Over the course of the offseason, we will go back and recap each race of the 2023 ASA STARS National Tour season. The inaugural season featured seven different winners in ten races at ten different tracks, with a points battle that went down to the wire.
Race No.4 – Tar Heel 250 at Hickory Motor Speedway
The ASA STARS National Tour remained in North Carolina for race four of the season at Hickory Motor Speedway, just nine days after the ECMD at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott and William Byron joined Super Late Model racing’s best at “The Birthplace of the NASCAR Stars” during Thursday Thunder in the Foothills.
It was a single-day show, with practice, qualifying and the race all taking place on Thursday, May 25 just before the start of Coca-Cola 600 weekend just an hour up the road at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Matt Craig won the Go Fas Racing Pole Award and started on the outside front row after the redraw, with Byron drawing the lucky number one hat after qualifying sixth. Former NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace hyped up the crowd after driver intros, Travis “Moonhead” Brown gave the command and the race was on.
A calm first stage saw Craig lead the first 17 laps before Byron took over and led the rest of the stage. The action picked up in the second stage, with the lead changing three times just in the second 100 laps alone. Gio Ruggiero led from the onset of the second stage until lap 171, when he lost it to Wilson Motorsports teammate Cole Butcher. He regained the lead momentarily before Jesse Love took the lead on lap 187. The ARCA champion held off the likes of Byron, Ty Majeski, Bubba Pollard and others to win stage two.
Multiple strategies come together to provide an intense 50-lap run to the finish. Byron took the lead from Love with 33 to go and held off the field until a yellow with ten laps to go bunched the field back up. He was able to keep Ruggiero at bay after the restart until the final corner. Ruggiero then sent it deep, the two made contact and the teenager beat the NASCAR Cup Series veteran to the line by just 0.036 seconds for his first-career Super Late Model win. It is the closest finish to date in the ASA STARS National Tour.
Tar Heel 250 – Hickory Motor Speedway Entries: 25 Started: 25 Go Fas Racing Pole Award Winner: Matt Craig Stage Winners: William Byron/Jesse Love Lead Changes: 9 Leaders: 5 Most Laps Led: William Byron (115) Winner: Gio Ruggiero
For more information on the ASA STARS National Tour, please visit the series website at starsnationaltour.com, or be sure to follow the series on social media (Facebook: ASA STARS National Tour | Twitter: @racewithstars | IG: @starsnational).
ASA STARS National Tour
The ASA STARS National Tour debuted in March 2023 for Super Late Model racing in America. Announced in October 2022, many of the best drivers in America will compete in the ten-race national tour with a minimum $100,000 point fund. The championship team will be guaranteed $25,000.
The ASA STARS National Tour is made up of three races from each of the regional pavement Super Late Model Series under the Track Enterprises banner – the ASA/CRA Super Series, the ASA Midwest Tour and the ASA Southern Super Series.
The Team Construction Winner’s Circle program has been announced as a part of the ASA STARS National Tour for licensed drivers/teams with perfect attendance. The program provides additional financial incentives to those teams who support the series.
Track Enterprises, a racing promotions company based in Illinois, will operate the ASA STARS National Tour. It announced the acquisition of Champion Racing Association (CRA) in January 2022 and followed that up with the purchase of the Midwest Tour in July. In October, Track Enterprises President Bob Sargent announced a partnership with the Southern Super Series, which set the table for the formation of the ASA STARS National Tour.
