CONCORD, N.C. — Carson Macedo and Jason Johnson Racing will admit 2026 didn’t play out how they would’ve liked.
This combination is one of the sport’s elite organizations. They partnered ahead of the 2021 season and immediately established themselves as title contenders with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series. Macedo narrowly finished second to David Gravel in the 2024 championship chase.
Fast forward to 2026, and the pairing entered Dave Smith Motors World of Outlaws World Finals destined for a fourth-place run in the standings. Sure, they’d collected an impressive seven wins, but this group led by Philip Dietz has the highest of expectations. They wanted to close out the campaign on a high note, and that’s exactly what they did at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
Macedo would not be denied on his charge from the fourth row. He lined up eighth for the 25-lap season finale and quickly got to work. The Lemoore, Calif, native climbed all the way to second by the ninth circuit in the Jason Johnson Racing No. 41. Then he tracked down polesitter Giovanni Scelzi and fired a slide job on Lap 17 to take command.
Michael “Buddy” Kofoid rose to the runner-up spot late and tried one slide job in Turns 3 and 4 that Macedo narrowly drove around. That was the winning move as he took off to the checkered flag.
“Man, I’m a little out of breath,” Macedo said. “I was running really hard. When I got to second, it was everything I had every single lap as hard as I could go as thin as I could get it to make speed and not get over it. Buddy was coming there at the end. I was coming extremely hard at a couple of the lappers and made last minute decisions that broke my runs, and I knew he was coming. The one slider I drove around, I think it would’ve been inches from disaster, but luckily we made it around there.
“We’re working really hard,” Macedo continued. “Obviously, where we are in points isn’t where we want to be. We had our down nights. But to look at an eight-win season and be disappointed shows we have high expectations, and we want to do our best to be the best team on the road. It’s not from lack of effort. Philip (Dietz), Adam (Zimmerman), and Robby (McQuinn) are putting in the hours and putting in the effort.”
The eighth victory of the year for Macedo was the 66th of his career with The Greatest Show on Dirt. That equals him with Bobby Davis Jr. and Craig Dollansky for 14th all-time.
Buddy Kofoid finished second in the Roth Motorsports No. 83, finalizing his series-best podium tally at 35 this year.
“It was hectic but honestly a lot of fun racing up there with him, Kofoid said. “I felt like we were extremely good. I was kind of disappointed we pulled the seven then got to sixth in the Dash. I was thinking it would take a lot to get there, thinking about yesterday. Then I felt like our car was just so much night and day better. I felt like I could run it extremely hard, and I think the track was the best I’ve probably seen it.”
Giovanni Scelzi led the opening 16 circuits but ultimately fell two spots shy of back-to-back Charlotte wins, bringing the Spire Motorsports No. 77 home third.
“I felt like I just wore my stuff out,” Scelzi said. “It’s hard to run hard and not kill your stuff. Good job to my guys. It was a great week. We worked on it and got it better throughout the week.”
Buddy Schweibinz and Steven Snyder Jr. rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 41-Carson Macedo[8]; 2. 83-Michael Kofoid[6]; 3. 77-Giovanni Scelzi[1]; 4. 69K-Buddy Schweibinz[11]; 5. 51-Steven Snyder Jr[10]; 6. 13-Tanner Holmes[4]; 7. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[12]; 8. 18-Sheldon Haudenschild[3]; 9. 1S-Logan Schuchart[14]; 10. 17B-Bill Balog[9]; 11. 7S-Chris Windom[17]; 12. 17-Spencer Bayston[13]; 13. 23-Garet Williamson[5]; 14. 9-Chase Randall[23]; 15. 1A-Cameron Smith[20]; 16. 71R-Logan Rumsey[18]; 17. 2-David Gravel[21]; 18. 27-Emerson Axsom[26]; 19. 16C-Skylar Gee[16]; 20. 5-Chase Dietz[24]; 21. 15-Donny Schatz[19]; 22. 71-Parker Price Miller[15]; 23. 6-Bryce Lucius[27]; 24. 19-Brent Marks[22]; 25. 28M-Conner Morrell[28]; 26. (DNF) 7BC-Tyler Courtney[2]; 27. (DNF) 14-Rico Abreu[7]; 28. (DNF) 2C-Cole Macedo[25]
