PEVELY, Mo. — Logan Schuchart prides himself on prioritizing physical fitness. It sure showed at Saturday’s Federated Auto Parts Ironman 55 finale.
The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series rolled into I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park for the most grueling race on the schedule. A 55-lap finale around one of the most demanding race tracks in the sport awaited. And Schuchart flexed his muscle for every single one of those laps.
The Hanover, Pa., native led all 55 circuits around the Pevely, Mo., bullring. Countless cars were on the move behind him and looking to challenge, but none could manage to do so. Schuchart engineered a beatdown aboard the Shark Racing No. 1s. Traffic couldn’t slow him down at all as Schuchart ripped to the checkered flag, the iconic dumbbell trophy, and a $25,000 prize.
“It goes slow when you’re leading like that,” Schuchart said. “It feels like it takes forever. I just tried to hit my marks really. As the race went on, the more and more everything got hot. Your tires get hot. Your shocks get hot. The attitude of the car just acts different. I tried to remind myself to breathe and calm the heart rate down a little bit and just hit my marks. That’s why we stay fit. Carson’s (Macedo) really good here, and I know he takes working out seriously. When you can keep your heart rate down and breathing in check and just worry about the race that you’re running and hitting your marks instead of worrying about how tired you are, it goes a long way.”
Adding this year’s to his 2018 triumph, Schuchart became the fifth different multi-time Ironman winner, joining Craig Dollanksy (three), Kyle Larson (three), Rico Abreu (two), and Sheldon Haudenschild (two). It gave him two wins this year with The Greatest Show on Dirt and 46 for his career. The night also continued Schuchart and the Shark crew’s recent hot streak as they’re now at 17 top 10s in the last 18 races.
Michael “Buddy” Kofoid put on a show, wheeling from 18th to second in the Roth Motorsports No. 83 in his quest for back-to-back Ironman 55 victories and four straight overall checkered flags at I-55. That made it a pair of runner-up finishes on the weekend for the Penngrove, Calif., driver and four top two finishes in the last five races.
Carson Macedo fell just two spots shy of his first Ironman 55 dumbbell, rounding out the podium in the Jason Johnson Racing No. 41.
Donny Schatz (started 14th) and Spencer Bayston (started 17th) wheeled their way forward to complete the top five.
The finish:
Feature (55 Laps): 1. 1S-Logan Schuchart[1]; 2. 83-Michael Kofoid[18]; 3. 41-Carson Macedo[3]; 4. 15-Donny Schatz[14]; 5. 17-Spencer Bayston[17]; 6. 27-Emerson Axsom[2]; 7. 2-David Gravel[11]; 8. 7S-Chris Windom[15]; 9. 17B-Bill Balog[5]; 10. 45X-Rees Moran[9]; 11. 2C-Cole Macedo[7]; 12. 23-Garet Williamson[13]; 13. 8N-Dylan Bloomfield[22]; 14. 51-Steven Snyder Jr[23]; 15. 37-Bryce Norris[16]; 16. 6-Kasey Jedrzejek[8]; 17. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[24]; 18. 16C-Skylar Gee[21]; 19. (DNF) 18-Sheldon Haudenschild[12]; 20. (DNF) 6DC-Will Armitage[10]; 21. (DNF) 1K-Kelby Watt[6]; 22. (DNF) 45-Cory Eliason[4]; 23. (DNF) 48-Danny Dietrich[19]; 24. (DNF) 65-Jordan Goldesberry[20]
