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World of Outlaws Texas Two-Step
Cotton Bowl Speedway | Paige, Texas
Saturday, March 16, 2024
Race Recap  

TEXAS HEAT: Giovanni Scelzi Holds on for Cotton Bowl Speedway Victory

Cotton Bowl Speedway delivered yet again.

One night after a race of the year candidate, the Paige, TX oval provided another thriller that brought the crowd to its feet. Huge slide jobs. Crossovers to counter. Battles all over the track. And a second straight late-race duel to decide the Texas Two-Step winner.

This time it was Giovanni Scelzi making his way to Victory Lane with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars. The KCP Racing pilot started on the front row, pulled away early, and out-dueled a fast-charging Brent Marks to seal the deal. On Friday night he took the World of Outlaws points lead for the first time in his career, and on Saturday night he scored his first win of the season.

“I need to go find a top-dollar machine at the casino right now,” Scelzi said with a smile of his recent good fortune. “Man, the car is so fast. It minimizes the mistakes I make, so I can stick it in the slick part of the racetrack. Hats off to Adam (Clark). Bob (Curtis) is a new addition to the team, and he’s done an incredible job. And Aaron (Beiler) is doing great, too. Like I said, thank you to my guys.”

Scelzi is now up to seven career victories with The Greatest Show on Dirt, equaling him with Jeff Sheperd, Chad Kemenah, and Brian Brown for 55th all-time. Last year it took the Fresno, CA driver 29 races before notching the first triumph of his rookie campaign. Seven races were all that was required for him to grab his first of the sophomore season. Scelzi’s early season points lead grew to 16 markers courtesy of his win.

The result also made it seven different winners through seven races in 2024. That moves within one of equaling the record of eight different winners in the first eight races of a season established in 2015.

After topping the Toyota Racing Dash, Donny Schatz led the field to green with Scelzi alongside. Schatz slid up in front of Scelzi in Turns 1 and 2, but Scelzi turned down the banking on corner exit and drove ahead of the Tony Stewart/Curb Agajanian Racing #15.

As the early laps unfolded, Schatz was able to stay close behind Scelzi. But as the leaders entered traffic Scelzi sliced through lappers to build his advantage north of a second. The lead grew as large as two-and-a-half seconds.

But on the 13th circuit a new contender began to emerge. Friday’s winner – Brent Marks – threw a slider on Schatz that stuck and quickly set his sights on Scelzi.

Giovanni Scelzi races ahead of Brent Marks at Cotton Bowl Speedway
Giovanni Scelzi and Brent Marks put on a show for the win on Saturday night at Cotton Bowl (Trent Gower Photo)

Lap by lap the margin between the two began to shrink. Marks worked through traffic masterfully as the Murray-Marks #19 began to reel Scelzi in. On Lap 15 the gap was under two seconds, and then six circuits later it dropped to under a second.

Then on Lap 24 the battle for the top spot heated up. Marks got a huge run down the back straightaway and launched a massive slider in Turns 3 and 4. Scelzi barely got back by on corner exit to retake the lead down the front straightaway. Then in the next set of corners Marks threw another slide job at “Hot Sauce.” Scelzi again turned low to counter and drove back ahead. Meanwhile, Logan Schuchart and David Gravel were engaged in just as intense of a duel for fourth behind them. The two traded several sliders and crossovers for the position.

More traffic waited ahead as the laps continued to wane. Scelzi made a few strong moves through the lappers and looked as if he had the win in the bag. But the red flag flew with two laps remaining as Gio’s brother – Dominic Scelzi – got upside down on the back straightaway.

The crash set up a green-white-checkered finish and gave Marks one last shot at Scelzi. But on the restart Schatz challenged Marks for second and forced him into a defensive mode. While Marks fended off the 10-time World of Outlaws champion, Scelzi pulled away to secure his first checkered flag of 2024.

“I just couldn’t get the thing squared up right to drive off the corner, and I started getting tight on entry,” Scelzi said of late struggles that allowed Marks to close. “Brent got to me and started bombing me and broke my momentum like he had to. I felt like once I got him the last time he didn’t slide me in (Turns) 3 and 4, and I was clear.”

Marks brought the Murray-Marks #19 home second, falling one spot short of a Texas Two Step sweep at Cotton Bowl. The “Myerstown Missile” had plenty of speed but couldn’t quite piece together a challenge for the victory on the final restart.

“We just needed to get a good start there,” Marks said. “Gio went pretty early in the corner and being the second guy on the start there it’s just really hard to judge where they’re going to take off. He did a good job at tricking me a little bit, and when he took off it kind of left me in the slick a little bit more than I wanted to be. I spun the tires and just couldn’t quite get down the straightaway and into (Turn) 1 like I wanted to have a shot at him.”

Rounding out the top three was Donny Schatz, marking his second podium of the season. The Fargo, ND native had high hopes of a win but still came away encouraged as his early season speed continues.

“I would’ve liked to have won that, but I guess third is better than fourth,” Schatz said. “You’ve got to think about the big picture. All in all a decent night. This isn’t one of my best places. I think everybody that has a cell phone could see that all weekend it didn’t look like we were going to get to race, and we got two great nights of racing.”

Logan Schuchart and David Gravel rounded out the top five.

A 22nd to 12th run gave Jace Park the KSE Racing Hard Charger in only his third career Series start.

Giovanni Scelzi took Simpson Quick Time honors in Sea Foam Qualifying.

NOS Energy Drink Heats One and Three went to Brock Zearfoss (15th Heat Race win of career) and Brent Marks (33rd of career). Milton Hershey School Heat Two was topped by Logan Schuchart (122nd of career).

UP NEXT: Two new Texas tracks are on tap for the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars when the Series heads to Big O Speedway (Ennis, TX) on March 22 and Kennedale Speedway Park (Kennedale, TX) on March 23. 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. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[2]; 2. 19-Brent Marks[3]; 3. 15-Donny Schatz[1]; 4. 1S-Logan Schuchart[4]; 5. 2-David Gravel[8]; 6. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[12]; 7. 17B-Bill Balog[5]; 8. 41-Carson Macedo[13]; 9. 83-Michael Kofoid[10]; 10. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[6]; 11. 87-Aaron Reutzel[16]; 12. 45X-Jace Park[22]; 13. 7S-Landon Crawley[7]; 14. 1A-Jacob Allen[19]; 15. 6-Bill Rose[17]; 16. 25B-Blaine Baxter[21]; 17. 70-Kraig Kinser[15]; 18. 16TH-Kevin Newton[18]; 19. 41S-Dominic Scelzi[9]; 20. 23-Garet Williamson[14]; 21. 95-Matt Covington[11]; 22. 42P-Preston Perlmutter[20]

For full results, CLICK HERE.

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Results  
Feature Results
POSStart+/-#DriverLapsBehindLedStatusPointsMoney
12+118Giovanni Scelzi 300.00030Running150$12,000
23+119Brent Marks 30-1.154Running146$8,000
31-215Donny Schatz 30-2.098Running144$5,000
4401SLogan Schuchart 30-2.432Running142$3,200
58+32David Gravel 30-3.039Running140$2,800
612+617Sheldon Haudenschild 30-3.736Running138$2,600
75-217BBill Balog 30-4.345Running136$2,400
813+541Carson Macedo 30-5.203Running134$2,300
910+183Michael Kofoid 30-5.874Running132$2,200
106-43ZBrock Zearfoss 30-6.454Running130$2,000
1116+587Aaron Reutzel 30-6.989Running128$1,800
1222+1045XJace Park 29-1 LapsRunning126$1,600
137-67SLandon Crawley 29-1 LapsRunning124$1,400
1419+51AJacob Allen 29-1 LapsRunning122$1,200
1517+26Bill Rose 29-1 LapsRunning120$1,200
1621+525BBlaine Baxter 29-1 LapsRunning118$1,200
1715-270Kraig Kinser 29-1 LapsRunning116$1,200
1818016THKevin Newton 28-2 LapsRunning114$1,200
199-1041SDominic Scelzi 27-3 LapsDNF112$1,200
2014-623Garet Williamson 5-25 LapsDNF110$1,200
2111-1095Matt Covington 5-25 LapsDNF108$1,200
2220-242PPreston Perlmutter 3-27 LapsDNF106$1,200
KSE Hard Charger: Jace Park
Dash 1 Results
POSStart+/-#DriverLapsBehindLedStatusPointsMoney
12+115Donny Schatz 60.0006Running0$0
21-118Giovanni Scelzi 6-1.397Running0$0
34+119Brent Marks 6-2.270Running0$0
43-11SLogan Schuchart 6-3.085Running0$0
56+117BBill Balog 6-4.351Running0$0
65-13ZBrock Zearfoss 6-5.808Running0$0
Heat 1 Results
Pos.Start+/-#DriverLaps CompletedBehindLaps LedStatus
12+13ZBrock Zearfoss 80.0008Running
21-118Giovanni Scelzi 8-1.599Running
34+17SLandon Crawley 8-4.462Running
43-183Michael Kofoid 8-4.861Running
58+341Carson Macedo 8-6.131Running
65-187Aaron Reutzel 8-6.430Running
7701AJacob Allen 8-7.163Running
86-245XJace Park 8-8.217Running
Heat 2 Results
Pos.Start+/-#DriverLaps CompletedBehindLaps LedStatus
1101SLogan Schuchart 80.0008Running
22015Donny Schatz 8-2.975Running
34+12David Gravel 8-4.028Running
43-195Matt Covington 8-5.624Running
56+123Garet Williamson 8-7.457Running
65-16Bill Rose 8-8.414Running
77042PPreston Perlmutter 8-9.037Running
Heat 3 Results
Pos.Start+/-#DriverLaps CompletedBehindLaps LedStatus
11019Brent Marks 80.0007Running
22017BBill Balog 8-1.4721Running
34+141SDominic Scelzi 8-2.871Running
43-117Sheldon Haudenschild 8-3.682Running
55070Kraig Kinser 8-6.252Running
66016THKevin Newton 8-8.367Running
77025BBlaine Baxter 0-8 LapsDNS
Qualifying Flight 1 Results
POSStartCarDriverHometownTimeDifference
1818Giovanni Scelzi Fresno, CA13.6770.000
211SLogan Schuchart Hanover, PA13.805-0.128
32219Brent Marks Myerstown, PA13.897-0.220
4133ZBrock Zearfoss Jonestown, PA13.904-0.227
5415Donny Schatz Fargo, ND13.939-0.262
6517BBill Balog North Pole, AK13.955-0.278
71883Michael Kofoid Penngrove, CA13.983-0.306
81295Matt Covington Glenpool, OK13.992-0.315
9217Sheldon Haudenschild Wooster, OH14.002-0.325
10167SLandon Crawley Benton, AR14.086-0.409
11212David Gravel Watertown, CT14.111-0.434
12741SDominic Scelzi Fresno, CA14.116-0.439
132087Aaron Reutzel Clute, TX14.172-0.495
1466Bill Rose Plainfield, IN14.180-0.503
15370Kraig Kinser Bloomington, IN14.183-0.506
161045XJace Park Overland Park, KS14.219-0.542
171123Garet Williamson Columbia, MO14.237-0.560
18916THKevin Newton Terre Haute, IN14.298-0.621
19191AJacob Allen Hanover, PA14.418-0.741
201442PPreston Perlmutter San Antonio, TX14.440-0.763
211525BBlaine Baxter Liberty Hill, TX0.00013.677
221741Carson Macedo Lemoore, CA0.00013.677
Hot Laps Results
POSStartCarDriverHometownTimeDifference
1212David Gravel Watertown, CT13.6050.000
22087Aaron Reutzel Clute, TX13.716-0.111
32219Brent Marks Myerstown, PA13.776-0.171
4517BBill Balog North Pole, AK13.798-0.193
5415Donny Schatz Fargo, ND13.801-0.196
6818Giovanni Scelzi Fresno, CA13.807-0.202
71883Michael Kofoid Penngrove, CA13.809-0.204
81741Carson Macedo Lemoore, CA13.814-0.209
911SLogan Schuchart Hanover, PA13.822-0.217
10133ZBrock Zearfoss Jonestown, PA13.864-0.259
111525BBlaine Baxter Liberty Hill, TX13.882-0.277
12741SDominic Scelzi Fresno, CA13.901-0.296
13370Kraig Kinser Bloomington, IN13.939-0.334
14217Sheldon Haudenschild Wooster, OH13.953-0.348
15167SLandon Crawley Benton, AR13.960-0.355
1666Bill Rose Plainfield, IN13.987-0.382
171295Matt Covington Glenpool, OK14.023-0.418
18191AJacob Allen Hanover, PA14.032-0.427
191442PPreston Perlmutter San Antonio, TX14.164-0.559
20916THKevin Newton Terre Haute, IN14.273-0.668
211045XJace Park Overland Park, KS14.331-0.726
221123Garet Williamson Columbia, MO14.379-0.774
DIRTVision Highlights  
Event Info  

World of Outlaws Texas Two-Step
Friday, March 15th to Saturday, March 16th
Cotton Bowl Speedway
1175 Co Rd 202
Paige, Texas 78659 

Event Description
The start to a double barrel Texas weekend for the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series.

Series Racing
World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series

To Win Amount
$12,000.00

Event Schedule
2PM Gates Open
5PM Grandstand Gates Open
6:30PM Hot Laps/Qualifying
Opening Ceremonies
and Racing to follow
*All times Central

Event Hashtag
#TexasTwostep

Ticket Options  
Ticket Phone
(844) 347-8849

Options And Prices
2-Day Reserved: $75 Advanced / $85 Day of
2-Day Adult GA: $65 Advanced / $75 Day of
2-Day Child GA: (6-12): $20
Single Day Reserved: $40 Advanced / $45 Day of
Single Day Adult GA: $35 Advanced / $40 Day of
Single Day Child GA (6-12): $10



Discounts
None

Grandstand Type
Bleachers

Reserved Seating
Top 7 Rows of Sections A-I

Handicapped Seating Location
Front Stretch

Pit Pass Price
2-Day Pits- $90 Single Day Pits- $45

Pit Age Requirement
There is not an age limit for the pit area at this event. Minors 17 and younger must submit a Parental Consent, Release and Waiver of Liability.

Parking Cost
$5 day of event, $6 credit card day of event

Camping Availability
offsite, onsite

Camping Cost
$100 in advance, $125 at the Gate (Cash ONLY) 512-944-9212

Frequently Asked Questions  
To Win Amount
$12,000.00

Reserved Seating
Top 7 Rows of Sections A-I

Type of Grandstand
Bleachers

Handicapped Seating
Front Stretch

Pit Age Limit
There is not an age limit for the pit area at this event. Minors 17 and younger must submit a Parental Consent, Release and Waiver of Liability.

Personal Coolers
Coolers with beer are allowed for $10. No other food or drinks allowed. Coolers must not be bigger than 10"X13"X9". All Coolers are subject to inspection upon entering the facility.

Alcohol Sales
CBS does not sell alcohol at the track. Coolers no bigger than 10"X13"X9" are allowed in with beer only for $10. No glass bottles.

Smoking Policy
No smoking in the Grandstands

Parking Cost
$5 day of event, $6 credit card day of event

Camping Availability
offsite, onsite

Camping Cost
$100 in advance, $125 at the Gate (Cash ONLY) 512-944-9212

Track Info  

Cotton Bowl Speedway
1175 Co Rd 202
Paige, Texas 78659 

Track Phone
(512) 944-9212

Ticket Phone
(844) 347-8849

Track Email
[email protected]

Track Size
0.375

Track Type
High-banked

Closest Airport
Austin, TX (AUS / KAUS) Austin-Bergstrom International Airport

Other Airport
College Station, TX (CLL / KCLL) Easterwood Airport

Track Map
Competitor Info  

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