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Jonathan Davenport Wins At Charlotte For A Record Ninth Time To Close The World Of Outlaws Late Model Season

Published

1 hour ago

November 8, 2026

Jonathan Davenport's No. 49 late model race car leading on the dirt track at The Dirt Track at Charlotte at night

Jonathan Davenport's No. 49 late model races at The Dirt Track at Charlotte on his way to a record ninth World Finals win. Photo by Emily Schwanke.

Jonathan Davenport closed the World of Outlaws Late Model season the way he has so often at Charlotte, out front and in control, leading the 50-lap World Finals finale from the front row on Saturday night for his record-extending ninth win at the event, ahead of 2026 champion Bobby Pierce and rookie Dallon Murty.

When Jonathan Davenport gets out front at The Dirt Track at Charlotte, there’s usually no stopping him. That trend continued on Saturday night.

One year ago, “Superman” won twice at Dave Smith Motors World of Outlaws World Finals to surpass Jimmy Owens and become the winningest Late Model driver in the history of the event. This year, the goal was to keep piling on the trophies.

Davenport came into Charlotte in fine form having won his last two starts, including the final night of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision debut at Modoc Speedway on Oct. 23 and the Blue-Gray 100 at Cherokee Speedway on Oct. 24. That momentum didn’t initially carry over into Charlotte, as Davenport came out of a Last Chance Showdown to finish 14th on Thursday, but he rebounded with a runner-up to Nick Hoffman on Friday.

When Davenport earned a front-row starting spot for a 50-lap Feature on a slicked-off Charlotte, it became clear that he was going to be the man to beat on Saturday. He shared the front row with someone on the opposite end of the experience spectrum in Dallon Murty, the Super Late Model rookie in his first trip to World Finals.

Davenport nailed the start and got a strong run through the middle of Turns 1 and 2, gaining enough ground to clear Murty exiting Turn 2. Murty did a respectable job of staying with the veteran throughout the race and was in position to capitalize on a mistake, but Davenport never made one. 2026 Series champion Bobby Pierce used a Lap 29 restart to take second from Murty and try his hand at passing Davenport, but the Blairsville, GA native never opened the door.

The win was Davenport’s ninth at World Finals and 20th of his career in World of Outlaws competition, tying him with Hoffman and Brandon Overton for 13th on the all-time list. In addition to extending his lead in the World Finals Late Model win column, Davenport is also tied with Donny Schatz as the winningest driver at the event across all three participating divisions.

“We were all a little worried about tire wear, obviously,” Davenport said. “Just being abrasive down here in the south, you always worry about that a little bit. But we cut our tires a certain way so they would mileage a little more. I just didn’t want to push too hard too early and kind of spin them off before the grip came back up. Just did that and tried to move around a little bit. I felt like a little bit higher was going to be a better line early, but I was bottoming out really bad. We went just a little bit too soft for the speed, I didn’t think it was going to be quite that fast. Then once it did start gripping back up, we could move back to the bottom there and really just back my corner up so I wouldn’t start bouncing so bad. That was the only thing I was worried about, just trying to find a smooth line so I wouldn’t be bouncing off the corner and spinning my tires.”

Pierce wrapped up his championship season in second ahead of Murty, who recorded a new World of Outlaws career best in third. Overton concluded his weekend in the Billy Franklin-owned Rocket Chassis in fourth, while Trey Mills secured the final MD3 Rookie of the Race Award of the year in fifth.

UP NEXT: The 2027 World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision season begins at Volusia Speedway Park during World of Outlaws Sunshine Nationals, Thursday-Saturday, Jan. 28-30.

RACE NOTES:

Dallon Murty won Heat 1.

Jonathan Davenport won STAKT Products Heat 2.

Ryan Gustin won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.

Chris Madden won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.

Bobby Pierce won WIX Filters Heat 5.

Chris Ferguson won Heat 6.

Hudson O’Neal, Drake Troutman and Josh Rice won the Last Chance Showdowns.

Dallon Murty won the Bilstein Pole Award.

Ethan Dotson won the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.

Trey Mills won the MD3 Rookie of the Race Award.

Bobby Pierce was the Air National Guard Second-Place Finisher.

Dallon Murty was the WIX Filters Third-Place Finisher.

Brandon Overton was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.

Trey Mills was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.

Ryan Gustin was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.

Brandon Sheppard was the Penske Racing Shocks Seventh-Place Finisher.

Ethan Dotson was VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.

Max McLaughlin was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.

Chris Ferguson was the Quarter Master 11th-Place Finisher.

Tim McCreadie was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.

Drake Troutman was the Quarter Master 13th-Place Finisher.

Tyler Erb was the ARP 14th-Place Finisher.

Dustin Sorensen was the Arizona Sport Shirts 18th-Place Finisher.

Feature (50 Laps): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[2]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[4]; 3. 13-Dallon Murty[1]; 4. 17-Brandon Overton[7]; 5. 14-Trey Mills[11]; 6. 19R-Ryan Gustin[6]; 7. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[12]; 8. 74X-Ethan Dotson[23]; 9. 9-Nick Hoffman[9]; 10. 8M-Max McLaughlin[13]; 11. 22-Chris Ferguson[3]; 12. 9M-Tim McCreadie[14]; 13. 5-Drake Troutman[20]; 14. 1-Tyler Erb[15]; 15. 40B-Kyle Bronson[22]; 16. 58V-Daulton Wilson[18]; 17. 44-Chris Madden[5]; 18. 19-Dustin Sorensen[26]; 19. 49M-Luke Morey[16]; 20. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[25]; 21. 55E-Eli Johnson[28]; 22. 8-Kyle Strickler[10]; 23. 09-Michael Leach[8]; 24. 81F-Jadon Frame[17]; 25. 11R-Josh Rice[21]; 26. T8-Steve Banal[24]; 27. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[27]; 28. 6-Hudson O’Neal[19]

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

Published

58 minutes ago

November 8, 2026

We Speak Media

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]