The ASA STARS National Tour ventured to ‘the home of the NASCAR stars’ Thursday, kicking off a doubleheader race weekend with the Ross & Witmer 255 at Hickory Motor Speedway – an event that added intrigue to the season.
While all eyes were on the dominant Cole Butcher, it was Colby Howard who ultimately took home the victory.
With the tour set to get back to action on Saturday at Newport Speedway, here’s a quick look at a few notable storylines that unfolded Thursday in North Carolina.
Colby Howard Can Easily Compete for Super Late Model Wins At the National Level.
A former NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competitor, Howard was the wheelman who ultimately emerged victorious in Thursday’s ASA STARS feature.
Howard’s entry into the contest at Hickory was due to the event being co-sanctioned with the ASA Southern Super Series, one of three regional Super Late Model tours under the ASA umbrella. The South Carolina native has committed to running that tour’s full season with Anthony Campi Racing, a team that dominated last year’s ASA STARS campaign with Casey Roderick.
As a result, Howard has competed in three of the four ASA STARS National Tour events, showing fairly consistent speed throughout the year’s campaign.
The start of Howard’s tenure with the team feels eerily similar to that of Roderick’s, with top fives and wins coming quickly. While we could see Howard compete for a regional Super Late Model championship, a Hickory win that saw the South Carolina native fend off NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott seems like solid grounds for Howard being a viable threat for an ASA STARS title in the near future.
Cole Butcher and Wilson Motorsports Aren’t Immortal – But They’re Close To It.
For a sizable portion of the Ross & Witmer 255, it was business as usual for Butcher and Wilson Motorsports. His Toyota paced the field for the majority of the race, but a rear axle issue threw a wrench in the team’s dominant plans.
Forced to pit road in the late stages of the race with mechanical woes, Butcher surrendered the lead and brought his machine to the attention of his team. But while that may have hampered his day, it didn’t end in a disastrous result. Butcher’s Wilson Motorsports crew conducted perhaps one of the fastest axle swaps ever seen, getting Butcher swiftly back on track en route to a sixth-place finish.
The Canadian wheelman has showcased exhilarating speed throughout much of the early stretch of the 2025 racing season, picking up several victories in dominant fashion. But while Butcher led several laps at Hickory and looked like he’d continue the trend of dominance, mechanical issues reminded Butcher (as well as all of us) that racers are all human, and therefore subject to occasional bad luck.
There is something to be said about Butcher’s rally to sixth place, however. The recovery shows that while Butcher is not immortal, he has the speed to overcome even the most disastrous of circumstances. Such traits are sorely needed for a potential Super Late Model champion.
Chase Elliott and Ricky Turner Can Still Be a Winning Combination in the Super Late Model World.
The longtime combination of Elliott and crew chief Ricky Turner don’t get to run nearly as many SLM races as they did when Elliott was working his way through the ranks, but they make it count whenever they can compete in the modern SLM scene.
Hickory in particular seems to be a fast track for the duo. In last year’s ASA STARS event at Hickory, Elliott ran several laps within the top five, much like he did in this year’s race.
A mechanical issue sidelined Elliott in the late stages of the 2024 event. But this season has shown a lot of promise for Elliott and Turner. Coming off a fifth-place effort at SpeedFest at Cordele Motor Speedway, Elliott scored an impressive runner-up result on Thursday.
The finish showed that for a driver and team who don’t collaborate too often for SLM races, there is still immense potential for the crew to score a victory or two if they continue to compete at this level.
Despite a lack of track time, Elliott came to an SLM playground and finished ahead of names including Butcher, Bubba Pollard and Gavan Boschele. When you can beat those drivers, it’s safe to say that you’ve had a great day.
The ASA STARS National Tour returns to action later today, when the series visits Newport Speedway for the Food Country USA 300.
