BRISTOL, Tenn. – World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series officials released the entry list for the tour’s return to Bristol Motor Speedway on Wednesday afternoon.
Highlighted by 15 full-time World of Outlaws teams, an additional 23 of the best sprint car drivers in the world will join them for the Bristol Throwdown.
Among the leading storylines is Kyle Larson making his return to the World of Outlaws scene aboard Paul Silva’s No. 57. In 2020, Larson topped a series-best 12 World of Outlaws features and dropped jaws nationwide along the way.
This year alone, Larson has already won the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals, a dirt late model event, and a NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway.
He’ll be the only one of 38 drivers with laps on this current layout of Bristol dirt, having competed in the Bristol Dirt Nationals last weekend and the NASCAR Trucks and Cup Series races this weekend.
The NASCAR ties don’t end there, though.
Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are all owners of championship contending teams with high hopes.
In fact, all three organizations are inside the top five in World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series points through the first eight of a scheduled 84 events this year.
Included in the 38-car field are five drivers that competed in the 2000-01 World of Outlaws events at Bristol. Those returning to The Last Great Colosseum with prior sprint car experience are 10-time Series champion Donny Schatz, “The Wild Child” Jac Haudenschild, “The Steel City Outlaw” Tim Shaffer, “Pauls to the Wall” Paul McMahan, and “Double Down” Jason Sides.
Schatz, a 299-time Outlaw winner, is the only of those five returning with a victory under his belt at the .533-mile, high-banked oval. On June 8, 2001, he charged from 10th-to-first for a win over Jeff Shepard and Sammy Swindell.
In the 20 years since, the Fargo, N.D., native has become a living legend on tour.
“The magnitude of it was surreal,” Schatz recalled of his first trip to Bristol. “It was a big ordeal. It’s a really unique setting, like it’s truly a colosseum. It was fast. We did a lot of things to cars back then 20 years ago to make sure they would withstand the speed and the banking. Everybody has their concerns now as to what it will do. Modifieds, late models and NASCAR will have seen it, but obviously we’re going the fastest.
“There are some questions. What’s gonna happen? Who knows. The idea is awesome. It’s certainly a thrill for many to be back.”
Of the 38 competitors, 25 are former World of Outlaws winners. However, none of the newbies have faced an animal quite like Bristol.
The six winners from this season include Brad Sweet of Kasey Kahne Racing, Sheldon Haudenschild of Stenhouse Jr./Marshall Racing, Logan Schuchart of Shark Racing, David Gravel of Big Game Motorsports, Aaron Reutzel of Roth Motorsports, and Carson Macedo of Jason Johnson Racing. All six will be making their first starts at the daunting half-mile.
World Of Outlaws Bristol Throwdown Entry List
1A – Jacob Allen (Hanover, PA)
1S – Logan Schuchart (Hanover, PA)
2 – David Gravel (Watertown, CT)
2C – Wayne Johnson (Oklahoma City, OK)
3Z – Brock Zearfoss (Jonestown, PA)
5 – Brent Marks (Myerstown, PA)
7BC – Tyler Courtney (Indianapolis, IN)
7S – Jason Sides (Bartlett, TN)
9 – James McFadden (Alice Springs, NT, AUS)
9JR – Derek Hagar (Marion, AR)
11 – Ian Madsen (St. Mary’s, NSW, AUS)
11K – Kraig Kinser (Bloomington, IN)
13 – Justin Peck (Monrovia, IN)
15 – Donny Schatz (Fargo, ND)
15H – Sam Hafertepe Jr. (Sunnyvale, TX)
17 – Sheldon Haudenschild (Wooster, OH)
18 – Gio Scelzi (Fresno, CA)
19 – Parker Price-Miller (Kokomo, IN)
19P – Paige Polyak (Tiffin, OH)
20 – Ryan Taylor (Perkasie, PA)
21 – Brian Brown (Grain Valley, MO)
23 – Paul McMahan (Nashville, TN)
24 – Rico Abreu (St. Helena, CA)
24R – Jac Haudenschild (Wooster, OH)
24M – Kerry Madsen (St. Mary’s, NSW, AUS)
26 – Cory Eliason (Visalia, CA)
27 – Tucker Klaasmeyer (Paola, KS)
33M – Mason Daniel (Springville, CA)
41 – Carson Macedo (Lemoore, CA)
44W – Austen Wheatley (Lake Stevens, WA)
49 – Brad Sweet (Grass Valley, CA)
57 – Kyle Larson (Elk Grove, CA)
71 – Spencer Bayston (Lebanon, IN)
72 – Tim Shaffer (Aliquippa, PA)
73 – Scotty Thiel (Sheboygan, WI)
83 – Aaron Reutzel (Clute, TX)
83R – Lynton Jeffrey (Sydney, NSW, AUS)
85 – Dustin Daggett (Portland, MI)