OGILVIE, Minn. — Sheldon Haudenschild emerged from a wild three-driver scramble on the last lap to win Saturday night’s Big O Showdown for the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series at Ogilvie Raceway.
In a bid to win the first two races in series history at Ogilvie, Carson Macedo led nearly the entire race. He rocketed ahead early, sliced through traffic and looked like he was on his way to victory lane.
Then the white flag waved and a wild last lap followed.
Second-running Sheldon Haudenschild cleared Macedo with a huge slide job in turns one and two as Michael “Buddy” Kofoid got a run on both of them down the back straightaway. Kofoid threw a slide job in the final set of corners, but Haudenschild narrowly held him off to claim a thrilling victory.
“We hounded him (Macedo) the whole race there, and it was just a deal where it was better to be running second, I think,” Haudenschild said. “I was just kind of able to see what he was doing and also the lappers. When we got to them, they were ripping the top and racing, too. He had to change his line up right there on the white. I was just able to pull a slide job there in (turns) one and two and hoped to clear him down the backstretch and be able to pinch him enough into (turn) three that he couldn’t get back there.”
The exciting win bumped Haudenschild up to seven in 2024 and 41 for his career, equaling him with fellow full-time driver Logan Schuchart for 19th on the all-time win list. He’s pulled within one of David Gravel for the most checkered flags this season. Ogilvie is the 25th different track where the Stenhouse Jr.-Marshall Racing driver has visited victory lane.
A fresh track rework set up a fast surface that evolved throughout the 30-lap Feature. Macedo owned the pole for the main event and took off when the green flag waved.
The early stages of the race were controlled by Macedo. The Jason Johnson Racing pilot pulled ahead and worked expertly through traffic. Behind him, battles broke out all over the place within the top 10.
Haudenschild and Kofoid faced off for the second spot with Kofoid claiming it early in the finale. But Haudenschild kept him well within sight as the race neared the halfway point. On the 17th circuit, Haudenschild found the run he needed to clear Kofoid.
With two laps remaining Macedo was less than half a second ahead. And then as the white flag waved Haudenschild built a huge run down the front straightaway. He pounced on the opportunity with a turn-one slider that narrowly cleared. Macedo looked to cross back over, but Kofoid filled the gap and closed on Haudenschild heading into turn three. Kofoid pulled alongside Haudenschild but couldn’t quite slide ahead. As the two leaders slid toward the top, Macedo turned off the cushion toward the bottom and drove back around Kofoid, but up ahead Haudenschild crossed the finish line to put the punctuation on a wild conclusion that wowed the capacity crowd.
“Hats off to (Kyle) Ripper, Luke (Vaughn), and Steve (Kinzer Dussel),” Haudenschild said. “They’ve been putting the work in, and we ‘ve been fast through the whole night on all of these nights… I think we’ve been there all year.”
Carson Macedo, who has led all but one of the 60 laps the World of Outlaws have contested at Ogilvie, didn’t mask the heartbreak after the race. On the bright side, Macedo pushed his streak of top fives to 16 in a row, and he’s only 10 markers behind Gravel for the points lead.
“That was honestly devastating,” Macedo admitted. “I took the white and did feel like maybe I was starting to catch Brock (Zearfoss) and the other lapper, but I didn’t think that peeling off of the top with one to go was the thing to do. I guess I could’ve just ran the bottom in (Turns) 1 and 2. I don’t know. That was just really disappointing.”
After nearly driving from third to steal the victory on the final lap, Kofoid settled for a third place finish in the Roth Motorsports No. 83.
“It’s frustrating because I feel like I had a chance,” Kofoid said. “We were right there and just as fast as them, but you can’t hang your head about it. Those two (Haudenschild and Macedo) are a couple of the best right now.”
Donny Schatz and Giovanni Scelzi completed the top five.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[2]; 2. 41-Carson Macedo[1]; 3. 83-Michael Kofoid[3]; 4. 15-Donny Schatz[9]; 5. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[4]; 6. 2-David Gravel[7]; 7. 1S-Logan Schuchart[5]; 8. 23-Garet Williamson[15]; 9. 17B-Bill Balog[8]; 10. 22K-Kaleb Johnson[13]; 11. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[6]; 12. 70-Kraig Kinser[14]; 13. 13-Mark Dobmeier[20]; 14. 23W-Scott Winters[18]; 15. 7S-Landon Crawley[12]; 16. 11M-Brendan Mullen[16]; 17. 3-Tim Kaeding[11]; 18. 24T-Christopher Thram[10]; 19. 14T-Brooke Tatnell[19]; 20. 17Z-Zach Omdahl[22]; 21. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[17]; 22. 199-Ryan Bowers[21]; 23. 33-Scott Broty[23]; 24. 6-Bill Rose[24]