CONCORD, NC :: Coming off his best season to date in Super Late Model competition, Anderson Bowen is traveling to Indiana for the Winchester 400 with a tremendous amount of confidence and enthusiasm.

Bowen finished third in the Southern Super Series championship standings in 2014 with two victories and 11 top-10s in 15 starts. In addition to his success down south, Bowen also made four appearances in the ARCA Racing Series (including one at Winchester) where he posted two top-10s.

The 16-year-old Georgia youngster has only a handful of starts at the World’s Fastest Half-Mile but has already taken a quick liking to it, calling the Midwestern track his favorite. Given that affinity for the event, he added that a victory in the 400-lap race would be a bucket list moment for his young career.

“It would be huge for me,” Bowen said. “I love this track. I love it like it’s my home track. Winning the Winchester 400 and winning at a track with that kind of history would be amazing.”

Bowen should be considered one of the favorites as well, considering that his new crew chief, Ricky Turner, engineered the success of Chase Elliott in major events over the past several seasons, including a runner-up finish to Erik Jones in last year’s 400.

Due to the high surface banking and fast speeds, many observers like to compare Winchester to Bristol or Salem — two similarly-designed half-miles, but Bowen believes Winchester is a different monster entirely.

“Nothing is like Winchester,” Bowen said with a big smile. “Winchester is Winchester. It’s a different track altogether. You can run the top all the way around before the middle groove starts to come in like we saw a few weeks ago (in the most recent Winchester CRA race). It’s a high-banked track and you have to man up to run here.

“I like this place a ton. I’ve had some good luck here but we’ve had some struggles too. I tell all the other drivers I know that you have to go to Winchester at least once because you’re really missing out if you don’t.”

Bowen finished 11th in the 2013 Winchester 400.

Southern Super Series Set to Invade Winchester 400

For the second year in a row, the contenders of the Southern Super Series will travel north to battle the fierce competition of the ARCA\CRA Super Series in the latter’s signature event — the Winchester 400.

But an even larger contingent of SSS stars have entered the event this year, including the entire top-5 of the recently completed tour’s championship standings, a list that includes champion Bubba Pollard, Daniel Hemric, Augie Grill, Donnie Wilson and Anderson Bowen.

After contending in previous northern starts at Anderson and Berlin earlier in the season, Pollard says he feels confident each time he ventures outside of the familiar southern stomping grounds. Pollard has also had immediate success in the 400 as well, finishing fourth and ninth in his first starts over the past two seasons.

“I think we have what it takes to win one of these big races,” Pollard said. “We finally got the monkey off our back when we won up in Berlin with our Pro (Late Model) earlier this year and I think we’re going to have a chance in Winchester for the 400.

“I have a lot of respect for the CRA and their drivers but I think we match up pretty well.”

Hemric won the prestigious Redbud 300 at Anderson Speedway (IN) in June and finished fifth at Winchester last season. Hemric outdueled Pollard in the closing stages to win the Redbud and he believes the first two Southern Super Series champions may ultimately decide the 400 this weekend as well.

“Make no mistake, there are a lot of good teams that race in the CRA and I’m not discounting any of them,” Hemric said. “But I also have a lot of pride when some of the guys from the south, like me and Bubba, go on the road and represent our home series. It’s a lot of fun to mix it up with different teams.”

In addition to the Redbud, Hemric has also won CRA events at Berlin and Lucas Oil Raceway Indiana (IRP) this season and is 14th in their standings, despite only four starts in the 14 races contested thus far.

In short, the CRA has home field advantage in the Winchester 400 this weekend but the stars and cars of the Southern Super Series are heading to Indiana this weekend to make a statement about the national pecking order of Super Late Model racing. The current entry list for the event can be viewed here.