not just that Finch lost the photo finish but how clean he raced Butcher … and how much respect everyone has for the youngest son of James Finch.
But that distinction is part of the story here too, that Finch has worked so hard to win in a Super Late Model, but again came short and is still just known for being the son his famous racing father.
As a result, with Butcher and Upchurch celebrating behind him, Finch walked away from the car on the frontstretch and fought back tears. This one stung and Butcher truly hated to be the one who stung him.
“I have so much respect for that kid,” Butcher said. “He raced me so clean and he’s going to get that back from me every time. He probably should have used me up there. I would have understood.”
In hindsight, Finch knows he should have too, in a final laps duel that looked like this.
“I tried to run him up the hill and get a good run off the corner and really just did a poor job of that,” Finch said. “I didn’t nearly run him up enough up the hill to move him and win. He’s grateful that I raced him clean and I’m mad at myself for not roughing him up a little. I don’t want to wreck anyone by any means or put them in the wall but I should have done a better job of making sure I won that race.”
Finch has won ARCA races at Dover and Talladega, and now in a Pro Late Model, but his first Super Late Model win eludes him, and that’s a driving force right now.
“I need to be winning races,” he said. “And we’ve won again in the ARCA car and in the Pro Late Model but I want and should be winning in these too,” Finch said. “I read these prospect lists and crap and it makes me so mad that I’m not on them. So many people just know me as my son of my dad and I want them to see me for what I’m doing and I’m working really hard towards that goal.”
The finish was the byproduct of a tremendous journey, and a race that took so many different ebbs and flows before cresting with the photo finish, but it all began with 50 laps of tire conservation.
The Battle on the Bayou was arguably the slowest race ever run on a half-mile, with drivers working very diligently to not slide their tires, before finally racing inside of the final 25 laps.
Stephen Nasse had just taken the lead from Bubba Pollard, driving a Tony Elrod HAMKE after crashing out of Pensacola on Friday night, when Jeremy Doss came charging through the field after saving more tire than anyone else.
A Michael Hinde spin in Turn 3 with nine laps to go triggered a series of restarts, cautions and dramatics.
Doss, trying to pass Nasse on the restart, sent him around in Turn 2.
Doss was sent to the rear for contact. The next restart, Butcher takes the lead from Pollard, who cuts across the nose of Finch, with Pollard going for a spin that cost him a chance at the win.
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Through several more cautions, Nasse charged all the way back through the field and was again challenging for the win when a tap from behind from Casey Roderick, while under Butcher all racing for the lead.
Roderick was sent to the rear for contact.
This set up the decisive restart, with Butcher ultimately nipping Finch at the line by .002.
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It’s a race that was run under a snail’s pace in the first half, in the name of tire conservation too.
There was simply a lot to talk about afterwards.
Southern Super Series Battle of the Bayou 100
Mobile International Speedway
April 27 2024
- Cole Butcher
- Jake Finch
- Michael Hinde
- Jake Garcia
- Matt Craig
- Dustin Smith
- Billy VanMeter
- Casey Roderick
- Bubba Pollard
- Jett Noland
- Sean Hingorani
- Stephen Nasse
- Connor Okrzesik
- Jeremy Doss
- Conner Sutton
