CONCORD, N.C. — The return of California’s spring swing offered many unforgettable moments over the last three weeks, but now The Greatest Show on Dirt is headed east.
A three-race, three-state journey across five nights will give the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series its busiest week of the young season. Along the way are new tracks, familiar places and historical sites where big money will be on the line.
It all starts tonight (March 29) with the first midweek race of the year at Vado Speedway Park. The state-of-the-art facility is hosting the series for the first time on the three-eighths-mile track. It will be the first World of Outlasws race in New Mexico since 2008.
A 10-hour haul to Oklahoma will lead the Series to its first and only appearance in the Sooner State this year on Friday at Lawton Speedway. Carson Macedo and Jason Johnson Racing enter as defending winners at the track.
The week wraps up on Saturday, with a $20,000 payday available at the DuraMAX/Drydene Texas Outlaw Nationals at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Texas. All eyes at the birthplace of the World of Outlaws will be on Logan Schuchart and Shark Racing, who are chasing a fourth-consecutive Ted Johnson Memorial trophy.
• One of the most intriguing aspects of a track hosting the World of Outlaws for the first time ever is that the best sprint car drivers and teams in the world are heading into the night blind. There are no previous races to rely on, no notes to look back at and no experience to pull from. It’s simply who can adapt and figure out Vado Speedway Park the quickest.
While none of the full-time teams have raced at the track, 10-time series champion Donny Schatz has raced there in his late model, collecting a pair of top-10 finishes during the Wild West Shootout in January.
This time around, he’ll be in the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing No. 15 going for this second World of Outlaws win of the season. Schatz won the most recent race in New Mexico, too, topping the now-closed Hollywood Hills Speedway in 2008.
• The top storyline entering Saturday’s DuraMAX/Drydene Texas Outlaw Nationals is without a doubt Logan Schuchart and Shark Racing, who coincidentally fly the DuraMAX Oil and Drydene Performance Products colors on the No. 1s.
The Hanover, Pa., native is going for his fourth straight win at the half-mile, the second-longest win streak at the track behind Sammy Swindell’s five-in-a-row spell from 1986-’87.
After starting the year with an average finish of 10.3 and only two top-five finishes, Devil’s Bowl couldn’t come at a better time for Schuchart and Shark Racing. His next victory would not only put him in the W column in 2022, but it would be his 31st all-time and move him beyond his grandfather and car owner, Bobby Allen, on the World of Outlaws’ all-time winners list.
• When the World of Outlaws raced at Lawton Speedway last fall it was the biggest beating of the year with Macedo winning by 5.573 seconds. Macedo and the JJR operation returns to the Oklahoma quarter-mile with hopes of becoming the first back-to-back winners at the track since Steve Kinser in 1982-’83.
• Throughout Brad Sweet’s nine years as a full-time Outlaw, “The Big Cat” had only gone winless in the first 10 races once (2018), until it happened again this season.
Don’t be fooled, though, the Kasey Kahne Racing, NAPA Auto Parts No. 49 team is still as consistent as ever, proven by the updated standings with the three-time and defending champion back on top.
Sweet is averaging an impressive finish of 3.7 over the last nine events with a series-best five podiums, eight top-five finishes and nine top-10 results to his credit.
• After their unfortunate DNF while racing for the win on Friday at Bakersfield Speedway, David Gravel confidently said he believes Cody Jacobs and Big Game Motorsports are providing the fastest car on tour. He backed that up less than 24 hours later by topping Perris Auto Speedway for his second win of the season.
Falling from the top to third in the early-season standingsGravel is extra motivated to rattle off the wins that he believes Tod Quiring’s No. 2 car deserves. The 71-time World of Outlaws winner has never won at any of the three tracks the series will visit this week.
• Of the three states on the agenda this week, only Oklahoma serves as a home state race for one of the 15 full-time World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series competitors. In fact, it’ll be the first time Noah Gass, of Mounds, Okla., has raced in his home state since joining the series.
The 18-year-old enters a new week following a season-best outing of 18th-place at Bakersfield, where he climbed as high as 13th at one point.
It’s been a grueling learning curve with new tracks around every corner for the freshest face on tour and crew members Cody Cordell and Robby McQuinn, but the No. 20g team continues to show signs of improvement with each passing night.
• Although they’re not chasing the World of Outlaws championship, Giovanni Scelzi and KCP Racing have certainly shown they’re capable of doing so in the future. Through the opening 10 nights of a scheduled 60+ races with the series, Scelzi ranks fifth in the standings and is among the leaders in many statistical categories.
The Fresno, Calif., native picked up two wins during the three-week west coast swing to his home state of California. Since joining forces with crew chief Dylan Buswell, the 20-year-old star has stepped up his game with three wins in the series’ last 15 races.