Battles past Brad Sweet and David Gravel as he builds on the winningest single season of his career
ELBRIDGE, N.Y. - Oct. 11, 2014 - Donny Schatz did it again Saturday night, scoring his 25th World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series victory of the season at the Budweiser Salute to the King Outlaw Showdown at Rolling Wheels Raceway Park.
Schatz, who has won five of the last eight races in the midst of the winningest single season in his career, showed just how strong his Tony Stewart Racing team is after battling forward from fifth and leading the last nine laps of the feature.
"We've worked hard at it all year," Schatz said of his STP / Armor All team. "These guys are definitely on their game. They just keep making things better. It's an awesome machine to drive for sure. It's tricky. We always enjoy coming (to Rolling Wheels) but it seems like every time we come here it throws us a little curveball and what you did last time doesn't work (this time)."
Montrose, N.Y.-native Justin Barger led the field to the green after winning the dash earlier in the night. Barger led the first lap as Brad Sweet battled past David Gravel on the high side of turns one and two to take over second. On lap nine, as Barger began working his way through lapped traffic, Sweet caught him and then took over the lead.
Meanwhile, after initially falling back to sixth on the start, Schatz began making his charge to the front - first around Daryn Pittman to take back fifth on lap five and then past Kraig Kinser for fourth on lap seven. With leaders battling through lapped traffic, Schatz caught and then passed Barger and Gravel, moving into second.
Through the next five laps, Schatz closed the gap and then eventually caught Sweet who was leading. On lap 16, the two battled through turns one and two, drag raced side-by-side down the backstretch and dove into turn three - Sweet on the bottom and Schatz in the middle. As the two hit the middle of the turn, Sweet got caught up in the berm at the bottom of the track and spun, bringing out the first and only caution of the night.
With Sweet relegated to the back, Schatz chose the inside to lead the field back to green with Gravel in second. Gravel got the better start and led when the field returned to the start / finish line.
"(Gravel) obviously won the start there," Schatz said. "I guess that's the way it goes so we had to find a way back around him."
Schatz did just that on the next lap. He dominated the final nine laps.
Schatz, who struggled early on at Rolling Wheels with an 11th place qualifying run, said his team rallied throughout the night to give him the car he needed.
"They rallied around and tried a few things in the dash and weren't quite where we wanted to be," Schatz said. "So we made all the right choices for the A and got the win."
"You never know what's going to happen. We didn't have any more lap traffic after (our pass for the lead) until right at the end. So we tried to make all the right corners so I could get the thing where it needed to go. This STP team deserves to be standing here. They've won a lot of races this year - just an honor to drive this car."
Schatz, a five-time Outlaws champion, extended his points lead over second place Daryn Pittman to 289. Paul McMahan remains in third 422 points out of the lead.
Gravel, who came into the night with the momentum of having just won the National Open at Williams Grove Speedway the Saturday before, said things have been clicking for his Roth Motorsports team the last couple of months. Tonight, he said continually changing track conditions challenged his team as they came just short of another victory with their second place finish.
"We changed a lot throughout the night," said Gravel, a Watertown, Conn.-native. "I think we did a little bit too much there in the feature. It's just something that we had to try. It's a really slick racetrack and we had to get better from the dash to the A. We had a pretty solid car, but Donny had the better car."
Pittman, who finished third for the second feature in a row in his Great Clips car, echoed Gravel, saying the changing track made it difficult to keep up.
"Man, we threw everything we had at it all night," Pittman said of his Kasey Kahne Racing team. "I think we changed two or three bars every time we came off the racetrack which is pretty unlike this race team. We just never gave up. It didn't feel like we unloaded great and maybe just missed the balance all night. We made good strides and tried to make big swings at it to make it better. And obviously running third is not a bad effort for us."
Jessica Zemken, who has a season best Outlaws finish of third in just a handful of starts with the series this season, received the KSE Hard Charger award of the night after advancing six positions to finish in 11th.
The World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series returns to action at Fremont (Ohio) Speedway on Saturday, Oct. 18. The Outlaws take on Port Royal Speedway on Saturday, Oct. 25 for the first time since 2004.
Follow the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series on Twitter at www.twitter.com/WorldofOutlaws, like it on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WorldofOutlaws, or check out the latest videos on YouTube at www.youtube.com/WorldofOutlaws.
ROLLING WHEELS RACEWAY PARK NOTES: Donny Schatz's victory at Rolling Wheels was his 25th of the season - the winningest single season in Schatz's career… Kerry Madsen picked up his seventh quick time of the season after a fast lap of 16.446 in qualifying… This was the second straight race with Donny Schatz, Daryn Pittman and David Gravel on the podium… Justin Barger, Donny Schatz and Ryan Smith all won their heat races Saturday night… Jessica Zemken received the KSE Hard Charger Award after advancing six positions to finish in 11th.
SEASON WINNERS: Donny Schatz - 25 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 15, The Dirt Track at Las Vegas on March 6, Devil's Bowl Speedway on April 19, Lawrenceburg Speedway on May 27, I-96 Speedway on May 31, River Cities Speedway on June 20, 34 Raceway on June 27, Cedar Lake Speedway on June 29, Lernerville Speedway on July 15, Autodrome Drummond on July 26, Cornwall Motor Speedway on July 27, Ohsweken Speedway on July 29, Knoxville Raceway on Aug. 9, Junction Motor Speedway on Aug. 12, Nodak Speedway on Aug. 17, Castrol Raceway on Aug. 22 and Aug. 23, Skagit Speedway on Aug. 29 and Aug. 30, Grays Harbor Raceway on Sept. 1, Kokomo Speedway on Sept. 16, Terre Haute Action Track on Sept. 17, Bloomington Speedway on Sept. 26, Berlin Raceway on Sept. 27 and Rolling Wheels Raceway Park on Oct. 12); Daryn Pittman - 13 (Thunderbowl Raceway on March 14, Calistoga Speedway on April 6, Devil's Bowl Speedway on April 19, Williams Grove Speedway on May 16 and May 17, Orange County Fair Speedway, May 18, New Egypt Speedway, May 20, Dodge City Raceway Park on July 4 and 5, Lincoln Speedway on July 17, Fulton Speedway on July 23, River Cities Speedway on Aug. 15 and Southern Oregon Speedway on Sept. 3); Joey Saldana - 7 (Perris Auto Speedway on April 12, Salina Highbanks on April 25, The Dirt Track at Charlotte on May 23, I-80 Speedway on June 6, Jackson Speedway on June 13, Eldora Speedway on Sept. 19 and Lernerville Speedway on Sept. 20); K erry Madsen - 6 (Stockton Dirt track on March 22, El Paso Speedway Park on April 15, Lakeside Speedway on June 7, Eldora Speedway on July 12 and Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 on Aug. 3 and Antioch Speedway on Sept. 8); David Gravel - 5 (Merced Speedway on March 28, Eldora Speedway on May 3, Wilmot Raceway on May 9, Lebanon Valley Speedway on July 20 and Williams Grove Speedway on Oct. 5); Paul McMahan - 5 (The Dirt Track at Las Vegas on March 5, Tri-State Speedway on May 10, Limaland Motorsports Park on July 9, Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 on Aug. 1 and Deer Creek Speedway on Sept. 13); Brad Sweet - 5 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 14, Tucson International Raceway on March 8, Calistoga Speedway on April 5, Knoxville Raceway on June 14 and Beaver Dam Raceway on June 28); Cody Darrah - 2 (Kings Speedway on April 11 and Lernerville Speedway on July 15);Shane Stewart - 2 (Eldora Speedway on May 2 and Willamette Speedway on Sept. 2); Sammy Swindell - 2 (Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 on April 26 and Eldora Speedway on July 11); Rico Abreu - 1 (Thunderbowl Raceway on March 15); Jonathan Allard - 1 (Silver Dollar Speedway, Sept. 6); Christopher Bell - 1 (Jacksonville Speedway on May 7); Dale Blaney - 1 (Attica Raceway Park on May 30); Roger Crockett - 1 (I-94 Speedway on June 21); Lance Dewease - 1 (July 20 at Williams Grove Speedway); Greg Hodnett- 1 (July 18 at Williams Grove Speedway); Mark Dobmeier - 1 (Huset's Speedway on July 2);Kraig Kinser - 1 (Clay County Fair Speedway on Sept. 12); Steve Kinser - 1 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 16); Carson Macedo - 1 (Silver Dollar Speedway on Sept. 5); Stevie Smith - 1 (Lincoln Speedway on May 14).
- administrator on Oct 13, 2014
- Article Date: 10/13/2014