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Carson Macedo Sweeps the Night at Atomic

By Alex Nieten,WOO SPrint Series PR (Chillicothe, OH) -- So many variables that could go wrong go into a night of racing with the Wor\\\\ld of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars.

A poor pill draw could harm a qualifying effort. A mistimed heat race start. A low draw for the Dash. And of course, the chaos of a 24 car Feature can derail a night at any moment.

PHOTO CREDIT: Trent Gower

Coming out on top of every single one of the phases of a night of racing is a monumental task – one that Carson Macedo managed to conquer on Saturday night at Atomic Speedway.

Macedo sped to the Simpson QuickTime Award, topped CASE No.1 Engine Oil Heat One, and dominated the Toyota Racing Dash. Then finally, Macedo outdueled Donny Schatz in the NOS Energy Drink Feature before holding off a late charge from David Gravel to cap a sweep of the night at the Chillicothe, OH oval.

And the icing on the cake? Macedo celebrated his 27th birthday the day before, making the victory a belated birthday gift.

“My guys did an incredible job all night,” Macedo said. “Hell of a job to sweep the night. QuickTime. Won the Heat. Won the Dash. And to get the win in the Feature was pretty special. We’ve been on a little bit of a dry spell in the win column, but it feels good to get one tonight. I know we’ve been really close. We’ve been in contention just haven’t been able to close it out but happy with the job that we could do tonight.”

As Macedo mentioned, the victory ended a dry spell – snapping a 19-race winless streak dating back to Volusia Speedway Park on March 5. Macedo now owns 30 career World of Outlaws wins – enough to equal Bobby Allen for 22nd all-time. The Lemoore, CA native is only the third Californian to reach the 30-win mark – joining Brad Sweet (84 wins) and Jason Meyers (58 wins). After struggling early in his career at the 3/8ths-mile, Atomic is now the 21st different track Macedo has won at in Series competition.

“(Crew Chief) Philip (Dietz) just did a great job with my car,” Macedo said. “I think in the past here I’ve really struggled with the car driving around itself center off. I feel like no matter what I did here in the past I would end up with my right-rear hanging off the corners.”

Macedo’s path to his second win of the season was anything but an easy drive.

Starting from the pole, Macedo rocketed to the lead on the opening circuit aboard the Jason Johnson Racing #41 as Sheldon Haudenschild, Donny Schatz, and David Gravel went three-wide for second behind him.

Schatz arose with the runner-up spot and immediately went to work chasing down Macedo. On an early restart Schatz went side by side with Macedo for multiple laps in a fierce battle for lead. Macedo managed to maintain.

On the next restart with 26 laps to go, Gravel slid Schatz to takeover second briefly before Schatz came rolling back by a few laps later. Not long after he reclaimed second, Schatz rolled the Tony Stewart/Curb Agajanian Racing #15 on the bottom to perfection by Macedo to lead lap 18.

Over the next several laps, Macedo and Schatz displayed driving excellence with a back and forth duel. Macedo snatched the lead back on the cushion only to have Schatz come back by when Macedo struggled with a slower car.

On lap 24, Macedo roared around the cushion to take the top spot for good. The 27-year-old pulled away from Schatz and held off a charging David Gravel to complete the sweep of the night.

“There were so many stages of the race that I didn’t know where to be,” Macedo explained. “I felt like Donny was making such good speed down on the bottom. The couple times that I moved down I felt like I was in no man’s land down there. And I kind of thought that sticking to the top and whatever that gave me was going to be my result. I feel like the top, luckily for me, cleaned off really nice there with probably about 15 or 12 (laps) to go. And I could just feel myself grip back up.”

Behind Macedo, Gravel claimed the runner-up spot for his Series-best 11th podium of the season with Big Game Motorsports. The Watertown, CT native came away very satisfied with the result and found restart positioning to be vital toward achieving it.

“I made a little mistake on one of the lapped cars but honestly really happy to run second,” Gravel said. “I thought there for a while I wasn’t going to be on the podium, and my car was really good on the restarts restarting fourth. Every time I restarted fourth, I could get a good run down the straightaway. Restarting third on the bottom on that flat I just couldn’t get going.

“We had three different bar combinations in tonight, trying all sorts of things. And to be trying all these things and be on the podium is a good night.”

Rounding out the top-three was Donny Schatz after challenging for the victory throughout the race. The 10-time champion and his team continued to stay hot with their sixth podium in the last eight races. Schatz put forth all his effort, even trying a lower line when the track became top-dominant, but fell a little short of his third triumph of 2023. While he badly wanted the win, Schatz came away encouraged after yet another strong outing.

It's pretty hard to get back to that bottom once you’ve abused them (tires),” Schatz said. “I tried it and lost another spot, but second or third, it’s not a win so not much difference to me. When you go for the win, sometimes that’s what happens. Hats off to the whole Carquest team. These guys have a great race car. What we did in the Dash was incredible around the bottom line, and we just kind of have good drive everywhere.”

Sheldon Haudenschild and Gio Scelzi completed the top five.

With Brad Sweet finishing 11th, both Macedo and Gravel closed on him in the championship hunt. Sweet now leads Gravel by only 10 markers and Macedo by 14.

Cole Duncan earned the night’s KSE Racing Hard Charger with a drive from 17th to 10th.

Macedo’s Simpson QuickTime to begin the night was his sixth of the season (tied for most) and the 25th of his career.

Macedo’s victory in CASE No.1 Engine Oil Heat One was the 91st of his career. Buddy Kofoid topped NOS Energy Drink Heat Two for his ninth career Heat win, and David Gravel claimed NOS Energy Drink Heat Three for the 214th Heat victory of his career.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars head to Indiana on Monday, May 29 for Lawrenceburg Speedway’s Federated Auto Parts Memorial Day Spectacular. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

If you can’t make it to the track, catch all of the action on DIRTVision.

RESULTS

CASE Late Mode Feature (60 Laps): 1. 44-Chris Madden[4]; 2. 96V-Tanner English[1]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 4. 3S-Brian Shirley[8]; 5. 157-Mike Marlar[6]; 6. 22-Gregg Satterlee[2]; 7. 9-Nick Hoffman[12]; 8. 97-Cade Dillard[7]; 9. 25-Shane Clanton[9]; 10. 36-Logan Martin[11]; 11. 1ST-Johnny Scott[13]; 12. 2S-Stormy Scott[10]; 13. B1-Brent Larson[22]; 14. B5-Brandon Sheppard[16]; 15. 0-Rick Eckert[20]; 16. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[18]; 17. 1C-Alex Ferree[21]; 18. 11-Gordy Gundaker[24]; 19. 40B-Kyle Bronson[23]; 20. 30-Todd Cooney[25]; 21. 2-Dan Stone[17]; 22. 1Z-Logan Zarin[15]; 23. 1*-Chub Frank[14]; 24. 48-Colton Flinner[19]; 25. 19R-Ryan Gustin[5]

Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 Laps): 1. 2-Dan Stone[1]; 2. 48-Colton Flinner[3]; 3. 1C-Alex Ferree[5]; 4. 9S-Breyton Santee[7]; 5. 3RK-Daryl Charlier[9]; 6. 93-Cory Lawler[4]; 7. 11-Gordy Gundaker[2]; 8. 96-Mike Smith[6]; 9. 40B-Kyle Bronson[8]; 10. (DNS) 27W-Eric Wilson; 11. (DNS) 0G-Deshawn Gingerich

Last Chance Showdown 2 (10 Laps): 1. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[1]; 2. 0-Rick Eckert[2]; 3. B1-Brent Larson[3]; 4. 111-Matt Lux[4]; 5. 7-Drake Troutman[5]; 6. 24-Tyler Wyant[7]; 7. 8-Rob Anderzack[9]; 8. 12B-Andy Boozel[6]; 9. 30-Todd Cooney[8]; 10. 63-Terry Rushlow[11]; 11. 14W-Dustin Walker[10]

Case No.1 Engine Oil Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Chris Madden[1]; 2. 19R-Ryan Gustin[2]; 3. 25-Shane Clanton[4]; 4. 1ST-Johnny Scott[5]; 5. 2-Dan Stone[3]; 6. 48-Colton Flinner[7]; 7. 1C-Alex Ferree[6]; 8. 9S-Breyton Santee[8]; 9. 3RK-Daryl Charlier[9]; 10. 0G-Deshawn Gingerich[10]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 96V-Tanner English[2]; 2. 157-Mike Marlar[1]; 3. 36-Logan Martin[5]; 4. 1Z-Logan Zarin[7]; 5. 11-Gordy Gundaker[3]; 6. 93-Cory Lawler[8]; 7. 96-Mike Smith[9]; 8. 40B-Kyle Bronson[4]; 9. 27W-Eric Wilson[6]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 22-Gregg Satterlee[2]; 2. 97-Cade Dillard[1]; 3. 2S-Stormy Scott[5]; 4. 1*-Chub Frank[7]; 5. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[4]; 6. B1-Brent Larson[6]; 7. 7-Drake Troutman[3]; 8. 24-Tyler Wyant[9]; 9. 8-Rob Anderzack[8]; 10. 63-Terry Rushlow[10]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[2]; 2. 3S-Brian Shirley[3]; 3. 9-Nick Hoffman[1]; 4. B5-Brandon Sheppard[4]; 5. 0-Rick Eckert[6]; 6. 111-Matt Lux[7]; 7. 12B-Andy Boozel[5]; 8. 30-Todd Cooney[8]; 9. 14W-Dustin Walker[9]

Qualifying Group A (2 Laps): 1. 44-Chris Madden, 00:16.649[11]; 2. 157-Mike Marlar, 00:16.711[15]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 00:16.741[7]; 4. 96V-Tanner English, 00:16.751[16]; 5. 2-Dan Stone, 00:16.788[2]; 6. 11-Gordy Gundaker, 00:16.845[13]; 7. 25-Shane Clanton, 00:16.996[9]; 8. 40B-Kyle Bronson, 00:17.070[4]; 9. 1ST-Johnny Scott, 00:17.122[19]; 10. 36-Logan Martin, 00:17.141[1]; 11. 1C-Alex Ferree, 00:17.176[5]; 12. 27W-Eric Wilson, 00:17.332[14]; 13. 48-Colton Flinner, 00:17.391[6]; 14. 1Z-Logan Zarin, 00:17.566[8]; 15. 9S-Breyton Santee, 00:17.629[18]; 16. 93-Cory Lawler, 00:17.760[3]; 17. 3RK-Daryl Charlier, 00:17.859[10]; 18. 96-Mike Smith, 00:18.582[12]; 19. 0G-Deshawn Gingerich, 00:18.582[17]

Qualifying Group B (2 Laps): 1. 97-Cade Dillard, 00:16.639[6]; 2. 9-Nick Hoffman, 00:16.680[11]; 3. 22-Gregg Satterlee, 00:16.726[7]; 4. 32-Bobby Pierce, 00:16.814[16]; 5. 7-Drake Troutman, 00:16.828[12]; 6. 3S-Brian Shirley, 00:16.996[14]; 7. 28-Dennis Erb Jr, 00:17.136[5]; 8. B5-Brandon Sheppard, 00:17.141[15]; 9. 2S-Stormy Scott, 00:17.166[13]; 10. 12B-Andy Boozel, 00:17.252[10]; 11. B1-Brent Larson, 00:17.379[4]; 12. 0-Rick Eckert, 00:17.418[8]; 13. 1*-Chub Frank, 00:17.430[1]; 14. 111-Matt Lux, 00:17.636[2]; 15. 8-Rob Anderzack, 00:17.779[19]; 16. 30-Todd Cooney, 00:17.883[18]; 17. 24-Tyler Wyant, 00:18.182[9]; 18. 14W-Dustin Walker, 00:18.266[17]; 19. 63-Terry Rushlow, 00:18.818[3]

Hot Laps: 1. 9-Nick Hoffman, 00:16.882[30]; 2. 7-Drake Troutman, 00:16.956[31]; 3. 28-Dennis Erb Jr, 00:16.976[24]; 4. 0-Rick Eckert, 00:17.036[27]; 5. 97-Cade Dillard, 00:17.066[25]; 6. 3S-Brian Shirley, 00:17.137[33]; 7. B1-Brent Larson, 00:17.177[23]; 8. 3RK-Daryl Charlier, 00:17.192[10]; 9. 1*-Chub Frank, 00:17.212[20]; 10. 44-Chris Madden, 00:17.286[11]; 11. 12B-Andy Boozel, 00:17.300[29]; 12. 96V-Tanner English, 00:17.347[16]; 13. 1ST-Johnny Scott, 00:17.371[19]; 14. 11-Gordy Gundaker, 00:17.407[13]; 15. 25-Shane Clanton, 00:17.446[9]; 16. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 00:17.450[7]; 17. 22-Gregg Satterlee, 00:17.459[26]; 18. 2S-Stormy Scott, 00:17.545[32]; 19. B5-Brandon Sheppard, 00:17.570[34]; 20. 27W-Eric Wilson, 00:17.592[14]; 21. 93-Cory Lawler, 00:17.665[3]; 22. 40B-Kyle Bronson, 00:17.666[4]; 23. 1Z-Logan Zarin, 00:17.667[8]; 24. 2-Dan Stone, 00:17.689[2]; 25. 157-Mike Marlar, 00:17.736[15]; 26. 1C-Alex Ferree, 00:17.741[5]; 27. 48-Colton Flinner, 00:17.844[6]; 28. 36-Logan Martin, 00:17.848[1]; 29. 63-Terry Rushlow, 00:17.986[22]; 30. 9S-Breyton Santee, 00:17.989[18]; 31. 30-Todd Cooney, 00:18.000[37]; 32. 111-Matt Lux, 00:18.009[21]; 33. 14W-Dustin Walker, 00:18.026[36]; 34. 0G-Deshawn Gingerich, 00:18.101[17]; 35. 8-Rob Anderzack, 00:18.129[38]; 36. 24-Tyler Wyant, 00:18.181[28]; 37. 96-Mike Smith, 00:18.493[12]; 38. 32-Bobby Pierce, 00:18.493[35]

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B MODIFIEDS

Whelen Econo Mod A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 83-Jeremy Double[9]; 2. 9-Will Thomas[4]; 3. 965-Andy Buckley[2]; 4. 8B-Brian Toto[3]; 5. 39-Steve Haefke[5]; 6. 2-Scott Burk Jr[8]; 7. 64-Jacob Eucker[12]; 8. 98-Keith Felicetty[7]; 9. 56-Bryan Wagner[15]; 10. 7G-Garrett Calvert[1]; 11. 27-Nate Arp[13]; 12. 16C-Amelia Clay[10]; 13. B4-Buzz Seitz[11]; 14. 26X-Carter Bidwell[16]; 15. 35-Rick Wilson Jr[21]; 16. 89C-Travis Carothers[22]; 17. 77D-Dustin DeMattia[6]; 18. 13-Jordan Simmons[19]; 19. 62-Jesse Brock[17]; 20. 20-Alex Siekkinen[18]; 21. 71A-Don Watson[20]; 22. 52-Zac Etzel[14]

Whelen Econo Mod Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 39-Steve Haefke[5]; 2. 965-Andy Buckley[1]; 3. 98-Keith Felicetty[2]; 4. 16C-Amelia Clay[6]; 5. 27-Nate Arp[7]; 6. 26X-Carter Bidwell[3]; 7. 13-Jordan Simmons[4]; 8. 89C-Travis Carothers[8]

Whelen Econo Mod Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Will Thomas[6]; 2. 7G-Garrett Calvert[7]; 3. 2-Scott Burk Jr[5]; 4. B4-Buzz Seitz[3]; 5. 52-Zac Etzel[4]; 6. 62-Jesse Brock[2]; 7. 71A-Don Watson[1]

Whelen Econo Mod Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 8B-Brian Toto[1]; 2. 77D-Dustin DeMattia[5]; 3. 83-Jeremy Double[2]; 4. 64-Jacob Eucker[3]; 5. 56-Bryan Wagner[4]; 6. 20-Alex Siekkinen[6]; 7. 35-Rick Wilson Jr[7]

Hot Laps: 1. 7G-Garrett Calvert, 00:19.473[20]; 2. 9-Will Thomas, 00:19.522[17]; 3. 2-Scott Burk Jr, 00:19.823[14]; 4. 8B-Brian Toto, 00:19.875[3]; 5. 20-Alex Siekkinen, 00:19.905[18]; 6. 98-Keith Felicetty, 00:19.910[4]; 7. 39-Steve Haefke, 00:19.947[13]; 8. 77D-Dustin DeMattia, 00:20.061[15]; 9. 13-Jordan Simmons, 00:20.412[10]; 10. 16C-Amelia Clay, 00:20.824[16]; 11. 71A-Don Watson, 00:20.902[2]; 12. 56-Bryan Wagner, 00:20.925[12]; 13. 27-Nate Arp, 00:20.967[19]; 14. 26X-Carter Bidwell, 00:21.028[7]; 15. 62-Jesse Brock, 00:21.335[5]; 16. 83-Jeremy Double, 00:22.153[6]; 17. 965-Andy Buckley, 00:22.186[1]; 18. 89C-Travis Carothers, 00:22.186[22]; 19. 52-Zac Etzel, 00:22.186[11]; 20. 64-Jacob Eucker, 00:22.186[9]; 21. B4-Buzz Seitz, 00:22.186[8]; 22. 35-Rick Wilson Jr, 00:22.186[21]
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