Buckeye Blitz: Schatz Wins Second Consecutive Race in Ohio with Triumph at Eldora

Donny Schatz was hired by Tony Stewart to win races with the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series and he did exactly that this weekend, sweeping both events in the state of Ohio, capped off by a win at his car owner’s track, the famed Eldora Speedway on Saturday night.

Schatz, who took the lead from Jason Meyers on the 26^th lap of the 30-lap event, also took over the series championship point lead, after earning his third A-Feature win of the season. He remains the only Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series driver that has finished in the Top-10 in all 14 events this season.

“I’m glad to get two wins this weekend,” said Schatz. “We had a team ‘Pow-wow’ the other day and it really seems to have helped. We’re excited to head into the big money events this summer.”

Schatz aboard the Armor All J&J chased Meyers down in traffic to take the lead with four laps remaining, with a move on the bottom of the track exiting the fourth turn. Meyers charged back down the front straightaway and into the first and second turns, before stopping on the backstretch after his right rear tired exploded, ending his night.

Schatz, the two-time defending series champion, led on the restart and pulled away at the end to pick up the 73^rd A-Feature win of his Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series career, with Joey Saldana in second and Shane Stewart in third.

“Any time you take the points lead you are excited,” noted Schatz. “We have been there the last few years and are excited to be back there. The other guys have been working very hard and it’s unfortunate to see them have bad luck tonight. The hand of the matter was that we needed to get our car better. We passed him in open race track and we were operating.”

The race began with Meyers leading down the front straightaway, with Terry McCarl diving low into the first turn to snare the lead from Meyers and Stewart, who both started on the front row. Meyers kept pace with McCarl and dove under him exiting the fourth turn on the second lap to take the lead. At the same time, Schatz went from fourth to second, as he used the low side of the track to get around both McCarl and Saldana.

Meyers was in lapped traffic just seven laps into the race. He continued to extend his lead in traffic, while Schatz had Saldana battling him for the runner-up position. On the 10^th lap, Meyers, Schatz and Saldana all were within a couple of car lengths, with Meyers holding on to the lead through heavy traffic. At one point, Meyers and Schatz split a lapped machine while running side-by-side.

“There job is to keep going as fast as they can,” said Schatz of the lapped cars. “Nobody ever expects a lapped car or anyone to pull over. When guys starting driving just to keep you back there, then it gets a little frustrating. I just didn’t get frustrated. You have to use lapped traffic to your advantage. I did it all last year and must have forgotten how to do it, but tonight I must have remembered and I used it to my advantage.”

With five laps remaining, Meyers jumped the cushion in turn two, giving Schatz the opening he needed to inch ahead on the back straightaway, but Meyers charged back exiting the third turn and was officially scored the leader at the line. On the very next lap, Schatz went under Meyers coming off the fourth turn to take the lead. After the only caution of the A-Feature flew for Meyers shredded tire, Schatz used a strong restart to pick up the win.

“We try to win every night out,” Schatz pointed out. “Tony (Stewart) has put forth the world’s greatest effort to build me a good team, and to build a team that was capable of where I was last year, which was on top of the world. If you ask me, right now, this race team is on top of the world and then some, from where it was. We really want to do what we can get him victories. First and foremost we want to see the (No.) 20 car getting wins. It would be ideal for us to be racing each other for wins. We’re excited to be on top again.”

Joey Saldana finished second in the Budweiser/Open Joist Mopar-powered JEI to earn his eighth Top-Five finish of the season. He got around Stewart on the opening lap and then shadowed Schatz for the remainder of the race, as the pair chased Meyers for the majority of the event.

“We had a very good car,” said Saldana. “I think we had the best car actually. I ran them down, but it’s hard to get a run on a guy, when everyone is using the whole race track up, because they watered it so much. We came home second and can’t be too disappointed.”

Stewart picked up his fourth Top-Five finish in the last five nights after a solid third-place performance at Eldora driving a Steve Kent built machine for the Roth Motorsports team. He also moved into the Top-10 in the series championship standings.

“It was another good night,” Stewart said. “The crew did a great job on the car. Paul Kistler really hustled this week to get us our motor back. That is our best motor so I have to thank him for working hard. We just have to keep it going. Hopefully we can get ourselves back up in the points, where this car belongs.”

Jac Haudenschild picked up his fourth Top-Five finish in the last fives races, all of which have been fourth-place runs. He started 10^th in the Owens-Corning Fiberglass Maxim and steadily worked his way to the front.

Daryn Pittman returned to action on Saturday night after taking a precautionary trip to the hospital on Friday night after an accident. The native of Owasso, Oklahoma finished a very solid fifth in the Titan Garages Maxim.

After leading the opening lap, McCarl ran strong all night and wound up sixth in the Big Game Treestands Eagle, with Kerry Madsen in the TK Concrete Maxim just behind him in seventh. Sam Hafertepe Jr. was eighth in the G.H. Plumbing J&J, with Craig Dollansky in the Auto Value Parts Stores Maxim in ninth. Chad Kemenah earned the KSE Race Products Hard Charger Award, coming from the 23^rd starting spot to finish 10^th in the Kantor Oil Company Maxim.

Saldana tried several times to get around Schatz during the middle stages of the race, as they tried to track down Meyers, while also battling a very challenging track surface at Eldora. The second generation driver began the night by setting the fastest lap in time trials of the 37 cars that were in attendance.

“It was pretty tricky everywhere,” explained the native of Brownsburg, Indiana. “I was running the top in (turns) three and four and was actually running them down and then they would go back up top in (turn) one. We had the speed tonight. We just didn’t get the job done.”

Stewart also found the track to be very demanding on Saturday night, as he tried a couple of different lines to see where his car would work best. After losing a couple of spots on the opening two laps, he worked on McCarl for a number of laps before moving into fourth.

“It was really sticky getting in (the corners) and then it was really dry,” said the 2005 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year. “You would get in the rut and it would try to turn you back to the right. When it does that, you obviously have to turn away from the wall and that is what makes you loose. This track has been like that from time to time in the last three years. Before you could run up against the wall and you really didn’t have to fight that big curb, but tonight it was back. We just have to get our car a little bit better in the slick, so I don’t have to rely on that part of the track.”