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The stars appeared to be aligning for a battle for the win on Wednesday night at Huset’s Speedway.
One NOS Energy Drink machine – Tyler Courtney – stalked fellow NOS Energy Drink driver – Sheldon Haudenschild – in the closing stages of the Huset’s Hustle prelim. Courtney rolled the bottom while Haudenschild held down the top. Laps clicked away, and the gap between the two shrank. And then disaster struck for Haudenschild.
Courtney suddenly got a huge run out of Turn 4 and slipped under Haudenschild to take the lead with only eight laps remaining. Haudenschild’s issue was soon revealed as he slowed exiting Turn 2 on the next lap with a shredded right rear tire.
The caution flew and set up a restart, but Courtney went on unchallenged to the checkered flag and a $20,000 payday to kickoff BillionAuto.com Huset’s High Bank Nationals presented by Menards week. Sunshine struck first as the four-day stretch of mega money on the line with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars at Huset’s began.
“Just an awesome, awesome night for us,” Courtney said. “I didn’t even remember running top 10 a couple of the nights last year. I just felt like it was one of our worst performances of the year last year, so to come out first night and put this thing in Victory Lane is just awesome. It speaks huge to what my guys can do and what we’ve been doing this year, and hopefully we’ll be in this same spot tomorrow with a little bit bigger check.”
The win not only earned “Sunshine” a healthy payday, but it also set him up in a great spot for Thursday’s $100,000-to-win Huset’s Hustle finale. Courtney stands as the high point man, which puts him on the pole of Heat One tomorrow. If he can win the Heat, he’ll be guaranteed a front row starting spot in the Clauson Marshall Racing machine as he chases the second six-figure payday of his Sprint Car career.
Courtney is up to four career World of Outlaws wins, and Huset’s was his first not on a half mile with the other three coming at Eldora Speedway, Port Royal Speedway, and Volusia Speedway Park. The Indianapolis, IN native became the sixth driver this year with multiple Series victories, and he’s the first who isn’t a full-time World of Outlaws competitor.
The race kicked off with outside pole-sitter Ryan Timms getting the jump on Sheldon Haudenschild to take the early top spot. Timms, who was chasing his first career World of Outlaws checkered flag, led through the early circuits with Haudenschild not too far behind.
The pressure on Timms intensified as they encountered lapped traffic only a handful of laps into the 35-lapper. The top two having issues with slower cars allowed the third-running Courtney to join the battle.
On Lap 16 Haudenschild managed to slip by Timms to snag the top spot and lead the lap. But a hungry Timms rolled low under Haudenschild in the next set of corners to move back atop the leaderboard.
Then one lap later Haudenschild came right back at Timms even stronger. The Wooster, OH driver ripped around Timms and didn’t leave the door open for Timms to come back at him. Haudenschild secured the lead and began to drive away.
Right after Haudenschild passed Timms, Courtney followed suit and rolled by the No. 5T. It didn’t take long for Courtney to begin to eat away at Haudenschild’s advantage. Courtney stuck the low line and cut into the lead piece by piece. And right when the battle looked ready to ignite as Courtney ducked under Haudenschild to take the lead, the right rear tire went down on the Stenhouse Jr.-Marshall Racing No. 17.
Haudenschild’s issue paved the path for Courtney to drive away to a $20,000 Huset’s paycheck.
“I just knew I was going to have to go somewhere else to beat Sheldon,” Courtney said. “He was really, really good around the top. And I knew when we got to traffic, we were going to have to move around. It was getting a little rough there through (Turns) 1 and 2, so you kind of had to slow down quite a bit. He could just carry momentum, and I think he just cut a tire or something there. That sucks. I really wanted to have a good race with our NOS Energy Drink teammate there.”
Bringing home the second spot was Ryan Timms as he equaled his best career World of Outlaws finish. The Oklahoma teenager showed speed all race with the best in the business and needed just a little more speed to grab that first World of Outlaws win.
“I felt really good early on,” Timms said. “We got a really good initial start and took the lead there. I had no idea 20 laps had already gone by. It went by super quick, and then that caution came out and Haud and Courtney got by me. I knew I had to figure something out because I could kind of hang with them at times, but for the most part they would kind of inch away. I’m happy with the run. I felt like we had a really good car.”
Rounding out the Huset’s Hustle prelim podium was Aaron Reutzel in the Ridge & Sons Racing No. 87. The Clute, TX native slipped back slightly early on but came back to life later in the race and outdueled Carson Macedo for the final step of the podium.
“I just struggled a little bit early,” Reutzel said. “With a full fuel load, I wasn’t very good. It was actually a handful. But there at the end when the fuel started coming off, my car came back to life. That was something we’re going to have to figure out the next couple nights.”
Carson Macedo and Tim Kaeding completed the top five.
Buddy Kofoid took the KSE Racing Hard Charger with a run from 22nd to seventh in the Roth Motorsports No. 83.
Cory Eliason claimed the fifth Simpson Quick Time of his career in Sea Foam Qualifying.
NOS Energy Drink Heats One and Three through Six went to Austin McCarl, Carson Macedo, Brad Sweet, Brock Zearfoss, and Spencer Bayston. Milton Hershey Heat Two belonged to Rico Abreu.
Cory Eliason won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.
The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Sheldon Haudenschild.
UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars are back at Huset’s Speedway for the $100,000-to-win Huset’s Hustle finale on Thursday, June 20. Then the week wraps up with the BillionAuto.com Huset’s High Bank Nationals presented by Menards prelim ($20,000-to-win) and finale ($250,000-to-win) on June 21-22. 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 (35 Laps): 1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[6]; 2. 5T-Ryan Timms[3]; 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel[2]; 4. 41-Carson Macedo[4]; 5. 3K-Tim Kaeding[9]; 6. 49-Brad Sweet[12]; 7. 83-Michael Kofoid[22]; 8. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[8]; 9. 2-David Gravel[20]; 10. 24-Rico Abreu[7]; 11. 88-Austin McCarl[5]; 12. 15-Donny Schatz[17]; 13. 5-Spencer Bayston[14]; 14. 8R-Cory Eliason[21]; 15. 17B-Bill Balog[23]; 16. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[1]; 17. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[16]; 18. 39M-Anthony Macri[15]; 19. 2KS-Chase Randall[10]; 20. 45-Landon Brooks[18]; 21. 23-Garet Williamson[24]; 22. 7S-Landon Crawley[19]; 23. 25-Daison Pursley[11]; 24. 22K-Kaleb Johnson[13]
For complete results, CLICK HERE.
