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SALINA, Okla. — May 3, 2018 — Growing up in Oklahoma, Shane Stewart remembers very well the days when multiple World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series events were held each season in his home state. There was Tulsa Speedway, which was the closest to Bixby, where he hails from. Also, State Fair Speedway in Oklahoma City was a mainstay on the Outlaws trail for many years.
With the closing of those venues, there was a handful of few years that the series did not visit the Sooner State. Then, in 2011, the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series raced for the first time at Salina Highbanks Speedway and has been returning to the ultra-high-banked and blazing fast three-eights-mile each year since. The series will make their annual visit to Salina this weekend on Saturday, May 5 for the Twister Showdown.
“When they started booking at Salina, I was pretty happy,” said Stewart. “Anytime you can race around home, whether it’s here or Devil’s Bowl (Speedway in Texas) last weekend, a lot of family and friends get to watch me race, who normally don’t get to. Anytime you can race around home is a special, especially when you can win.”
Stewart was victorious in 2015 with the Outlaws at Salina, making him the first driver from the state to win with the series at the track. Daryn Pittman repeated the feat the next season to make it back-to-back wins for home state drivers. Stewart has finished among the top-five in each of his last three starts at the three-eighths-mile, including a fourth-place run last year, which saw him run as high as second during the middle stages of the 30-lap race.
“Salina in unique, with the way it’s banked and the high speeds,” he noted. “You really get going around that place. I like that style of racing. It’s one of those tracks where you have to keep your nose clean when you get to lapped cars. Last year, we got into lapped traffic near the end of the race and Donny (Schatz) was able to sneak by me and a couple of other guys on the bottom. That’s one of the things you have to keep in mind, when you get to lapped traffic that there is another part of the race track, not just racing around the cushion.”
After opening the season with five straight nights of racing in Florida, including a pair of races with the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions, Stewart and his fellow competitors have only raced 11 more times over the two-and-a-half months since, as Mother Nature has taken a toll thus far in 2018, claiming double digit wins.
“It’s tough,” deadpanned Stewart, when asked about all the rainouts. “Not only on me, but for the crew. They are the ones who get kind of stir-crazy in the hotel. Out west was just brutal for us this year. We went almost 10 days, one stretch, and didn’t do anything. That part of it is the worst part, going stir-crazy in the hotel and running out of things to do. You can only clean the car so much as well as the truck and trailer. Eventually, you have to get back to racing to get back in a groove.”
Stewart, who is currently tied for fourth in points, has 11 top-10 finishes this season, with five of those being top-five performances. He has finished on the podium four times this season, with each of those being third-place showings.
“We’ve been a little off this year,” shared Stewart. “I think we are gaining. We changed a few things internally this year with our program. We’re still trying to figure out things and get back to where we were the last couple of years with speed. We had a pretty good finish last Saturday at Devil’s Bowl (Speedway), so hopefully we can carry that into Lake Ozark (Speedway in Missouri) and of course, Salina on Saturday.”
One of the most notable changes during the off-season season was Kyle Larson becoming the sole owner of the team, after being a co-owner with Justin Marks, since the creation of the team in 2013. Also, the aptly re-named Kyle Larson Racing, hired Paul Silva to serve as General Manager. The longtime crew chief and car owner has worked with Stewart quite a bit in the past.
“We have been able to bounce some ideas off each other, at the race he’s been at,” noted the veteran driver, when asked about Silva. “He is a great asset to the team. We’ve had success together and everyone knows that whatever he touches, car-wise, they tend to be pretty quick. It’s great to have him back in our corner and I look forward to seeing what him and Kyle can do this summer. I look forward to racing with those guys."
The pair of races this weekend for Stewart and his fellow World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series competitors begins a stretch of 12 races in a 26-day span as the heart of the season approaches. After the aforementioned inclement weather plagued the early part of the season, the busy stretch of races has drivers and crew members chomping at the bit to be at the race track night in and night out.
“This is when the teams that are going to be the most consistent, the highest in points, are going to start shining,” said Stewart. “Hopefully we can step up our program a little bit and be one of those teams.”
Tickets for the Twister Showdown, featuring the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series at Salina Highbanks Speedway on Saturday, May 5 can be purchased online at slspromotions.ticketforce.com or by phone at 815-344-2023 and at the track on race day.
Twitter: @SLS_Promotions
Facebook: SLS Promotions LLC
- Elizabeth Davis on May 03, 2018
- Article Date: 5/3/2018