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Sage Fruit Skagit Nationals
Skagit Speedway | Burlington, Washington
Thursday, August 31, 2023
Race Recap  

HOLY HAUD: Sheldon Haudenschild Wheels from 16th to Victory on Night One of Sage Fruit Skagit Nationals

On Thursday night at Skagit Speedway, Sheldon Haudenschild did Sheldon Haudenschild things.

He’s known for his exciting driving style. He’s known for venturing to lanes on the racetrack others shy away from. He’s known for bringing the fans to their feet. And he used every ounce of those traits on his way to victory on night one of the Sage Fruit Skagit Nationals.

With a drive that undoubtedly made his legendary father – Jac Haudenschild – proud, Sheldon wheeled the Stenhouse Jr.-Marshall Racing machine from 16th to the win. The Wooster, OH native sliced through the field in a thrilling display and snatched the lead from Brad Sweet on the final lap to secure a revitalizing victory.

“I feel like we say it every time, but it’s been a struggle of a year,” Haudenschild said. “We want to win more than anything, and we just haven’t put ourselves in position. We didn’t tonight either, but we got it done.”

The 16th spot is the farthest back a driver has won a World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car race from since Logan Schuchart drove from 19th at Kings Speedway (Hanford, CA) on March 31, 2017 – a 466 race gap.

Haudenschild is up to three World of Outlaws wins for the season and 34 for his career. The win was his third at Skagit, putting him in a tie for the second most in Series history at the Burlington, WA oval.

Another fact making the triumph even sweeter? Haudenschild was celebrating his 30th birthday – the second time he’s topped a Skagit race as a b-day celebration.

When the 30-lap Feature began it was Tanner Holmes and Giovanni Scelzi leading the field to green. Heading into Turn 1 Scelzi pulled ahead for the early advantage to pace the opening circuit.

Scelzi quickly neared traffic only a few laps into the main event, and the racing up front ramped up. Holmes closed in and took a swing at the top spot but Scelzi fended him off. Shortly after Holmes’ attempt for the lead, Brad Sweet and James McFadden slipped by to take the second and third spots.

Chaos struck on the 10th lap when Scelzi smacked the front stretch wall and bounced into McFadden who was challenging for the lead. The contact caused McFadden to spin and brought out a caution.

In the second half of the race the leaders again faced heavy lapped traffic. Scelzi struggled to work through the slower cars, and Sweet closed in. Then on Lap 19, “The Big Cat” pounced with a slide job to take over the top spot. The four-time and defending champion then pulled ahead as the race dipped inside 10 laps to go.

Behind Sweet, Haudenschild was surging in the NOS Energy Drink #17. He located a line in Turns 3 and 4 that nobody else could navigate. The gasser from “The Buckeye State” put all four tires in the fluff entering Turn 3 and powered down the banking to the bottom to get a huge run down the front straightaway.

“I feel like there after one of the restarts I kind of packed it in a little bit,” Haudenschild said of finding the groove. “I saw the 18 (Scelzi) up there doing it. Then it looked like he kind of aborted mission. I felt really smooth up there and could diamond that corner off and stay away from that ledge in Turn 4.”

On the 21st circuit, Haudenschild moved into fourth. Two laps later he moved into the runner-up spot.

Sheldon Haudenschild races in front of Brad Sweet at Skagit
Sheldon Haudenschild slipped by Brad Sweet on the final lap for the win on night one of the Sage Fruit Skagit Nationals (Trent Gower Photo)

Over the next few circuits Haudenschild quickly closed on the tail of the Kasey Kahne Racing #49. A couple close calls with lapped traffic nearly cost him an opportunity to take the lead as the laps waned.

But Haudenschild rallied with a major run with two laps to go and looked underneath Sweet heading into Turn 1. Sweet fended him off and took the white flag a car length ahead. Sweet went low in Turns 1 and 2 while Haudenschild went high and blasted by Sweet exiting Turn 2. Haudenschild protected in Turns 3 and 4 and held on to cap an incredible drive.

“I thought I got my nose under Corey (Day) and he’d let me by there but had to kind of take one lap off and regain how to get around him,” Haudenschild said of being in traffic late. “I had to see if it was plausible to go run the 49 down. It was close. He pushed in Turns 3 and 4 the one time, and I kind of figured we had to go then.”

Sweet’s runner-up marked his 23rd podium of the World of Outlaws season. While coming up short after taking the white flag with the lead was disappointing, Sweet did manage to extend his points lead as he pursues his fifth straight championship. The Grass Valley, CA native admitted he might’ve become a little too conservative in the closing laps.

“I wasn’t getting by those last couple lapped cars,” Sweet said. “I felt like they were setting a pretty good pace and I was setting a good enough pace, I thought. But obviously Sheldon found a new line, and that’s what it takes to win these races is searching around. My car didn’t really like to go up in the rough stuff, so I just kind of committed to staying down in the racing groove. I got a little free at the end but maybe just a little too conservative.”

Rounding out the top three was early race leader – Gio Scelzi. The KCP Racing pilot led the opening 18 laps, but the damage sustained after his contact with the wall made it difficult to drive his #18 machine. He still managed to hold on for his fifth podium of his rookie World of Outlaws campaign.

“I knocked the Jacobs Ladder off of it, and it wasn’t undriveable, just made it really hard to get up and get your right rear (tire) propped up and run above all the stuff like Sheldon was,” Scelzi said. “You could pass guys high and low. It was just really treacherous off (Turn) 4 where the curb was and on exit.”

Tanner Holmes and Spencer Bayston completed the top five.

Haudenschild’s 16th to the win drive earned him the KSE Racing Hard Charger honors.

Tanner Holmes claimed his second Simpson Performance Products QuickTime Award in six races since joining Shark Racing.

CASE No.1 Engine Oil Heat One went to Tanner Holmes (first Heat Race win of career). NOS Energy Drink Heats Two through Four were topped by Donny Schatz (520th of career), Carson Macedo (109th of career), and James McFadden (47th of career).

Tanner Holmes won the Toyota Racing Dash.

Robbie Price claimed the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars are back at Skagit Speedway for night two of the Sage Fruit Skagit Nationals on Friday, September 1 before Saturday’s $26,000 finale. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

If you can’t make it to the track, catch all of the action live on DIRTVision.

RESULTS:

NOS Energy Drink Feature (30 Laps): 1. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[16]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet[4]; 3. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[2]; 4. 1T-Tanner Holmes[1]; 5. 5-Spencer Bayston[7]; 6. 15-Donny Schatz[8]; 7. 9-Kasey Kahne[13]; 8. 2-David Gravel[3]; 9. 41S-Dominic Scelzi[14]; 10. 24-Rico Abreu[9]; 11. 83JR-Michael Kofoid[20]; 12. 83-James McFadden[6]; 13. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[12]; 14. 41-Carson Macedo[5]; 15. 18S-Jason Solwold[11]; 16. 1S-Logan Schuchart[15]; 17. 2X-Justin Sanders[18]; 18. 7S-Robbie Price[21]; 19. 14-Corey Day[10]; 20. 21S-Jesse Schlotfeldt[22]; 21. 95-Justin Youngquist[23]; 22. 21-Cole Macedo[24]; 23. (DNF) 9A-Luke Didiuk[17]; 24. (DNF) 20G-Noah Gass[19]

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Results  
Feature Results
POSStart+/-#DriverLapsBehindLedStatusPointsMoney
116+1517Sheldon Haudenschild 300.0001Running150$10,000
24+249Brad Sweet 30-0.31611Running146$5,500
32-118Giovanni Scelzi 30-2.40318Running144$3,200
41-31TTanner Holmes 308.966Running142$2,600
57+25Spencer Bayston 308.038Running140$2,350
68+215Donny Schatz 307.687Running138$2,150
713+69Kasey Kahne 307.060Running136$2,100
83-52David Gravel 306.617Running134$1,950
914+541SDominic Scelzi 306.233Running132$1,900
109-124Rico Abreu 306.143Running130$1,850
1120+983JRMichael Kofoid 305.756Running128$1,400
126-683James McFadden 305.115Running126$1,200
1312-13ZBrock Zearfoss 304.158Running124$1,000
145-941Carson Macedo 303.349Running122$1,000
1511-418SJason Solwold 301.829Running120$1,000
1615-11SLogan Schuchart 300.893Running118$1,000
1718+12XJustin Sanders 300.335Running116$1,000
1821+37SRobbie Price 301.756Running114$1,000
1910-914Corey Day 30-1.072Running112$1,000
2022+221SJesse Schlotfeldt 29-1 LapsRunning110$1,000
2123+295Justin Youngquist 29-1 LapsRunning108$1,000
2224+221Cole Macedo 28-2 LapsRunning106$1,000
2317-69ALuke Didiuk 19-11 LapsDNF104$1,000
2419-520GNoah Gass 11-19 LapsDNF102$1,000
KSE Hard Charger: Sheldon Haudenschild
Last Chance Showdown 1 Results
POSStart+/-#DriverLapsBehindLedStatusPointsMoney
12+17SRobbie Price 120.00012Running0$0
24+221SJesse Schlotfeldt 12-1.146Running0$0
31-295Justin Youngquist 12-2.141Running0$0
46+221Cole Macedo 12-2.926Running0$0
58+399Eric Fisher 12-3.704Running90$300
614+819Colby Thornhill 12-4.599Running90$250
712+514BBailey Jean 12-5.755Running90$225
811+344WAusten Wheatley 12-6.274Running90$200
93-696Greg Hamilton 9-3 LapsDNF90$200
107-317SCam Smith 8-4 LapsDNF90$200
1110-196AUAndy Caruana 8-4 LapsDNF90$200
125-73AUKarl Hoffmans 6-6 LapsDNF90$200
139-455Trey Starks 0-12 LapsDNS90$200
1413-16Bill Rose 0-12 LapsDNS90$200
Dash 1 Results
POSStart+/-#DriverLapsBehindLedStatusPointsMoney
1101TTanner Holmes 60.0006Running0$0
22018Giovanni Scelzi 6-0.347Running0$0
34+12David Gravel 6-1.087Running0$0
46+249Brad Sweet 6-1.922Running0$0
53-241Carson Macedo 6-2.415Running0$0
67+183James McFadden 6-3.204Running0$0
75-25Spencer Bayston 6-3.924Running0$0
88015Donny Schatz 6-5.437Running0$0
Heat 1 Results
Pos.Start+/-#DriverLaps CompletedBehindLaps LedStatus
1101TTanner Holmes 80.0008Running
24+25Spencer Bayston 8-0.655Running
33024Rico Abreu 8-1.653Running
45+19Kasey Kahne 8-2.648Running
57+29ALuke Didiuk 8-3.030Running
62-495Justin Youngquist 8-3.427Running
79+23AUKarl Hoffmans 5-3 LapsDNF
86-255Trey Starks 5-3 LapsDNF
98-16Bill Rose 5-3 LapsDNF
Heat 2 Results
Pos.Start+/-#DriverLaps CompletedBehindLaps LedStatus
12+115Donny Schatz 80.0008Running
21-118Giovanni Scelzi 8-0.759Running
34+114Corey Day 8-1.657Running
46+241SDominic Scelzi 8-2.904Running
5502XJustin Sanders 8-3.423Running
63-37SRobbie Price 8-4.326Running
77021Cole Macedo 8-4.943Running
89+196AUAndy Caruana 8-6.275Running
98-119Colby Thornhill 8-7.549Running
Heat 3 Results
Pos.Start+/-#DriverLaps CompletedBehindLaps LedStatus
12+141Carson Macedo 80.0008Running
21-12David Gravel 8-2.065Running
34+118SJason Solwold 8-3.532Running
43-11SLogan Schuchart 8-3.804Running
55020GNoah Gass 8-5.501Running
66096Greg Hamilton 8-7.397Running
78+117SCam Smith 8-9.241Running
87-144WAusten Wheatley 8-10.745Running
Heat 4 Results
Pos.Start+/-#DriverLaps CompletedBehindLaps LedStatus
12+183James McFadden 80.0008Running
21-149Brad Sweet 8-1.257Running
34+13ZBrock Zearfoss 8-3.357Running
43-117Sheldon Haudenschild 8-3.929Running
55083JRMichael Kofoid 8-4.756Running
66021SJesse Schlotfeldt 8-5.948Running
77099Eric Fisher 8-6.862Running
88014BBailey Jean 8-9.487Running
Qualifying Flight 1 Results
POSStartCarDriverHometownTimeDifference
131TTanner Holmes Jacksonville, OR11.0230.000
22618Giovanni Scelzi Fresno, CA11.033-0.010
3132David Gravel Watertown, CT11.050-0.027
41849Brad Sweet Grass Valley, CA11.066-0.043
5295Justin Youngquist Burlington, WA11.067-0.044
6115Donny Schatz Fargo, ND11.096-0.073
73241Carson Macedo Lemoore, CA11.132-0.109
83083James McFadden Alice Springs, NT11.143-0.120
9724Rico Abreu St. Helena, CA11.152-0.129
10317SRobbie Price Cobble Hill, BC11.168-0.145
1141SLogan Schuchart Hanover, PA11.178-0.155
121517Sheldon Haudenschild Wooster, OH11.191-0.168
13125Spencer Bayston Lebanon, IN11.194-0.171
14914Corey Day Clovis, CA11.236-0.213
152218SJason Solwold Burlington, WA11.256-0.233
16213ZBrock Zearfoss Jonestown, PA11.293-0.270
17169Kasey Kahne Enumclaw, WA11.299-0.276
18292XJustin Sanders Aromas, CA11.323-0.300
191720GNoah Gass Mounds, OK11.354-0.331
202583JRMichael Kofoid Penngrove, CA11.356-0.333
212855Trey Starks Puyallup, WA11.359-0.336
221441SDominic Scelzi Fresno, CA11.396-0.373
231096Greg Hamilton Burlington, WA11.438-0.415
243421SJesse Schlotfeldt Arlington, WA11.441-0.418
2559ALuke Didiuk Vancouver, BC11.451-0.428
262721Cole Macedo Lemoore, CA11.463-0.440
27844WAusten Wheatley Lake Stevens, WA11.474-0.451
282399Eric Fisher Mount Vernon, WA11.512-0.489
29116Bill Rose Plainfield, IN11.513-0.490
30619Colby Thornhill Enumclaw, WA11.544-0.521
312417SCam Smith Mill Creek, WA11.636-0.613
322014BBailey Jean Granite Falls, WA11.662-0.639
33193AUKarl Hoffmans Bundauba, QLD11.684-0.661
343396AUAndy Caruana Melbourne, VIC11.846-0.823
Hot Laps Results
POSStartCarDriverHometownTimeDifference
11517Sheldon Haudenschild Wooster, OH10.8700.000
22618Giovanni Scelzi Fresno, CA11.076-0.206
3914Corey Day Clovis, CA11.086-0.216
43083James McFadden Alice Springs, NT11.107-0.237
51849Brad Sweet Grass Valley, CA11.117-0.247
6125Spencer Bayston Lebanon, IN11.144-0.274
73241Carson Macedo Lemoore, CA11.178-0.308
82855Trey Starks Puyallup, WA11.216-0.346
9132David Gravel Watertown, CT11.226-0.356
101441SDominic Scelzi Fresno, CA11.230-0.360
11169Kasey Kahne Enumclaw, WA11.235-0.365
12292XJustin Sanders Aromas, CA11.245-0.375
13213ZBrock Zearfoss Jonestown, PA11.267-0.397
14317SRobbie Price Cobble Hill, BC11.313-0.443
152583JRMichael Kofoid Penngrove, CA11.349-0.479
161096Greg Hamilton Burlington, WA11.378-0.508
173421SJesse Schlotfeldt Arlington, WA11.411-0.541
18844WAusten Wheatley Lake Stevens, WA11.414-0.544
192399Eric Fisher Mount Vernon, WA11.426-0.556
202721Cole Macedo Lemoore, CA11.451-0.581
212417SCam Smith Mill Creek, WA11.453-0.583
221720GNoah Gass Mounds, OK11.494-0.624
232218SJason Solwold Burlington, WA11.501-0.631
24116Bill Rose Plainfield, IN11.656-0.786
25193AUKarl Hoffmans Bundauba, QLD11.912-1.042
262014BBailey Jean Granite Falls, WA11.941-1.071
273396AUAndy Caruana Melbourne, VIC12.368-1.498
28115Donny Schatz Fargo, ND0.00010.870
29295Justin Youngquist Burlington, WA0.00010.870
3031TTanner Holmes Jacksonville, OR0.00010.870
3141SLogan Schuchart Hanover, PA0.00010.870
3259ALuke Didiuk Vancouver, BC0.00010.870
33619Colby Thornhill Enumclaw, WA0.00010.870
34724Rico Abreu St. Helena, CA0.00010.870
DIRTVision Highlights  
Event Info  

Sage Fruit Skagit Nationals
Thursday, August 31st to Saturday, September 2nd
Skagit Speedway
4796 Old Hwy 99 N
Burlington, Washington 98233 

Event Description
The World of Outlaws return to Washington for a scenic swing that starts with the annual Sage Fruit Skagit Nationals for three nights on a tight track.

Series Racing
World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series

Event Schedule
1PM Pit Gates open
5PM Grandstand Gates open
6:30PM Hot Laps/Qualifying
7:30PM Opening Ceremonies
*All times Pacific

Event Hashtag
#SkagitNats

Ticket Options  
Options And Prices
Three Day Pass:
Adult (18-61): $130
Junior (7-17) / Senior (62+) / Military: $110
Child (3-6): $30

Thursday: Adult $40, Jr/Sr/ Military $35, Child $10
Friday: Adult $40, Jr/Sr/ Military $35, Child $10
Saturday: Adult $50, Jr/Sr/ Military $40, Child $10

Two and under: FREE

PIT PASS PRICE - THURS - FRI - SAT:
$50 / $50 / $60

Discounts
Military, Senior, Student

Grandstand Type
bleacher

Reserved Seating
Reserved seating with THREE DAY pass only

Family Section Location
SECTIONS: A - B - H - J, non-smoking, non-alcohol.

Handicapped Seating Location
SECTIONS: H & M

Pit Age Requirement
NO AGE REQUIREMENT - MUST HAVE MINOR RELEASE

Parking Cost
$0.00

Camping Availability
non-electric, onsite

Camping Cost
$50 PER NIGHT OR $200 FOR THE WEEK (MON-SUN) for Nationals

Frequently Asked Questions  
Reserved Seating
Reserved seating with THREE DAY pass only

Type of Grandstand
bleacher

Stadium Seating
Stadium seats are allowed

Handicapped Seating
SECTIONS: H & M

Pit Age Limit
NO AGE REQUIREMENT - MUST HAVE MINOR RELEASE

Personal Coolers
No coolers allowed

ATMs
1

Alcohol Sales
Alcohol is permitted in beer gardens sections F & G.

Smoking Policy
smoking are permitted in beer gardens sections F & G.

Family Section
SECTIONS: A - B - H - J, non-smoking, non-alcohol.

Parking Cost
$0.00

Camping Availability
non-electric, onsite

Camping Cost
$50 PER NIGHT OR $200 FOR THE WEEK (MON-SUN) for Nationals

Track Info  

Skagit Speedway
4796 Old Hwy 99 N
Burlington, Washington 98233 

Track Phone
(360) 724-3567

Track Type
0.300; High-banked

Closest Airport
Bellingham, WA (BLI / KBLI) Bellingham International Airport

Track Map
Competitor Info  

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