ROSSBURG, Ohio – Entering this year, Carson Macedo put added importance on winning at distinguished venues.
The obvious top of that list: Knoxville Raceway, Williams Grove Speedway and Eldora Speedway.
He’s done just that as the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car Series presses into its most intense part of the season. On Sunday afternoon, Macedo polished off his second win in five days at Eldora with a 30-lap cruise to complete the mission within the mission.
“I feel like we’re really strong right now,” said Macedo, whose five of seven touring wins this year include Williams Grove, Knoxville and Eldora. “I feel like my car is really good and consistent. I do feel like we have a lot of big races coming up. We’ll put our best foot forward and see what we can do.”
You could say it started at Volusia Speedway Park in February and March, when he won at the historic track with the All Star Circuit of Champions and the World of Outlaws. It carried into Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Ind., a track largely embraced on the touring schedule, in April before the harvest truly began in May.
Macedo clicked off that first distinguished win at Williams Grove Speedway, turning back Lance Dewease at the place that raised his Hall of Fame career.
In June, two go-ahead maneuvers within the last two laps powered him to a weekend sweep at Knoxville.
This past week, Macedo dominated the Jokers Wild at Eldora on Wednesday and ended Kings Royals week Sunday with another trip to victory lane. He race well in the 37th and 38th Kings Royals on Saturday too, finishing third and sixth, respectively.
That’s only more experience on what he needs to do to now complete a greater mission: win a Crown Jewel.
He’ll have to wait another year to do it at Eldora, but there are two events by the name of the Knoxville Nationals and the Williams Grove National Open that’ll be on his radar shortly.
At 25 years old, handed the keys of the notably fast Jason Johnson Racing No. 41 machine and working alongside arguably the best mechanic in the business in Phil Dietz, Macedo has all the reasons to feel like he can continue to level up as a driver.
“Having a good race car that’s stuck, into the race track, driving forward, makes a really big difference,” Macedo said, extolling the work of Dietz and his crew. “I feel like mine’s been that way. We’ll just continue to execute on that.”
More considerable races await Macedo and his team this week.
The $20,000-to-win Silver Cup at Lernerville Speedway awaits on Tuesday before the series heads back to Williams Grove for the Summer Nationals on Friday and Saturday.
“Lernerville hasn’t been the best to me in the past but JJR has had a lot of success there,” Macedo said. “I’ll lean on Phil a little bit, and we’ll roll in there and do the best we can.”
If Macedo bolsters his already wholesome list of wins, perhaps he can fulfill the greatest mission of them all: run down two-time reigning World of Outlaws champion Brad Sweet for the title, now 114 points back with 35 races to go.