ANDERSON, Ind: Leander, Texas’s Logan Bearden will trade in his wrenches for a steering wheel this weekend as the part-time NASCAR CRAFTSMAN® Truck Series driver eyes a statement performance in Saturday’s 57th annual Greg Hubler Automotive Group Redbud 400 at the famed Anderson (Ind.) Speedway.
The Redbud 400, a Champion Racing Association-sanctioned event since 2000, now also becomes an ASA STARS National Tour event in the inaugural season of the rebirth of the American Speed Association namesake that was born, like Champion Racing Association, at Anderson Speedway.
Bearden, who now calls Mooresville, N.C. home and is a full-time employee at AM Racing returns to the Super Late Model scene on the heels of a competitive sixth-place finish in the CRA Super Series event at Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville on July 2.
Excited to get back behind the wheel of his Bearden Motorsports No. 66 Ford Mustang, Bearden hopes the staple Midwest Super Late Model event this weekend will allow him to continue to showcase his talent while delivering his team and supporters a satisfying finish.
“I’m looking forward to competing in the Red Bud 400 this weekend,” said Bearden. “I’m feeling good about this year’s Redbud 400. It’ll be nice going back to a now familiar place.
“Nashville was a great boost for the team and me and now we’re heading back to the Red Bud 400 hoping to improve on our finish from the 2022 race.”
Last year, Bearden battled the best of the best on the Late Model scene running with the likes of Sammy Smith, William Sawalich and Stephen Nasse before finishing fifth.
While satisfied with their performance last summer, Bearden returns eager to win and believes with the right circumstances, the opportunity to contend for the win will present itself.
“Just like last year, it is going to be a competitive field, but I think we are more than ready for the challenge that awaits us,” added Bearden. “Just being able to sit back and click off laps and be able to capitalize on restarts.
“With it being such a long race staying on the lead lap and keeping the fenders on it is key. As a team, we learned a lot last summer and I’m looking forward to taking the notes from our race last year – combined with what we have learned over the past year and hope it puts us in a position to be even faster than we were last year.”
Set for his second Red Bud 400 attempt, Bearden knows that handling will be crucial for the race, especially late in the race and will be leaning on the leadership of crew chief Marc Metz to make the right calls to keep him in the hunt aboard his No. 66 Bearden Automotive | Parker Electric Ford Mustang.
“I believe in my team and I know they have confidence in me as a driver,” he continued. “I think at a minimum we can come out of this weekend with a top-five, but I also believe we can compete for the win we had a really good car last year driving to second before we had a tire go down.
“We just need to keep the balance under our race car, stay out of trouble and have some luck and I think we can find ourselves knocking on the door for that win on Saturday night.”
Following the Red Bud 400, Bearden will return to North Carolina and continue his role as a lead mechanic for the Statesville, N.C.-based AM Racing team before returning to the CRA tour at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on Saturday, August 12, 2023, with other Late Model races at Winchester Speedway, Toledo Speedway and Nashville still left on his calendar.
“I’m feeling good about the rest of the year,” sounded Bearden. “It will be nice to return to these tracks this year whereas last year a majority of them were all new to me.”
Behind the Late Model scenes, Bearden is also working with his management team along with AM Racing to put him back in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN® Truck Series field this season with a hopeful expanded NASCAR schedule in 2024.
“I’m very thankful for the opportunities that AM Racing has presented me,” added Bearden. “I am learning a lot about myself, as well as about the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. The team and I have a plan and I believe in that plan; we just have to stay focused and hope the future is what we all want it to be.”
The 57th annual Redbud 400 will be 400 laps counting yellows and will pay the winner $15,000.
The 2023 version will mark the return of the iconic ASA brand to the Redbud 400 for the first time since 1999, with the ASA STARS National Tour set to sanction the 400-lap, 100-mile race.
The Redbud 400 will be co-sanctioned with the ASA CRA Super Series, which will be the third race of the CRA season.
On-track activities for the 57th Annual Greg Hubler Automotive Group Redbud 400 will kick off on Friday, July 14th with inspection and practice for the ASA STARS National Tour. Go Fas Pole Qualifying is scheduled for Saturday afternoon, July 15th, with the Redbud 400 set to go green at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
Fans who can’t attend the Redbud 400 on Saturday can stream the event via TrackTv.com, MidwestTour.TV, or RacingAmerica.TV.
Anderson Speedway is located at 1311 Martin Luther King Blvd. in Anderson, IN.
For more on Logan Bearden, please visit LoganBearden.com, like his Facebook page (Logan Bearden Racing) or follow him on Twitter @LoganBearden66.
