Haudenschild Hauls In First WoO Win In Front of Stenhouse, Sponsors & Sellout Volusia Crowd
Column By: RUSTY RHOADES / RPW – BARBERVILLE, FL – “World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Winner.”
One might think Sheldon Haudenschild already had this box checked off on his list of racing accomplishments. I know I did. The young second-generation hotshoe from Ohio has already done enough impressive things in his brief career to give me that idea. He deserved an Outlaw victory somewhere along the line by this point in my opinion. Often in such cases, you end up reaching that accomplishment on the biggest of stages.
Haudenschild most certainly picked one of those evenings to finally take down that elusive first World of Outlaw Series win of his career Friday night at Volusia Speedway Park. It also came in the first Outlaw race for Sheldon driving the Stenhouse Jr. / Marshall entry. This new combination has been exceptionally fast out of the gate here in Florida and now has 2 wins (All Stars @ Bubba) under their belt in just about week of competition.
Sheldon started 6th and eventually put himself into the top 3 behind racelong leader Paul McMahan and Ian Madsen when Madsen went into a wild series of hops battling through 1 and 2 before contacting the wall and tipping over with 3 laps left. Haudenschild was a rocket on the single-file restart, powered inside and past McMahan’s 13 that had signs of a tire going down, and drove away for the popular $10,000 victory. “I definitely had a gameplan for that final restart,” Haudenschild told me after the race. “I really wanted to get underneath him down the backstretch and make turns 3 and 4 solid and avoid that hole. I’m glad it worked out all right.”
The impressive win also came with good timing for Haudenschild, as his co-owner and NASCAR standout Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. was able to be in attendance for this one and enjoy in the celebration. He was all smiles when discussing the big night with me in their hauler afterwards. “Sheldon and the boys did a good job winning over at Bubba, and we carried that momentum over here and have been fast every night. I’m glad I was here for the win and hope we can keep it going tomorrow.” He also explained more about the timing of winning this particular show. “We had all the people from our partner Nos Energy Drink here tonight as well as West Tennessee Expediting and Jeff Buckner so we feel really good for them.”
Ricky and the other decision makers at Stenhouse Jr. / Marshall Racing are looking pretty smart right now with their decision to bring Sheldon on board for this season, and he is likewise very happy and appreciative for all their support thus far. “These guys deserve to be in Victory Lane and they put in a lot of work to get here, so to be the guy to do it for them feels great. I’ve also put alot of time in over the years to get where I’m at, so it feels good to kinda be paying off right now.”
