FINALLY: Anthony Macri Aces Port Royal Speedway for Long-Awaited First World of Outlaws Win

Anthony Macri, Lance Dewease, Logan Wagner Lead PA Posse Podium Sweep 

PORT ROYAL, PA - October 7, 2022 - After five years of trying, Anthony Macri can finally breathe a sigh of relief - he did it, he's a World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series winner.

Before his latest accomplishment, the 23-year-old was already considered one of the most respected racers in the country. He's a Tuscarora 50 champion, an 11-time winner with the All Star Circuit of Champions, and the winningest Sprint Car driver this year, however, a victory against The Greatest Show on Dirt had always eluded him.

That is no longer the case, though. "The Concrete Kid" dominated all 25 laps at Port Royal Speedway on Friday night, running away from the likes of 10-time World of Outlaws champion Donny Schatz and PA Posse legend Lance Dewease to earn a long-awaited and much-appreciated first career win with the Series.

Along the way, the Dillsburg, PA native led a 1-2-3-4 finish for the PA Posse with Lance Dewease, Logan Wagner, and Justin Whittall following the #39M to the line. It's his 20th career 410 Sprint Car win at "The Speed Palace," tying Junior Ritchey for 15th on the track's All-Time Win List.

"It seems like Ryan [Hand] and I have hit on something here," Macri said on his dominant race car. "We tried something in Hot Laps and Qualifying, but it wasn't what we wanted and we switched back to our regular stuff and it felt stout from there. I just knew that I needed to keep my head on my shoulders for 25 laps and not do anything stupid tonight. I'm so glad it paid off."

Macri was never challenged through the opening half as he built a 3+ second lead through lap traffic, but the only caution of the race on Lap 16 changed all that. Restarting with nine laps left and 121-time Port Royal winner, Lance Dewease, hot on his heels, the kid knew he would have his hands full.

"I really, really didn't want to see that caution," Macri mentioned on seeing the #69K in second. "Knowing Lance [Dewease] was in second definitely got into my head a bit. I wasn't sure what to do on that restart, but thankfully it worked out. He slid me that one point but I already decided there was no way I was lifting for this one. Once I realized the car was better on the bottom I felt more comfortable in the final few laps."

Fending off two attempts for the lead from Dewease, Macri held on to become the 148th different winner in World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series history.

Falling short of back-to-back World of Outlaws wins, 57-year-old Lance Dewease, of Fayetteville, PA, settled for runner-up honors aboard the Kreitz Racing #69K. It's the second-straight year that Dewease finished a close P2 on the opening night of the Nittany Showdown.

"Anthony [Macri] is really good around this place and what makes him dangerous is he can run the bottom now," Dewease joked. "I had a lane through the middle of turns one and two where I could get runs at him, but I was no good in turns three and four. I actually thought I had him passed that one time, but there is nobody better at running the wall than him and he drove right around us. It's a neat deal to race with him considering the age difference. I'm not upset with second tonight."

Rounding out the podium and completing a PA Posse sweep of the top-three was Logan Wagner, of Harrisonville, PA. The newly-crowned five-time track champion of Port Royal capped his night with a career-best effort, landing his first World of Outlaws podium finish in the Zemco Racing #1.

"Could've, should've, would've," Wagner noted on the Dash draw impacting his run. "More importantly, we got that PA Posse podium sweep tonight. I'm sure our fans are proud of that. This whole deal is a group effort and I can't say thanks enough to the people who make this happen. I hope we can find a little something and come back stronger tomorrow."

Extending the Posse's reign to make it a 1-2-3-4 finish was Justin Whittall, of Southampton, NJ, who primarily races in Central Pennsylvania all year. The 21-year-old landed on the front row and outlasted every full-time Outlaw in only his eighth Series start aboard the #67.

David Gravel, who finished fifth, trimmed down Brad Sweet's championship lead to 74-points with seven races remaining. The Watertown, CT native will get another chance to cut into that margin in Saturday's finale at Port Royal as he continues to chase his first World of Outlaws championship in the Big Game Motorsports #2.

Closing out the top-10 on Friday was Donny Schatz in sixth, Spencer Bayston in seventh, Sye Lynch with a career-best eighth, Ryan Smith earned his first top-10 since 2019 running ninth, and Carson Macedo ran 10th to make it back-to-back top-10s at Port Royal, where the Jason Johnson Racing #41 previously struggled.

NOS NOTEBOOK (PORT ROYAL SPEEDWAY, 10/7/22)

Anthony Macri's victory makes him the 148th different winner in the 45-year history of the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series. He joins Buddy Kofoid as the second first-time winner in 2022, bringing the Series to 17 different winners this season.

Four drivers within the top-10 on Friday night established a new career-best finish with the World of Outlaws: Anthony Macri (1st), Logan Wagner (3rd), Justin Whittal (4th), and Sye Lynch (8th).

Spencer Bayston, who won last year's Nittany Showdown finale, opened the night by earning his fourth career World of Outlaws QuickTime Award. The leading Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year contender circled Port Royal in 15.597-seconds during My Place Hotels Qualifying,

James McFadden (34th career), Logan Wagner (3rd career), Lance Dewease (50th career), and Anthony Macri (7th career) topped NOS Energy Drink Heat Races. Macri also won the DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash to earn his third pole position. Brian Brown earned the MicroLite Last Chance Showdown win for the second time this year. Logan Schuchart scored his eighth KSE Hard Charger Award of the season.

UP NEXT (Sat) – The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series will be back at Port Royal Speedway in Port Royal, PA tomorrow, Saturday, October 8, for the $15,000-to-win finale of the Nittany Showdown. Please be sure to make note of an early start time to the Outlaws vs. Posse battle with Hot Laps scheduled to go green at 5pm due to colder temperatures. Fans can BUY TICKETS HERE, or watch every lap LIVE on DIRTVision.

NOS Energy Drink Feature Results (25 Laps) – 1. 39M-Anthony Macri [1][$10,000]; 2. 69K-Lance Dewease [4][$5,500]; 3. 1-Logan Wagner [8][$3,200]; 4. 67-Justin Whittall [2][$2,600]; 5. 2-David Gravel [9][$2,350]; 6. 15-Donny Schatz [3][$2,150]; 7. 5-Spencer Bayston [5][$2,100]; 8. 42-Sye Lynch [7][$1,950]; 9. 6D-Ryan Smith [13][$1,900]; 10. 41-Carson Macedo [10][$1,850]; 11. 48-Danny Dietrich [15][$1,400]; 12. 83-James McFadden [6][$1,200]; 13. 49-Brad Sweet [11][$1,000]; 14. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [18][$950]; 15. 1A-Jacob Allen [14][$900]; 16. 18-Giovanni Scelzi [19][$900]; 17. 55-Mike Wagner [17][$900]; 18. 1S-Logan Schuchart [25][$]; 19. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [23][$900]; 20. 5C-Dylan Cisney [26][$]; 21. 21-Brian Brown [21][$900]; 22. 23-Devon Borden [22][$900]; 23. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [16][$900]; 24. 7S-Robbie Price [20][$900]; 25. 17B-Steve Buckwalter [24][$900]; 26. 19-Brent Marks [12][$900]. Lap Leaders: Anthony Macri 1-25. KSE Hard Charger Award: 1S-Logan Schuchart[+7]

NEW Championship Standings (67/74 Races) – 1. Brad Sweet (8,338); 2. David Gravel (-78); 3. Carson Macedo (-128); 4. Donny Schatz (-234); 5. Sheldon Haudenschild (-244); 6. Logan Schuchart (-360); 7. James McFadden (-486); 8. Spencer Bayston (-534); 9. Jacob Allen (-666); 10. Brock Zearfoss (-930).

 

THE CONCRETE KING: Anthony Macri Sweeps World of Outlaws Weekend at Port Royal Speedway

Macri is First Driver Since 1979 to Win First Two WoO Features Back-to-Back

PORT ROYAL, PA - October 8, 2022 - It took Anthony Macri more than five years and 60 starts to win his first-career World of Outlaws NOS Energy DrinkSprint Car Series Feature; then it only took him another 23 hours to quickly top his second.

The 23-year-old sensation earned his 23rd win of 2022 on Saturday night, doing so in spectacular fashion as swept the Nittany Showdown at Pennsylvania's Port Royal Speedway to bank a $25,000 weekend on home turf.

Unlike Friday's flag-to-flag domination, Saturday's score required much more of a battle as the Dillsburg, PA native went toe-to-toe with Myerstown, PA's Brent Marks. The duo swapped slider-after-slider for three laps near the midway point, but Macri's #39M ultimately prevailed on Lap 15 and never looked back.

It was the perfect exclamation point on what has easily been the most incredible season of Macri's young career. He's the winningest driver in the country, he won the $60,000 Tuscarora 50 last month, now he's a back-to-back World of Outlaws winner; and the year still isn't officially over.

"It's honestly incredible," Macri remarked on his year. "This is something that I didn't think was ever feasible. It's a testament to how hard this team works and the effort we put in. We had a great car all night long again. I had to kind of wait for Brent [Marks] to hit dirty air or a restart to make a move on him. I knew I needed to turn the wick up, but mainly keep it out of the fence once I got by him.

I don't know what it is, honestly, that has changed for us. Nothing specific is different, I'm pretty sure this car is leftover from last year. I think it's just been a mindset thing for this group. I finally started to get my head out of my butt more often, too. It's unreal."

After leading the opening 14 laps, Brent Marks slipped back to earn runner-up honors with his eighth podium of the year in World of Outlaws competition. It was a strong rebound for the Murray-Marks #19 after leaving on the wrecker during Friday's Feature.

"This kind of feels like a win after these last two races," Marks mentioned. "We had a good car all night long, but the #39M is just so good here. It's a unique setup for this track and they have it nailed down. I felt like we had a winning car, but we're not as good as them right now. I'm proud of this team for all the adversity we've faced lately."

Finishing third and snapping the PA Posse's streak of podium sweeps at Port Royal was David Gravel in the Big Game Motorsports #2. Across both nights, he chopped off 28 points in the championship chase and now sits only 66-points behind Brad Sweet with six nights remaining.

"Anything is possible," Gravel noted on the title pursuit. "I'm really proud of our effort this weekend. It feels good to be competitive at a place like this against these guys. They're just willing to go to that next level here that I'm not as comfortable with yet. Once we get to race here more and more, I think I'll get used to it down the road."

Closing out the top-five at Port Royal was 10-time World of Outlaws champion, Donny Schatz, in fourth, and 121-time Port Royal winner, Lance Dewease, finishing fifth.

Rounding out the top-10 on Saturday was Danny Dietrich in sixth, Lucas Wolfe in seventh, James McFadden in eighth, Brad Sweet in ninth, and Kasey Kahne in tenth.

NOS NOTEBOOK (PORT ROYAL SPEEDWAY, 10/8/22)

After becoming the 148th different winner in World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series history on Friday, Anthony Macri became the 98th different driver to win multiple races with The Greatest Show on Dirt.

Macri is the fourth driver in Series history to win his first two career Features in back-to-back fashion, and the first to do so in more than 3,400+ races. He joins an iconic list including Lynn Paxton (1979), Steve Smith (1978), and Doug Wolfgang (1978).

Macri almost made it a perfect night as he topped My Place Hotels Qualifying and his NOS Energy Drink Heat Race, but barely missed out on the DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash win to Brent Marks.

UP NEXT (Fri-Sat) – The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series will make their final trip to the Midwest next weekend with stops at I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, NE on Friday, October 14, and then Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, KS on Saturday, October 15. Fans can BUY TICKETS HERE, or watch every lap LIVE on DIRTVision.

NOS Energy Drink Feature Results (30 Laps) – 1. 39M-Anthony Macri (2); 2. 19-Brent Marks (1); 3. 2-David Gravel (4); 4. 15-Donny Schatz (5); 5. 69K-Lance Dewease (12); 6. 48-Danny Dietrich (10); 7. 5W-Lucas Wolfe (13); 8. 83-James McFadden (7); 9. 49-Brad Sweet (3); 10. 9-Kasey Kahne (17); 11. 18-Giovanni Scelzi (18); 12. 41-Carson Macedo (11); 13. 23-Devon Borden (8); 14. 42-Sye Lynch (16); 15. 55-Mike Wagner (21); 16. 1A-Jacob Allen (20); 17. 6D-Ryan Smith (26); 18. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild (15); 19. 11K-Kraig Kinser (24); 20. 73-Scotty Thiel (22); 21. 7S-Robbie Price (23); 22. 1S-Logan Schuchart (9); 23. 67-Justin Whittall (14); 24. 8-Freddie Rahmer (19); 25. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss (27); 26. 5-Spencer Bayston (6); 27. 45-Jeff Halligan (25).

NEW Championship Standings (68/74 Races) – 1. Brad Sweet (8,470); 2. David Gravel (-66); 3. Carson Macedo (-134); 4. Donny Schatz (-224); 5. Sheldon Haudenschild (-262); 6. Logan Schuchart (-386); 7. James McFadden (-484); 8. Spencer Bayston (-564); 9. Jacob Allen (-680); 10. Brock Zearfoss (-960).