JACKSON, Minn. — Carson Macedo and Jason Johnson Racing continue to be nearly unstoppable at Jackson Motorplex.
Since teaming in 2021, Macedo and JJR have established themselves as the team to beat at the Minnesota oval. Heading into Friday’s FENDT Jackson Nationals race, Macedo hadn’t missed the top five in eight Jackson attempts behind the wheel of the No. 41. Two of those outings were wins, and another three were podiums.
All eyes were on them entering the evening, and they met the moment with ease.
Macedo started second in the 30-lapper and put on a clinic. He drove away from the field in the early portion of the race and sliced through traffic. A late restart served up a potential challenge from Sheldon Haudenschild, but Macedo stayed composed and moved by a couple lapped cars in the closing laps to punctuate a statement victory.
“Man, what a great job by this Albaugh, JJR 41 team,” Macedo said. “It was a great night overall. I feel like we were good in qualifying and the heat race. The dash I just didn’t really know that the top was that good. But I was able to get a really good start in the Feature and get back by Logan (Schuchart) and kind of take command of the race. Hats off to Philip Dietz. He did a great job. Adam Zimmerman and Robby McQuinn both did a great job working hard.”
The fourth World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car win of 2024 for Macedo is the 39th of his career.
It was Schuchart leading the field to green with Macedo alongside.
The first few laps saw Macedo waste no time in building his advantage over the Shark Racing No. 1S. The gap grew north of a second in only two laps as Macedo rolled around the four-tenths-mile oval.
Macedo went unchallenged throughout the race’s opening half as he masterfully negotiated traffic. Schuchart and third-running Garet Williamson closed in a couple times but never could get close enough to make a move.
Just beyond the halfway point David Gravel and Sheldon Haudenschild worked around Williamson to claim the third and fourth positions.
The yellow lights flashed for the first and only time in the Feature with 10 laps remaining setting up a quick dash to the finish.
On the restart Macedo pulled ahead while Gravel peeked to Schuchart’s inside. Macedo quickly ripped the cushion and cleared both Gravel and Schuchart by the time they reached the back straightaway.
Unlike early in the race, Macedo couldn’t manage to distance himself from the runner-up after Haudenschild had taken the spot. The NOS Energy Drink No. 17 stalked Macedo as the laps wound down. Traffic became a factor with only five laps remaining, and the gap shrank even more.
But right when it looked like a final lap thriller might be brewing, Haudenschild tripped up in turns three and four right as Macedo managed to put another lapper between himself and Haudenschild. That proved to be the winning move as Macedo drove away to a comfortable victory.
“I could feel that my pace was slowing down when we got to traffic,” Macedo explained. “A lot of guys were running the same lane as we are. I got held up big time once off of (turn) four by a lapper. He kind of got sideways, and I knew I was in trouble. Then I fired it off into (turn) one and cleared him. Then I took the white and got around that last lap well.”
Haudenschild brought the Stenhouse Jr.-Marshall Racing machine home second to record his best career Jackson finish.
“I just had a lane open and went around them,” Haudenschild said of the restart that got him to second. “I felt like I was pacing the 41 really nice there. I just didn’t capitalize in traffic. He did a good job. I think he got by two of them in (Turns) 3 and 4. Hats off to (Kyle) Ripper, Steve (Kinzer Dussel), and Luke (Vaughn). They’re working hard here to get this NOS Energy Drink 17 another win. We want to get to that double-digit win mark pretty bad this year, so to come this close hurts a little bit, but we’ll take it and move on to tomorrow.”
The final step of the podium was occupied by David Gravel.
“I thought we had a really good race car there,” Gravel said. “The track was slightly top dominant, but the lapped traffic really made it exciting. You could run the bottom groove there. On that restart Logan chose to go high, and I just stayed low like Macedo. And he (Schuchart) just kind of ran defensive down there and bottled us both up and Sheldon got around us. I would’ve loved to have the opportunity to run second there and then in lapped traffic I thought Sheldon had an opportunity to win the race. But man, those lapped cars were not getting off the top, and it was kind of hard to pass them sometimes. I’m really, really happy with the car.”
Aaron Reutzel and Logan Schuchart completed the top five.
Brandon Bosma won the RaceSaver 305 sprint car feature.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 41-Carson Macedo[2]; 2. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[5]; 3. 2-David Gravel[3]; 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel[6]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart[1]; 6. 23-Garet Williamson[4]; 7. 17B-Bill Balog[7]; 8. 55-Kerry Madsen[13]; 9. 3-Tim Kaeding[11]; 10. 15-Donny Schatz[14]; 11. 27-Emerson Axsom[17]; 12. 10-Scott Bogucki[18]; 13. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[19]; 14. 5T-Ryan Timms[20]; 15. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[12]; 16. 17GP-Justin Henderson[10]; 17. 3J-Dusty Zomer[8]; 18. O9-Matt Juhl[15]; 19. 24T-Christopher Thram[24]; 20. 7S-Landon Crawley[16]; 21. 2KS-Kelby Watt[21]; 22. 22K-Kaleb Johnson[22]; 23. 44-Chris Martin[23]; 24. 83-Michael Kofoid[9]