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Logan Schuchart (1S) leads Brady Bacon (21H) in the feature race of the World of Outlaw race on Saturday at Eldora Speedway.
ROSSBURG - After dominating the USAC Sprint Car 30-lap main event Saturday night at Eldora Speedway's #LetsRaceTwo, Brady Bacon lined up on the front row of the World of Outlaw 30-lap chase trying to become the first driver in the history of the event to win both feature races.
Bacon and 2023 Eldora Million winner Logan Schuchart battled back and forth throughout the outlaw main event trading the lead four times before Schuchart took control on lap 21 and drove to the $12,000 victory.
Schuchart was emotional in victory lane after snapping a losing streak that was nearly a year long. It was also his first win and since his legendary grandfather Bobby Allen passed away last fall.
"Man, that guy (Bobby Allen) won the first World of Outlaws race here back in 1978," a choked up Schuchart said. "This one feels a lot different, but I'm super happy for my team, everybody that's working so hard at this. The truth is what we used to do doesn't work anymore. We're working at it, and that's definitely the best I've felt on a slick Eldora in many years. I'm really happy with this thing."
Bacon jumped to the lead on the opening lap from his outside front row starting spot, but Schuchart took the top spot on the second lap and led the next five laps.
Bacon fought back and retook the lead on lap seven. While Bacon officially led at the flagstand through lap 21 the duo swapped the lead several more times unofficially.
"I got a good jump at the start and then slipped up coming off of turn four and (Schuchart) was able to get around me," Bacon said. "I moved up on the track and was able to chase him back down and got back around him. My car felt really good and I felt like I had a good shot at it."
Schuchart dove below Bacon in turn one on lap 22 and then pulled away 10 car lengths, the most comfortable lead for either driver had all night.
"The lapped cars kind of screwed me up there and then when I tried a different line, Rico was able to sneak past me," Bacon said. "Once we got cleared of the lapped cars, I was starting to run them back down but just ran out of laps."
Friday's winner Rico Abreu moved past Bacon for the runner-up spot on lap 26 but could not get close enough to challenge Schuchart in the closing laps and Schuchart drove to his seventh career win at Eldora and fifth WoO win at The Big E.
"I really like where our car is here right now," Schuchart said. "I feel like we are pretty good in any condition here. If it's slick or if it is a little more hammer down, I think we can run with anyone again here."
In his attempt for a weekend sweep, Abreu settled for second and his 10th consecutive podium finish at Eldora.
"The track was two seconds faster tonight than it was last night," Abreu said. "You couldn't afford to make a mistake and lose momentum and I just made a few too many mistakes but our car was really good and I'm really looking forward to coming back here for the Kings Royal in July."
Outlaw rookie Emerson Axsom finished fourth, while Sheldon Haudenschild completed the top five. Defending series champion David Gravel, Garet Williamson, Tyler Courtney, Spencer Bayston and Donny Schatz completed the top 10.
Brady Bacon competes in the USAC Sprint division races at Eldora Speedway.
Bacon started on the pole of the USAC feature and was never seriously challenged on his way to his fourth career USAC win at Eldora and his 62nd career USAC win, which ties him with Dave Darland on the all-time USAC win list for second, five behind Justin Grant.
"Starting position was everything tonight," Bacon said. "We're really good when it's fast along a pretty hard and treacherous cushion. I knew that if we got up front and didn't make any mistakes, we'd be pretty hard to beat."
Minster's Paul Dues brought out the only red flag of the night when he crashed in turn one on lap six. Dues was uninjured but his mangled car was done for the night.
On the restart Bacon took off from the field, while Friday's winner Kyle Cummins worked his way forward from sixth position and eventually finished second.
"I knew it was going to be tough starting back there and Brady up front," Cummins, who was the fastest qualifier on Saturday night, said. "When I got to second place I could see Brady up there and I don't think he was pulling away from us, and maybe I was gaining a little bit on him but it wasn't enough."
Briggs Danner finished in third-place ahead of Steven Snyder Jr. and Mitchell Moles. Rounding out the top ten were Grant, Hayden Reinbold, Logan Seavey, Cale Coons and Max Adams.
The next action at Eldora will be the 32nd annual Dirt Late Model Dream. The action starts on June 3 with the Flo Racing Late Model Night in America event paying $20,000 to win before the Dream preliminary features on June 4 and 5. The weekend wraps up with the $100,000 to win DLM Dream on June 6.
