From Brian Walker
HANFORD, Ca. (September 16, 2022) — Just as a victory seemed out of reach for Logan Schuchart Friday night at Keller Auto Speedway, an opportunity to win came his way.
The Hanover, PA driver needed a chance, and he took it, diving under race leader Carson Macedo with three laps to go—the two making contact as Schuchart slid up the racetrack in Turn 2.
From there, Schuchart sprinted ahead, holding on to win the Tom Tarlton Classic and earn his 34th career World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Cars Feature triumph.
Schuchart said he couldn’t waste an opportunity with a $21,000 payday up for grabs.
“I knew I wouldn’t have an opportunity unless I did something like that,” Schuchart said. “We weren’t going to get into lap traffic again. At this point in the year, I’m racing to win races. That’s the reason we’re out here. It’s a bigger paying race, and we’re racing for the lead. If I have a chance, I’m going to have to take it, and I felt like that was my only opportunity.
“I’ll have to watch the replay and see exactly how it went down. The general consensus from what I’m hearing is that it was racing.”
Macedo quickly drove away from the field in the first half of the race, remaining unchallenged until the first of several cautions came out on Lap 21.
From there, the Golden State competitor continued his quick pace on multiple restarts, using the outside lane. However, a caution with six laps remaining for 10-time World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion Donny Schatz set up the final battle.
Macedo pulled away on the restart, but Schuchart kept him in his sights before pulling the slide job with three laps left.
The early race leader fell back to fourth and said he felt Schuchart didn’t give him enough room on the pass.
“I’m going to have to look back and see the video,” Macedo said. “I just didn’t feel like I had very much room there. He slid me and came across so fast that we got on the brakes, but ultimately, he ran into me.
“It is what it is. It’s just one of them deals I think you have to put into the memory bank and just remember. One of these nights coming up, I’ll probably have a shot with him. I feel like me, and the 1S raced pretty hard with each other a few times, and I’m sure I’ll have a shot in the future.”
Despite his fourth-place finish, Macedo gained on Series points leader Brad Sweet, who finished sixth, and David Gravel, who finished seventh.
Sweet leads Gravel by 74 points leaving the West Coast and Macedo by 94 points.
Jacob Allen finished second, completing a one-two finish for Shark Racing in the second consecutive Feature.
The Hanover, PA driver earned the KSE Hard Charger award after transferring through the Last Chance Showdown and charging from 22nd to the runner-up spot.
Allen stated his team’s decisions throughout the night played a role in a second consecutive podium.
“It was a great turnaround for our race team,” Allen said. “I kind of crashed there in Qualifying and had to run the [Last Chance Showdown]. All night long, we just kept working on our setup, and our racecar got better every time we hit the racetrack.
“The decisions we made there after the [Last Chance Showdown] right before the Feature were very critical to having such a good run tonight.”
James McFadden crossed the line third after falling back as far as eleventh.
The Alice Sprints, NT, AU driver said he couldn’t get into a rhythm because of the cautions.
“The restarts hurt me,” McFadden said. “I was back in 11th for a while. I could just never get going on the restart. Then once I cleared those, we’d start trucking. I’m just disappointed I couldn’t get a rhythm.
“I’m disappointed in myself for not getting a good restart and pounded the top earlier.”
Sheldon Haudenschild, from Wooster, OH, rounded out the top five.
He said he was biding his time as he watched Sweet and McFadden battle in front of him, hoping to make a pass.
“I feel like I did pretty good on the restarts; I just had one hiccup when I got over in (Turn) 2 and lost a few spots,” Haudenschild said. “I was really just dodging [Sweet] and [McFadden]. They were racing pretty hard in front of me. I was just kind of waiting and ended up getting [Sweet] there at the end.”
World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series
Keller Auto Speedway
Hanford, California
Friday, September 16, 2022
Qualifying
1. 41-Carson Macedo, 13.439[3]
2. 88N-DJ Netto, 13.550[1]
3. 49-Brad Sweet, 13.670[14]
4. 7S-Robbie Price, 13.712[5]
5. 15-Donny Schatz, 13.723[6]
6. 2X-Justin Sanders, 13.728[24]
7. 5T-Ryan Timms, 13.728[8]
8. 14-Corey Day, 13.752[27]
9. 83-James McFadden, 13.772[4]
10. 5-Spencer Bayston, 13.779[30]
11. 2-David Gravel, 13.796[31]
12. 2K-Kaleb Montgomery, 13.798[25]
13. 88-Austin McCarl, 13.801[17]
14. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 13.898[2]
15. 83JR-Kerry Madsen, 13.908[32]
16. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 13.952[29]
17. 36-Craig Stidham, 13.958[11]
18. 57W-Shane Golobic, 14.001[19]
19. 5V-Landon Brooks, 14.057[9]
20. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 14.067[28]
21. 6-Bill Rose, 14.103[13]
22. 5B-Colby Copeland, 14.103[21]
23. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 14.117[7]
24. 21-Mitchell Faccinto, 14.172[26]
25. 20G-Noah Gass, 14.213[16]
26. 46JR-Joel Myers Jr, 14.215[18]
27. 53-Jessie Attard, 14.294[15]
28. 33-Dylan Bloomfield, 14.303[12]
29. 41S-Dominic Scelzi, 14.445[20]
30. 6C-Logan Calderwood, 14.881[23]
31. 1A-Jacob Allen, 15.614[22]
32. 24-Chase Johnson, 15.614[10]
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 41-Carson Macedo[1]
2. 15-Donny Schatz[2]
3. 83-James McFadden[3]
4. 88-Austin McCarl[4]
5. 41S-Dominic Scelzi[8]
6. 20G-Noah Gass[7]
7. 6-Bill Rose[6]
8. 36-Craig Stidham[5]
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 5-Spencer Bayston[3]
2. 2X-Justin Sanders[2]
3. 1S-Logan Schuchart[4]
4. 57W-Shane Golobic[5]
5. 46JR-Joel Myers Jr[7]
6. 5B-Colby Copeland[6]
7. 88N-DJ Netto[1]
8. 6C-Logan Calderwood[8]
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 49-Brad Sweet[1]
2. 5T-Ryan Timms[2]
3. 2-David Gravel[3]
4. 83JR-Kerry Madsen[4]
5. 5V-Landon Brooks[5]
6. 1A-Jacob Allen[8]
7. 11K-Kraig Kinser[6]
8. 53-Jessie Attard[7]
Heat Race #4 (8 Laps)
1. 14-Corey Day[2]
2. 7S-Robbie Price[1]
3. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[4]
4. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[5]
5. 2K-Kaleb Montgomery[3]
6. 21-Mitchell Faccinto[6]
7. 33-Dylan Bloomfield[7]
8. 24-Chase Johnson[8]
DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash (6 Laps)
1. 41-Carson Macedo[1]
2. 2X-Justin Sanders[2]
3. 15-Donny Schatz[5]
4. 49-Brad Sweet[4]
5. 5T-Ryan Timms[6]
6. 5-Spencer Bayston[3]
7. 14-Corey Day[8]
8. 7S-Robbie Price[7]
Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps)
1. 88N-DJ Netto[1]
2. 1A-Jacob Allen[5]
3. 5B-Colby Copeland[4]
4. 21-Mitchell Faccinto[6]
5. 20G-Noah Gass[3]
6. 36-Craig Stidham[2]
7. 11K-Kraig Kinser[8]
8. 6-Bill Rose[7]
9. 33-Dylan Bloomfield[9]
10. 6C-Logan Calderwood[10]
11. 53-Jessie Attard[11]
12. 24-Chase Johnson[12]
A-Main (35 Laps)
1. 1S-Logan Schuchart[10]
2. 1A-Jacob Allen[22]
3. 83-James McFadden[9]
4. 41-Carson Macedo[1]
5. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[16]
6. 49-Brad Sweet[4]
7. 2-David Gravel[11]
8. 2X-Justin Sanders[2]
9. 41S-Dominic Scelzi[17]
10. 88N-DJ Netto[21]
11. 14-Corey Day[7]
12. 5T-Ryan Timms[5]
13. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[12]
14. 88-Austin McCarl[13]
15. 83JR-Kerry Madsen[15]
16. 5-Spencer Bayston[6]
17. 7S-Robbie Price[8]
18. 21-Mitchell Faccinto[24]
19. 5B-Colby Copeland[23]
20. 5V-Landon Brooks[19]
21. 46JR-Joel Myers Jr[18]
22. 20G-Noah Gass[25]
23. 15-Donny Schatz[3]
24. 57W-Shane Golobic[14]
25. 2K-Kaleb Montgomery[20]
Western RaceSaver Sprint Car Series
Qualifying (2 Laps)
1. 38N-Kyle Rasmussen, 15.198[6]
2. 111-Ryan Delisle, 15.211[7]
3. 2-Brooklyn Holland, 15.407[4]
4. 11-Blaine Fagundes, 15.454[3]
5. 5D-Connor Danell, 15.499[12]
6. 31H-Phil Heynen, 15.701[11]
7. 86-George Tristao Jr, 15.751[8]
8. 5-Cole Danell, 15.822[13]
9. 36B-Kevin Barnes Sr, 15.931[1]
10. 12E-Brandon Emmett, 15.962[5]
11. 10-Mauro Simone, 16.047[9]
12. 1X-Richard Weddle, 16.131[2]
13. 43B-Brandon Wenzel, 17.386[10]
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 5D-Connor Danell[2]
2. 38N-Kyle Rasmussen[4]
3. 86-George Tristao Jr[1]
4. 36B-Kevin Barnes Sr[5]
5. 10-Mauro Simone[6]
6. 43B-Brandon Wenzel[7]
7. 2-Brooklyn Holland[3]
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 5-Cole Danell[1]
2. 31H-Phil Heynen[2]
3. 111-Ryan Delisle[4]
4. 11-Blaine Fagundes[3]
5. 12E-Brandon Emmett[5]
6. 1X-Richard Weddle[6]
A-Main (25 Laps)
1. 38N-Kyle Rasmussen[6]
2. 111-Ryan Delisle[5]
3. 2-Brooklyn Holland[13]
4. 86-George Tristao Jr[1]
5. 31H-Phil Heynen[2]
6. 11-Blaine Fagundes[4]
7. 5D-Connor Danell[3]
8. 36B-Kevin Barnes Sr[8]
9. 5-Cole Danell[7]
10. 12E-Brandon Emmett[9]
11. 43B-Brandon Wenzel[11]
12. 1X-Richard Weddle[12]
DNS: 10-Mauro Simone