THORNBURG, VA — The third event of the ASA STARS National Tour season has come and gone in similar fashion to the second. Cole Butcher took home the victory in the ASA STARS Appalachian Sucker Punch 250 at Dominion Raceway.
A new track for the series, Dominion Raceway provided a completely fresh notebook for Super Late Model teams to enter information into. The new stop for the Super Late Model tour showed promise for the future of this discipline’s expansion into the Mid-Atlantic, but that was just one of many storylines from the weekend.
From Butcher’s hot streak to yet another woeful evening for Bubba Pollard and VanDoorn Racing Development, here are our takeaways from the Appalachian Sucker Punch 250.
The Future Looks Promising for Super Late Models at Dominion and Beyond
While the Appalachian Sucker Punch 250 wasn’t a sellout race weekend, the crowd showed up and showed out in respectable fashion.
A majority of trackside parking spots were taken, with a little over half the frontstretch grandstands filled. All things considered, it was a solid turnout from Virginia’s short track racing fans.
“It’s good to see, ASA’s doing great things,” Derek Thorn said of the series. “They’re bringing the best drivers, trying to put on the best shows. It’s cool to see the diversity of tracks.
“It’s cool to see tracks that are familiar to Late Model Stocks but not to Super Lates,” he later added. “New region, great fans, it’s always cool to be in front of a new crowd. Hopefully we get them excited and get more followers.”
Thorn wasn’t alone in that thought. Stephen Nasse also offered praise toward the Virginia facility.
“This is the nicest short track facility that I’ve really ever been to,” Nasse said of Dominion. “It definitely lived up to the hype. I’d love to come back. I think it’s possible that we could do some good racing around here.”
While Super Late Model (SLM) racing is far from what Mid-Atlantic short track fans are accustomed to, even Late Model Stocks had to start somewhere to establish their foothold on the region.
It’s not far-fetched to believe that with enough time, SLM fields could put on stellar shows at Mid-Atlantic venues. But the discipline would need to make some changes if it wants to resemble the Late Model Stock racing product that local fans have come to love.
High engine power, relatively new asphalt and a hard tire compound for the Super Late Model competitors led to more single-file racing than what local fans might be accustomed to seeing with Late Model Stocks.
Despite this, there remained optimism among competitors that these issues could potentially be remedied.
“I feel like this place will get a lot better down the line as it ages,” Jake Garcia added. “The asphalt’s still fairly new. Another thing that would help is if ASA got us off this hard tire.”
2025 Cole Butcher is looking a lot like 2024 Cole Butcher
To this point in the 2025 ASA STARS season, Butcher and Wilson Motorsports have consistently been the camp to beat.
Butcher’s triumph in the Appalachian Sucker Punch 250 marks his second win of the season, following up on his success in the Sunshine State 200 at Five Flags Speedway.
The series heads to Hickory Motor Speedway next for the Tar Heel 250, an event Butcher conquered in 2024 for his second win after also claiming that year’s Sunshine State 200.
It’s only spring, but Butcher has an early season advantage on the rest of the field for the second-straight year. Both seasons have looked extraordinarily similar to this point.
The two years will eventually deviate. Butcher ultimately had to miss some races in 2024 due to a heart procedure. Assuming he stays healthy throughout 2025, this season could prove to be one where Butcher finds victory lane on many more occasions.
This year’s championship could swing even further to Butcher, too. Points leader Gavan Boschele suffered an issue in Saturday’s race, giving Butcher an even more advantageous position heading into Hickory. He had trailed Boschele by just one single point heading into Dominion, meaning that a comfortable points lead is virtually guaranteed to accompany Butcher into the next event.
For now, the ASA STARS title appears to run through Butcher and Wilson Motorsports. And unlike last year, there’s a real chance that holds true through the rest of the season.
Another Issue for Pollard in a VanDoorn Chassis
This pairing is starting to look cursed.
The Appalachian Sucker Punch 250 marked the fourth instance in as many races where Pollard encountered an issue while behind the wheel of a VanDoorn machine.
While coming to the green flag on a restart with 98 laps remaining, Pollard abruptly fell off the pace from the lead, eventually coming to a complete stop and having to be pushed to pit road.
The team quickly got to work, diagnosing a battery issue before quickly replacing it. Pollard would go back out on track, but was multiple laps down and ultimately relegated to a 14th-place finish.
While all the issues seem to be unrelated, Pollard just can’t seem to dismiss Lady Luck from the equation when VanDoorn is involved. Knowing that in prior years Pollard has fallen off of the tour after essentially being eliminated from championship contention, it will be interesting to see what the veteran does over the next few races.
While ASA’s Platinum Program was designed to prevent such events from happening, there are still many unknowns about how it will play out in the long haul. So far in 2025, the incentive program seems promising.
We’ll just have to keep an eye on Bubba Pollard and see if he can find some luck over the next few events.
What’s next?
The ASA STARS National Tour returns to action in May for a doubleheader weekend. The series will venture to Hickory Motor Speedway on Thursday, May 22nd, before trekking over to Newport Speedway on Saturday, May 24th.
