PREPARING FOR SUCCESS: THE TEAM CONTINUES TO LEARN AND WORK HARD THROUGHOUT THE SECOND NIGHT OF THE BROWNELLS BIG GUN BASH AS THEY COLLECT THEIR SECOND FIFTH PLACE FINISH OF THE WEEKEND

KNOXVILLE, IOWA (June 11, 2022) – With night one of the Brownells Big Gun Bash in the books on Friday night, an evening that captured Carson Macedo driving the Albaugh – Your Alternative #41 Maxim from his ninth starting position to a fifth place finish, the energy in the air was again brimming with enthusiasm as the teams pulled their haulers into the pit area. Many of the traveling teams, including JJR, use this visit to learn and prepare for their return visit in August. That certainly does not mean they don’t want to win, but there are small victories in the process that hopefully pay future dividends when they return in August. The track crew at Knoxville always take great care of this semi-banked half mile oval of black zook clay to make sure the drivers and teams always have a great arena to showcase their speed and talent for the fans. With the towering silver grandstands surrounding the speedway reflecting the sun, Knoxville Raceway was glowing for the second night of racing action. There were 47 teams registered and ready to go just off North Lincoln Street in Knoxville.   

The JJR #41 sprint car team was once again hard at work again making sure their Bell Athlete, Carson Macedo, had what he needed to perform at his highest level throughout the night of racing at this famous oval. The talented Lemoore, California racer would be the 18th driver to hit the track in Group A aboard the Mesilla Valley Transportation (MVT)/Border International/Liquid Trucking #41 along with Pennsylvania hotshoe and currently the nation’s leading feature winner, Anthony Macri, in two car qualifying. This is a fast and racy race track, but yet very technical, that demands the best from each of these speed demons. While it takes less than 16 seconds to get around here usually, any bobble or misjudgment has an associated penalty attached to the mistake that results in lost time on the clock during time trials. Carson pulled on his black K1 Race Gear gloves and flipped down the shield of his Shifty Illusions custom painted Bell Helmet as he rolled onto the track. He was firing on all cylinders as he exited turn four and flew by the flagstand to commence the first circuit around Knoxville. When he complete lap one timing and scoring officials recorded the lap in 15.493 seconds. The next time around when he crossed the start/finish line his transponder signal stopped the clock at 15.649 seconds. The better of his two attempts was second quick in Group A as David Gravel ran the fastest lap in the group and overall at 15.451 seconds.

His performance in time trials positioned Carson on the pole of the second heat race where the top five securing spots in the feature event with the winner and runner-up also getting a shot in the dash later in the evening. Brock Zearfoss pulled his Moose’s LZ Bar & Grill #3z to the outside of the JJR entry in row one. Row two was comprised of Aaron Reutzel and Kerry Madsen with the McCarl brothers – Austin and Carson – in row three. Sawyer Phillips, Noah Gass, Josh Higday, Dustin Salvage, Nathan Mills, and Landon Hansen completed the starting grid. When the initial green flag waved Zearfoss used his outside starting spot to gain the lead over Macedo’s Durst Inc./Dissolvalloy Downhole Revolution/Boltz Family #41. But heading down the frontstretch mayhem was just about to happen behind the top two leaders. Kerry Madsen moved his line slightly heading into turn one and Carson McCarl clipped his left rear sending McCarl flipping. He collected his brother Austin and behind them everyone got involved. There was a total of 8 of the 12 starters involved in the massive crash with five of them flipping. All drivers were ok. Under red flag conditions the track crew took some time to clear all of the wreckage from the speedway. When it was time to restart there were six cars able to answer the bell. This time Carson drove the Albaugh #41 into the lead at the start over Zearfoss and Reutzel and led the opening lap. He had the forty-one moving and led wire-to-wire to take the victory over Zearfoss by over 3.5 seconds with Reutzel coming home third followed by Salvage and Mills. Those five drivers were the ones who earned the right to move on out of heat race two.

The eight drivers who earned their way into the DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash headed to the victory lane stage to meet with Hannah Rickards and draw for their starting position in the 6-lap race. Carson would be the third driver to pull a number and when he did it was a ‘6’ pill. Brock Zearfoss and Brad Sweet would be on the front row of the dash with Brian Brown and Spencer Bayston pacing behind. Giovanni Scelzi would start to the inside of the Tarlton and Son/Factory Kahne/BR Motorsports #41 Maxim in row three with Anthony Macri and David Gravel in row four. When Justin Clark waved the green flag, it was Brad Sweet into the lead with everyone else chasing him. Carson was maneuvering from the sixth position and throughout the three miles of racing had an ultra-competitive dual with David Gravel for the position. Brad Sweet ran away from the field winning by a sizable margin over Zearfoss and Bayston with Brown and Scelzi rounding out the top five. Carson Macedo drove the forty-one home in sixth with Gravel and Macro completing the finishing order.

When the starting grid was set for the final night’s 25-lap NOS Energy Drink Brownells Big Gun Bash feature, Tony Bokhoven expertly exclaimed that “Ittttttttttttttttttt’s tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime toooooo goooooooooo racing” at Knoxville Raceway! The drivers in the field saluted the fans in the stand with the famous four abreast formation. They broke and aligned in their side-by-side starting order and patiently waited for the green flag to wave. When the green cloth was unfurled it was Sweet to the lead over Zearfoss with Carson driving into the fifth position. The next time around the Lemoore, California native drove the Albaugh – Your Alternative/Schoenfeld Headers/Winters Performance Products #41 Maxim by Spencer Bayston to take the fourth spot. Bayston would have none of it though and took the position right back. The first yellow flag of the night was displayed on lap 9 for third place running Brock Zearfoss who made contact with the wall and headed to the work area with a flat right rear tire. The restart order was Sweet, Brown, Bayston, Macedo, Schatz, and Macri. Sweet chose the inside lane for the double file restart and maintained the lead when they went back to green flag racing. On the restart, Brian Brown’s Casey’s General Store/FVP #21 did not take off at the start and Carson got into the back of him. The gathered it back in and Brown started to chase down Sweet and Bayston with Macedo running in the fourth position. By lap 11, Brown had passed Bayston and made a daring low line pass entering turn one on Sweet to take the race lead that he would maintain throughout the middle stages of the race. The drivers were all out up until lap 18 when the red flag was displayed for 12th place running Kerry Madsen who flipped after contact with Rico Abreu. Sheldon Haudenschild was collected resulting in a broken front end, but his team did a tremendous job replacing it in the work area so he could rejoin the field. When they got back to racing with 7 laps or 3.5 miles of racing to go it was Brown, Sweet, Bayston, Schatz and Macedo in the top five. Brown would keep control of the lead as Macedo moved by Schatz for fourth at the line. Schatz reclaimed the position the next time by with Brown racing towards the checkers. Brian Brown would claim the win, his 59th career win at Knoxville Raceway and first WoO win with legend Danny Lasoski as his crew chief, over Sweet and Bayston with Donny Schatz and Carson Macedo completing the top five. Another good run for Macedo and his JJR #41 gang as they will take the lessons learned and refine their book for their highly anticipated return in August for the Knoxville Nationals.  

Another Fifth Place Finish for Carson Macedo and the JJR #41 Team in the Brownells Big Gun Bash Finale! Photo Credit: Ascent Media

Albaugh, LLC; Border International; Mesilla Valley Transportation (MVT); Saich Family; Tarlton and Son Inc.; Boltz Family; Complete Parts & Equipment Solutions; Durst Inc.; Liquid Trucking; Bandy & Associates Accountancy Corporation; Buckwalter Trucking, LLC; Dissolvalloy Downhole Revolution; Jansen Transportation; Larry Davis Farms; Meyers Constructors Inc.; Mr. Jim’s Racing; RaceDiecast.com; Sam I Am; Team Jack Foundation; Mark Burch Motorsports; T-FAB Custom Metal Fabrication; Tiger Towing; All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads; AutoMeter; Bell Helmets; BMRS (Brown & Miller Racing Solutions); BR Motorsports; C&R Racing; Crow Enterprizes; Engler Machine & Tool, Inc.; Factory Kahne (FK Shocks); Fibreworks Composites; FK Rod Ends; Greber Racing Components; High Performance Lubricants, LLC; Hoosier Racing Tire; Indy Performance Composites (IPC); ISC Racers Tape;K1 Race Gear; Kistler Racing Engines; KSE Racing Products; Maxim Racing; Motor State Distributing; Pro Powder Coating (PPC); Saldana Racing Products; Schoenfeld Headers; Smith Titanium; Vortex Racing Products; Walker Performance Filtration; Weld Racing; Wilwood Racing; Winters Performance Products; and Xtreme Body and Paint.

To stay connected with Jason Johnson Racing (JJR), go to www.jasonjohnsonracing.com.

To stay up-to-date with Carson Macedo and his success journey on and off the track, as well as to purchase his gear and merchandise directly, visit www.carsonmacedoracing.com.