Bacon Doubles Down at Tri-State

Brady Bacon competing in the Haubs Town Showdown at Tri-State Speedway (Photo: Jake Barton | The Podium Finish)

HAUBSTADT, Ind. — The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series moved up a state on Saturday to compete in the Haubs Town Showdown at Tri-State Speedway.

24 cars took to the “Class Track” newly refurbished racing surface for the 40-lap main event. David Gravel and Logan Schuchart led the field to green and almost immediately Gravel shot out to the lead. Schuchart got passed on the inside going into Turn 2 by Brady Bacon, giving him second.

Meanwhile, Michael “Buddy” Kofoid and Logan Schuchart were going at it for third. Running side-by-side and wheel-to-wheel made for a good show, but neither driver got the result they were looking for.

On Lap 6, traffic became a factor for Gravel. This gave Bacon that little bit of an advantage that was needed to attempt to get into first place. 

Even though Schuchart had finally backed off of Kofoid, “Buddy” was not done defending his third place position as Sheldon Haudenschild was coming up fast. 

Bacon, in search of his second World of Outlaws win, and second win in a row at Tri-State, performed a successful slide job on Gravel for the lead on Lap 9. Gravel would cross back in front of him shortly thereafter, but Bacon did not like that and took the lead back from Gravel if only for a few seconds. Gravel reclaimed the coveted position.

They raced side-by-side everywhere on the track, but Bacon did a very small wheelie in Turn 2 and lifted his front end up ever so slightly. This allowed Gravel to sail on by and put some space between him and Bacon on Lap 13. Meanwhile back in the pack, Carson Macedo and Haudenschild battled it out for fifth.

Bacon was determined to go back-to-back at Tri-State and his efforts proved that. On Lap 16, Bacon had used enough power to get right besides Gravel again. As they raced side-by-side, Danny Sams III and Landon Crawley spun in Turn 2 bringing out the first caution of the night. This was exactly what Bacon needed.

On the restart, Bacon launched ahead of Gravel to the lead, but Gravel was not going to let Bacon have it too easily as he was right on his heels. 

Brady Bacon and David Gravel competing in the Haubs Town Showdown at Tri-State Speedway (Photo: Jake Barton | The Podium Finish)

The third-sixth place drivers were all over the place though. Schuchart, Haudenschild, Macedo and Kofoid were all trying to slide job and pass each other for a better position, while Kofoid was just trying to keep the third place spot to himself. 

On Lap 21, Haudenschild tried to slide job Macedo on the bottom for fifth to no avail. Fourth-place holder Schuchart tried the same thing on Kofoid but in Turn 3, but would not be able to complete the attempt as Brock Zearfoss was upside-down on the back stretch, bringing out red flag conditions. This was also the second time this weekend that Zearfoss found himself upside-down.

As they crossed the starting line in Turn 4, Bacon rocketed out to the lead once again, but found himself watching Gravel on the low side as they headed into Turn 1. Gravel’s attempt to pass Bacon on the bottom failed.

Macedo now had a new competitor to deal with, as Bill Balog came up from ninth and had his sights set on another top five finish. In an effort to get away from Balog, Macedo started putting the pressure on Schuchart and successfully passed him coming off Turn 2. Schuchart tried to get his spot back, but just could not get enough momentum to catch up to Macedo.

Once again, the leaders had hit lap traffic. Although this proved problematic for Gravel who was trying so hard to get back into first, the third and fourth place racers were just getting started.

On the start of Lap 38, Macedo tried to get past Kofoid for third by going low throughout the first two turns. They continuously battled it out for the remaining two laps, but after passing the scales with the minimum weight requirement of 1,425 pounds with the driver in the car, it was determined that the top five were Bacon, Gravel, Kofoid, Macedo and Schuchart. Balog was one spot out of the top five in sixth.

“I had a good car on the bottom,” said Bacon about his back-to-back win at Tri-State. “Once we got out in front after those yellows [it was nice].”