Logan Schuchart has been enjoying a mini-vacation the last few weeks, basking in the Florida sunshine while he awaits the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series’ return to Volusia Speedway Park.
As the season opening WoO DIRTcar Nationals were the victim of torrential rain on Feb. 11, postponing the Big Gator Championship feature to March 5, Schuchart was granted some unexpected time off. However, the Shark Racing driver is eager to “knock the rust off” his sprint car and line up for a second chance at taking home the Big Gator trophy on Sunday.
Schuchart will enter this weekend second in the event standings, 12 points behind David Gravel who swept the two opening races at Volusia in mid-February. Though Gravel will certainly be a threat at the Florida facility, Schuchart is heartened by the progress he was able to make at the rain-shortened event.
“The positive for us was, the longer the week went, the better we got,” Schuchart said.
One of his struggles in the past has been qualifying well — whether it be Volusia or any other race track on the World of Outlaws circuit. But at the season opener, it seemed that Schuchart had put that trouble behind him when he started with a strong performance in qualifying and went on to claim a heat win on night one.
As any race car driver will tell you, Schuchart explained, “It’s always about putting a whole night together, being consistent every time you hit the race track.”
And with an 87-race season for the Outlaws, consistency is key.
Schuchart has steadily been fine-tuning his race craft and climbing his way up the leaderboard since he joined the series part-time in 2013. He experienced a breakout year in 2019, winning eight races and finishing fifth in the championship.
The following year, he came up one spot short in the title fight, finishing second to Brad Sweet.
While Schuchart has collected 35 World of Outlaws victories, the championship has remained elusive. This year, his plan is to take it one race and one win at a time, commencing his hunt for the title this Sunday.
Since Volusia has been a breeding ground of success for the Pennsylvania native in the past — Schuchart claimed his first Big Gator championship there in 2021 — he’ll race the No. 1s sprint car with a little extra confidence at the half-mile dirt oval.
“As far as myself and my team, whenever you can go back to a track you feel good at and you’ve won at in the past, it does a lot for your team and how they prepare and just the whole general mindset,” Schuchart said. “We’ll lean on that a little bit to put ourselves in a good spot, put our car in the ballpark anyways and go from there.”
With the postponed DIRTcar Nationals finale, which will be a feature only, being held in conjunction with the scheduled Low-E Insulation Spring Showdown at Volusia on March 5-6, Sunday will also be a doubleheader for the sprint car stars — not that Schuchart minds the additional track time.
“I want to race as many times as I can. Especially with not getting that race win a few weeks ago,” Schuchart said with a smile. “We’re starting third in the final race and we have a chance at winning that Big Gator.
“Some things will have to go our way, but there’s only part of it we can control and that’s what the team will worry about. Whatever happens from there, either way, it’s a great start to our World of Outlaws season.”