CONCORD, N.C. — Story by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Haudenschild Racing photo —

“It’s not the 93, but she’s a good piece.”

Said with a smile, those were the optimistic words of second-generation sprint car driver Sheldon Haudenschild in the pit area Thursday afternoon at the Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

As for why the 22-year-old isn’t in his family-owned No. 93 this weekend? The Wooster, Ohio young gun has a good reason — he’ll be piloting the potent Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) No. 67 for this weekend’s World of Outlaws-sanctioned Bad Boy Buggies World Finals in a special one-off arrangement for the veteran midget and sprint car owner.

Haudenschild credited friend and KKM regular Christopher Bell for helping get him the opportunity to drive the car at Charlotte, with Bell unable to pilot the entry due to a prior NASCAR Camping World Truck Series commitment at Texas Motor Speedway for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Bell will step into the Truck Series full-time in 2016.

“It really started out as [Keith] and I getting in contact with each other, and then it really all progressed from there,” Haudenschild said. “He was looking for a driver because Bell wasn’t able to run it here at the Finals (due to the Texas Truck race) and it worked out that we were able to put this deal together. I’m really excited about it, and we know it’s a really fast car, so we’re looking forward to it.”

The run will be Haudenschild’s first behind the wheel of a Keith Kunz-prepared car, but it will be far from his first experience in a 410ci sprint car. The Buckeye State native is fresh off of a stellar season with the similarly-powered UNOH All Stars Circuit of Champions, where he had a breakout year in 2015. Haudenschild scored five feature victories on the year, including two during Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket, to go along with 15 top five finishes and a final finish of sixth in the season points standings.

“It was a good year for us,” Haudenschild said. “You always want to aim higher and perform better than the results you end up with, but we were happy with the job we did this season and hopefully we can have more of the same next year.”

The rising star just missed out on the Ohio Speedweek championship, coming 60 points and two positions shy of his first title in the week-long mini-series after a third-place effort in the final standings.

“It was bittersweet,” the Ohio driver admitted. “You know what they say — shoulda, woulda, coulda. We just didn’t do enough this time around.”

While it won’t be Lil’ Haud’s first tussle with the Dirt Track at Charlotte or the World Finals (running the C-Main on night one and finishing 22nd in the A-Main on night two in 2014), he says that the immense amount of rain that the area has received and the depth of talent in this year’s field will pose a different challenge than he faced a year ago.

“If they can get the track like they had it last year, it’s going to be really good. We were fast last year, we just never had the track position to be able to do a whole lot with it. The hard part is all the rain these guys have had — I know it’s going to make it tough, but we’ll just deal with whatever track conditions we get when we go out and adjust from there on out.”

“Keith knows what he’s doing — this car is always fast, so we’ll take it one session at a time and see what we can do. I’m excited about the weekend, for sure.”

For more information on Sheldon Haudenschild, follow him on Twitter @Haud93 or visit his website at http://haudenschildracing.com.

About the Writer

Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network. Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.

The 21-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for both the United Sprint Car Series and the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.

Email Jacob at: speed77radio@gmail.com

Follow on Twitter: @Speed77Radio or @JacobSeelman77

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