CAGEY RUN IN CHILLICOTHE: THE FORTY-ONE TEAM SHOWCASES THEIR CONSISTENCY OPENING THE TWO-DAY XTREME CHILLICOTHE CLASSIC IN OHIO WITH A RUNNER-UP FINISH ABOARD THE TARLTON AND SON #41 MAXIM

CHILLICOTHE, OHIO (May 24, 2024) – Carson Macedo along with his fellow band of speed stars, traveling as part of the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series, were back in The Buckeye State to kick off the Memorial Day weekend. After landing on the podium during both nights of competition at Attica and Sharon last weekend, Carson and the JJR #41 team were looking to keep their consistent performances going as they tried to position themselves to hold the checkered flag at the end of the night. The pit area was busy with activity as 28 teams were on hand to race on the opening night of the Xtreme Chillicothe Classic. The winged sprint car athletes were joined by the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series competitors who are always entertaining and put on a great show. The fans were filing into the grandstands and meandering around the merchandise trailers scoping out their favorite driver’s gear. It was time to go racing at Atomic Speedway – World of Outlaws style!

The lineup for Sea Foam Qualifying was determined by random draw with the drivers that selected the lower numbers going out early in time trials. Carson Macedo, aboard the Tarlton and Son/Durst Inc./Engler Machine & Tool #41 Maxim, would be the 17th driver to test his speed skills around the 3/8-mile dirt oval. He climbed into his Fibreworks Composites carbon fiber seat with a Sharp Advantage custom fitted insert preparing for the execution of his mission. The Maxim Racing machine he would pilot was escorted into the staging lane where Carson sat quietly while focusing on the next task at hand – the creation of speed. The sprint car track record here at Atomic was set by Brock Mayes at 10.915 seconds back in 2005. With a tap on the rear nerf bar by the push truck, the Kistler Engines power under the forty-one’s Indy Performance Composites (IPC) hood came alive. Carson would be joined out on the track in two-car qualifying by Bill Rose. The gas pedal was soon vibrating sending the message to the driver to drop his right foot. Carson was off as he was accelerating towards the green flag. When he arrived the numbers on the stopwatch were working just as hard as the horses powering his speed. They were moving at an unrelenting pace and so was Macedo in the Albaugh – Your Alternative #41. Carson navigated around Atomic on lap one in 11.284 seconds. Without hesitation, he continued to circle the Ohio speed plant with purpose and intent on lap two. His determined effort the next time around yielded a time of 11.258 seconds. Lap two was the quicker of his two attempts, which ended up being fifth quick overall in time trials. David Gravel in the Billion Automotive #2 earned the Simpson Quick Time Award with a recorded lap of 11.143 seconds.

The World of Outlaws (WoO) timing and scoring gurus consolidated the starting grids for the three 8-lap heat races. Matriculated off each driver’s best time trial lap meant Carson would get the Scott Boyd Family/Team Jack Foundation/High Performance Lubricants #41 started from row one in the second starting spot in Milton Hershey School Heat Race #2. Brady Bacon, coming off his USAC Sprint win at Circle City Speedway in Indianapolis, would share that row with Carson for the start of the race. Giovanni Scelzi and Travis Philo were right behind in row two with young guns Danny Sams III and Landon Crawley in row three. Jake Hesson, Kevin Newton, and Nate Reeser completed the rest of the starting lineup.

The flagman had the green flag rolled up in his hand as he shook it at the drivers passing by indicating to the field the next time by it would be waving at them to start the race. When the front row starters approached the chalk stripe the green cloth was unfurled high in the air. The race to turn one was in full motion. Carson Macedo raced off his outside starting spot into the lead and exited the first set of turns with the lead ahead of Brady Bacon and Giovanni Scelzi. He was scored the leader at the end of the first lap.

Carson was masterfully working his JOE’S Matador Steering Wheel to maneuver his racecar around Atomic Speedway. He had a fast hot rod and was having a blast as he started to put some distance between the Albaugh – Your Alternative #41 and Brady Bacon’s #21H. Carson never looked back as he raced to the heat race victory, his tenth of the season, over Brady Bacon with Giovanni Scelzi, Travis Philo, Landon Crawley and Danny Sams III securing the remaining transfer spots out of the heat race.

The heat race win earned Carson his 17th trip to the Toyota Dash this season. His streak of picking the highest number available also continued as he drew the ‘6’ pill. The cool cat from Lemoore, California just smiled as he knew he had to make the best of it. Ohio racer Cole Duncan would start on the pole alongside Brady Bacon. Donny Schatz and David Gravel were in row two with Sheldon Haudenschild pulling to the inside of row two beside Carson Macedo. It was about to get exciting. The green flag waved with Brady Bacon driving into the lead. Carson smashed the gas and raced around the outside into the fourth position off turn two. He dove under polesitter Cole Duncan into turn three and assumed the third position behind race leader Brady Bacon and runner-up David Gravel. Brady Bacon hustled to the dash win crossing the finish line ahead of Gravel and Macedo with Duncan, Haudenschild, and Schatz coming home fourth through sixth.

The field of talented speed entertainers was set for the feature. The loyal fans of the sport were ready as the racecars rolled out onto the track for the 30-lap Xtreme Chillicothe Classic opening night money paying race. Carson Macedo would get the Albaugh – Your Alternative/Sander Engineering/Fuel Safe Racing Cells #41 Maxim started from the third starting spot alongside Cole Duncan.

The cars went four-wide in front of a full house to show their appreciation to the fans in the stands before zooming back into their neatly arranged two-by-two starting formation. The caution lights dimmed as the anticipation in the air grew. Off turn four the engines roared as they sang that beautiful 410 racing melody. Brady Bacon drove his #21H into the early lead. Carson drove the Albaugh – Your Alternative #41 hard into turn one and slid up across the track battling with David Gravel for the second spot. Gravel returned the high speed slide job at the other end of the track to regain the position as the fans knew early they were going to get their monies worth.

After the second lap, the action was halted when the red flag came out for Brock Zearfoss in the Moose’s LZ Bar & Grill #3z after he got into the outside wall in turns three and four and flipped. He collected Brandon Wimmer, Creed Kemenah, Kraig Kinser, and Skylar Gee.

The early top five was Brady Bacon leading with David Gravel and Carson Macedo chasing him from second and third respectively, as Cole Duncan and Sheldon Haudenschild were running in the next two spots with a gaggle of cars behind them when the green flag came back out. Bacon rocketed off the inside lane with Macedo right behind him setting up another slide job attempt into turn one on Gravel in the race for the second position. The two talented racers once again traded clean slide jobs in the arched portion on the track at both ends with Gravel maintaining the second position.

David Gravel was on the move. On lap 9, the Connecticut born driver took advantage of a bobble of turn two by Brady Bacon in lap traffic to duck under him entering turn three to make the pass for the lead. Carson was right behind them hoping for an opportunity to get in the mix for the lead.

On lap 14, Carson powered by Bacon into the runner-up position with Sheldon Haudenschild following him to assume the third spot. Seventh starting Buddy Kofoid was also on the move and the fans would soon have an intense three car fight for position between Macedo, Haudenschild, and Kofoid for the second spot on the scoreboard.

Carson held onto that spot when the yellow flag came out on lap 19 when the #2s of Nathan Skaggs from Circleville, Ohio slowed around the top of turn two. The restart running order would be David Gravel leading Carson Macedo, Buddy Kofoid, Sheldon Haudenschild and Brady Bacon back to the green flag when they restarted.

It was a double file restart with 11 laps to go. Carson pulled the Albaugh – Your Alternative #41 beside the leader hoping he could take advantage of this opportunity. The green flag was back out with Gravel choosing the outside lane to get back up to speed. He raced back into the lead with Carson right behind.

The show was in full motion until lap 22 when the red flag was back out. This time it was for fourth running Sheldon Haudenschild when his right rear tire caught the wall exiting turn four sending him upside down on the front straightaway. That shuffled the top five as it was now Gravel, Macedo, Kofoid, Duncan and Schatz.

With 8 laps to go, Gravel again was showing the way at Atomic Speedway. Carson looked low entering turn one again to see if there was anything, but there was not enough there to attempt the pass for the lead. David Gravel built a sizable lead when they got back up to speed. Carson was able to chip into that lead a bit over the last three laps as they raced through slower traffic, but could just never get close enough to Gravel. David Gravel raced to his series leading eighth victory with Carson Macedo coming home second and Buddy Kofoid completing the podium as Cole Duncan and Donny Schatz rounded out the top five.

After his fifth consecutive podium finish, and twelfth top five in a row, Carson spoke with Conner Wade on the frontstretch. He shared, “I felt like we had a really strong car tonight. We qualified pretty good, won our heat race, then we drew sixth in the dash and raced up to second (in the feature).” Carson continued, “So I really can’t complain about that. We just got to keep trying to get that win.” That opportunity will present itself Saturday night in the finale of the Xtreme Chillicothe Classic at Atomic Raceway. Another good run for Macedo and the forty-one!

Opening the Xtreme Chillicothe Classic with a Second Place Run in the Albaugh – Your Alternative #41! Photo Credit: World of Outlaws

JJR’s Valued Sponsorship Partners: Albaugh, LLC; Mesilla Valley Transportation (MVT); Border International; Scott Boyd Family; Saich Family; Tarlton and Son Inc.; Complete Parts & Equipment Solutions; Durst Inc.; High Performance Lubricants, LLC; Kistler Racing Engines; Maxim Racing; Sander Engineering; Bandy & Associates Accountancy Corporation; Boltz Family; Pro Powder Coating (PPC); RaceDiecast.com; Team Jack Foundation; Mark Burch Motorsports; T-FAB Custom Metal Fabrication; Xtreme Body and Paint; All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads; AutoMeter; Bell Helmets; Ben Cook Race Car Products; BlackBeard LTD; BMRS (Brown & Miller Racing Solutions); BR Motorsports; Buckwalter Trucking; CASM Safety Products; C&R Racing; ChalkStix; Crow Enterprizes; CS Productions; Engler Machine & Tool, Inc.; Factory Kahne (FK Shocks); Fibreworks Composites; FK Rod Ends; Fuel Safe Racing Cells; Greber Racing Components; Hoosier Racing Tire; Indy Performance Composites (IPC); ISC Racers Tape; Jansen Transportation; K1 Race Gear; KSE Racing Products; LogoDaddy; Motor State Distributing; Mr. Jim’s Racing; Premium Coach Group; Saldana Racing Products; Sam I Am; Schoenfeld Headers; Smith TI; Vortex Racing Products; Walker Performance Filtration; Wilwood Racing; and Winters Performance Products.

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

Check out ShopJJR.com to buy all your new Carson Macedo and JJR gear and merchandise.