Column By: DYLAN TERRY / RPW – BEAVER FALLS, NY – It’s time…time to hear the sound of 900HP engines rumbling as the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series roar back to life.
Wednesday evening at Volusia Speedway Park kicks off the grueling 86-race schedule that is on tap for some of the greatest sprint car drivers on the planet. While the prestige of being a full-time Outlaw may differ a little bit this season with the addition of the High Limit series, one thing that won’t differ is the physical and emotional battle that the tour presents to the drivers who dare to run the full season with the “greatest show on dirt”.
Once the green flag waves tonight, the season does not conclude until a visit to Charlotte in early November. That’s nearly 10 months straight of teams and drivers putting in their blood, sweat and tears for the opportunity to hoist the World of Outlaws championship trophy at the conclusion of it all.
In one of the most wide open seasons in recent memory, it could provide fans with some of the best and most competitive racing the series has ever had to offer.
With that being said, here are my final standings predictions for the upcoming season, a season in which will go down as one of the most memorable in the history of sprint car racing.
1st) David Gravel
In what seems like a long time coming, Gravel is finally the title favorite for the 2024 season. One of the most experienced drivers on the tour, Gravel’s first World of Outlaws championship feels long overdue. He has almost amassed as many wins as Brad Sweet since he became a full-time Outlaw driver, and has also finished just short to Sweet during World Finals weekend the past few years. It seems like it’s Gravel’s title to lose this year, as they return the entire Big Game Motorsports crew this season, which is a tight knit bunch. Cody Jacobs is one of the best crew chiefs in all of sprint car racing, and the team has bonded very well the past few years. They have built a ton of chemistry with Gravel, and Gravel exhibits that same amount of trust with his crew. Everything is aligning perfectly for the Big Game team, and I feel like 2024 has to be the season that David finally gets over the hump and scores his first career World of Outlaws championship.
2nd) Carson Macedo
Macedo started off last season on fire figuratively before he ended up being on fire literally during a scary wreck at the Knoxville Raceway in June. Prior to that accident, Macedo had taken the series by storm. He had amassed 25 Top 10 finishes in his first 27 starts last season. During that stretch, he had 3 wins while also earning 18 Top 5’s. He was first in the standings up until that point, which proved to be the turning point of his entire season. Not being quite at 100% health in the weeks that followed, Carson stuck it out still performing well down the stretch with a few occasional finishes outside the Top 10. He didn’t let the wreck affect him much, as he posted career highs in Top 5’s (42) and Top 10’s (60) in his 72 starts. Macedo seemed to improve his consistency last season, and looks to compete for a championship this season. The big question mark this season will be if the JJR team can replace long time crew guys Clyde Knipp and Nate Repetz who both moved on to new endeavors this year. With Phil Dietz still on the wrenches though, you know this team will make it an interesting competition with Gravel all season long.
3rd) Giovanni Scelzi
Outside of last year’s “Big Three” consisting of Brad Sweet, Gravel and Macedo, Scelzi was surprisingly the most consistent Outlaw full-time driver. In his rookie campaign, he had 49 Top 10 finishes which helped him finish an impressive fourth in the series standings. The only downfall for Gio was the ability to convert those Top 10’s into Top 5’s and victories. He had fewer Top 5 finishes than Donny Schatz, Logan Schuchart, and James McFadden all whom finished behind Scelzi in the standings. He also had a down year in terms of wins compared to normal, scoring only one WOO victory throughout the entire year. If Hot Sauce and the KCP team can turn some of the consistent Top 10’s into Top 5’s and wins, I expect Gio to be solidly in the Top 5 of the standings at season’s end. Could they have a sophomore slump? Well yes, but I find it very hard to see that happening especially with a bunch of key full-time Outlaw teams making the switch to High Limit.
4th) Michael “Buddy” Kofoid
While Kofoid may have the “rookie” distinction next to his name this year, he is far from a rookie behind the wheel of a 410 sprint car. He ripped off 3 wins last season during his 48 appearances with the Outlaws. He was on his way to even a few more until he developed motor issues during some pivotal moments last year. The most notable occurrence came during the Huset’s High Banked Nationals Finale, where he appeared to have the win all but sealed up before his motor went boom in the closing laps. Roth Motorsports has always been one of the top teams to run the WOO series, and I expect Buddy to continue this tradition this season. Roth teammate James McFadden had an outstanding performance last year tallying 6 wins in 63 starts. He would have been in the title hunt if it weren’t for a penalty issued early on last spring. I believe Kofoid is more than capable than performing at the same level as McFadden if Toyota can get their motor issues resolved. I think Buddy makes a splash this season and ties Scelzi’s rookie campaign last year (also tying a WOO rookie record) with a fourth place point finish.
5th) Logan Schuchart
The Million Dollar Man is set for his seventh season as an Outlaw. It’s evident that when Logan is on his game, he can compete with anybody. (Ex: Last year’s battle with Kyle Larson at I-55.) He’ll be competing for wins on many occasions in 2024, and could have a banner year. On the contrary, the thing that has always been Logan’s achilles heel has been his lack of consistency throughout the course of a season. He’ll go on stretches where he will have a dominate weekend and sweep it with a pair of victories, but then come out and follow it up the next weekend with a 18th and 16th place finish. Ultimately, I believe that will prevent him from being in the title hunt this season. In the final 10 races of the year last season, he had three finishes outside the Top 20, three Top 5’s, two 8th place runs, an 11th and a 14th. He will need to improve on this and maintain a better average nightly finish if he wants to be in the mix like he was in 2020 when he finished runner-up to Sweet in the standings. I expect Logan to replicate the success he had in 2023, and finish around the same position in the standings this year.
6th) Donny Schatz
After the rumor mill was going wild last year, Schatz ultimately ended up staying put at Tony Stewart Racing in his iconic #15 machine. 2024 marks the long-time veteran’s 28th season on tour with the “Greatest Show on Dirt”. The long-time series contender Schatz has seemed to struggle a little bit in recent seasons. He’s went from a perennial title contender year in and year out to seemingly a competitor just on certain nights the past few years. Last year, Donny was able to bounce back from an abysmal 2022 season, scoring five victories. It seems like the Ford Performance team has made improvements to their powerplants, as proven by Donny’s resurgence last year and the emergence of Zeb Wise who ran those same motors with the All Star Circuit of Champions. If Ford can continue to elevate themselves this season, the ten time series champion certainly would be able to get back into the title hunt. Donny is one of the most consistent drivers on the tour, and knows how to manage his equipment. On the flip side of that, if Ford takes another step back towards their 2022 results, expect the team to endure another mediocre season in 2024.
7th) Sheldon Haudenschild
After having his name in the title conversation just two seasons ago, Haudenschild and the Stenhouse Marshall racing team took a significant step backwards last season. There were bright flashes such as his mind-blowing (16th to 1st) effort at Skagit last fall, but throughout the course of the season the team lacked a ton in the consistency department. Multiple part failures as well as Sheldon’s on the edge driving style caused a lot of torn up equipment in 2023, as the team limped home to a disappointing seventh place point finish. Perhaps the most eye-opening statistic was that the team only had 18 Top 5 finishes in 70 races last season, after having 30 in only 69 races during 2022. In what seems to be a “prove-it” year for Sheldon in 2024, it seems like it could be go either really well or really bad in a hurry. The pieces are there, so it all comes down to Haudenschild to finally put them into place during 2024.
8th) Bill Balog
In one of the more surprising announcements of the offseason, Balog announced that he will go out on the road with the World of Outlaws for the 2024 season. The North Pole Nightmare did run the entire ASCOC schedule in 2022 prior to scaling back a tad bit this past season, where he predominately ran the Bumper To Bumper IRA Sprint Series. He has multiple IRA championships and does have a WOO victory under his belt in the past. It may take Bill a little bit to get reacclimated to life on the road, but he does have a solid foundation which was proven during his previous season with the All-Stars where he showed a bunch of speed. During his brief tenure with the All-Stars he showed a fair amount of consistency, so I could see him honestly having a decent rookie season because of this.
9th) Brock Zearfoss
The Jonestown Jet returns for another crack at the WOO tour, which will be his fourth season out on the road as an Outlaw. In his first three seasons, he’s tallied point finishes of 9th, 10th and 9th. Brock has earned two victories in that span, but it just seems like a stretch to see him finishing any higher in the point standings this year. He only has five career Top 5 finishes in his first three seasons, and is coming off the least amount of Top 10’s (8) he’s ever had as a full-time Outlaw last season. Those two statistics alone are eyebrow raising and do not convince me that the 2024 season will be any better for Brock. He does return the same crew chief this season, as Todd Berkheimer returns for another WOO run with the Moose’s LZ machine. Hopefully the duo can continue to form a relationship with one another that could lead to Zearfoss’s most successful season ever in his World of Outlaws career.
10th) Noah Gass
Noah returns for his third full-time season with the World of Outlaws. The first two seasons have seen the kid from Broken Arrow, OK struggle a little bit, which would happen to anybody that is new to running a national touring series. Gass deserves a lot of credit for sticking it out the last two seasons, and I believe he will be rewarded for his determination this season. After only posting 2 Top 10 Finishes and only starting 39 features in 2022, Noah took a leap in performance last season. While he only scored 1 Top 10, Noah performed consistently better on a nightly basis, and was able to make the show in 43 features in 2023. He also scored over 500 more points in the standings last year than he did during his rookie season. Not only do I see Noah scoring his first career Top 5 finish this year, but I feel like he may even be able to get into double digits for Top 10’s this year. Good times are ahead for a youngster who certainly has had to work his tail off the past couple of campaigns.
11th) Landon Crawley
One of the youngest rookies that the series has seen in recent years, Crawley attempts to complete the full Outlaw tour at only 16 years of age. Crawley does not have much 410 experience at all in the past so I expect that he will endure some growing pains during his first year on tour. He does have a great crew chief and even better mentor in Jason Sides by his side. Sides is one of the best and most knowledgeable people in the entire pit area to ask for guidance during Landon’s inaugural forte into the 410 world. While I don’t see Crawley being competitive right out of the gate, I do think he will show a few flashes this season and maybe even score a few Top 10 finishes as the season progresses.
12th) Bill Rose
The longest tenured Outlaw not named Schatz, Rose heads into 2024 on a high note. The team acquired more funding than ever before, striking a deal with the Michael Waltrip Brewing Company who’s agreed to come on board as a sponsor for the entirety of the season. This deal, as well as support from Glenn Styres Racing, are good stepping stones in the right direction for Rose. These new relationships and partnerships could lead him to be a bit more competitive this time around. I’m excited to see what this season has in store for the long-time veteran, and hope that Rose can at least score a couple Top 10’s throughout this season.
13th) Kraig Kinser
In a surprising announcement yesterday, Kinser returns as a full-time WOO driver in 2024. This comes after he took the 2023 season off, as he ran a pick and choose schedule. Kinser teams up with the Pete Grove owned #70 machine, eager to make his return to the series. The Premier 70 ride has struggled to perform the past couple of seasons. Known as one of the better rides in the All-Stars back around 2020-2021, they have failed to have the speed they once had the last few years. They’ve had quite a few drivers from the teams beginning, most recently being Scotty Thiel last year. They originally were going to run the entire ASCOC tour with Thiel, but the pair split before the halfway point even came around. Kinser is older now than he once was, and the team seems to have no clear direction in recent campaigns. If you add that with the inconsistency of the ride the past few seasons, I don’t even think this team ends up making it through the entire season on the tour.