A thrilling drive leads Sheldon Haudenschild to his fifth Beaver Dam win in the last six races (Trent Gower Photo)
Alex Nieten | June 1, 2024
Sometime a track just fits a racer perfectly. Whether it’s the size, shape, surface, or a blend of all the elements, drivers go with certain racetracks like yin and yang.
And that’s certainly the case with Sheldon Haudenschild and Beaver Dam Raceway.
Heading into Friday’s Jim “JB” Boyd Memorial opener, Haudenschild had topped four the last five Beaver Dam races with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars. Haudenschild being up front at the Wisconsin oval with the Stenhouse Jr.-Marshall Racing crew had become a foregone conclusion. And he didn’t let the “Badger State” fans down on Friday.
Haudenschild delivered perhaps his most exciting Beaver Dam victory to kick off the Jim Boyd Memorial. He hadn’t started worse than third in his previous four victories, but he lined up sixth Friday night and gave the crowd a show. The Wooster, OH native wheeled his way forward from row three, snatched the top spot from Carson Macedo on Lap 17, and held on late for his fifth win in the last six Beaver Dam races.
“I don’t know, maybe I’m Scott Boyd’s (track owner) long lost son or something,” Haudenschild said with a laugh of his success at Beaver Dam. “We just seem to have this place figured out. It’s cool to have the wins here and be friends with the Boyd family.”
The sixth win of 2024 for Haudenschild moved him to 40 for his career with The Greatest Show on Dirt as he becomes the 20th different driver to reach 40 victories. Five wins at Beaver Dam also breaks a tie with Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 to make it the winningest track on his résumé. It also broke a tie with Brad Sweet and Daryn Pittman to give him sole possession of the most World of Outlaws wins at Beaver through 34 visits.
The front row of Carson Macedo and Bill Balog led the field to green. Macedo slid ahead of Balog to take the top spot and lead the opening lap. As the front four cars all opted for the cushion on the first couple circuits, David Gravel gave the bottom a shot and it paid off. The point leader rolled all the way from the fifth starting spot to second in two laps.
The forward progress for Gravel halted when he reached second as he couldn’t also move by Macedo for the top spot. The lead duo settled into a rhythm while Haudenschild began to make his charge. At the completion of the first lap Haudenschild was in seventh. Only three circuits later he’d worked his way up to third.
Haudenschild quickly closed in on the lead duo as they navigated traffic. Lapped cars caused the leaders to bunch up and make daring moves to work their way through. Haudenschild grabbed the runner-up spot from Gravel on Lap 8, but Gravel took it right back on the following lap. Two circuits later Haudenschild passed Gravel again, and then a Lap 14 caution cooled off the battle.
Gravel used a strong run on the bottom during the restart to reclaim second, but it didn’t take long for Haudenschild to get his momentum wound up where he’s most comfortable – right against the fence.
As Macedo and Gravel rolled the bottom in Turns 3 and 4, Haudenschild blasted by Gravel on the top and into second on the 16th circuit. One lap later he used the same move to power by Macedo and into the lead.
There was no slowing Haudenschild after he took the top spot as he began to stretch the advantage while Macedo and Gravel battled for second.
A yellow flag with six laps remaining brought Macedo and Gravel to Haudenschild’s tail tank, but he proved to be too strong on the restart as he took off and drove to his sixth victory of 2024 in the NOS Energy Drink #17.
“Just searching the track and knowing when to move,” Haudenschild said of how he got to Victory Lane. “Me and David were on the bottom pretty early, but he was still trying the top in (Turns) 1 and 2. I kind of showed him my nose, and then he moved down, and that just put me searching again. But you can only do that with a really good race car. If your car is no good, you can’t search like that, so hats off to (Kyle) Ripper and the guys. They were on it all night even after starting in the back of that Dash.”
Carson Macedo brought the Jason Johnson Racing #41 home second for their eighth consecutive podium finish. They’re down to only 30 markers behind Gravel for the point lead. Macedo found himself wishing he’d tried something different to stay in front of Haudenschild with hopes of back-to-back victories after winning Fremont on Monday.
“I feel like that was obviously the wrong move now, but hindsight is 20/20,” Macedo said. “I felt like during the race I was getting edged on the bottom. I could see David down there, and I think I could see Sheldon down there at one point. It just felt like in lapped traffic it was decent down there and getting so far around up top. It was weird. I went down there, and it was good, and then a couple laps later I went down there and spun (tires), and Sheldon blew my doors off. Then when I moved back up, it was way more grippy up there all of a sudden.”
David Gravel and Big Game Motorsports rounded out the podium. Like he has most of 2024, Gravel showed he had speed capable of winning but came up just a couple spots shy of his ninth victory of the year.
“We had a race-winning race car right there,” Gravel said. “What a racetrack. It changed. The fastest lane changed a couple times. I felt like if Carson just continued to run the top there and didn’t dirty up my air on the bottom of (Turns) 3 and 4, then I could’ve maybe got the lead. But that just opened up the top for Sheldon, and he was really able to rip it and make it count.”
- Giovanni Scelzi and Logan Schuchart completed the top five.
- A 23rd to 13th drive earned Scotty Neitzel the KSE Racing Hard Charger.
- Giovanni Scelzi claimed his third Simpson Quick Time of 2024 and the 14th of his career in Sea Foam Qualifying.
- NOS Energy Drink Heats One, Three, and Four went to Brock Zearfoss (18th Heat Race win of career), Buddy Kofoid (23rd of career), and Sheldon Haudenschild (108th of career). Milton Hershey School Heat Two belonged to David Gravel (258th of career).
- Carson Macedo topped the Toyota Racing Dash.
- Garet Williamson won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.
- Brock Zearfoss earned the night’s Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race.
UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars finish the Jim “JB” Boyd Memorial at Beaver Dam Raceway with a $20,000-to-win finale on Saturday, June 1. For tickets, CLICK HERE.
If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.
FEATURE RESULTS:
NOS Energy Drink Feature (30 Laps): 1. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[6]; 2. 41-Carson Macedo[1]; 3. 2-David Gravel[5]; 4. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[7]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart[10]; 6. 15-Donny Schatz[3]; 7. 83-Michael Kofoid[4]; 8. 17B-Bill Balog[2]; 9. 99-Skylar Gee[17]; 10. 73-Scotty Thiel[9]; 11. W20-Greg Wilson[13]; 12. 23-Garet Williamson[21]; 13. 2W-Scott Neitzel[23]; 14. 70-Kraig Kinser[14]; 15. 6-Bill Rose[15]; 16. 49J-Josh Schneiderman[11]; 17. 14T-Tim Estenson[19]; 18. 7S-Landon Crawley[12]; 19. 10V-Matt VanderVere[22]; 20. 25-Danny Schlafer[16]; 21. 87A-Austin Hartmann[20]; 22. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[24]; 23. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[8]; 24. 10W-Mike Reinke[18]
Alex Nieten | World Of Outlaws | Photos: Trent Gower
