If it wasn’t for an ill-fated flat left rear tire on Saturday night at Haubstadt, we wouldn’t have been talking about Carson Macedo versus James McFadden.

For once, we wouldn’t be talking about Brad Sweet, either.

Current 2021 FloRacing Sprint Car Rankings - Winged and Non-Winged!

One of the continuous underlying stories of the 2021 season is actually Sheldon Haudenschild, who has finally arrived as a complete package in the World of Outlaws. It’s a story that actually dates back to last season when he won seven times after his reunion with crew chief Kyle Ripper en route to a career-best fourth in the championship standings.

You can’t script this kind of stuff. 😳

After racing from 9th to 1st, taking the lead on Lap 24, and checking out in traffic, @Haudenschild_17 suffers a flat left rear tire and sends him to the work area with only 7 to go. pic.twitter.com/yBvZUdpUwB

— World of Outlaws (@WorldofOutlaws) April 11, 2021

Haudenschild ended last season with a career high 28 top-fives and 239 laps led -- second only to Kyle Larson’s 278. Of his seven wins, five came over the final 20 races of the season, setting the tone for what could be in 2021.

A familiar story in Sprint Car racing amongst young drivers, especially those with a legacy to live up to, Lil’ Haud has been a work in progress over the past decade. It’s never lacked for excitement.

Watching Haudenschild has always been a ‘high ceiling, low floor’ experience. The Haud Line is always open for business, thrilling fans and selling t-shirts, but it’s frequently led to heartbreak and disappointment.

There’s been highlights too, of course, but Haudenschild needed to channel that immense obvious talent into consistency -- taking second place runs or podiums when the likes of Sweet and Donny Schatz are on a tear.

That’s what Haudenschild started to do last summer and is absolutely doing to start 2021.

There have been countless races over the years where Haudenschild has charged to the lead and ran into trouble in traffic. When something goes wrong these days, it’s generally of the misfortune and bad luck variety, rather than an unforced error.   

On Saturday, Haudenschild drove from ninth to the lead and was a restart away from his third victory of the season when the flat tire presented itself and called the Stenhouse Jr. Marshall Racing No. 17 to the work area.

He still drove from 20th to 14th over the green-white-checkers.

It was a missed opportunity to take advantage of a subpar day from Sweet, who finished seventh, but was running 10th at the time of the caution.

As it stands, Haudenschild is still second in the standings in a season when Sweet and KKR have been near perfect since Volusia.

There will be mulligans from the No. 49 team. There certainly were last year, allowing Logan Schuchart and Schatz to stay close nearing the World Finals.

Haudenschild is 92 points out, and no one may be able to touch that this summer, but the Lil Haud experience has always been about laying pillars upon foundations, and the entire structure appears nearly complete.

Justin Peck chats with FloRacing After his second career All-Star Victory

JUSTIN PECK SHINES

One week after winning the All Stars Circuit of Champions opener at Attica Raceway Park, Justin Peck remained one of the hottest 410 Sprint Car racers in the country to open the season.

Having opened March with wins at Port Royal and Williams Grove, Peck then claimed the All-Stars opener. He finished third on Friday at Kokomo with the Outlaws and finished ninth on Saturday at Haubstadt.

That podium on Friday came behind the hottest team in the country in Kasey Kahne Racing’s 1-2 punch of James McFadden and Sweet.

The stability with Buch Motorsports is always proving beneficial after spending last season in four different cars in the Buch No. 13, Pete Grove No. 70, the John Trone No. 39 and his own No. 5x. The previous experience with crew chief Sean Strausbaugh is immediately paying off.

"Our team morale is pretty high right now, so it makes working with these guys super easy," Peck said on Friday. "We've got everything hooked up right now. It's great to be on the podium, but obviously we want to be a little better. That KKR team is just outstanding right now. We've got a little bit to clean up on our end."

ALL STARS OFF BUT ACTIVE

The All-Stars were off this past weekend before moving south to Virginia Motor Speedway on Thursday night, but were well represented against the Outlaws on Saturday.

Tyler Courtney led laps at Haubstadt and finished on the podium behind Carson Macedo and McFadden to make a statement about what his still-developing Clauson Marshall 410 program.

And scoring his first-career World of Outlaws podium finish tonight is @TyCourtney7BC!

He led the opening 23 laps aboard the @NosEnergyDrink TURBO, @ClausonMarshall #7BC before slipping to a strong 3rd. pic.twitter.com/YhEcYtKm22

— World of Outlaws (@WorldofOutlaws) April 11, 2021

He led a race high 19 laps.

"I think it was just inexperience in lap traffic," Courtney said. "I've had more laps around here than those guys, but I just struggled with where to put the car. To rebound tonight with a podium against the best drivers in the country, maybe the world, is really awesome for our team."

Hunter Schuerenberg earned his first Outlaws top-five since 2018, which also came at Haubstadt, with a fourth place. Peck finished ninth ahead of Ian Madsen with Cory Eliason in 12th.

One little mistake away from a shot at the win last night. Fell back to 6th after half spinning and got back to 4th @TSS_Haubstadt with @WorldofOutlaws. Our @VermeerMotorsp1 car is really good right now!

— Hunter Schuerenberg (@HunterPercent) April 11, 2021

LINCOLN WIDE OPEN

Tim Shaffer broke the streak of six different winners to open the season for Lincoln Speedway but action (and unpredictability) is currently the attraction.

.@TShafferracing is the first repeat winner of 2021! pic.twitter.com/6hPnsrXBI7

— Lincoln Speedway (@lincolnspeedway) April 11, 2021

Aaron Bollinger and Chase Dietz were the show but came together on Lap 22 and allowed the Steel City Outlaw to inherit the lead. Shaffer would not relinquish the lead and took his second win.

Bollinger has impressed this season and is one of the emerging attractions. Dietz has shown speed and appears poised to claim wins too. Danny Dietrich immediately drove from Port to Lincoln to drive from 21st to 11th. The attraction is never knowing what or who you’re going to see.

DANNY DIETRICH COMPLETES PA DOUBLE

Danny Dietrich competed at two race tracks in one day. 

On Saturday, Dietrich raced at Port Royal Speedway and Lincoln Speedway in the same day. Read how HERE.