Colby Howard Capitalizes for First ASA STARS National Tour Win at Hickory

Colby Howard capitalized on misfortune for Cole Butcher and held off 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott for the win in the Ross & Witmer 255 at Hickory Motor Speedway on Thursday.

Butcher had won the last two Appalachian Sucker Punch ASA STARS National Tour races of the season, and had led nearly half of the race's distance in search of a third consecutive victory. However, a broken axle just before a restart with 40 laps to go brought him to pit road.

That turned the top spot over to Howard, who led the rest of the way for his first victory with the Super Late Model series.

At first, it was a bittersweet victory for Howard. Especially after the two drivers had battled hard for the win leading up to Butcher's broken axle, he hoped to make the winning pass under green-flag conditions.

"First off, hats off to Cole Butcher," said Howard. "That was really unfortunate right there. I was roughing him up. It was so hard to pass off of [turn] four, it gets so bumpy. You'd get so loose under [him]. I probably need to go talk to him. I was a little over-aggressive."

However, Butcher greeted Howard in victory lane to offer his congratulations.

"I just broke an axle," explained Butcher. "Congratulations to Anthony Campi and everybody. Colby's been wanting to beat me for a while, so I'll give him this one."

"I just want to thank Cole for coming over like that," Howard responded. "I have so much respect for cole and everything that he does on the track. I just didn't feel right about winning this and getting into him like that."

Even with Butcher's misfortune, the race wasn't over yet for Howard. On the last green-flag run of the evening, the South Carolina native had to fend off Elliott.

"I didn't know it was him," said Howard. "I had one ear bug in my right ear, so I couldn't hardly hear anything. Any time the team said something, I was having to ask them to repeat it.

"Those last 30, 40 laps, I couldn't understand what was happening. I figured it was Chase because I knew Chase lined up inside behind me."

No matter the circumstances, Howard is now a winner on the ASA STARS National Tour, and a winner at "The Birthplace of the NASCAR Stars."

"This is awesome," Howard said. "It's such a historic track. The competition in this series is at the top right now. To come out here and beat them, I mean, Bubba Pollard, Chase, to run really good with Cole there.

"What a race. I'm exhausted and we've got 300 more Saturday."

Elliott rebounded from damage suffered in a lap one incident to score a second-place finish. While many of the ASA STARS National Tour competitors will head to Newport Speedway on Saturday, Elliott's focus now turns to nearby Charlotte Motor Speedway for Sunday's Coca-Cola 600.

Still, he enjoyed the opportunity to return to his Late Model roots for the night.

"It was a little slow to start there, for sure, but we got it patched back up and got it pretty good," said Elliott. "I just needed a little bit there at the end. I was pushing hard, as hard as I could go. I just didn't quite have enough. I appreciate everybody at Fr8 Racing for letting me come drive.

"You know, I thought it was a fun night. Came up a little short, but congrats to those guys. They did a good job and managed their race really well."

He hopes more strong showings can help build up the Fr8 Racing Late Model program, which sees drivers such as Jake Garcia and Seth Christensen behind the wheel as well as Elliott.

"I enjoy it a lot," said Elliott. "We're just chipping away, trying toget better every time we come. We were good here last year, but I thought we were a little better tonight than we were a year ago. Try to keep chipping away and hopefully next time I come, we'll try to find a win somewhere down the line."

Gavan Boschele, also involved in the lap three incident, bounced back for a third-place finish to round out the podium.

"Up and down at the beginning there, just kind of a racing deal, racing too hard at the beginning of the race," said Boschele.

"Hats off to Colby's guys and all the Anthony Campi guys. They drove a good race. We'll try to get him Saturday night."

The Appalachian Sucker Punch ASA STARS National Tour takes the track again on Saturday, May 24 for its inaugural event at Newport Speedway. The Food Country USA 300 presented by Appalachian Sucker Punch takes the green flag at 7:30 p.m. ET.

-Photo credit: Kyle Nuttleman/ASA STARS National Tour

Ross & Witmer 255 Unofficial Results