By Alex Nieten
PAIGE, TX (March 15, 2024) – They say everything is bigger in Texas. And the action on track Friday night at Cotton Bowl Speedway lived up to that reputation.
Sliders everywhere. Crossovers everywhere. Mind-blowing saves. A late pass for the win. The racing couldn’t have been any bigger and better at the Paige, TX oval.
“It was a lot of fun,” Marks said. “Hats off to this team. They just have worked their butts off all year so far. We’ve been qualifying a little bit better but haven’t been good in our race trim, and we just made the necessary changes coming into this weekend, and here we are. This is amazing.”
The victory was Marks’ 15th with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars and second in the state of Texas. He became the fifth different driver to top a race with The Greatest Show on Dirt. Marks also continued the early streak of no repeat winners as six different competitors have topped the first six races of the year. It’s only the sixth time in Series history we’ve seen that accomplished. The record is eight winners in the first eight races (2015).
A front row consisting of Sheldon Haudenschild and Carson Macedo brought the field to green. It was two-time Cotton Bowl winner – Haudenschild – darting out to the early advantage.
Haudenschild pulled ahead in the opening laps and quickly began to approach the tail of the field. Right as the Stenhouse Jr.-Marshall Racing pilot started to navigate traffic, disaster nearly struck. Haudenschild got sideways in Turns 3 and 4 and nearly spun the NOS Energy Drink #17. The Wooster, OH native managed to hang on and also maintain the lead. Right after Haudenschild’s save, the race’s first yellow came out for two cars spinning in Turns 1 and 2.
On the ensuing restart Macedo took a shot at Haudenschild with a slide job in the first corner. Macedo managed to clear him, but Haudenschild promptly countered with a crossover down the back straightaway to regain the lead. The yellow came back out with eight laps complete for Jacob Allen spinning in Turn 4.
The next restart saw Macedo snatch the lead from Haudenschild as he was able to dip under the #17 exiting Turn 2 and drive by heading down the back straightaway. Giovanni Scelzi briefly squeezed ahead of Haudenschild in Turns 3 and 4, but Haudenschild powered back by exiting the corner.
The methodical Brent Marks had worked his way from seventh to third by the halfway point and began closing on the top two of Macedo and Haudenschild. Once the leaders entered traffic, the action warmed up.
Marks threw a slider at Haudenschild in Turns 3 and 4. Haudenschild not only crossed him over, but he also found the speed to launch a slide job at Macedo for the lead in Turns 1 and 2. Macedo crossed back over to retake the lead. On the next circuit, Marks attempted a slider on Haudenschild but made contact with a lapped car. Both held on, but behind them a three-car crash that involved point leader David Gravel, Donny Schatz, and Sam Hafertepe Jr. brought out the red flag.
When racing resumed Marks used a huge run on the bottom to roll ahead of Haudenschild for second entering the first set of corners and immediately set his sights on Macedo. Marks could move his machine anywhere on the racetrack and began to track down the Jason Johnson Racing #41 primarily by using a unique line in Turns 3 and 4.
As the race dipped inside 10 laps to go, a war between Macedo and Marks began. Marks used his line in Turns 3 and 4 to get a run on Macedo down the front straightaway and toss multiple sliders at him in Turns 1 and 2. Macedo used multiple crossovers to maintain the top spot. But with only three laps remaining, Marks found the momentum he needed and made a slide job stick that Macedo couldn’t counter.
“It was just about finding enough grip there on exit,” Marks explained. “That was a pretty wild race. That was really fun, especially when we got in lapped traffic there. Hats off to the Cotton Bowl track crew for doing an amazing job.”
The yellow flag flew one lap after Marks secured the top spot setting up a two-lap dash to the finish, but Marks had no plans of an exciting final restart. He mashed the gas when the green lights flashed and pulled away to victory.
“It was just really about finding the right line that worked best for my car,” Marks said. “Carson was really good. I was able to roll the middle really well down here through (Turns) 3 and 4, but once we got to exit it was hard to get ahold of anything. I showed my nose to Carson a couple times, and he started taking my line there, so I had to try to get creative a little bit. I started coming off of (Turn) 4 a little higher sooner and catch the moisture right up against the wall just enough to shoot me down the front stretch and get some runs on him. That was a hard fought race.”
Macedo held on for the second spot after leading 20 laps aboard the Albaugh #41. The result marked his second consecutive podium as he and the JJR crew begin to get some momentum rolling. Macedo felt he did all he could to hold off Marks but just didn’t have quite enough.
“I feel like we were pretty solid,” Macedo said. “Once we took the lead I thought it would be really tough to get by us. And then he started pressuring me, and I could see him almost the first run he made at me. I was trying everything I could. I felt like I was moving around, trying different lines, trying to get my wing back a little bit. Then I felt I’d get a little tight in (Turns) 1 and 2, so it was like a give and take. He just did a good job. His car was really good there at the end. My guys did an incredible job, too.”
Rounding out the top three was Giovanni Scelzi as he put the KCP Racing #18 on the podium for the first time this year. The Fresno, CA driver made an incredible save early in the race that saw him drive off the wall on the back straightaway. Scelzi’s strong effort combined with Gravel’s misfortune gave him the points lead for the first time in his career.
“Man, it’s awesome,” Scelzi said of taking the point lead. “I escaped death a few times there. My car was awesome all night. This place seemed to give me some fits over the last couple years we’ve been here. Hats off to my guys… It’s cool to be as consistent as we’ve been just kind of rolling with the punches right now I feel like. We’re making Dashes and putting ourselves in position.”
Logan Schuchart and Aaron Reutzel completed the top five. Reutzel drove all the way from 22nd to fifth, giving him the night’s KSE Racing Hard Charger.
Reutzel also snagged his ninth career Simpson Quick Time in Sea Foam Qualifying.
NOS Energy Drink Heats One and Three belonged to Bill Balog (eighth Heat Race win of career) and Sam Hafertepe Jr. (52nd of career). Milton Hershey School Heat Two went to Sheldon Haudenschild (102nd of career).
Haudenschild also topped the Toyota Racing Dash.
UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars finish up the Texas Two-Step at Cotton Bowl Speedway on Saturday, March 16. For tickets, CLICK HERE.
If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.
FEATURE RESULTS:
NOS Energy Drink Feature (30 Laps): 1. 19-Brent Marks[7]; 2. 41-Carson Macedo[2]; 3. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[3]; 4. 1S-Logan Schuchart[4]; 5. 87-Aaron Reutzel[22]; 6. 1A-Jacob Allen[17]; 7. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[1]; 8. 17B-Bill Balog[5]; 9. 15-Donny Schatz[10]; 10. 83-Michael Kofoid[9]; 11. 41S-Dominic Scelzi[14]; 12. 2-David Gravel[8]; 13. 95-Matt Covington[11]; 14. 70-Kraig Kinser[20]; 15. 23-Garet Williamson[13]; 16. 7S-Landon Crawley[12]; 17. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[15]; 18. 45X-Jace Park[18]; 19. 6-Bill Rose[23]; 20. 25B-Blaine Baxter[19]; 21. 16TH-Kevin Newton[16]; 22. 42P-Preston Perlmutter[21]; 23. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[6]
Toyota Dash (6 Laps): 1. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[1]; 2. 41-Carson Macedo[2]; 3. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[3]; 4. 1S-Logan Schuchart[4]; 5. 17B-Bill Balog[6]; 6. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[5]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 17B-Bill Balog[2]; 2. 1S-Logan Schuchart[3]; 3. 19-Brent Marks[4]; 4. 15-Donny Schatz[5]; 5. 23-Garet Williamson[6]; 6. 16TH-Kevin Newton[8]; 7. 25B-Blaine Baxter[7]; 8. 87-Aaron Reutzel[1]
Milton Hershey School Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[1]; 2. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[2]; 3. 2-David Gravel[3]; 4. 95-Matt Covington[6]; 5. 41S-Dominic Scelzi[5]; 6. 1A-Jacob Allen[4]; 7. 70-Kraig Kinser[8]; 8. 6-Bill Rose[7]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[1]; 2. 41-Carson Macedo[4]; 3. 83-Michael Kofoid[3]; 4. 7S-Landon Crawley[5]; 5. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[2]; 6. 45X-Jace Park[6]; 7. 42P-Preston Perlmutter[7]
Sea FOam Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 00:14.194[2]; 2. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 00:14.329[12]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 00:14.383[4]; 4. 17B-Bill Balog, 00:14.409[3]; 5. 18-Giovanni Scelzi, 00:14.418[13]; 6. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 00:14.429[6]; 7. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 00:14.457[19]; 8. 2-David Gravel, 00:14.472[18]; 9. 83-Michael Kofoid, 00:14.493[21]; 10. 19-Brent Marks, 00:14.506[15]; 11. 1A-Jacob Allen, 00:14.531[1]; 12. 41-Carson Macedo, 00:14.763[20]; 13. 15-Donny Schatz, 00:14.777[5]; 14. 41S-Dominic Scelzi, 00:14.815[9]; 15. 7S-Landon Crawley, 00:14.902[23]; 16. 23-Garet Williamson, 00:15.007[8]; 17. 95-Matt Covington, 00:15.251[11]; 18. 45X-Jace Park, 00:15.350[22]; 19. 25B-Blaine Baxter, 00:15.373[16]; 20. 6-Bill Rose, 00:15.394[17]; 21. 42P-Preston Perlmutter, 00:15.471[10]; 22. 16TH-Kevin Newton, 00:15.512[14]; 23. 70-Kraig Kinser, 00:15.531[7]