Giovanni Scelzi isn’t where he’d like to be two months into his tenure as Clauson-Marshall Racing’s interim driver, but Saturday’s 4-Crown Nationals runner-up is a pivotal step toward regaining full confidence.

Landing on the podium for the first time outside his native California since March, the 23-year-old left Eldora Speedway encouraged he and the CMR No. 7BC team found a front-running package, which at Eldora arguably performed better than any other car around the bottom of a top-groove-happy half-mile.

“Yeah, I think so,” the Fresno, Calif., driver said when asked if he’s proud of the Kubota High Limit Racing runner-up finish. “I thought it was going to be a fence-pounding feature. … Got a good restart and passed a couple guys early. I thought the top wasn’t really better than what I was running until I got to the first two cars. Restarts went my way. Rico (Abreu) got truckin’ at the very, very end. Their car is really good at the end.

“I don’t think I really fell off. The standing water that was on the bottom of three and four kept getting splashed up across it, made the bottom down there harder to run. Good job, great rebound. I was upset (Friday) with my (eighth-place) performance, just the way I drove. I think we kind of hit on something that I like as a certain feel.”

Since Scelzi abruptly departed the KCP Racing team he spent five years with during Kings Royal week on July 16, he’s been slowly getting up to speed with Tyler Courtney’s No. 7BC team as a fill-in driver. Since Aug. 3’s Capitani Classic at Knoxville Raceway, his first race with CMR, he’s posted an average finish of 9.9 in 19 races, including three podiums, five top-fives and 11 top-10s.

Those numbers are virtually on par with what he produced in 42 starts with KCP Racing prior to his departure: a 10.1 average finish, one World of Outlaws victory at Texas’s Kennedale Speedway Park on March 14, three podiums, seven top-fives and 27 top-10s.

Symmetrical statistics aside, Scelzi’s trending upward for the first time in a while because he thinks the package he found at Eldora can translate anywhere among the concluding events of the 2025 Sprint Car season.

“I think in today’s world, if you get a setup, it works almost anywhere. As dumb as that sounds, I feel like it would work at a Tulare to Lernerville, to wherever we go next. Proud of that,” Scelzi said. “Just getting small things to get the feel I want. I felt like when we started out, it was almost one step forward, two steps back.”

Scelzi expected to perform well for CMR out of the gate at Knoxville and his native California because the Iowa half-mile and anywhere on the West Coast are in his wheelhouse. At Knoxville, he finished sixth at the Capitani Classic, third in his Nationals prelim and seventh in the 50-lap main event. In High Limit’s Cali swing, he finished third, 16th and second before his 14th-place finish in the Gold Cup Race of Champions finale he suffered a flat tire in the closing laps maintaining a podium spot.

His pair of podium finishes Aug. 15 at Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway and in Aug. 22's Gold Cup prelim were his first top-three finishes of 2025 since March 14's WoO victory at Kennedale.

Skagit Speedway’s Skagit Nationals and Port Royal Speedway’s Tuscarora 50 posed anticipated challenges where Scelzi only finished inside the top-10 once in six events. At Lernerville Speedway’s Commonwealth Clash, he finished eighth and 10th, a step forward, but still the improvement he found at Eldora.

“It seemed like Skagit we kind of started struggling. And Skagit to Port Royal and Lernerville were kind of the same,” Scelzi said. “Didn’t make a big swing because we were good at (the) Knoxville (Nationals, where he finished seventh in the Championship A-main) and good in California. I think we kind of figured something out, just getting the terminology right between me and (crew chief) Jake (Argo), and kind of getting communication on the same page.”

The biggest adjustment for Scelzi has been adapting to the mechanical differences between CMR and KCP, like how “engines, shocks, frames — everything is different.”

“Essentially, to have a team like KCP that was built the last five years around my driving style, it’s tough,” said Scelzi, who emphasized that “I think the biggest thing I struggle with is the placement and stuff in the cockpit” with what’d been familiar to him at KCP.

“Steering wheel location, throttle pedal location, brake pedal location. Different wing valves,” Scelzi continued. “It’s small stuff like that. I mean, the dash is different. Looking out is physically different. That stuff takes a minute to get used to. Now I feel like I’m comfortable in the car.”

That said, the Scelzi anticipates less of a concentrated effort where he’s initially had to learn the team’s every little detail on the fly and more of a more free-flowing driving approach these final races of 2025.

“When you’re somewhere for that long, it’s just muscle memory … working through the trailer and getting in the car and stuff,” Scelzi said. “They’ve been very receptive to the changes I’ve wanted to make, whether they’re after hot laps or something dumb like needing a piece carbon fiber riveted to my dash.

“Something stupid like that, they’ve been able (to grant) every request I’ve had.”

Scelzi’s tentative 11-race schedule the remainder of the year includes this Saturday at Bridgeport Motorsports Park, Sunday at Path Valley Speedway Park, Oct. 3-4 at Williams Grove Speedway, Oct. 10-11 at Lakeside Speedway, Oct. 15 at Lucas Oil Speedway, Oct. 17-18 at Texas Motor Speedway and Nov. 5-8 at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.

Although the CMR No. 7BC team is fourth in the High Limit owner standings, 160 points out of the lead, Scelzi’s objective to close out the season would be returning to victory lane and continuing to build the most suitable package possible that can be segued into 2026. 

Scelzi hasn't revealed his plans for next season, but hopes everything pertaining to his next deal is finalized and ready to announce before November's World Finals.

“A lot of work still to be done, I feel like. And we are making gains,” Scelzi said. “I think Jake is so easygoing. And the crew guys, they are as well. I know they believe in me to win races.”