Carson Macedo said on Wednesday that his crew chief Philip Dietz’ success at Knoxville in the past with different drivers speaks for itself.
It paid off again on Friday night, as the California native picked up his fourth win of the World of Outlaws season at the famed half-mile in Iowa.
After drawing second in the dash, Macedo was looking to start on the front row of the Brownells Big Guns Bash. However, Donny Schatz made it past the 41 in the race to determine the first four rows.
Instead, Macedo would have to start behind the iconic No. 15 and earn his way to the win.
He got past Schatz on the first lap of the 25-lap feature, and then made his race-winning pass on leader Kerry Madsen on a restart with five laps to go.
Macedo would lead the final three laps en route to a win that ties his career mark for most in one season.
“It was just a hard race,” Macedo said in Victory Lane. “Kerry (Madsen) was doing a good job of maneuvering in and out of traffic. A couple times, I thought I’d have a run on him, and lapped cars would zig or zag the wrong way. It just wouldn’t work out for me. When I saw the caution, I thought it was going to be tough to get a good start. I was able to get a good start and hit the bottom.”
Macedo ran around the outside and eventually cut down to the low line to make the pass on Madsen, who came home third in the Tony Stewart Racing car.
“This car is fast,” Madsen said. “I was feeling really comfortable. We had a yellow, and I thought that would actually help us. I just didn’t make the right adjustments. I feel like I let the boys down, but this is a great racecar. We’re still glad to get a podium. On to tomorrow night.”
The win, though, will speak volumes for Macedo.
Not only did he outrace the guys next to him, but him and others had an amount of distance between themselves and previous Knoxville Nationals winners like Donny Schatz, Brad Sweet, and David Gravel.
It’s going to take more runs like that to cement his name as a threat to win the Knoxville Nationals in August, but Macedo took a step towards it Friday.
“I’m excited,” Macedo said. “It’s so hard to win here. It’s so technical. You have to hit your marks, and it’s really easy to make mistakes. My car was so good. When I did make a mistake it recovered for me.”
The World of Outlaws are back at Knoxville on Saturday night for Night 2 of the Brownells Big Guns Bash. Hot laps are scheduled for 6:45 p.m. CT.
World of Outlaws Sprint Car Results
Brownells Big Guns Bash Night 1
1. Carson Macedo
2. Logan Schuchart
3. Kerry Madsen
4. Donny Schatz
5. Gio Scelzi
6. Brad Sweet
7. David Gravel
8. Brian Brown
9. Aaron Reutzel
10. Ayrton Gennetten
11. Brent Marks
12. Sheldon Haudenschild
13. Kraig Kinser
14. Parker Price-Miller
15. James McFadden
16. Sam Hafertepe Jr.
17. Kasey Kahne
18. Scott Bogucki
19. Brock Zearfoss
20. Terry McCarl
21. Matt Juhl
22. Lynton Jeffrey
23. McKenna Haase
24. Wayne Johnson
| World of Outlaws Sprint Car Standings | ||||
| Position | Driver | Points | Behind | |
| 1 | Brad Sweet | 4070 | – | |
| 2 | David Gravel | 4012 | -58 | |
| 3 | Carson Macedo | 3978 | -92 | |
| 4 | Donny Schatz | 3928 | -142 | |
| 5 | Sheldon Haudenschild | 3906 | -164 | |
| 6 | Logan Schuchart | 3882 | -188 | |
| 7 | Aaron Reutzel ® | 3842 | -228 | |
| 8 | Kraig Kinser | 3580 | -490 | |
| 9 | James McFadden | 3490 | -580 | |
| 10 | Brock Zearfoss ® | 3420 | -650 | |
