By T.J. Buffenbarger
ROSSBURG, Ohio (July 13, 2023) – ROSSBURG, Ohio (July 13, 2023) – Logan Schuchart competed one of the best rags to riches stories in the history of sprint car racing after winning the $1,002,013 top prize at Eldora Speedway Thursday night during the Eldora Million. Schuchart and his Shark Racing team came from barely make it up and down the road 10 years ago to dominating all 50 laps of the historic event at Eldora Speedway.
After coming close to winning some of the biggest sprint car races on the planet, Schuchart won his first major event containing the largest winning payout in the sport’s history.
“This team has come such a long way,” said Schuchart of Shark Racing’s buildup over the years. “There’s lots of nights where I sat laying there thinking you know should I do something else? I don’t know if I’m good enough for this? Then I ran second every major event and wondered what if I would ever win one of these big races. I ask God every every night before I start this race watch over myself my competitors keep everybody safe. This helped me drive to the best of my ability and the man upstairs sure did that tonight.”
Schuchart and Macedo started on the front row for the feature event. The first start was interrupted when Cole Duncan got into the fence in turns one and two and helicoptered off the fence to bring out the red flag. Duncan exited the car under his own power.
The second start saw Schuchart jump out front as Macedo and Sweet raced for second position with Sweet taking the spot early in the feature.
On lap nine Aaron Reutzel made his presence felt getting by David Gravel for fourth spot on lap 9. One lap later Schuchart got into traffic.
On lap 12 the race for second heated up as Macedo was able to catch up to Sweet through traffic. Sweet and Macedo started to trade the second position back and forth on each end of the racetrack before Macedo took the position over on lap 15.
Just before the break Kyle Larson made his presence felt driving into the top five on lap 18.
The complexion of the race changed after the break at lap 20 for teams to adjust their cars and change tires. During the restart Aaron Reutzel got sideways and slid up the racetrack, collecting Larson, Spencer Bayston, Giovanni Scelzi, and Lachlan McHugh. All the drivers exited their cars under their own power. The cleanup was long enough that officials called for an open red.
After the restart Schuchart motored away as Sweet and Macedo continued their torrid battle for second exchanging the spot multiple times on each end of the racetrack for three laps until Macedo secured the position on lap 24 and tried to keep pace with Schuchart.
Schuchart managed to extend his advantage through slower traffic until the finish winning by 2.706 seconds over Macedo and Sweet. David Gravel and Rico Abreu rounded out the top five.
Carson Macedo, Logan Schuchart, David Gravel, Brad Sweet, Brian Brown, Kyle Larson, and Aaron Reutzel won heat races. Robbie Price and Lance Dewease won the C-Main events while Brent Marks won the B-Main.
Afterwards Macedo was contemplating the biggest payday of his career, yet not being the winner of the race. “
“it’s hard to be disappointed with second like you said the best payday I’ve ever had , so it’s pretty incredible. I thought that 1S just did a really good job,” said Macedo. “The pace up there was really fast. We were running hard laps every lap and just seemed like he obviously had a really good balance and did a great job, so hats off to them.”
Sweet was also upbeat after running third thinking that Schuchart had the superior equipment for this event.
“Honestly, I just think Logan had the best car,” said Sweet after the race. “I thought he was probably the best car all week. I knew if he got in front, and he’d be hard to pass. Hats off to them, they showed up, came out, and executed and actually were the best car, so it kind of doesn’t make me feel as bad.”
Eldora Million
Eldora Speedway
Rossburg, Ohio
Thursday, July 13, 2023
Heat Race #1 (10 Laps)
1. 41-Carson Macedo[1]
2. 13-Justin Peck[2]
3. 67-Justin Whittall[7]
4. 29-Carl Bowser[13]
5. 11T-TJ Stutts[11]
6. 35-Zach Hampton[10]
7. 35B-Austin Bishop[8]
8. 13M-Brandon Matus[14]
9. 21H-Brady Bacon[5]
10. 19-Brent Marks[3]
11. 4X-Bradley Ashford[12]
12. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[4]
13. 25R-Jordan Ryan[6]
14. 17AU-Jamie Veal[9]
Heat Race #2 (10 Laps)
1. 1S-Logan Schuchart[1]
2. 24-Rico Abreu[2]
3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[5]
4. 83JR-Michael Kofoid[3]
5. 21T-Cole Macedo[6]
6. 5C-Dylan Cisney[4]
7. 7S-Robbie Price[11]
8. 39-Hunter Schuerenberg[9]
9. 56R-Ryan Myers[13]
10. 15M-Mitch Harble[14]
11. 33-Brent Matus[12]
12. 45-Tim Shaffer[8]
13. 7-Ian Madsen[7]
14. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[10]
Heat Race #3 (10 Laps)
1. 2-David Gravel[1]
2. 1A-Jacob Allen[2]
3. 83-James McFadden[3]
4. 19L-CJ Leary[9]
5. 4-Chris Windom[6]
6. 9R-Chase Randall[10]
7. 23Z-Zane DeVault[8]
8. 55T-McKenna Haase[5]
9. W20-Greg Wilson[7]
10. 11N-Harli White[12]
11. 42-Sye Lynch[14]
12. 20B-Cody Bova[13]
13. 19W-Trent Pigdon[11]
14. 48-Danny Dietrich[4]
Heat Race #4 (10 Laps)
1. 49-Brad Sweet[1]
2. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[2]
3. 22-Cole Duncan[3]
4. 25-Lachlan McHugh[6]
5. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[5]
6. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[9]
7. 81-Lee Jacobs[7]
8. 5T-Travis Philo[11]
9. 4TS-Tyler Street[10]
10. 9-Kasey Kahne[8]
11. 23M-Michael Millard[13]
12. 11C-Kory Crabtree[12]
13. 55-Kerry Madsen[4]
DNS: 15C-Chris Andrews
Heat Race #5 (10 Laps)
1. 57-Kyle Larson[1]
2. 21-Brian Brown[2]
3. 5-Spencer Bayston[4]
4. 49X-Cale Thomas[3]
5. 71-Shane Stewart[6]
6. 52-Blake Hahn[5]
7. 39M-Lance Dewease[8]
8. 17B-Bill Balog[7]
9. 11K-Kraig Kinser[9]
10. 99-Skylar Gee[10]
11. 101-Cody Maroske[11]
12. 97-JJ Hickle[14]
13. 6X-Frank Rodgers III[12]
DNS: 4S-Danny Smith
Heat Race #6 (10 Laps)
1. 8-Aaron Reutzel[1]
2. 15-Donny Schatz[2]
3. 11-Cory Eliason[4]
4. 55P-Daryn Pittman[5]
5. 26-Zeb Wise[6]
6. 24W-Garet Williamson[10]
7. 9P-Parker Price Miller[3]
8. 1M-Landon Myers[11]
9. 46-Michael Bauer[12]
10. 19P-Paige Polyak[8]
11. 3-Denny Peebles[13]
12. 2MD-Conner Morrell[9]
DNS: 20G-Noah Gass
C-Main (12 Laps)
1. 7S-Robbie Price[2]
2. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[15]
3. 42-Sye Lynch[14]
4. 39-Hunter Schuerenberg[5]
5. 45-Tim Shaffer[16]
6. 35B-Austin Bishop[1]
7. 55T-McKenna Haase[6]
8. 56R-Ryan Myers[8]
9. 15M-Mitch Harble[10]
10. 13M-Brandon Matus[4]
11. 19W-Trent Pigdon[20]
12. 20B-Cody Bova[17]
13. 33-Brent Matus[13]
14. 4X-Bradley Ashford[12]
15. 23Z-Zane DeVault[3]
16. 11N-Harli White[11]
17. W20-Greg Wilson[9]
18. 25R-Jordan Ryan[18]
DNS: 21H-Brady Bacon
DNS: 7-Ian Madsen
DNS: 17AU-Jamie Veal
DNS: 48-Danny Dietrich
DNS: 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr
C-Main 2 (12 Laps)
1. 39M-Lance Dewease[2]
2. 17B-Bill Balog[5]
3. 81-Lee Jacobs[1]
4. 9-Kasey Kahne[10]
5. 11K-Kraig Kinser[8]
6. 1M-Landon Myers[6]
7. 101-Cody Maroske[14]
8. 46-Michael Bauer[9]
9. 97-JJ Hickle[17]
10. 23M-Michael Millard[13]
11. 3-Denny Peebles[15]
12. 6X-Frank Rodgers III[20]
13. 99-Skylar Gee[11]
14. 11C-Kory Crabtree[16]
15. 4S-Danny Smith[21]
16. 4TS-Tyler Street[7]
17. 9P-Parker Price Miller[3]
DNS: 5T-Travis Philo
DNS: 19P-Paige Polyak
DNS: 2MD-Conner Morrell
DNS: 55-Kerry Madsen
B-Main (15 Laps)
1. 19-Brent Marks[1]
2. 83JR-Michael Kofoid[2]
3. 19L-CJ Leary[4]
4. 25-Lachlan McHugh[5]
5. 55P-Daryn Pittman[7]
6. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[11]
7. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[17]
8. 49X-Cale Thomas[6]
9. 26-Zeb Wise[13]
10. 71-Shane Stewart[12]
11. 11T-TJ Stutts[8]
12. 29-Carl Bowser[3]
13. 24W-Garet Williamson[19]
14. 17B-Bill Balog[23]
15. 9R-Chase Randall[16]
16. 7S-Robbie Price[20]
17. 52-Blake Hahn[18]
18. 39M-Lance Dewease[21]
19. 5C-Dylan Cisney[15]
20. 21T-Cole Macedo[9]
21. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[22]
22. 4-Chris Windom[10]
DNS: 35-Zach Hampton
A-Main (50 Laps)
1. 1S-Logan Schuchart[1]
2. 41-Carson Macedo[2]
3. 49-Brad Sweet[4]
4. 2-David Gravel[5]
5. 24-Rico Abreu[9]
6. 21-Brian Brown[8]
7. 83JR-Michael Kofoid[20]
8. 15-Donny Schatz[11]
9. 13-Justin Peck[7]
10. 83-James McFadden[16]
11. 19-Brent Marks[19]
12. 19L-CJ Leary[21]
13. 11-Cory Eliason[15]
14. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[18]
15. 1A-Jacob Allen[10]
16. 67-Justin Whittall[13]
17. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[24]
18. 55P-Daryn Pittman[23]
19. 8-Aaron Reutzel[3]
20. 57-Kyle Larson[6]
21. 5-Spencer Bayston[17]
22. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[12]
23. 25-Lachlan McHugh[22]
24. 22-Cole Duncan[14]