BALANCED IN THE BUCKEYE STATE: THE CALIFORNIAN MARCHES THE ALBAUGH #41 FORWARD AROUND THE BOTTOM TO GARNER ANOTHER TOP FIVE FINISH IN THE BEFOUR THE CROWNS SHOWDOWN AT ELDORA

ROSSBURG, OHIO (September 23, 2022) – After leaving California following Friday night’s race at Keller Auto Speedway, the Jason Johnson Racing (JJR) team started to work their way back across the country with a stop at home in Rocky Mount, Missouri after an extended time away competing on the West Coast. They used the time at the shop to reorganize, connect with family and load back up to continue their eastward trek to Ohio for the weekend of action. The first stop was at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway to race in the BeFour the Crowns Showdown. This famous half-mile oval has produced some great racing every time the traveling tour of WoO stars visits, so with the coolness of the Fall season in the air the teams pulled through the gates and into the infield pit area to prepare for the night of action. There were 44 teams nestled into the pit area ready to race as the doors on the trailers came down and the cars rolled out.

The time trial lineup for My Place Hotels Qualifying was determined by random draw putting Carson Macedo out on the track as the 8th driver to take his two laps at speed in split field qualifying. This track is fast and furious and keeps the drivers busy inside the cockpit during this test against the clock. The track record was set here back on September 23, 2020, by David Gravel at 12.599 seconds when he was driving the JJR #41. Carson waited patiently in the push off lane for his turn in qualifying aboard the Albaugh – Your Alternative/Liquid Trucking/Wilwood Racing #41 Maxim. When the push truck pulled up to his rear nerf bar, Carson grabbed the steering wheel with his K1 Race Gear gloves as his Kistler Engines power came to life as he would join Ryan Timms on the track for 2-car qualifying. He rolled up onto the banking in turn one and dropped his right foot on the accelerator as he built up his speed heading towards the waving green flag. He raced underneath the green colored cloth and hustled through the first set of turns and down the back straightaway. It only took him 12.899 seconds to complete his first lap around the half-mile oval as he looked to find more speed the next time around. His elbow were up and his right foot planted as he focused on hitting his marks to produce the best results. This time the Lemoore, California driver stopped the clock on lap two in 12.872 seconds. The faster of his two laps around Eldora was 6th quick overall on the night in Group A. David Gravel set quick time again out of Group A and overall with an impressive lap of 12.625 seconds.

Using each driver’s results from time trials, the lineups for the four 8-lap heat race were established and posted. Carson Macedo would start from the third position in the Tarlton and Son/Boltz Family/KSE Racing Products #41. The poised driver of the forty-one would share row two with Kyle Reinhardt as they were looking to chase down the front row of Hunter Schuerenberg and Tyler Courtney. Kraig Kinser and Dylan Westbrook sat in row three with their eyes focused forward with Ryan Timms, Trey Jacobs, Ayrton Olsen, Nate Reeser, and Ayrton Gennetten filling in the remainder of the starting grid. They rolled around the banking and when they crossed the chalk stripe in turn four they were all-out at speed. It was Courtney in the NOS Energy Drink #7BC into the top spot with Schuerenberg and Macedo tracking behind him. The track was still very fast and Carson was searching for speed to track down Schuerenberg with hopes of making the pass to earn a spot in the DirtVision Fast Pass Dash. Eight laps, or four miles, around Eldora happens quickly and before you knew it the checkered flag was waving over Tyler Courtney who took the win ahead of Schuerenberg and Macedo with Reinhardt and Kinser locking down the final two transfer spots out of the second heat race.

Missing out on making the dash by one position allowed Carson and the JJR #41 team to watch the track surface evolve to prepare for the 30-lap BeFour the Crowns Showdown feature event at Eldora. When the checkered flag flew over the USAC Midget feature that was won by Mitchel Moles, the air horns sounded alerting the sprint car teams to head to the staging area. Carson climbed into the Albaugh – Your Alternative/Tiger Towing/Engler Machine & Tool #41 Maxim ready to do battle. The Bell athlete pulled his Shifty Illusions custom painted Bell Racing helmet on. It was time to go racing at Eldora Speedway. Carson would get started from the inside of row six beside Donny Schatz. Spencer Bayston and Tyler Courtney paced the field from the front row and brought them to the waving green flag. It was Bayston to the early lead in the True Timber #5. On the opening lap Carson fell back to the 13 position, but from that point forward started to pick up one spot at a time as he marched forward. On lap 3, the first race stoppage of the night came out for Sheldon Haudenschild who made hard contact with the wall in turn one and flipped on his side. Haudenschild was able to go to the work area and replace the front axle to rejoin the field. Spencer Bayston would lead Rico Abreu, Tyler Courtney, Logan Seavey and Brad Sweet back to green flag racing. Bayston, Abreu and Courtney were racing three-wide for the lead. Carson restarted from the eleventh position and on the restart moved into the top ten for the first time as he ran in the ninth spot. They were flying around “The Big E” until lap 6 when the yellow flag was displayed for Zeb Wise who slowed to a stop in turn four with Travis Philo doing the same in turn one. When they got back going it was Rico Abreu driving into the lead over Bayston with Carson driving the Mesilla Valley Transportation (MVT) #41 into 8th place. They were only able to get two more laps in the books before another yellow flag was thrown, this time for Hunter Schuerenberg who was off the pace. Rico Abreu again led the field but now he had Brad Sweet on his rear nerf bar at the start with Spencer Bayston, James McFadden, and Logan Schuchart right behind. Rico maintained the lead when they got back up to speed with Carson now running in the seventh position. The track as racy, but Carson was making a lot of speed around the bottom. He was able to move up to sixth and he was closing on the fifth running Bayston. Just before the halfway point of the race, Carson go by the CJB #5 to move into the top five. By lap 19, there was fierce racing for position all throughout the field when another caution slowed the action as Sheldon Haudenschild spun right in front of race leader Rico Abreu who narrowly missed him. On the restart it was Rico Abreu, Donny Schatz who had a great green flag run, James McFadden, Brad Sweet and Carson Macedo. With 11 laps to go, the green flag was quickly replaced with the red flag when Landon Myers ran across the front end of Brock Zearfoss sending Zearfoss’ Moose’s LZ Bar & Grill #3z nose first hard into the inside frontstretch cement wall. Sheldon Haudenschild was also involved in an incident in turn four sustaining some damage. Rico Abreu would bring the field back to the green flag, this time using the single file restart format, as he diced with Schatz for the lead. Spencer Bayston and Carson Macedo were battling for the last spot in the top five as Bayston got by Macedo for the spot on lap 20, but Carson took it right back on lap 21. The last 11 laps went non-stop with Rico Abreu taking the win in the Rowdy Energy Drink #24 over a quickly closing James McFadden, Donny Schatz and Brad Sweet with Carson Macedo completing his march forward with an earned top five finish. Another good run for the forty one!

A Top Five Run in the BeFour the Crowns Showdown for Carson Macedo and the JJR #41 Team! Photo Credit: Cameron Saich

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; Premium Coach Group; 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.