HICKORY, N.C. — Cole Butcher won his second consecutive ASA STARS National Tour event Thursday night, beating a stellar field and Mother Nature at Hickory Motor Speedway.
Butcher, the hard charger from Nova Scotia, powered past Casey Roderick on a lap-229 restart, survived a late-race red flag and a 10-lap shootout to claim his third career ASA STARS National Tour victory.
Butcher beat Roderick to the checkers by 1.209 seconds.Â
Butcher’s triumph made it back-to-back Hickory wins for Wilson Motorsports, which won last year’s event with Gio Ruggiero driving.
Rookie Dawson Sutton finished a career high third, with Matt Craig and NASCAR Cup Series driver Josh Berry rounding out the top five.Â
The Tar Heel 250, dubbed Thunder in the Foothills, lived up to his name. A rouge lighting strike cracked during victory lane for the INEX Legends Cars, who were running in support, just as Keelan Harvick was accepting the Legends winner’s trophy.
The ensuing rain shower put the show on hold and delayed the scheduled start time. Track drying efforts, including an Air Titan on loan from NASCAR, got the racing surface dry only to have the pesky showers return.Â
Starting after a two-and-a-half hour delay, the race finished shortly after midnight.
Chase Elliott was also in the field and finished 21st.
The event was broadcast by SPEED SPORT affiliate TrackTv.com.
The finish:
Cole Butcher, Casey Roderick, Dawson Sutton, Matthew Craig, Josh Berry, Bubba Pollard, Stephen Nasse, Derek Kraus, Connor Okrzesik, William Sawalich, Conner Jones, Austin Nason, Dustin Smith, Michael Hinde, Billy VanMeter, Jett Noland, Gio Ruggiero, Brent Crews, Jackson Boone, Kyle Steckly, Chase Elliott, Caden Kvapil, Gavan Boschele, Justin Crider, Kodie Conner.