Carson Macedo Denies Brad Sweet for Home State Win at Merced Speedway

Carson Macedo (#41) racing for the win against Brad Sweet (#49) Friday at Merced Speedway. (Trent Gower photo)

From Brian Walker

MERCED, CA (March 18, 2022) — For the third time in three nights of the west coast swing, a Californian walked away with the win; only this time, it was a full-time World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series driver getting the job done.

In true bullring fashion, Merced Speedway ended an eight-year absence from The Greatest Show on Dirt and promptly delivered a spectacular battle for the win between Lemoore’s Carson Macedo, Grass Valley’s Brad Sweet, and Fresno’s Giovanni Scelzi.

Friday’s 35-lapper officially saw two lead changes but featured off-the-charts action from green-to-checkered. Among many highlights included Scelzi’s top-shelf pass for the lead, an intense lap traffic battle at the front, and several sliders shared by Macedo & Sweet.

Ultimately, the 25-year-old rising star (Macedo) welcomed every attack that the 36-year-old wily veteran (Sweet) threw his way in the late stages. The Big Cat tossed several scenarios his way, forcing Macedo to cross over, stay in it, and make every difficult decision you could imagine while manhandling a 900+ horsepower beast.

The duo was ultra-close as the white flag waved, but Macedo slightly gapped Sweet to cross the finish line ahead by 0.559-seconds. The victory marks his second win of the season aboard the Jason Johnson Racing, Albaugh #41, and brings Macedo to 19 career World of Outlaws wins with four of those coming in California.

“Wow, California Sprint Car Racing is awesome,” Macedo shouted. “It doesn’t get any better than bullrings like this. I was pushing it so damn hard those last 8-10 laps. I can’t tell you how nervewracking it is in lap traffic like that while you still have to battle for the lead. It’s a fine line between being aggressive enough to split cars, but patient enough to not give the win away.

“Racing at home is always so special. We’re not exactly down by Lemoore, but this is only an hour away and I still had so many people close to me make the drive up to support us. I’m thankful for every single one of these wins, especially ones like this.”

For the second time in as many races, Brad Sweet was again the bridesmaid, not the bride. The Kasey Kahne Racing, NAPA Auto Parts #49 controlled the opening 21 laps of the 35-lapper, but the final restart of the race spelled doom for the three-time and reigning World of Outlaws champion.

Choosing the inside on a double-file restart allowed Macedo to fire off on the outside and zoom by Sweet, and then go on the defense. The moment snatched The Big Cat’s 75th career win away and extended their dry spell to 24 consecutive races without a win.

“That’s my fault for choosing the bottom,” Sweet admitted. “I had a few shots at him there near the end, and I definitely think we had a better car. A little bit of rubber came in and kind of took away the technical aspect of it. You have to be perfect to win these Outlaw races, though, so we just need to get a little better.”

Rounding out Friday’s California podium sweep was Fresno’s Giovanni Scelzi aboard the KCP Racing #18. The 20-year-old shot by Sweet to take the lead on a Lap 13 restart, but a poorly timed caution negated the pass and hurt his chances at a second win in three races.

“I hate getting beat like that,” Scelzi said. “I got out-raced fair and square. The yellow didn’t help, but man that sucks. I was hoping they would slow each other down and get me back in the hunt, but I can’t be too disappointed. We have a great car, great crew, and we’re only getting better.”

Closing out the top-five was a pair of Indiana natives with Indianapolis’ Tyler Courtney in fourth aboard Kevin Kozlowski’s #57W and Lebanon’s Spencer Bayston in fifth with the CJB Motorsports #5.

Other top-10 finishers included Kerry Madsen in sixth in the Roth Enterprises #83JR, Logan Schuchart in seventh in the DuraMAX, Drydene #1S, Dominic Scelzi in eighth in the Scelzi Enterprises #41S, Rico Abreu in ninth in the Rowdy #24, and Sheldon Haudenschild with a KSE Hard Charger Award for driving from 21st-to-10th in the NOS Energy Drink #17.

World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series
Merced Speedway
Merced, California
Friday, March 18, 2022

Qualifying (2 Laps)
1. 18-Giovanni Scelzi, 10.057[27]
2. 41-Carson Macedo, 10.107[23]
3. 2-David Gravel, 10.134[13]
4. 5-Spencer Bayston, 10.170[32]
5. 1A-Jacob Allen, 10.171[3]
6. 83JR-Kerry Madsen, 10.183[4]
7. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 10.185[1]
8. 57W-Tyler Courtney, 10.189[10]
9. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 10.192[8]
10. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 10.244[30]
11. 14-Corey Day, 10.273[9]
12. 2X-Justin Sanders, 10.282[28]
13. 49-Brad Sweet, 10.286[25]
14. 41S-Dominic Scelzi, 10.300[31]
15. 83T-Tanner Carrick, 10.310[6]
16. 88-Austin McCarl, 10.314[22]
17. 26-Cory Eliason, 10.315[12]
18. 21-Mitchell Faccinto, 10.325[15]
19. 24-Rico Abreu, 10.337[20]
20. 15-Donny Schatz, 10.342[33]
21. 83-James McFadden, 10.359[24]
22. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 10.368[18]
23. 16A-Colby Copeland, 10.369[16]
24. 88N-DJ Netto, 10.370[14]
25. 42X-Tim Kaeding, 10.374[11]
26. 24X-Chase Johnson, 10.451[7]
27. 3-Kaleb Montgomery, 10.510[21]
28. 17W-Shane Golobic, 10.514[29]
29. 7S-Jason Sides, 10.533[19]
30. 19AZ-Tanner Thorson, 10.582[2]
31. 2K-JJ Ringo, 10.596[5]
32. 20G-Noah Gass, 10.620[26]
33. 6-Bill Rose, 10.816[17]

Heat Race #1 (10 Laps)
1. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[1]
2. 49-Brad Sweet[4]
3. 1A-Jacob Allen[2]
4. 1S-Logan Schuchart[3]
5. 26-Cory Eliason[5]
6. 83-James McFadden[6]
7. 42X-Tim Kaeding[7]
8. 7S-Jason Sides[8]
9. 6-Bill Rose[9]

Heat Race #2 (10 Laps)
1. 83JR-Kerry Madsen[2]
2. 41-Carson Macedo[1]
3. 41S-Dominic Scelzi[4]
4. 21-Mitchell Faccinto[5]
5. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[6]
6. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[3]
7. 19AZ-Tanner Thorson[8]
8. 24X-Chase Johnson[7]

Heat Race #3 (10 Laps)
1. 2-David Gravel[1]
2. 83T-Tanner Carrick[4]
3. 24-Rico Abreu[5]
4. 16A-Colby Copeland[6]
5. 11K-Kraig Kinser[2]
6. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[7]
7. 2K-JJ Ringo[8]
8. 14-Corey Day[3]

Heat Race #4 (10 Laps)
1. 57W-Tyler Courtney[2]
2. 5-Spencer Bayston[1]
3. 2X-Justin Sanders[3]
4. 15-Donny Schatz[5]
5. 88-Austin McCarl[4]
6. 17W-Shane Golobic[7]
7. 88N-DJ Netto[6]
8. 20G-Noah Gass[8]

DIRTVision FAST PASS Dash (8 Laps)
1. 49-Brad Sweet[1]
2. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[2]
3. 57W-Tyler Courtney[4]
4. 83T-Tanner Carrick[3]
5. 2-David Gravel[7]
6. 41-Carson Macedo[5]
7. 5-Spencer Bayston[6]
8. 83JR-Kerry Madsen[8]

Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps)
1. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[1]
2. 14-Corey Day[2]
3. 83-James McFadden[3]
4. 17W-Shane Golobic[5]
5. 19AZ-Tanner Thorson[7]
6. 88N-DJ Netto[9]
7. 42X-Tim Kaeding[6]
8. 24X-Chase Johnson[11]
9. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[4]
10. 7S-Jason Sides[10]
11. 20G-Noah Gass[12]
12. 6-Bill Rose[13]
13. 2K-JJ Ringo[8]

A-Main (35 Laps)
1. 41-Carson Macedo[6]
2. 49-Brad Sweet[1]
3. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[2]
4. 57W-Tyler Courtney[3]
5. 5-Spencer Bayston[7]
6. 83JR-Kerry Madsen[8]
7. 1S-Logan Schuchart[13]
8. 41S-Dominic Scelzi[10]
9. 24-Rico Abreu[11]
10. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[21]
11. 26-Cory Eliason[17]
12. 16A-Colby Copeland[15]
13. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[18]
14. 14-Corey Day[22]
15. 2-David Gravel[5]
16. 17W-Shane Golobic[24]
17. 83-James McFadden[23]
18. 21-Mitchell Faccinto[14]
19. 88-Austin McCarl[20]
20. 1A-Jacob Allen[9]
21. 83T-Tanner Carrick[4]
22. 15-Donny Schatz[16]
23. 11K-Kraig Kinser[19]
24. 2X-Justin Sanders[12]