MESQUITE, Texas — Logan Schuchart steadily worked his way to the front to win Saturday night’s World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series feature at Devil’s Bowl Speedway.
It was Schuchart’s first victory since mid-July, but capped a string of 18 consecutive top-10 finishes. The Shark Racing driver earned $20,000 for the victory.
“We’ve had a lot of seconds and thirds in the last two months,” said Schuchart. “Some really good races. Ran up front with big names and with great teams. There’s a lot of great teams out here that are tough to beat but this Drydene Performance Products race team is going to keep working hard and do the best we can to get this thing in the winner’s circle.
“Just happy to see these guys’ hard work – Ron Helmick, Ben Witman, Tyler Garber, Brendan Collum, Bill (Klingbeil), my grandfather (Bobby Allen), Michael Newman, everybody that is a part of this team – to just get this thing were it needs to be and see their hard work pay off and get this thing back in victory lane where it belongs.”
The victory was his sixth of the season and 22nd of his World of Outlaws career. It also helped him close back in on the championship lead. He now trails points leader Brad Sweet, who finished fourth, by eight points with 12 races remaining.
David Gravel rocketed ahead of the field in the early stage of the feature, leaving little hope for second-place Haudenschild to get as close to him as he did during the dash.
While he led, Schuchart did his dance through the field. He was in fourth by lap three. Third by lap eight. And second by lap nine. Five laps later he could Gravel in front of him.
As the pair exited turn two, they had to split the lap car of rookie Mason Daniel, who ran the middle lane through the corner. Gravel chose to go high and Schuchart went low. The Pennsylvania driver’s choice proved to be most beneficial. Gravel was left little room between he, Daniel, and the edge of the track, forcing him to back off the throttle, while Schuchart was left an open door to jolt by them both.
“We had a good enough car to win,” said Gravel. “I’m really bummed for my guys and all our sponsors here tonight. Sometimes it’s better running second there. Mason Daniel has been hard to lap all season and he decides to miss the bottom and give Logan the bottom. It is what it is. We’ll take second and move on.”
He’s on a streak of 26 top-10 finishes in a row, which has helped keep Jason Johnson Racing in the hunt for the team championship. They are currently tied with Schuchart’s Shark Racing team for second in points – eight points behind Kasey Kahne Racing.
Haudenschild rounded out the podium. He’s collected 12 top-10 finishes in his last 16 races. He’s now only 14 points behind 10-time Series champion Donny Schatz for third in the driver points.
“The car was good,” said Haudenschild. “Logan (Schuchart) getting by me was a big move. I think we could have kept up with the 41 (of Gravel), but, man, it was a tough track. I feel like in traffic we could have had a shot. We all got bunched up there. We’ll take a third and keep pushing here.”
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