Cole Butcher Claims Second Career Win in Redbud 400

Cole Butcher continued his stellar 2025 season and joined rare company on Saturday night by winning his second Redbud 400 at Anderson Speedway.

The Nova Scotia native took the lead for the final time from Austin Nason on lap 322 en route to his second victory in the historic event. It is also Butcher's fourth win of the season with the Appalachian Sucker Punch ASA STARS National Tour.

"I can't thank Wilson Motorsports enough," said Butcher. "Really struggled with our short-run speed, but I felt once the race got going, we were just kind of biding our time and waiting to get to the front."

While Butcher may not have had short-run speed, he did have both a car that performed well on the long run and fresh tires at the end of the race by waiting as long as possible to put on his sticker tires in the 400-lap race.

"We were just trying to flip the field, and do what we did here and end up in victory lane, had the best tires," said Butcher. "Grateful that we were able to hang in the top two, even on old rubber. Can't thank all the competitors, and all the fans for coming out. We had a pretty good, smooth, clean race at Anderson Speedway."

On a hot and humid night at Anderson, conditioning was also a critical key to success in the marathon event.

"I had to turn my helmet fan off to get cooler," said Butcher. "It just kept blowing in hot air. I guess that's why Toyota has such a great performance center, and that's why we do the work every week. I wish my wife and my baby boy were here, but they're at home snuggled up on the couch, so I'll have to give her a call when we get done with this."

The long race also created plenty of attrition, and even those who finished well ran into issues during the night. Gavan Boschele finished second despite plenty of damage on the left-front of his Wilson Motorsports entry after a multi-car melee just shy of the 100-lap mark.

"I don't know what's bent," said Boschele. "It looks like a lot of bodywork. I just had to muscle up and drive it. I ran out of water about lap five, so I'm not a wussy, I swear. I'm freaking gassed, though. I can't thank these Wilson guys enough. They gave me a great race car.

"Congrats to Cole, they were really fast. I wish we'd had an intact car to battle with him there, but we're happy with second place and happy with the runs we've had lately. Just have to get back in the swing of things, hoping we can knock off a few more wins this year."

Similarly, 2024 Redbud 400 winner Kyle Steckly finished third, bouncing back after a late-race incident with Chase Burda.

"It was just a really aggressive race, and everyone was getting pretty aggressive at the front," said Steckly. "I was trying to get around the 18 there for a while, and just couldn't get him. I moved him up a bit, and I guess he didn't like that, so he sent me around.

"We fought back and didn't give up all day. We had a good APC Auto Parts Center Port City Racecar. I don't think we were quite there with Cole, they've got something figured out for sure. We had a good car, we were able to fight back to the front. I was hoping we could get Gavan there, but we were just a little too free and just couldn't make the move."

Carson Brown finished fourth, with Steven Ulman rounding out the top five.

Butcher joins the list of multi-time winners of the Redbud 400, joining Jim Blount, Scott Hansen, Scott Hantz, Don Higgins, Mark Martin, Bob Senneker, Dick Trickle and Johnny VanDoorn.

The next event for the Appalachian Sucker Punch ASA STARS National Tour is scheduled for Saturday, August 20. Owosso Speedway hosts the Michigan 300 for the series on that date.

-Photo credit: Daniel Vining

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