PEVELY, Mo. — Starting a night of racing with a fire is about the worst possible scenario for any team.
That’s exactly the situation Carson Macedo and Jason Johnson Racing faced on Friday at I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park. A fuel issue during engine heat ignited flames on the No. 41, forcing Macedo to quickly climb out and making a lot of extra work for the team.
They diagnosed the issue and got the car ready to roll for the Night Before the Ironman and Macedo drove to World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series Victory Lane.
Macedo made his way into the dash after an eventful heat race. The redraw put him on the pole of the dash, and that was all he needed. He won the dash and was never challenged during the 30-lap feature.
“You just had to have a lot of patience,” Macedo said. “It was definitely a different Pevely than we’re used to I feel like, but we’ll take them anyway we can get them. I was thankful to start on the pole in that one. I felt like as long as I didn’t make too bad of a mistake on the bottom I was going to be in pretty good shape. I just had to be ultra patient, really just running off my right front and trying to stay rotated to grab the bottom off exit and squirt by some of them lappers.”
His seventh overall score of 2025 with The Greatest Show on Dirt ties him with Michael “Buddy” Kofoid for the second most this season.
Now, the focus is entirely on Saturday for Macedo. He wants that coveted dumbbell and a $25,000 check.
“Just thankful to have such good supporters and get them another win,” Macedo said. “Hopefully we can get that Ironman 55. It’s one of the trophies that I’d love to put up on the mantle and one that I don’t have yet.”
Claiming the second spot and equaling his best finish of the year was Donny Schatz aboard the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing No. 15.
“He (Macedo) was pretty good,” Schatz said. “Obviously he drove away from us there even in traffic. On the restart when I found myself on the outside, I was kind of surprised that we took off that good on the outside and figured I’d stay there. I could stay with him, and I tried it down here and lost a little bit. Obviously, I didn’t get passed, so I just kept trying to make something work. I tried to move around and find it. All in all, it was a good night.”
Buddy Kofoid took the Roth Motorsports No. 83 from eighth to third for his 11th podium in the last 14 races.
“I don’t know if I had much help up there, and it was just really dirty and time to move down,” Kofoid said. “I kind of struggled on the bottom but figured they probably weren’t going to drive around me.”
David Gravel and Logan Schuchart completed the top five.
Gravel earned his 13th Simpson Quick Time of the year in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 41-Carson Macedo[1]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz[4]; 3. 83-Michael Kofoid[8]; 4. 2-David Gravel[2]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart[6]; 6. 1A-Ashton Torgerson[3]; 7. 18-Emerson Axsom[13]; 8. 17B-Bill Balog[11]; 9. 6-Zach Hampton[7]; 10. 45X-Landon Crawley[22]; 11. 7S-Chris Windom[10]; 12. 45-Cory Eliason[19]; 13. 51B-Joe B Miller[17]; 14. 88-Tanner Thorson[12]; 15. 23-Garet Williamson[18]; 16. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[15]; 17. 99-Skylar Gee[21]; 18. 14-Spencer Bayston[9]; 19. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[5]; 20. 34-Sterling Cling[14]; 21. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[23]; 22. 24T-Christopher Thram[16]; 23. 28M-Conner Morrell[24]; 24. 84-Brandon Hanks[20]
