BREAK OUT THE BROOM: Red River Valley Domination Leads Carson Macedo to Weekend Sweep

Carson Macedo grabs third win in four races, closes on Schatz in the points

WEST FARGO, ND (August 24, 2024) - Carson Macedo and Jason Johnson Racing are getting hot.

On Friday Macedo pieced together an impressive drive from sixth to victory at River Cities Speedway. 

On Saturday when the stage shifted to West Fargo, ND’s Red River Valley Speedway, Macedo made things a little easier on himself. There would be no need to drive from the third row as he earned the pole of the 30-lap Feature. And the Lemoore, CA native put together a nearly perfect race to punctuate a perfect night. 

Macedo earned Simpson Quick Time, won the first NOS Energy Drink Heat Race, topped the Toyota Racing Dash, and sealed the deal by leading every lap of the Feature. The performance earned Macedo and JJR a weekend sweep in North Dakota and their third victory in the last four races.

“I just felt extremely good,” Macedo said. “Philip Dietz knocked it out of the park again. He’s done an incredible job this weekend. Robby McQuinn and Adam Zimmerman putting the whole package together and working really hard. It just feels good to get a win here.

“We’ve got a lot of momentum. It just feels good to be running up front, contending for wins, and then closing it out and getting the job done. The 41 is just fast right now. When your race car is fast and things are clicking, it seems like things just go your way. I remember Jason Meyers telling me at one point, ‘When the iron is burning, it burns hot. When it’s cold, it’s tough to get out of that wintertime.’”

The weekend sweep marked Macedo’s first back-to-back wins since April of 2022. He’s up to 41 career World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car victories, equaling him with fellow full-timer Sheldon Haudenschild for 20th on the all-time win list. A night after claiming his second River Cities checkered flag, he grabbed his second Red River Valley trophy, making it the 11th track where he’s a multi-time winner. He also closed to within four points of Donny Schatz for second in the standings.

Macedo rolled right out to an early advantage when the green flag flew for the finale. He established control early and made it clear it was going to be difficult to pass him. In only two laps, his lead grew to a second and a half. 

Even when he first encountered traffic, Macedo showed no signs of slowing. The Albaugh No. 41 sliced through slower cars and clicked off laps. The gap between himself and second-running Sheldon Haudenschild expanded to north of two seconds by the halfway point.

But you can’t ever count out Haudenschild. He’s known for incredible feats behind the wheel and looked to achieve another by erasing Macedo’s huge advantage and stealing the victory.

The lead dropped back under two seconds on Lap 21 as Macedo met some struggles navigating traffic. And then a close moment nearly cost him. Two lappers collided just ahead of Macedo exiting Turn 4 forcing him to slow down considerably. The contact allowed Haudenschild to pull right up to Macedo, but he couldn’t find a path around him.

The yellow flag flew with four laps remaining as Donny Schatz slowed with a flat tire. The caution was just what Macedo needed as the clear track allowed him to drive away and complete the statement win.

“The track turned out to be really wide and racy,” Macedo said. “I was surprised. It took a while to get worked in early in the night and then was fast through the Heat Races. It was just a great track and a lot of fun.”

Haudenschild brought the Stenhouse Jr.-Marshall Racing/NOS Energy Drink No. 17 home second as he continues to build momentum. The Wooster, OH native has strung together four consecutive podiums. The recent stretch of consistency has lifted Haudenschild from seventh to sixth in points.

“We ran him back down,” Haudenschild commented. “Lapped traffic was hectic. He did a great job getting through them. Then I kind of had to pick my way back through them. It’s frustrating as a driver having this good of a car and to not pick up a win this weekend. But hats off to (Kyle) Ripper, Steve (Kinzer Dussel), and Luke (Vaughn). They’ve been putting the work in, and we’re getting better each week I feel.”

Michael “Buddy” Kofoid came home third to round up the podium with Roth Motorsports. The effort capped a strong weekend for the Series rookie as he landed in the top three on both nights. Kofoid is buildings some momentum with his home tracks in California on the horizon.

“It was a great weekend for us,” Kofoid said. “I feel like we’re back to how I felt my best here and even in general. I always love coming here. I was a little apprehensive when I saw how wet it was, but it turned out really good.”

Bill Balog and Giovanni Scelzi completed the top five.

A 19th to ninth drive earned Garet Williamson the KSE Racing Hard Charger.

Carson Macedo earned his 10th Simpson Quick Time of 2024 and the 43rd of his career in Sea Foam Qualifying.

NOS Energy Drink Heats One and Three belonged to Carson Macedo and Sheldon Haudenschild. Milton Hershey Heat Two went to Andy Pake.

Carson Macedo topped the Toyota Racing Dash.

Garet Williamson won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown. 

Scott Bogucki earned the Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars head to South Dakota for the rescheduled Huset’s Hustle presented by Folkens Brothers Trucking finale on Friday, August 30 before the BillionAuto.com Huset’s High Bank Nationals presented by Menards on August 31-September 1 with a $100,000-to-win finale. 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. 41-Carson Macedo[1]; 2. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[3]; 3. 83-Michael Kofoid[7]; 4. 17B-Bill Balog[5]; 5. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[8]; 6. 64-Andy Pake[2]; 7. 1S-Logan Schuchart[4]; 8. 2-David Gravel[12]; 9. 23-Garet Williamson[19]; 10. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[14]; 11. 15-Donny Schatz[10]; 12. 7S-Landon Crawley[9]; 13. 24T-Christopher Thram[13]; 14. 70-Kraig Kinser[17]; 15. 17GP-Justin Henderson[16]; 16. 6-Max Guilford[21]; 17. 13-Mark Dobmeier[15]; 18. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[11]; 19. 8-Jack Croaker[24]; 20. 27-Weston Olson[20]; 21. 52-Adam Sobolik[23]; 22. 14T-Tim Estenson[18]; 23. 11M-Brendan Mullen[22]; 24. 10-Scott Bogucki[6]