MECHANICSBURG, Pa. — The 62nd National Open at the famed Williams Grove Speedway, sanctioned by the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series, is set for this weekend, featuring Saturday’s $75,000-to-win finale.
Only 10 races remain in the season. David Gravel holds the points lead by 90 markers over Carson Macedo.
With the series’ season dwindling down, let’s look at who’s hot and who’s not entering the weekend.
Who’s Hot?
Carson Macedo
Just when the championship looked to be making its way to Big Game Motorsports and Gravel, Macedo and the Jason Johnson Racing No. 41 team have become a factor in the title hunt.
Fresh off a victory nearly two weeks ago in the Dennis Roth Classic at Thunderbowl Raceway in California, Macedo has closed the gap over Gravel considerably.
Six wins in the last 13 races has propelled Macedo and his Phil Dietz-led team forward. Still, Macedo trails Gravel by 90 points heading into the final five weeks of the season.
Buddy Kofoid
Macedo and Buddy Kofoid have accounted for seven of the last eight feature wins. Kofoid, aboard the No. 83 for Roth Motorsports, has scored half of those victories.
The first-year Outlaw has gotten hot at the right time since late August, as he boasts an impressive 2.09 average finish over the last 11 races.
While he’s a distant 234 points behind Gravel in fourth place, finishing out the season strong may be the catalyst for more to come next season.
David Gravel
Adding Gravel to this list may be a stretch, considering his gap to Macedo has shrunk in the standings.
Aside from a win in the Dennis Roth Classic preliminary event two races ago, Gravel hasn’t won a race since late July at Weedsport (N.Y.) Speedway.
Since then, Gravel and Tod Quiring’s Big Game Motorsports No. 2 team have struggled to find winning pace that seemed to be effortless at times during the early part of the season.
He has an average finish of 6.71 since Weedsport. While still solid, it’s keeping the door open for Macedo to close.
Gravel, however, won during the Outlaws’ last outing at Williams Grove, the $20,000-to-win Summer Nationals finale in July. He’s won a series-best 14 WoO features this year.
Giovanni Scelzi
Giovanni Scelzi has been solid throughout his sophomore season at the helm of KCP Racing’s No. 18 machine. Four victories and 49 top-10 finishes (second most in the series) have all been positives.
While “Hot Sauce” hasn’t reached the top step of the podium since a prelim feature at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway in July, he’s remained consistent with only two finishes outside the top eight in the last 15 races.
Scelzi is fifth in the standings and enters the National Open with one win at The Grove, which came in 2018 where he became the youngest World of Outlaws winner at 16 years old.
Sheldon Haudenschild
Sheldon Haudenschild has the third-most victories on the season (eight), however, has been plagued by inconsistency as he sits sixth in the World of Outlaws standings.
The 30-year-old Ohio native enters the National Open fresh off two straight stout finishes of fourth and third at Thunderbowl Raceway. Haudenschild has one previous victory at The Grove.
Who’s Not?
Logan Schuchart
It’s certainly not been the season Logan Schuchart and Shark Racing hoped for as the calendar flips to October.
With only one victory thus far in 2024 and 17 top-five finishes through 56 feature starts, Schuchart is aiming to end the season on a high note.
While he hasn’t garnered multiple victories as in years past, Schuchart has been more consistent over the last five races. That includes an average finish of 7.5 during that time frame, highlighted by a runner-up result on night No. 1 of the Dennis Roth Classic in California.
The Hanover, Pa., native may be due for a victory at home, as he still seeks a first career National Open triumph.
Donny Schatz
Donny Schatz looked to be in contention for an 11th World of Outlaws title at the beginning of the season.
A win at Florida’s Volusia Speedway Park and average finish of 5.1 in the first 10 races was promising.
With Gravel’s reign on the series, however, it left Schatz and the Tony Stewart Racing team a distant second in the standings for the majority of the season.
Now third in points, 170 markers behind, Schatz’s hopes of another title will likely have to wait.
While Macedo and Kofoid have managed to get hot over the last handful of races, Schatz hasn’t reached a podium position since the High Bank Nationals prelim (third) in late August.
With all that said, Schatz shouldn’t be overlooked for this weekend’s National Open. He boasts a whopping six wins in the National Open finale, the most by any driver.
Schatz was also runner-up to Gravel in the Summer Nationals finale at The Grove after leading 17 laps.
Brock Zearfoss
The “Jonestown Jet,” Brock Zearfoss, has struggled mightily throughout the 2024 campaign. Currently ninth in the standings, Zearfoss has 14 top-10 finishes on the season in 49 feature starts.
After three straight races of 10th or better in August, his last six races have faltered with an average finish of 17.3.
Williams Grove may be a welcome sign for the Pa. native, as he scored his first career World of Outlaws win at The Grove in 2017.
The Others
In addition to those drivers, World of Outlaws regulars Bill Balog, Landon Crawley and Kraig Kinser will have to battle the Pennsylvania Posse and some travelers from the High Limit Racing Series to earn the big payday at the popular half-mile dirt track.