NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The 40th Curb Records / Big Machine Vodka Spiked Coolers All American 400 weekend presented by US Tank lived up to everything fans could ask for.
A total of 243 different entries competed on track during the three days of racing and Sunday’s big race was an exclamation point on the weekend.
Twenty nine drivers took the green flag on Sunday afternoon with GoFas pole qualifying award winner Casey Roderick on the pole and Matt Craig alongside. The difference from qualifying was just .001 and only .009 back to third place Albert Francis. The whole field was tight and the early action in the race proved what everyone saw in qualifying.
Early in the race, Roderick, on his way to an ASA STARS National Tour championship, led the way but faded during a long green flag run. That gave the lead to Craig who was stout early. Craig’s good run took a major turn on lap 55 when his left rear axle went bad, relegating him to the pits for a repair. The crew handled it with ease, getting him back on track, just two laps down.
With Craig and Roderick having issues, Cole Butcher raced into the lead to pace the field until lap 122. Following a pit stop right after the first stage, it was Dawson Sutton’s turn to lead the field and show off his abilities at his home track.
The Lebanon, Tenn. teenager was the star for a big period of the race and held command until a lap 288 restart when Gio Ruggiero raced by him to go out front. Ruggiero continued to set the pace through a couple of yellow flag periods in overtime.
Late-race strategy saw Roderick and Albert Francis come to the pits late to take fresh rubber. That kept everyone watching mid pack as the two rallied quickly to get to the front and in contention. Racing over the final 50 laps was truly breathtaking, waiting for craziness to result in a big crash. Connor Okrzesik and Derek Thorn unfortunately did end up on the back of the wreckers but everyone else was able to come out unscathed.
On the final green-white-checkered restart, Jake Garcia took advantage of being in the right spot at the right time and playing his cards perfectly throughout the day. Garcia led just two laps all day long but they happened to be the two most important laps of the day, laps 314-315, racing under the checkered flag as winner of the All American 400.
For Garcia, it was his first All American win and his first career ASA STARS win. Roderick rallied for second and officially claimed the ASA STARS National Tour Driver and Team Owner Championship for his Anthony Campi owned racing team.
Dawson Sutton took third, while Gio Ruggiero, and Stephen Nasse completed the top five. Austin Nason, Dylan Fetcho, Jake Finch, Matt Craig and Tyler Tanner rounded out the top 10.
Fifteen drivers finished the race on the lead lap, with an extremely high percentage of cars on track for the major portion of the race.
Kyle Steckly had a day that was better than his end result of 12th but he did claim the rookie of the year honors with the series.