Sheldon Haudenschild scored a Tuesday night win in New Jersey
Sheldon Haudenschild and Kyle Larson put on a great show on Tuesday night over the closing laps in the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series feature at Bridgeport Motorsports Park. Ultimately, it would be Haudenschild who would emerge from a lead swapping battle to claim the top prize after getting the better of Larson on a late restart.
The driver of the Stenhouse Jr./Marshall Racing No. 17 from Wooster, Ohio earned $10,000 for his win on the 4/10 mile ‘Kingdom of Speed’ in Swedesboro, NJ in a race shown live by DirtVision.com.
A total of 33 cars were signed in for competition.
Qualifying Results: 1. Sheldon Haudenschild(14.852), 2. Donny Schatz, 3. David Gravel, 4. Spencer Bayston, 5. Logan Schuchart, 6. Rico Abreu, 7. James McFadden, 8. Justin Whittall, 9. Lucas Wolfe, 10. Anthony Macri, 11. Kasey Kahne, 12. Kyle Larson, 13. Jacob Allen, 14. Brad Sweet, 15. Bill Rose, 16. Brent Marks, 17. Giovanni Scelzi, 18. Carson Macedo, 19. Kyle Reinhardt, 20. Freddie Rahmer
Heat 1 Results: 1. Logan Schuchart, 2. Sheldon Haudenschild, 3. Jacob Allen, 4. Christopher Bell, 5. Giovanni Scelzi
Heat 2 Results: 1. Donny Schatz, 2. Rico Abreu, 3. Brad Sweet, 4. Anthony Macri, 5. Carson Macedo
Heat 3 Results: 1. David Gravel, 2. James McFadden, 3. Kasey Kahne, 4. Kyle Reinhardt, 5. Bill Rose
Heat 4 Results: 1. Justin Whittall, 2. Kyle Larson, 3. Spencer Bayston, 4. Freddie Rahmer, 5. Briggs Danner
Last Chance Showdown Results: 1. Brent Marks, 2. Lucas Wolfe, 3. Brock Zearfoss, 4. Tyler Ross
Dash Results: 1. Donny Schatz, 2. Sheldon Hudenschild, 3. Kyle Larson, 4. James McFadden, 5. Rico Abreu, 6. Logan Schuchart, 7. David Gravel, 8. Justin Whittall
Feature Re-cap: At the start of the 25-lap feature it was Hudenschild who shot to the early lead with Schatz, Larson, Abreu and Schuchart in his tire tracks. The top-5 ran in single-file formation during the early laps with Haudenschild slipping away from his pursuers just slightly.
By lap 6, the leaders found themselves battling with the tail of the field which allowed the front runners to tighten up. Two laps later, Larson moved by Scharz to grab the runner-up position then set off after the leader of the race. At the same time, Schuchart closed in on Abreu to fight for the fourth position and the No. 1s would emerge from that battle with the spot on lap 14.
Larson took the lead away from Haudenschild on lap 16 but the early race leader fought back and regained the top spot one circuit later. By that time, the top-4 of Haudenschild, Larson, Schatz and Schuchart were running in tight formation as they worked through slower machines.
Schuchart wrested the third position away from Schatz on lap 19, while further ahead, Larson took the lead back away from Haudenschild just before a lap 21 caution for a flat tire on Kahne’s machine slowed the action.
On the race’s one and only restart, Haudenschild kept Larson in his sights. On lap 23, the No. 17 moved around the reigning NASCAR champion to assume the lead for the final time. Two laps later, Haudenschild sailed under the checkered flag to claim the win.
“I for sure thought he would rip the top in one and two and kind of try to get his momentum going,” Haudenschild said in victory lane regarding the late restart battle with Larson. “He was kind of shortening the track up on both ends once we got to racing there. I’ve got to give it up to my guys, they’ve been working really hard. We’ve been close. It feels like we haven’t won in forever. It just feels good to get this car back up here where it belongs.”
It was the third WoO victory of 2022 for Haudenschild.
Feature Results: 1. Sheldon Haudenschild, 2. Kyle Larson, 3. Donny Schatz, 4. Logan Schuchart, 5. Anthony Macri, 6. James McFadden, 7. Rico Abreu, 8. Jacob Allen, 9. Spencer Bayston, 10. David Gravel, 11. Kyle Reinhardt, 12. Brad Sweet, 13. Carson Macedo, 14. Brock Zearfoss, 15. Giovanni Scelzi, 16. Briggs Danner, 17. Freddie Rahmer, 18. Brent Marks, 19. Justin Whittall, 20. Bill Rose, 21. Christopher Bell, 22. Kasey Kahne, 23. Lucas Wolfe, 24. Tyler Ross
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