Sun Prairie, WI – Carson Macedo of Lemoore, California overtook Monrovia, Indiana’s Justin Peck and held off teammate Spencer Bayston to win the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series feature event for the 35th annual Pepsi Nationals at Angell Park Speedway. Macedo is only the fourth driver to win the Pepsi Nationals in their first attempt.
Pole sitter Justin Peck held the lead from the get go until an early race caution on lap five. On the restart, Macedo was able to stay with Peck and dove to the bottom of turn three for the slide job. Peck crossed over and returned and the battle for the lead ensued until Macedo was able to make a slide job stick off turn two. Spencer Bayston slipped past Peck for second on lap 17, but had to wait for the caution to fly for Kaitlynn Leer before being able to try a chance at the lead.
Restarting the race almost to halfway, Macedo would jump the cushion in one and two and then in three and four allowing Bayston by and a slider-fest to ensue. As the duo exchanged slide jobs for the lead, Bayston would lead laps 26 and 27, but Macedo would slide back by to regain the lead on lap 29. On the same lap, the action would be slowed for Ryan Robinson. Coming back to green, Bayston would jump the treacherous Angell Park Speedway cushion in turn one and take a tumble bringing out the red. Bayston would be alright, but find himself on the business end of the wrecker.
Coming back to green, Macedo had a five lap shootout on his way to becoming the 35th annual Pepsi Nationals champion. Zach Daum would make a last ditch effort on the restart to challenge for the lead, but was unable to make it stick, losing ground and allowing Tanner Thorson to move by for second. Thorson finished second after starting 12th. Daum finished third. Andrew Felker took fourth after running the semi and starting 17th, while Holly Shelton rounded out the top five.
“What an awesome racecar to drive,” said Carson Macedo. “It drove itself, really. That cushion got a little treacherous in one and two and Keith made a gesture to me on the yellow and pretty much said get up in the seat or you’re going to lose this thing. Awesome effort by our team. They put in a lot of good, hard work in at the shop that makes this possible and shouldn’t go unnoticed. Had a great time and I love this track. At this track you just have to enter on it and run it as hard as you can. Pepsi and everybody that supports this event, I really appreciate that.”
“We were super good,” Tanner Thorson stated. “These guys gave me an awesome car. It’s depressing to finish second again, but to a teammate, it wouldn’t be any better to finish second to him. Hat’s off to my guys, they worked their butts off.”
“We had a shot, but that’s about all we had,” explained Zach Daum. “We just got so tight there on the cushion and part of me leaving in an ambulance here twice kind of figured out that I probably shouldn’t go and bang the thing as hard as everybody else was. I kind of babied it into one a little too much there.”
Midgets
Speedway Motors Heat Race Winners: Heat 1: 97 - SPENCER BAYSTON, Heat 2: 67K - HOLLY SHELTON, Heat 3: 5D - ZACH DAUM, Heat 4: 27 - TUCKER KLAASMEYER
Semi Feature Winner: 3 - ANDREW FELKER
Great Clips Feature Winner: 71K - CARSON MACEDO
POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series Feature Results (30 laps): 1. 71K - CARSON MACEDO 2. 67 -TANNER THORSON 3. 5D - ZACH DAUM 4. 3 - ANDREW FELKER 5. 67K - HOLLY SHELTON 6. 71 - RYAN ROBINSON 7. 3N - JAKE NEUMAN 8. 1 - SCOTT HATTON 9. 53 - AARON SCHUCK 10. 41 - AUSTIN PROCK 11. 7 - AUSTIN BROWN 12. 77 - KAITLYNN LEER 13. 1K - BRAYTON LYNCH 14. 5X - JUSTIN PECK 15. 97 - SPENCER BAYSTON 16. 57 - CHAD BOESPLUG 17. 32 - GARRETT AITKEN 18. 31 - DAVID BUDRES 19. 27 - TUCKER KLAASMEYER 20. 9K - KYLE SCHUETT 21. 20 - CODY WEISENSEL 22. 0 - ANDY BAUGH
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