James McFadden returned to one of his favorite places on Wednesday night – World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Victory Lane.
Last year the Alice Springs, NTR, Australia native had a breakout year with Roth Motorsports to the tune of six wins with The Greatest Show on Dirt. His 2024 calendar limited him to only nine World of Outlaws appearances entering Wednesday at BAPS Motor Speedway, but he made the most of number 10.
McFadden used a great move on the initial start to slot himself in second and then came out on top of a fierce duel with Giovanni Scelzi to snag the lead on Lap 15 before holding off the tour’s winningest drivers this year – David Gravel and Sheldon Haudenschild – to top the Bricker’s Bash.
And of course, the Australian celebrated the special return to Victory Lane with a NOS Energy Drink shoey atop the Roth No. 83SR.
“To rebound tonight and win against the Outlaws is special,” McFadden said. “Anytime you can win a race in America is great, but against the Outlaws is something that I grew up wanting to do as a kid. And we beat them and to take a little bit of money away from David. He’s been hogging it all lately.”
McFadden’s first win of 2024 is the 12th of his career with the World of Outlaws. It’s the second of 2024 for Roth Motorsports to go along with Michael “Buddy” Kofoid’s victory at Attica back in May. BAPS became the 11th track where the 35-year-old has won a Series event, and he’s the fourth different winner through four races at BAPS.
Scelzi led the field to green with Gravel alongside him, but it was McFadden powering from fourth to second in the opening set of corners.
The opening half of the 30-lapper saw the leaders mostly stay in line. An early yellow with six laps complete kept Scelzi in clean air as he was just about to encounter traffic. McFadden peeked to Scelzi’s inside on the restart but couldn’t pull alongside.
As traffic became a factor near the halfway point, the battle for the top spot intensified. Scelzi slipped up out of the groove ever so slightly in Turns 3 and 4 allowing McFadden to drive under him and lead Lap 15. Scelzi refused to go down without a fight as he wheeled the KCP Racing No. 18 under McFadden in Turns 1 and 2 to take it back. But McFadden used a big run out of Turn 2 to slice around “Hot Sauce” again in Turn 3. This time, McFadden kept his momentum up enough to hold Scelzi off in the next set of corners.
McFadden began to build up a lead after taking command. Behind him Gravel moved by Scelzi for the runner-up spot on Lap 19. The World of Outlaws point leader looked to be closing on McFadden, but a red flag with seven laps to go for contact between Scelzi and Brad Sweet halted his progress.
The restart allowed McFadden to power away in clean air, and that was all she wrote as he drove off to his 12th career World of Outlaws checkered flag.
James McFadden stands in Victory Lane at BAPS Motor Speedway
James McFadden’s win at the Bricker’s Bash also earned him a trophy full of Bricker’s fries (Trent Gower Photo)
“It was a super tough race,” McFadden said. “You just didn’t know where to run in (Turns) 1 and 2. There was really big holes in the middle there. My car was really good rotating underneath them. I just thought if we bide our time there and hope Gio made a mistake or lapped traffic slowed him down we’d be able to get by. Super happy that we did. My car was unbelievable tonight. Thanks to Brent (Ventura), Wood (Gary Patellaro), and Rob (Beattie).”
Gravel came home second aboard the Big Game Motorsports No. 2, coming up one spot short of his 100th World of Outlaws win. He continued his incredible consistency in 2024 with his 22nd podium of the season. If it weren’t for the timing of the red flag, Gravel’s 100th win might’ve come at BAPS.
“Our car really started coming to life there before that red flag,” Gravel said. “I wish we didn’t see a red flag there. We just added some fuel in the car, and were just really, really tight early and the car was coming to us. And then we added that fuel again and were not good after that red flag. Happy to finish second. J-Mac was pretty damn good. I felt like if it went to checkered there, we had a real shot to win that race.”
Rounding out the Bricker’s Bash podium was Sheldon Haudenschild in the Stenhouse Jr.-Marshall Racing machine. The Wooster, OH native improved in his second ever BAPS appearance, going from sixth last year to third in 2024 aboard a fast NOS Energy Drink No. 17.
“It was a great race honestly,” Haudenschild said. “My car felt really good all night. I thought we might’ve had something for them. I just didn’t do a good enough job those first six laps there. James got a really good start, and I got a really bad start. He got going there. Hats off to (Kyle) Ripper, Luke (Vaughn), Steve (Kinzer Dussel). They’ve been working hard.”
Brock Zearfoss and Cory Eliason completed the top five.
Carson Macedo earned the KSE Racing Hard Charger with a 22nd to 13th drive in the Jason Johnson Racing No. 41.
Chase Dietz claimed his first career Simpson Quick Time in Sea Foam Qualifying.
NOS Energy Drink Heat Races One, Three, and Four belonged to Chase Dietz, Sheldon Haudenschild, and David Gravel. Milton Hershey School Heat Two went to Giovanni Scelzi.
Giovanni Scelzi topped the Toyota Racing Dash.
Kody Hartlaub won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.
The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Giovanni Scelzi.
UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars battle the PA Posse once again at Williams Grove Speedway’s C&D Rigging Summer Nationals on July 26-27 with $20,000 going to Saturday’s winner. Then it’s off to the season’s lone stop in New York with Weedsport Speedway’s Empire State Challenge on Sunday, July 28. For tickets, CLICK HERE.
If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.
FEATURE RESULTS:
NOS Energy Drink Feature (30 Laps): 1. 83SR-James McFadden[4]; 2. 2-David Gravel[2]; 3. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[3]; 4. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[6]; 5. 8-Cory Eliason[9]; 6. 2D-Chase Dietz[8]; 7. 1S-Logan Schuchart[12]; 8. 15-Donny Schatz[7]; 9. 39M-Anthony Macri[10]; 10. 23-Devon Borden[18]; 11. 27-Troy Wagaman Jr[11]; 12. 83-Michael Kofoid[13]; 13. 41-Carson Macedo[22]; 14. 17B-Bill Balog[14]; 15. 8R-Freddie Rahmer[16]; 16. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[1]; 17. 48-Danny Dietrich[15]; 18. 19B-Aaron Bollinger[24]; 19. 5-Tyler Ross[23]; 20. 49-Brad Sweet[5]; 21. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[19]; 22. 39-Kody Hartlaub[21]; 23. 1A-Jacob Allen[17]; 24. 19R-Mark Smith[20]
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