Haudenschild Takes the Paducah Sprint Car Showdown, Leads 29 Out of 30 Laps

Michael “Buddy” Kofoid, David Gravel and Bill Balog in Victory Lane after competing in the Paducah Sprint Car Showdown at Paducah International Raceway (Photo: Trent Gower | World Racing Group)

PADUCAH, Ky. — The World of Outlaws Sprint Car series headed to Paducah International Raceway for the Paducah Sprint Car Showdown on Friday night.

Bill Balog and Sheldon Haudenschild led the 24 car field to the green flag to start the 30-lap A-Main and immediately Haudenschild started challenging Balog for the lead.

Balog only kept the lead for one lap as he hit a groove in Turn 2 and bounced up a little bit, resulting in Haudenschild sailing right on by him. But Balog didn’t appreciate that too much and passed him on the low side going into three. But then Haudenschild did not like that and passed Balog on the outside coming off of four. As the two passed the flag stand Haudenschild was the leader.

Back in the fourth and fifth place positions, Michael “Buddy” Kofoid and David Gravel battled it out. They kept sliding in front of one another, swapping positions. But Gravel finally had enough and took Kofoid on the high side, making him the fourth-place holder.

On Lap 15, Gravel got his radar honed in on Carson Macedo who was running third. Gravel found a hole in how Macedo was racing and took advantage of that by pulling a slide job on him coming out of Turn 2, putting him in third.

Gravel was not quite done yet though, as he set his sights on Balog in second. Gravel shot up to the side of Balog and raced side-by-side with him throughout the turns and in an almost slow-motion type of way, Gravel slid in front of Balog but couldn’t hold it, staying in third.

If it was not for a caution that was thrown right before second-fourth place could be scored, Balog would have been scored fourth. As Balog, Gravel and Macedo entered Turn 1, Macedo went down low and successfully attempted a two-for-one slide job out of Turn 2. Racing down the back stretch the three of them went three-wide fighting for that second place position. As they hit the third turn, Gravel passed Balog for third and tried to run down Gravel but just couldn’t do it.

Bill Balog competing in the Paducah Sprint Car Showdown at Paducah International Raceway (Photo: Trent Gower | World Racing Group)

On the restart, Balog jumped out ahead of Gravel and Macedo for second, but Macedo and Gravel went head-to-head for that third place spot. Macedo drifted up the racetrack ever so slightly, but this gave Gravel the space he needed to get by Macedo for third. 

Kofoid came out of no-where as the boys hit Turn 3. As they came out of four, Kofoid passed Balog and Gravel on the high side by sliding in a really tight space. This shocked Balog and Balog jerked the wheel sharply to the left. This caused Balog to hit Gravel who got sideways and flipped upside down, taking Brock Zearfoss with him. Gravel was not very happy with Kofoid and got out of his car and ran across the infield to talk to him while they were under red light conditions.

On the restart, Macedo and Kofoid battled it out for third. After trying multiple times to pass Macedo, Kofoid finally got him on the high side as they came off of Turn 4. 

With Kofoid steadily holding third, Macedo now had a new rival to race against. This one being none other than his younger brother, Cole. As the brothers entered Turn 1 wheel-to-wheel, Cole slid upwards in front of Carson, but would not hold it for very long as they raced side-by-side down the back stretch and Cole lightly tapped the wall. This didn’t stop his momentum though, as he went way up high throughout Turns 3 and 4 and came down ahead of Carson to take over fourth on Lap 21.

Haudenschild ended up maintaining the lead for the remaining nine laps and won the race.

“I knew Bill [Balog] had a good pace and I didn’t want to be chasing on this track,” said Haudenschild. “It was a little hard to pass and if anyone could’ve done it [it would’ve been him]. Hats off to my team and I’m happy that this NOS Energy Drink #17 is in Victory Lane.”