Carson Macedo takes a turn in his No. 2 Kyle Larson Racing car. Photo courtesy World of Outlaws
Carson Macedo has been plugging away at the 2020 World of Outlaws slate all season, but he finally came away with a trophy over the weekend at Haubstadt.
The 2019 Outlaws Rookie of the Year earned his first win of the year on Saturday, inching past defending champion Brad Sweet at Tri-State Speedway.
The win pushed the driver of the No. 2 Kyle Larson Racing car to a fourth-place spot in the points standings through 14 events going into a big one this weekend.
“Trying to be the best out here isn’t easy,” Macedo said. “There’s a lot of really talented guys that have been doing this for a long time.”
But Macedo seems to be figuring it out. Since drivers returned to the tracks this spring, Macedo has been wheeling.
He started the 11-race stretch with 25th and 14th-place finishes before rattling off nine straight top-10 finishes going into this weekend.
One of them included the No. 2 car going from 13th to 4th at Knoxville while his team owner Kyle Larson streaked to a second-straight win.
“It’s definitely the quickest I’ve ever driven through a field at Knoxville,” Macedo said. “I feel like I got to fourth really quick. I think within 10 laps, I was already up into the top five. My race car was incredible. I could just go wherever I wanted.”
His strong finish should be a boost to Macedo when the Outlaws return to Knoxville for the biggest crown jewel there is–the Nationals–in August.
“I’m really happy with my team,” Macedo said. “They put a lot of effort into being good here at Knoxville, and so do I – it’s an important place to be good. All in all, it’s been an incredible job by this team. We’re just going to keep building and keep getting better.”
Whether Larson’s return to the dirt for the time being has influenced Macedo or not, it certainly hasn’t hindered either driver from setting themselves asunder from the rest of the field.
Larson cleaned house at Indiana Midget week and is on an incredible streak of his own.
“It’s nice to have Kyle in my corner,” Macedo said. “I think being his driver, he is willing to share any kind of information that I could possibly want from him. “I think we keep each other in the box as much as we can. We don’t let either one of us get too far outside the window. I think that’s important given that we have two drivers giving really good feedback.”
Macedo comes into Jackson vying like everyone else for the twin $8,000-to-win Thursday and Friday-night features before Saturday’s $30,000-to-win main event.
He’ll have a good shot with how his team is running right now, not to mention he was the only driver to dethrone Sweet at all in last year’s Jackson Nationals, earning one of his four wins in his rookie campaign.
“I think both of these cars are incredible now, the 2 and the 57, so that makes me happy,” Macedo said.
Fans can watch Macedo go for another Jackson win this year on DirtVision with each night of racing kicking off at 7:00 p.m.
