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Carson Macedo Charges From Eighth To Win The 2026 World Of Outlaws World Finals Finale At Charlotte

Published

50 minutes ago

November 8, 2026

Carson Macedo's No. 41 sprint car racing side by side with another sprint car on the dirt track at The Dirt Track at Charlotte

Carson Macedo races his No. 41 sprint car at The Dirt Track at Charlotte on his way to winning the World Finals finale. Photo by Tyler Carr.

Carson Macedo saved his best drive of the year for the last night of it, charging from eighth on the grid to win the World of Outlaws season finale at The Dirt Track at Charlotte on Saturday night, banking the $25,000 World Finals payday and the eighth win of the season for Jason Johnson Racing.

Carson Macedo and Jason Johnson Racing will admit 2026 didn’t play out how they would’ve liked.

This combination is one of the sport’s elite organizations. They partnered ahead of the 2021 season and immediately established themselves as title contenders with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series. Macedo narrowly finished second to David Gravel in the 2024 championship chase.

Fast forward to 2026, and the pairing entered Dave Smith Motors World of Outlaws World Finals destined for a fourth-place run in the standings. Sure, they’d collected an impressive seven wins, but this group led by Philip Dietz has the highest of expectations. They wanted to close out the campaign on a high note, and that’s exactly what they did at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.

Macedo would not be denied on his charge from the fourth row. He lined up eighth for the 25-lap season finale and quickly got to work. The Lemoore, CA native climbed all the way to second by the ninth circuit in the Jason Johnson Racing No. 41. Then he tracked down polesitter Giovanni Scelzi and fired a slide job on Lap 17 to take command. Michael “Buddy” Kofoid rose to the runner-up spot late and tried one slide job in Turns 3 and 4 that Macedo narrowly drove around. That was the winning move as he took off to the checkered flag.

“Man, I’m a little out of breath,” Macedo said. “I was running really hard. When I got to second, it was everything I had every single lap as hard as I could go as thin as I could get it to make speed and not get over it. Buddy was coming there at the end. I was coming extremely hard at a couple of the lappers and made last minute decisions that broke my runs, and I knew he was coming. The one slider I drove around, I think it would’ve been inches from disaster, but luckily we made it around there.

“We’re working really hard,” Macedo continued. “Obviously, where we are in points isn’t where we want to be. We had our down nights. But to look at an eight-win season and be disappointed shows we have high expectations, and we want to do our best to be the best team on the road. It’s not from lack of effort. Philip (Dietz), Adam (Zimmerman), and Robby (McQuinn) are putting in the hours and putting in the effort.”

The eighth victory of the year for Macedo was the 66th of his career with The Greatest Show on Dirt. That equals him with Bobby Davis Jr. and Craig Dollansky for 14th all-time. It was also the 90th World of Outlaws score for Jason Johnson Racing. They’re just 10 away from becoming only the seventh organization ever to reach triple digits.

Carson Macedo celebrating with his arms raised in Victory Lane at The Dirt Track at Charlotte — Carson Macedo celebrates his World Finals win at Charlotte. Photo by Tyler Carr.

Buddy Kofoid finished second in the Roth Motorsports No. 83, finalizing his Series-best podium tally at 35 this year.

“It was hectic but honestly a lot of fun racing up there with him, Kofoid said. “I felt like we were extremely good. I was kind of disappointed we pulled the seven then got to sixth in the Dash. I was thinking it would take a lot to get there, thinking about yesterday. Then I felt like our car was just so much night and day better. I felt like I could run it extremely hard, and I think the track was the best I’ve probably seen it.”

Giovanni Scelzi led the opening 16 circuits but ultimately fell two spots shy of back-to-back Charlotte wins, bringing the Spire Motorsports No. 77 home third.

“I felt like I just wore my stuff out,” Scelzi said. “It’s hard to run hard and not kill your stuff. Good job to my guys. It was a great week. We worked on it and got it better throughout the week.”

Buddy Schweibinz and Steven Snyder Jr. rounded out the top five.

NIGHTLY NOTES

The final Heat Races of the year belonged to Giovanni Scelzi (NOS Energy Drink Heat One), Tyler Courtney (TheGreatestStoreonDirt.com Heat Two), Carson Macedo (WIX Filters Heat Three), and Buddy Kofoid (Golf Cart Services Heat Four).

The SPA Technique #1 Redraw went to Giovanni Scelzi.

Scelzi also topped the Toyota Dash.

David Gravel won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.

Chase Randall drove from 23rd to 14th to pick up his second KSE Racing Products Hard Charger of the week.

Brock Zearfoss was the Tub O’ Towels Seventh Place Finisher.

Emerson Axsom took home Five Star Bodies Rookie of the Race honors.

Buddy Kofoid clocked the ACME Trading Company Fast Lap.

The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Tyler Courtney.

UP NEXT: The 2027 World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car season launches at Volusia Speedway Park’s Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals in Barberville, FL on Wednesday-Saturday, Feb. 10-13.

FEATURE RESULTS:

NOS Energy Drink Feature (25 Laps): 1. 41-Carson Macedo[8]; 2. 83-Michael Kofoid[6]; 3. 77-Giovanni Scelzi[1]; 4. 69K-Buddy Schweibinz[11]; 5. 51-Steven Snyder Jr[10]; 6. 13-Tanner Holmes[4]; 7. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[12]; 8. 18-Sheldon Haudenschild[3]; 9. 1S-Logan Schuchart[14]; 10. 17B-Bill Balog[9]; 11. 7S-Chris Windom[17]; 12. 17-Spencer Bayston[13]; 13. 23-Garet Williamson[5]; 14. 9-Chase Randall[23]; 15. 1A-Cameron Smith[20]; 16. 71R-Logan Rumsey[18]; 17. 2-David Gravel[21]; 18. 27-Emerson Axsom[26]; 19. 16C-Skylar Gee[16]; 20. 5-Chase Dietz[24]; 21. 15-Donny Schatz[19]; 22. 71-Parker Price Miller[15]; 23. 6-Bryce Lucius[27]; 24. 19-Brent Marks[22]; 25. 28M-Conner Morrell[28]; 26. (DNF) 7BC-Tyler Courtney[2]; 27. (DNF) 14-Rico Abreu[7]; 28. (DNF) 2C-Cole Macedo[25]

Alex Payne Repeats At Charlotte To Win The Super DIRTcar Series World Finals Finale

Published

58 minutes ago

November 8, 2026

We Speak Media

Alex Payne celebrating with his arms raised in Victory Lane at The Dirt Track at Charlotte after winning the Super DIRTcar Series finale

Alex Payne celebrates his Super DIRTcar Series World Finals win at The Dirt Track at Charlotte. Photo by Joe Grabianowski.

Alex Payne made November 7 his night at Charlotte for the second straight year, leading the Super DIRTcar Series season finale at the World Finals, surviving a late charge from Jimmy Phelps in lap traffic, and holding on through a green-white-checkered finish for the $15,000 win.

November 7th has been good to Alex Payne.

Exactly one year since his first victory at The Dirt Track at Charlotte, the Hopewell, NY driver struck again Saturday night to win the Super DIRTcar Series finale at the Dave Smith Motors World Finals.

His sixth Super DIRTcar Series win capped off a season in which he finished fourth in the final standings.

“There’s nothing better than this,” Payne said. “Holy shit. It’s been a long summer. We’ve had a really good racecar, and it’s just been tough. Not everything went our way, but we just kept fighting.

“I’m so blessed to be able to do this every day. And have these people to stand by us.”

Payne, the SRI Performance and Stock Car Steel Pole Award winner, led the field to the green in the 40-lap Feature, beating Jimmy Phelps to Turn 1 to gain the advantage. That advantage was short-lived, though, as cautions for Tim Sears Jr. and Justin Stone slowed the field in the first five laps.

When the race resumed, Payne grabbed the advantage again and pulled away from the No. 98H as a long green flag run began. But as the “Slidejob Express” clicked off laps, he got into lap traffic, allowing Phelps and Mike Maresca to close in on the No. 70A.

Payne mastered his way through traffic, threading the needle to keep distance from Phelps. However, the win almost slipped away on Lap 34. As Payne rolled into the corner, trying to split the middle between Matt Stangle and Mike Mahaney, lap cars, it opened the door for Phelps on the bottom. Payne slid up the track in Turn 3, allowing Phelps to sneak underneath Payne in the middle of the corner. But Payne’s momentum was too much, as he kept the lead while they exited Turn 4.

That was as close as Phelps got, as Payne moved Stangle in Turn 1 to separate himself from the veteran driver.

From there, not even a green-white-checkered finish could keep Payne from the victory, as he held on for the $15,000 win and second World Finals triumph.

In Victory Lane, Payne had one sentence to describe the race. “Thank god for hard tires.”

“I didn’t know what to do there in lap traffic,” Payne said. “I slipped up there, and I’m pretty sure I saw Jimmy’s roof. I didn’t think he was that close. I thought I did a really good job with lap cars. It’s just tough here trying to get cars off the bottom. I had to use the nerf bar there quite a bit.”

Maresca snuck underneath Phelps in traffic with four laps to go to gain the runner-up spot, earning the Baldwinsville, NY driver his second consecutive podium finish.

Phelps settled for third, beating Payne by three points to earn third in the Super DIRTcar Series standings.

Tyler Dippel, the MD3 Rookie of the Race, finished fourth, and Alex Yankowski rounded out the top five. The 2026 Super DIRTcar Series champion drove from 13th to fifth in the final two laps, after pitting for a right-rear flat tire.

RACE NOTES:

Bicknell Racing Products Heat Race 1 Winner: Jimmy Phelps
DIG Race Products Heat Race 2 Winner: Alex Yankowski
Wix Filters Heat Race 3 Winner: Mat Williamson
The Greatest Store on Dirt Heat Race 4 Winner: Mike Maresca
SRI Performance/Stock Car Steel Pole Award Winner: Alex Payne
Behrent’s Performance Warehouse One Lap to Go: Alex Payne

UP NEXT: The Super DIRTcar Series returns heads to Florida to kick off the 2027 season at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, FL on Feb. 16-20, as part of Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals.

Super DIRTcar Series Feature (40 Laps): 1. 70A-Alex Payne[1]; 2. 7MM-Michael Maresca[3]; 3. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[2]; 4. 1-Tyler Dippel[5]; 5. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[8]; 6. 26-Ryan Godown[4]; 7. 9S-Matt Sheppard[10]; 8. 91-Felix Roy[7]; 9. 88-Mat Williamson[6]; 10. 16-Louden Reimert[12]; 11. 11-Matt Caprara[15]; 12. 12-Darren Smith[13]; 13. 21A-Peter Britten[11]; 14. 35-Mike Mahaney[9]; 15. 6-Matt Stangle[21]; 16. 2-Jack Lehner[14]; 17. 4M-Logan Watt[17]; 18. 29-Ryan Krachun[28]; 19. 7M-Paul Mancini[29]; 20. 28-Michael Trautschold[18]; 21. 35C-Chris Curtis[22]; 22. 44G-Sebastien Gougeon[24]; 23. 165-Rex King Jr[30]; 24. 15X-Justin Stone[20]; 25. 17-Marcus Dinkins[27]; 26. (DNF) 25-Erick Rudolph[16]; 27. (DNF) 83X-Tim Sears Jr[25]; 28. (DNF) 99L-Larry Wight[19]; 29. (DNF) 9-Tim McCreadie[23]; 30. (DNF) 3-Justin Haers[26]