Carson Brown Conquers Madison for First ASA STARS National Tour Win

For the third straight race, the Appalachian Sucker Punch ASA STARS National Tour crowned a first-time winner on Friday night. This time, it was Carson Brown taking the win at Madison International Speedway in the El Bandido Yankee Tequila Capital 250.

Brown took the lead from Wisconsin standout Luke Fenhaus on lap 158 and went on to his first victory with the Super Late Model tour in the Anthony Campi Racing No. 81.

"It feels really good, man," said Brown in victory lane. "We were struggling a little bit in practice and probably the most we've ever struggled in practice, to be honest. We were feeling a little down, but knew we could kind of figure it out throughout the race. We were able to move around a litlte bit and kind of found where we needed to be on the top there.

"Trying to stay on the top groove and kind of stay clean up there with that traction compound just helped me out a lot."

While Brown picked up a pair of wins during the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway, the start of the ASA STARS National Tour season proved challenging for Brown. The New London, North Carolina native finished 23rd in the Clyde Hart Memorial at New Smyrna and 26th at Five Flags Speedway.

Since then, Brown rattled off three straight top-five finishes before claiming the win at Madison.

"We've had some bad luck this year, just some hard luck. Hopefully, we can kind of keep this going."

Cole Butcher entered Friday's race as the ASA STARS National Tour points leader, and scored a second-place finish to continue the strong start to the year. However, Butcher struggled throughout the race, taking advantage of an attrition-filled 250 laps at Madison to salvage a runner-up result.

"Track position was so key here," said Butcher. "Congratulations to Campi, they had a really good race car. We both kind of struggled all day with our short run speed. Air meant a lot here. After that kerfuffle on the backstretch, we had a chance at a top-three finish."

Ty Fredrickson's Friday started with the announcement that he will make his ARCA Menards Series debut next week at Elko Speedway with Venturini Motorsports. The day ended with a third-place finish for the young driver from Minnesota.

"We had really good adjustments there when we put tires on," said Fredrickson. "It gave us a shot to win. We were really quick on that green flag run that we had, but on the restarts, I was just too tight to stay on the bottom and pass Carson.

"I'm happy to finish third, but I'm upset I didn't win. That's all right, though. We'll go back at them at Slinger."

Stephen Nasse finished fourth, with Kasey Kleyn rounding out the top five.

Friday's race was the first leg of a doubleheader weekend in Wisconsin for the ASA STARS National Tour. They will return to action on Sunday, June 15 at Slinger Super Speedway.

-Photo credit: Daniel Vining

El Bandido Yankee Tequila Capital 250 presented by Appalachian Sucker Punch Unofficial Results