WINCHESTER, Ind. — History was made with the green flag as the 55th Annual Winchester 400 at Winchester Speedway saw its first Saturday show and its first race under the lights. With a poor forecast on Sunday in the Midwest due to Hurricane Isaias, the ASA STARS National Tour officials and track staff made the call to move this historic race up a day to ensure the event was completed.
The quest for the Winchester rifle began just before sundown, just like a tale from an old western movie. Moving the race nearly upended the plans of ASA STARS National Tour point leader Carson Brown. Brown was in Charlotte Saturday morning for the NASCAR O’Reilly Series race, which was postponed early in the day. He was able to jump on a plane and head to Winchester to practice and qualify.
In a way, you could say the gunfight was over before it started. Brown took the lead from the outside of the front row and led the most laps during a night of pure domination as he picked up his fifth ASA STARS National tour win of the season.
Behind Brown was two-time Winchester 400 winner Stephen Nasse, who finished on the podium for the sixth time in the 400-lap contest. It was also his ninth career top five at the 400, tying him with short track legends Bob Seeneker and Butch Miller.
Billy VanMeter won the Turn One CRA Pro Series 100-lap race on Friday night at Winchester; they then changed engines and ran the same car on Saturday and finished third in the final rundown of the ASA STARS Tour National event.
Rookie Tristan McKee finished fourth, and Chris Shannon improved on his 2024 Winchester 400 magic, where he finished sixth. Tonight Shannon started 15th and finished fifth on the lead lap in his third Winchester 400.
Dawson Sutton started the night winning the Hamke Race Cars pole award. The Lebanon, TN driver who won the All American 400 in 2025 was looking for his first win at Winchester. Sutton paced Carson Brown for the first 200 laps of the night and even led a dozen laps before his night ended early.
