CONCORD, N.C. – Other than winning, there’s not a much better feeling for a driver than returning to a facility where they are the defending event champion.

That feeling gets amplified when the event in question is a premier event on the series schedule.

For Logan Schuchart, that opportunity comes during Friday night’s Outlaw Showdown at The Dirt Track at Charlotte, where he won last year’s edition of the annual May race for the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series.

Schuchart passed polesitter and race-long leader Brad Sweet coming to the white flag and held on to win a year ago at Charlotte, marking his third win of the 2017 season and the fifth of his six career victories.

The 25-year-old native of Hanover, Pa., hopes that his return to Charlotte generates win number seven.

“It feels good when you win anywhere, but last year we were able to win at a few big races … here (at Charlotte) being one of them,” noted Schuchart. “It’s cool when you win at the big tracks, just like it’s a good feeling when you win at one of the facilities that aren’t as well-known.

“The Dirt Track has always been good to us, and we always look forward to coming back, especially in May when it’s warm and really suits my driving style. We’re really happy to be here and I’m really optimistic and looking forward to trying to double up.”

The Dirt Track at Charlotte has traditionally been one of Schuchart’s strongest tracks with the Outlaws.

In 16 appearances with the Outlaws at the four-tenths-mile dirt oval, Schuchart has 11 top-10 finishes, including the last six Charlotte races in a row.

“I feel like we’ve always been good here, but things have really clicked for us the last few years,” Schuchart said of his recent success at Charlotte. “We were strong last fall here and drove from the abck to the front twice, and those kinds of runs always build your confidence up pretty well.

“It’s a big race track. I think they call it a four-tenths (mile), but it’s a half-mile. It’s a big race track; it’s high-banked, you carry a lot of speed and use a lot of wing speed,” explained Schuchart. “That’s part of what I came from, racing in Pennsylvania, so I feel like that’s part of why it suits me so well.”

Schuchart, teammate Jacob Allen and Shark Racing have made huge strides over the offseason to add to their resources after entering the Outlaws tour on a shoestring budget in 2014.

Richard Marshall and Priority Aviation signed on with Schuchart’s No. 1s team prior to the start of the season, while Drydene Lubricants came onboard prior to the Outlaws’ planned Pennsylvania swing last week and will be prominently displayed on the top wing of Schuchart’s car at Charlotte.

“Richard and Jennifer have been a huge help to us, as well as big supporters of dirt track racing in general. They have big hearts and they’re great for our sport,” said Schuchart. “Drydene jumped on recently and I was able to meet the entire Drydene team this week at Ken Schrader’s shop, which was really cool. It’s exciting when you have a lot of great people that want to be a part of your team and I want nothing more than to be able to win a lot of races for them.”

With additional support in place, Schuchart and Shark Racing have begun to set their goals even higher.

“Our goal when we first started running with the Outlaws was just to stay out here and run the full season. We knew we weren’t going to win every race or win championships at that point,” Schuchart recalled. “The more we’ve progressed, that bar has moved up. The second and third year, it was to run eighth in points, and this year we want a top five in points and to have more wins and consistency.”

“We don’t want to be underdogs forever,” Schuchart stated. “We want to show that we belong here.”