JACKSON, Minn. – One night after the third anniversary of Jason Johnson’s passing, Kerry Madsen accomplished a feat that hadn’t been done since the Ragin’ Cajun himself.
Madsen stormed from sixth to the win on night two of the 43rd AGCO Jackson Nationals, passing polesitter Carson Macedo on lap 13 of 30 and driving away to victory lane and a $10,000 top prize.
It marked a sweep of the Jackson Nationals preliminary programs for the Australian driver nicknamed “The Mad Man,” the first time one driver won the first two nights of the crown-jewel event at the four-tenths-mile dirt track since Johnson topped the two Jackson preliminary programs in 2018.
Despite heavy traffic late in the going that allowed Macedo to close back in somewhat, Madsen still took the checkered flag in front by 1.433 seconds for his second World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series win in a row and the 27th of his career.
Madsen also secured high-point honors after the two nights of event points were combined, with 859, locking him into the King of the Hill time attack battle on Saturday that will determine the pole position for the $50,000-to-win Jackson Nationals finale.
Rightfully so, Madsen is brimming with confidence heading into Saturday’s program as he chases one of the biggest wins of his career.
“I’m having a lot of fun driving it,” Madsen said of the FPS 410-powered, Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing No. 14. “I have a lot of confidence and a lot of belief in this team.
“I actually probably need to back it down a little bit,” Madsen added, flashing a smile. “I don’t want to get too confident. We’ve just got to drive a smart race tomorrow.”
The feature started off frenetic from the green flag, with Macedo opening up a second and a quarter from the outset and easily holding serve through a lap-four caution period, when Brian Brown and Madsen made contact in a battle for fifth that sent Brown spinning at the end of the backstretch.
Madsen escaped with no damage, while Brown was relegated to the tail of the field and out of contention for a top finish.
Racing resumed on lap five with Macedo and Sweet on the front row and Madsen rolling from fifth, but in less than three laps the Australian was passing Sweet – who briefly led lap six from Macedo – for second and setting his sights on the race lead.
Madsen lurked roughly six car lengths back of Macedo’s Jason Johnson Racing-prepared No. 41 until the Californian got into lapped traffic, and then moved in for the final blow.
When Macedo got hung up behind the slower car on Brown in turns one and two on the 13th lap, Madsen sliced from high to low off the exit of the second corner and blew past Macedo, taking a lead he wouldn’t relinquish again.
“(Lapped cars are) just part of the game, you know what I mean?” Madsen said. “You’ve just got to get to the lane and make a move stick. We were able to do that tonight.”
The penultimate yellow flag of the race waved moments later, when Brown came to a stop on the backstretch, and that incident was followed by a crash on the ensuing restart when D.J. Netto’s car smacked the frontstretch wall and caught air before landing on all four wheels.
After that, Madsen put on a clinic over the final 17 laps, working through traffic with ease and leaving Macedo to settle for a runner-up finish.
Macedo, third-place Logan Schuchart and fourth-place Brad Sweet were also among the top four in combined event points along with Madsen, locking themselves into the King of the Hill event as well.
“I feel good about being locked in,” Macedo said. “I made a couple mistakes that I need to clean up for tomorrow. We’re fortunate to be here and fortunate to be racing for big money this weekend.”
“We were able to make some clean passes to get ourselves up there,” added Schuchart. “The (No.) 14 guys are fast right now, but I feel good about what we have going on. I felt really good in that feature.”
Outside front-row starter Shane Golobic was the first non-full-time World of Outlaws driver across the line in fifth, followed by 16th-starting Parker Price-Miller, who advanced 10 positions to finish sixth.
Price-Miller wasn’t the KSE Hard Charger, however. That honor went to Gio Scelzi, who raced in out of the Last Chance Showdown, started 24th and fought up to eighth at the checkered flag.
Schuchart set quick time during qualifying to open the night’s competition. Jack Dover, Kraig Kinser, D.J. Netto and Madsen each won a heat race. Jacob Allen was victorious in the Last Chance Showdown.
Saturday’s AGCO Jackson Nationals finale will pay out $50,000 to the winner in the highest-paying World of Outlaws sprint car race so far this season.
Aaron Reutzel, who ranks 15th in event points after the first two nights of competition, will start third in a qualifier Saturday as he seeks the $100,000 bonus on offer for sweeping the Huset’s 50 and Jackson Nationals finales.
Reutzel will need to win his qualifier to make the King of the Hill showdown and lock himself into a top-eight starting spot for the big-money Jackson Nationals feature.
To view complete race results, advance to the next page.