Butcher Dominates, Holds Off Davis for Governor's Cup Win at New Smyrna to Claim Championship

Cole Butcher capped off a magical 2025 ASA season with a dominant win in the 60th annual Governor's Cup 200 at New Smyrna Speedway on Saturday afternoon.

Butcher, who started fifth in the race, charged quickly to the front, got around Spencer Davis, who passed polesitter Brad May on the opening lap of the race, for the lead just before the Lap 75 competition caution. Essentially, for the rest of the afternoon, Davis tried unsuccessfully to run down the 29-year-old Butcher for the win.

While Butcher had the best car early in the race, it looked like he was holding on for the final run of the race as Davis re-emerged with incredible speed in the closing laps. Butcher thanked Davis for not gouging him out of the way as he went into defensive mode at the end of the event.

"I cannot thank Spencer enough for racing me clean," Butcher said. "I think he was a little bit better than me, but I was just able to clog up the bottom lane."

Butcher continued, "I was just really tight after we put those tires on. I knew he had a little more roll speed, so I had to hog the bottom to kill his momentum. He could have gotten into me a couple of times, but [there was] just a lot of respect. And a lot of hard racing there. So, I can't thank him and everybody at GMS Racing enough."

As Butcher, a native of Nova Scotia, Canada, crossed the finish line ahead of Davis by a margin of 0.369 seconds, his fifth win of the ASA Southern Super Series season allowed him to wrap up the championship in the ASA Southern Super Series.

In addition to the ASA Southern Super Series championship, Butcher has also claimed a win in the prestigious Red Bud 400 at Anderson Speedway as well as championships in the ASA STARS National Tour and the ASA/CRA Super Series this season.

"This is definitely my best season of racing, ever," Butcher said in his victory interview on Racing America. "I just can't thank everyone at Wilson Motorsports [enough]."

Now, he'll shift his focus to Five Flags Speedway, as he has a first Tom Dawson Trophy in his sights in next month's Snowball Derby.

"We've got one more to go, and we'll enjoy our offseason," Butcher explained.

While Davis was so close he could taste the lead in the closing laps, he knew that it was going to be a tough task to get around Butcher cleanly with how the track was reacting on Saturday while running behind other cars.

"Bobby Good not to run me onto the flat there, when we had the lead," Davis said when asked what he needed to win the race. "Leading is so much today. I don't know, this track is slick behind other cars. I don't want to say aero, because I could drive all the way to his bumper, but we just needed to maintain the lead of the race."

Gavan Boschele, Butcher's Wilson Motorsports teammate, rounded out the podium finishers in the race, as he came home third in Saturday's race. While it was a solid finish, the 17-year-old was not happy to exit New Smyrna without a trophy.

"We were alright. Just really, really tight. [We] brought an okay car. The whole week we were really, really fast and then just okay during the race," Boschele said. "Not enough speed to pace with those guys. Just got really tight at the end there."

The young racer continued, "Just sucks to lose."

Colby Howard, who amassed 97 starts in the NASCAR National Series ranks from 2019 to 2024, ended the afternoon with a fourth-place finish, and rookie contender George Phillips ended his eventful afternoon with a fifth-place result.

Phillips got into it with fellow rookie contender Chase Pinsonneault in a near-50-lap battle for the fifth position. That battle ultimately ended with Phillips going for a spin off the front bumper of Pinsonneault's car with 79 laps remaining.

However, 40 laps later, Phillips got the last laugh as Pinsonneault crashed out of the race in Turn 3. Pinsonneault would be credited with a 15th-place finish in the 18-car field. But the finish wasn't indicative of how he performed in the event.

Racing America Story - Will Bellamy Photo