By Alex Nieten
NEW RICHMOND, WI (June 27, 2025) – David Gravel appeared to be cruising toward victory on Friday at Cedar Lake Speedway, but then an issue put the win in jeopardy.
The nose wing on the Big Game Motorsports No. 2 was knocked askew as the laps wound down. A hungry Carson Macedo was behind him, and trailing Macedo was the hottest driver on the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series tour, Michael “Buddy” Kofoid.
Could Gravel hold on with two of the best looking to chase him down with the disadvantage of a damaged race car? He’s David Gravel, of course he could.
The defending champion with The Greatest Show on Dirt kept Macedo and Kofoid comfortably behind him as the final laps clicked away. Lapped traffic allowed them to trim the gap marginally at times, but ultimately Gravel maintained enough speed to drive to a victory in the Independence Spectacular opener.
“It sure as hell didn’t help,” Gravel said of the nose wing damage. “Luckily, we got the job done here tonight. Cody (Jacobs) gave me a great race car. We worked on this car all night long. I’m glad we got the gremlins out and somehow got a win tonight.
“Man, that was interesting. Some of those lapped cars were so slow, and I didn’t know where to go. There at the end with the wing like that, I couldn’t slow down to run the bottom. I kind of had to keep my speed up. I was trying to do that to the best of my ability and looked at the screen a little bit. Luckily, I was able to piece some decent laps together at the end.”
Gravel’s triumph made it three consecutive seasons of reaching double digit World of Outlaws victories. It’s the sixth time overall he’s hit at least 10 wins in a year, equaling him with Doug Wolfgang for the fifth most all-time. It’s the second time the Watertown, CT native has stood in Cedar Lake Victory Lane, making him the 11th Series competitor with multiple scores at the New Richmond, WI track.
Carson Macedo brought home the runner-up spot aboard the Jason Johnson Racing No. 41. The Lemoore, CA native started on the pole with a strong chance at a win, but an early start coming to the green flag sent him back a row and altered the course of his Feature. Macedo wound up slipping as far as fifth before rallying to the second position.
“Ultimately, I’m not going to stand here and make excuses and blame anyone other than myself for losing the race tonight,” Macedo said. “The guys did a good job. They obviously gave me a car capable of winning. I was closing back on the 2 late in the race. It’s just tough. When the track is that fast, a little bit of track position goes a long way. It is what it is.”
The final podium position went to Buddy Kofoid and the Roth Motorsports team. The 23-year-old had a little misfortune a couple times during the main event that slightly hurt his track position and kept him from potentially competing for the win. Even with those issues, the Penngrove, CA driver still earned his sixth consecutive World of Outlaws podium.
“It was kind of chaotic honestly” Kofoid said. “I felt like we had a pretty good car. You hear everyone say they feel better when the fuel load comes off, but I think today was kind of the opposite for me. The longer the run I felt my car was better early in the race because that heavy fuel load kept the car down and left. I got a little tighter as the race went on. I still feel like we had at least a second place car but restarts never really went my way. I got to second and had to give it back. I got to third, and then a lapper pulls off and I almost crashed into the back of him. Overall, a good night. Happy to be on the podium.”
Logan Schuchart and Giovanni Scelzi completed the top five.
Bill Balog had an eventful night that resulted in earning the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger. Mechanical issues forced him to miss his Heat Race. So, he started 23rd in the main event and marched to 13th before a flat right rear tire sent him to the Federated Car Care Work Zone and to the tail. He then got back up on the wheel and drove all the way to seventh.
Giovanni Scelzi claimed Simpson Quick Time honors in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying.
Heat Races belonged to Giovanni Scelzi (NOS Energy Drink Heat One), David Gravel (Real American Beer Heat Two), and Logan Schuchart (WIX Filters Heat Three).
Carson Macedo got the SPA Technique #1 Redraw and topped the Toyota Dash.
The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Sheldon Haudenschild.
UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars close out the Independence Spectacular at New Richmond, WI’s Cedar Lake Speedway on Saturday, June 28. Tickets will be available at the track.
If you can’t make it to the race, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.
FEATURE RESULTS:
NOS Energy Drink Feature (30 Laps): 1. 2-David Gravel[3]; 2. 41-Carson Macedo[1]; 3. 83-Michael Kofoid[4]; 4. 1S-Logan Schuchart[5]; 5. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[6]; 6. 2C-Cole Macedo[9]; 7. 17B-Bill Balog[23]; 8. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[7]; 9. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[2]; 10. 23-Garet Williamson[8]; 11. 6-Zach Hampton[10]; 12. 15-Donny Schatz[16]; 13. 7S-Chris Windom[12]; 14. 1K-Kelby Watt[18]; 15. 28M-Conner Morrell[19]; 16. 74N-Luke Nellis[14]; 17. 55A-Brandon Allen[15]; 18. 99-Skylar Gee[13]; 19. 87A-Austin Hartmann[21]; 20. 91-Reed Allex[22]; 21. 14-Brooke Tatnell[20]; 22. 24T-Christopher Thram[17]; 23. 25-Jy Corbet[11]
Toyota Dash (8 Laps): 1. 41-Carson Macedo[1]; 2. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[2]; 3. 2-David Gravel[4]; 4. 83-Michael Kofoid[3]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart[5]; 6. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[6]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[1]; 2. 83-Michael Kofoid[2]; 3. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[3]; 4. 6-Zach Hampton[4]; 5. 99-Skylar Gee[5]; 6. 15-Donny Schatz[6]; 7. 28M-Conner Morrell[7]; 8. 91-Reed Allex[8]
Real American Beer Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 2-David Gravel[2]; 2. 41-Carson Macedo[1]; 3. 23-Garet Williamson[3]; 4. 25-Jy Corbet[8]; 5. 74N-Luke Nellis[7]; 6. 24T-Christopher Thram[5]; 7. 14-Brooke Tatnell[6]; 8. 17B-Bill Balog[4]
WIX Filters Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 1S-Logan Schuchart[1]; 2. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[3]; 3. 2C-Cole Macedo[2]; 4. 7S-Chris Windom[4]; 5. 55A-Brandon Allen[7]; 6. 1K-Kelby Watt[5]; 7. 87A-Austin Hartmann[6]
Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 18-Giovanni Scelzi, 00:10.976[3]; 2. 41-Carson Macedo, 00:11.025[14]; 3. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 00:11.027[12]; 4. 83-Michael Kofoid, 00:11.037[18]; 5. 2-David Gravel, 00:11.073[17]; 6. 2C-Cole Macedo, 00:11.152[5]; 7. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 00:11.162[4]; 8. 23-Garet Williamson, 00:11.246[15]; 9. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 00:11.252[20]; 10. 6-Zach Hampton, 00:11.273[10]; 11. 17B-Bill Balog, 00:11.307[6]; 12. 7S-Chris Windom, 00:11.328[11]; 13. 99-Skylar Gee, 00:11.372[8]; 14. 24T-Christopher Thram, 00:11.378[9]; 15. 1K-Kelby Watt, 00:11.392[16]; 16. 15-Donny Schatz, 00:11.608[21]; 17. 14-Brooke Tatnell, 00:11.701[22]; 18. 87A-Austin Hartmann, 00:11.806[23]; 19. 28M-Conner Morrell, 00:11.814[19]; 20. 74N-Luke Nellis, 00:11.941[7]; 21. 55A-Brandon Allen, 00:12.171[2]; 22. 91-Reed Allex, 00:12.426[1]; 23. 25-Jy Corbet, 01:00.000[13]