PEVELY, Mo. — The Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota joins forces with the POWRi National Midget League this Friday-Saturday, Aug. 4-5, at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 as part of the marquee Ironman 55 for the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars.
The Xtreme Outlaws will cross the halfway point of the season at the conclusion of this weekend, which features a $4,000-to-win main event on Friday before the $5,000-to-win finale on Saturday night.
Sixteen races will be complete with 15 remaining after Saturday night, heading right into a grueling stretch of five-straight days of racing in Pennsylvania and New Jersey in the inaugural Appalachian Midget Week.
Both races will also serve as the fourth and fifth races in the Xtreme Outlaw-POWRi Challenge Series, which pays a $2,500 check to the champion at the end of the season for their efforts in each Xtreme Outlaw-POWRi co-sanctioned event on the schedule. Cannon McIntosh currently leads the standings by 45 over Jade Avedisian with seven races remaining.
Here are the drivers to watch and storylines to follow this weekend:
STILL ON TOP
His points lead is shrinking. Fortunately, McIntosh heads back to I-55 this weekend — a place he’s won at already this year — just what the doctor ordered to increase his gap in the standings again.
McIntosh, 20, was victorious in the 30-lap Toyota Racing feature at I-55 in April, taking the lead in the second half of the race from Zach Daum and going on to his second series victory of the season. He’s won twice more since then but hasn’t been to victory lane since his sweep of Millbridge Speedway in May, where he extended his Xtreme Outlaw points lead up to nearly 100 points.
Most recently, he and the Dave Mac-Dalby Motorsports crew had a solid night at Atomic Speedway last Saturday, placing third before taking their third DNF of the season Sunday at Brushcreek Motorsports Complex, which dropped them from a 67-point lead in the standings down to 44.
KKM KRYPTONITE
There’s one track on the Xtreme Outlaw Midget schedule that continues to stump Jade Avedisian, and she’s headed back for another double-dose of it this weekend.
In four career starts at I-55, the 16-year-old Californian has had only one finish inside the top-15 — last year, on Saturday night of Ironman 55 weekend. She ran 14th that night, 15th the night before, and most recently, 16th with the Xtreme Outlaws this past April.
Her first career I-55 start — April 2022, driving for Chad Boat Industries — ended in the Last Chance Showdown.
Though it’s been tough sledding for the Keith Kunz Motorsports pilot, she’s never been in a better position to right the wrongs she’s endured in Pevely. This past weekend, Avedisian scored her third feature win of the season at Atomic and had a second-place run going Sunday at Brushcreek before blowing a tire.
Those results chopped her points deficit down to 44, marking the second-straight weekend she’s cut into what was once a 121-point gap to McIntosh.
DONE IT BEFORE
In last year’s edition of the Ironman 55, Chance Crum took the checkered flag on Friday night.
This year, he’s in dire need to do it again.
Crum, 26, rebounded from a slump of three-straight Xtreme Outlaw feature finishes outside the top-15 last Saturday at Atomic with a sixth-place run. The next night at Brushcreek, he retired early after a flip in the feature, making only one top-10 finish for he and Rudeen Racing in their last five series starts.
Fortunately, I-55 is next, where they’ll need some more one-third-mile magic to start cutting into their large points deficit.
DOUBLE DUTY
Defending series champion Daum will pull the double this weekend behind the wheel of both a midget and a 410 sprint car.
The 32-year-old open-wheel veteran has linked up with car owner Matt McGarry for a return to the seat of the McGarry Motorsports No. 31 Sprint Car, in which he’ll compete with the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars for a shot at a spot in the Ironman 55 main event on Saturday.
Daum and McGarry have had success together in the past, winning the 2021 MOWA Sprint Car Series championship, and more recently a MOWA feature win at Macon Speedway in June.
The sprint car will be supplemental to his midget efforts, though, as Daum will still retain his duties in the seat of the Trifecta Motorsports No. 7U for both nights with the Xtreme Outlaws. They’re coming off another successful weekend, moving up one position in the points standings to fourth after feature finishes of fourth and second last Saturday-Sunday.
Daum is a former midget feature winner at I-55, taking the checkers with POWRi in 2016, and had a great shot at victory with the Xtreme Outlaws this past April after leading 18 laps.
THREE MUSKETEERS
POWRi National Midget League regulars Corbin Rueschenberg, Karter Sarff and Cooper Williams will all be in attendance this weekend, looking to take down the Xtreme Outlaws in the two-day event.
Fourteen-year-old Rueschenberg comes in as the POWRi points leader by 140 over McIntosh. Though he’s not been to victory lane in his first full-time midget season with Mounce/Stout Motorsports, Rueschenberg did climb from 18th on the starting grid up to ninth with the Xtreme Outlaws at I-55 in April, making him a strong contender for his first national midget win this weekend.
Sarff, 20, nearly won Friday night of Ironman weekend last year, coming up 0.3 seconds short at the line for his first series victory. He sits third in POWRi points, 160 back of Rueschenberg.
Fifteen-year-old Cooper Williams brings the Keith Kunz Motorsports No. 97K into Pevely for his seventh appearance of the season with the Xtreme Outlaws, sitting fourth in POWRi points.