From Brian Walker
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (May 28, 2022) — For more than four decades, the Haudenschild name has been gracing victory lane all throughout the great state of Ohio. The only difference between now and 1980 is that the next generation is the one doing the winning now.
The passing of the torch from father-to-son continued on Saturday night as Sheldon Haudenschild earned his third World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series win in his home state. The Wooster, OH fan favorite is following in the footsteps of his legendary dad, Jac, who scored 11 of his 72 career wins within state lines.
It was only fitting that Jac himself was in-person to witness his boy deliver a big-time performance at Waverly’s Atomic Speedway, located a little more than two hours south of Wooster. The win upped Sheldon and Stenhouse Jr. / Marshall Racing to four victories in 2022, tied with Carson Macedo and Jason Johnson Racing for the most on tour through 22 of 77 races.
His 26th career World of Outlaws win was a good one, too, as Haudenschild was forced to fend off the Shark Racing duo of Jacob Allen and Logan Schuchart. Both Hanover, PA gassers were making their first-ever appearance at the Atomic 3/8-mile, but no signs of inexperience were on display as the #1A and the #1S brought the heat onto Ohio’s favorite son.
Officially, Sheldon led 27 of 30 laps in the Series’ long-awaited return after a 13-year absence from the track. Allen, who continues to piece together a spectacular season, led Laps 18-20 and hounded Haudenschild throughout the closing stages in front of a packed crowd.
“That was such a blast,” Haudenschild told a standing-room only crowd at Atomic. “I love the Shark boys, and man they were on it tonight. I knew the 1A and 1S would be there with a track like this and sure enough they gave me everything. Getting back home to Ohio is so much fun. The track crew did an amazing job. I know it wasn’t ideal to start the night, but they brought it back to life and gave us a great place to race.
“I can’t thank my guys enough for how hard they’re working. [Kyle] Ripper, Stephen [Hamm-Reilly] and Jakob [Weaver] are the reason this boat turns around and goes so fast.”
Earning his first DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash win of the year, Haudenschild earned the right to start pole position alongside Lockbourne, Ohio’s Cole Duncan. The Atomic ace to his outside was chasing his first-career win with the Series, but the NOS Energy Drink #17 is who won the race into turn one.
Things got intense at the halfway mark when traffic became a factor and allowed the Shark duo of Allen & Schuchart to tighten things up. Allen used a brief lapse to sneak by the #17 and lead three circuits before more traffic allowed Haudenschild to get right back by him.
It was never out of question, though, as Allen & Schuchart both kept it close in the final laps with traffic still impacting Haudenschild’s drive out front. The #17 eventually survived all challenges, but only with the margin of victory at 0.430-seconds.
“I knew I had to limit my mistakes in traffic and I still made a couple. but I was able to get my momentum back when Jacob got me,” Haudenschild added. “The lappers were tough to negotiate tonight. I really needed to stay up on the banking to keep my speed rolling. You can be up one night and down the next against these guys, so we’ll enjoy this one and hopefully build on it next week.”
Finishing second with a last-lap, last-corner pass on his uncle was Logan Schuchart aboard the Shark Racing, DuraMAX Oil, Drydene Performance Products #1S. It’s his fifth top-five finish in seven races since unloading a new Triple-X Chassis.
“It’s always really fun when you can race so clean, but so hard with guys like that,” Schuchart said. “I’ve never been to Atomic before tonight, but this place was really cool, raced great, and we got to see a packed crowd. Ohio fans never disappoint. We put this new Triple-X together before Bristol and we’ve been up front almost every single night. That goes to show how hard my guys Ron [Helmick], Todd [Berkheimer], my grandfather [Bobby Allen], and Bill [Klingbeil] are working.
Rounding out the podium in third place and continuing his spectacular season was Jacob Allen in the Shark Racing, Pells Tire Service, Low-E Insulation #1A. He led led three laps in the closing stages, but ultimately lap traffic is what cost him his third win of the 2022 season.
“That was a blast,” Allen said with a joy. “You have Haud’s son and Bobby Allen’s son. He’s up top, I’m on the bottom. Both of our dads are down here on the frontstretch, that is pretty awesome. I want to win and I had a good shot, but putting on races like that is just so much fun. If I can’t win I’m glad to share the podium with an awesome group like this.”
Championship leader Brad Sweet extended his advantage with a fourth place result in the Kasey Kahne Racing, NAPA Auto Parts #49. Ohio’s own Cole Duncan finished fifth to score his fifth career top-five result with the World of Outlaws.
Closing out the top-10 at Atomic was Cale Thomas with a career-best sixth, David Gravel in seventh, Donny Schatz in eighth, Kraig Kinser in ninth, and Kasey Kahne with his first top-10 finish of the season.
World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series
Atomic Speedway
Chillicothe, Ohio
Saturday, May 28, 2022
Qualifying A
1. 11-Michael Kofoid, 11.440[18]
2. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 11.441[20]
3. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 11.527[16]
4. 9-Kasey Kahne, 11.555[11]
5. 101-Cale Thomas, 11.617[3]
6. 41-Carson Macedo, 11.705[7]
7. 5-Spencer Bayston, 11.727[15]
8. 56R-Ryan Myers, 11.752[10]
9. 7S-Robbie Price, 11.777[5]
10. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 11.839[12]
11. 101A-Lachlan McHugh, 11.923[6]
12. 5T-Travis Philo, 11.958[13]
13. 11C-Kory Crabtree, 12.064[19]
14. 4X-Cale Stinson, 12.112[4]
15. 08-Brandon Conkel, 12.496[8]
16. 22B-Ryan Broughton, 12.542[2]
17. 40-Logan Fenton, 13.254[1]
18. 00H-Hunter Lynch, 13.254[9]
19. 35-Zach Hampton, 13.254[17]
20. 59-Bryan Nuckles, 13.254[14]
Qualifying B
1. 49-Brad Sweet, 11.520[5]
2. 22-Cole Duncan, 11.526[3]
3. 83-James McFadden, 11.638[1]
4. 49X-Ian Madsen, 11.688[12]
5. 2-David Gravel, 11.799[18]
6. 99-Skylar Gee, 11.891[8]
7. 1A-Jacob Allen, 11.924[11]
8. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 11.931[7]
9. 15-Donny Schatz, 11.997[9]
10. 4-Danny Smith, 12.128[4]
11. A79-Brandon Wimmer, 12.161[16]
12. 20G-Noah Gass, 12.181[13]
13. 5J-Jake Hesson, 12.185[17]
14. 83X-Nate Reeser, 12.387[6]
15. 97-Greg Wilson, 12.404[15]
16. 6-Bill Rose, 12.414[10]
17. 1B-Keith Baxter, 12.666[19]
18. 8D-Josh Davis, 12.681[14]
19. 5W-Ben Webb, 12.953[2]
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[2]
2. 5-Spencer Bayston[4]
3. 101-Cale Thomas[3]
4. 11-Michael Kofoid[1]
5. 7S-Robbie Price[5]
6. 11C-Kory Crabtree[7]
7. 08-Brandon Conkel[8]
8. 101A-Lachlan McHugh[6]
9. 40-Logan Fenton[9]
10. 35-Zach Hampton[10]
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 1S-Logan Schuchart[1]
2. 9-Kasey Kahne[2]
3. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[5]
4. 41-Carson Macedo[3]
5. 5T-Travis Philo[6]
6. 22B-Ryan Broughton[8]
7. 4X-Cale Stinson[7]
8. 56R-Ryan Myers[4]
9. 59-Bryan Nuckles[10]
10. 00H-Hunter Lynch[9]
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 49-Brad Sweet[1]
2. 1A-Jacob Allen[4]
3. 2-David Gravel[3]
4. 15-Donny Schatz[5]
5. A79-Brandon Wimmer[6]
6. 97-Greg Wilson[8]
7. 83-James McFadden[2]
8. 5J-Jake Hesson[7]
9. 1B-Keith Baxter[9]
10. 5W-Ben Webb[10]
Heat Race #4 (8 Laps)
1. 49X-Ian Madsen[2]
2. 22-Cole Duncan[1]
3. 11K-Kraig Kinser[4]
4. 4-Danny Smith[5]
5. 8D-Josh Davis[9]
6. 20G-Noah Gass[6]
7. 6-Bill Rose[8]
8. 99-Skylar Gee[3]
9. 83X-Nate Reeser[7]
DIRTVision FAST PASS Dash (6 Laps)
1. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[1]
2. 22-Cole Duncan[2]
3. 5-Spencer Bayston[5]
4. 1S-Logan Schuchart[3]
5. 1A-Jacob Allen[4]
6. 49-Brad Sweet[7]
7. 49X-Ian Madsen[8]
8. 9-Kasey Kahne[6]
Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps)
1. 83-James McFadden[2]
2. 97-Greg Wilson[4]
3. 20G-Noah Gass[6]
4. 08-Brandon Conkel[7]
5. 1B-Keith Baxter[14]
6. 6-Bill Rose[8]
7. 5W-Ben Webb[18]
8. 22B-Ryan Broughton[5]
9. 5J-Jake Hesson[10]
10. 11C-Kory Crabtree[3]
11. 4X-Cale Stinson[9]
12. 56R-Ryan Myers[1]
13. 101A-Lachlan McHugh[11]
14. 99-Skylar Gee[12]
15. 40-Logan Fenton[13]
16. 59-Bryan Nuckles[15]
17. 83X-Nate Reeser[16]
18. 35-Zach Hampton[17]
19. 00H-Hunter Lynch[19]
A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[1]
2. 1S-Logan Schuchart[4]
3. 1A-Jacob Allen[5]
4. 49-Brad Sweet[6]
5. 22-Cole Duncan[2]
6. 101-Cale Thomas[9]
7. 2-David Gravel[10]
8. 15-Donny Schatz[14]
9. 11K-Kraig Kinser[12]
10. 9-Kasey Kahne[8]
11. 5T-Travis Philo[19]
12. 41-Carson Macedo[15]
13. 83-James McFadden[21]
14. 49X-Ian Madsen[7]
15. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[11]
16. 7S-Robbie Price[17]
17. 11-Michael Kofoid[13]
18. 5-Spencer Bayston[3]
19. 97-Greg Wilson[22]
20. 8D-Josh Davis[20]
21. 08-Brandon Conkel[24]
22. 20G-Noah Gass[23]
23. A79-Brandon Wimmer[18]
24. 4-Danny Smith[16]