JACKSONVILLE, Ill. — The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars are ready to go from a famed half-mile to two of the country’s top quarter-mile dirt tracks.
After a night at the historic Knoxville Raceway, a pair of bullrings are on the agenda as Illinois’ Jacksonville Speedway and Indiana’s Tri-State Speedway await The Greatest Show on Dirt this weekend – April 25-26.
There’s a reason many fans circled this weekend when the schedule came out. Both tracks are tight. Both tracks create some of the closest wheel-to-wheel racing you’ll see all year. Both tracks never fail to put on a show.
A year ago, the World of Outlaws made their fifth visit to Jacksonville, and the result was a green-to-checkered banger with action everywhere you looked. There’s no reason to think Friday’s Hy-Vee Perks 40 won’t serve up more of the same.
Tri-State Speedway has welcomed the country’s best drivers on 44 occasions, the most of any track in the Hoosier State.
The unique, paperclip-shaped oval presents drivers with a challenge unlike any other and has entertained fans for decades.
JAWS MUSIC
After a tough 2024, Logan Schuchart and Shark Racing started this year strong in Florida, but the question was, is it sustainable? Through nearly a quarter of the campaign, they’ve answered that with a definitive yes.
The Hanover, Pa., native carries a three-race podium streak into this weekend. Schuchart earned three top threes during the entire 2024 season, and he’s already more than doubled that this year. He’s only finished worse than eighth once, and that was when an empty tail tank left him with a 17th-place finish during Bike Week at Volusia.
It’s taken no time for the veteran and new crew chief Kyle Pruitt to click, and after their third-place result at Knoxville, Schuchart took over second in points and trails David Gravel by 68 markers.
Schuchart’s history at both tracks ahead isn’t filled with the best results, a trend he’ll have to end to continue cutting into Gravel’s advantage. His best finish through five tries at Jacksonville is eighth.
Over at Tri-State, he owns four top 10s in a dozen attempts, but on the bright side, a trio are top fives and have come in the last five races at the quarter mile.
DOUBLING UP
There are only two current World of Outlaws competitors that have won at both Jacksonville and Tri-State Speedway, and to no surprise it’s a pair of the best.
David Gravel is one of the two. The defending champion and current point leader topped last year’s Jacksonville thriller by outdueling Kyle Larson. His Haubstadt résumé is home to a pair of victories (2016 & 2018), both with CJB Motorsports.
The Watertown, Conn., native is yet to win one at Tri-State with his current Big Game Motorsports crew, but Tod Quiring’s team has been victorious three times at “The Class Track” — twice with Craig Dollansky and once with Sammy Swindell.
Carson Macedo is the other who has been to both victory lanes. A 2019 triumph at Jacksonville was his fifth career World of Outlaws win. The Lemoore, Calif., native won at Tri-State in 2020 and followed that up with victories the next two years to become the first with three straight.
Macedo is in search of a rebound weekend after suffering his first DNF of 2025 at Knoxville.
A win for either Gravel or Macedo on Friday would make them the first to a pair of triumphs at Jacksonville in World of Outlaws competition.
HAUD’S HEARTBREAK
Both tracks ahead have dealt Sheldon Haudenschild their share of heartbreak in the past, but the stats say his luck could turn around.
He debuted at the track in 2016 and was running well within the top 10 before an early spin dropped him to a 17th-place result.
Three years later, he started on the pole and led laps before spinning with six to go while battling for the win. Then, in 2021, Haudenschild had the lead with eight laps to go before a flat tire ended his hopes.
Tri-State has dealt devastation to Haudenschild as he’s led laps in four different features, but various factors have kept him from victory lane. He’s finished runner-up on three occasions.
The big question this weekend is, can he break through at either quarter- mile. It’s clear he knows his way around both Jacksonville and Tri-State. He and the Stenhouse Jr.-Marshall team have been solid with seven top fives this season, and they’re hungry for a win.
HAUBSTADT HISTORY
It took 43 World of Outlaws races at Tri-State Speedway for someone to win three straight at the Indiana oval, and now, just two races later, the opportunity is there again.
As mentioned above, Carson Macedo has claimed a trio of wins at Haubstadt (2020 – 2022) until Oklahoma’s Brady Bacon ended that streak in 2023 with his first career World of Outlaws triumph.
A year later, he conquered Tri-State Speedway again, and now he has the chance to join Macedo as the only other competitor to top three in a row.
Bacon has also topped the USAC National Sprint Cars at Tri-State twice, and he claimed the Hut Hundred with the USAC Midgets when the track hosted it in 2012. The “Macho Man’s” best finish in a winged 410 sprint car this year is fifth.
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