Stewart first hired Schatz going into the 2008 Outlaws season, with Schatz coming off a second-straight championship for his family team and showing all the makings of a potential superstar in the sport.

The combination was lethal once it got going. Schatz won 18 features that year, including the Williams Grove Summer Nationals, his third-straight Knoxville Nationals and his first of six-career wins at the World Finals at Charlotte.

The rest, as they say, is history. At that point, a dynasty was born.

Over the past decade, Schatz has scored seven of his nine series championships and 179 of his 249 career series wins, all under Stewart’s guidance and leadership.

It’s a run that has catapulted Schatz to third on the all-time Outlaws win list and second all-time in total series championships (behind former teammate Steve Kinser’s record 20 titles), as well as a sure-fire spot in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame when all is said and done.

Did Stewart ever see it coming?

“There’s no way any of us could have predicted that we’d be standing here talking about the kind of numbers we’ve put up together,” Stewart admitted. “I don’t think anyone ever thinks ahead or plans ahead that far. We just knew that (Donny) was somebody special … you could see it in the way in the way that he drove and you could see how (quickly) he progressed.”

“He wasn’t even at his full potential yet, I don’t think, when we first signed him … every year I keep trying to tell these guys how incredible it is what they do together. He’s just special behind the wheel, man.”

Stewart also acknowledged how tough it is to continue to perform at the level Schatz and TSR do each year over the long grind of a 90-plus race calendar with the Outlaws.

“I think once they get to this point of they year, it’s becomes kind of like the (NASCAR) Cup season,” he explained. “You’re just glad it’s over. It’s a long, long stretch each calendar year for these guys, but they manage it as well as anyone I’ve seen.”

“It’s important to have fun when you’re at the race track as much as these guys are, and they do. We all know how to have fun and have a good time. It’s stressful enough to do this for an entire year … but at the same time it’s hard to keep an equation like this going if you don’t have fun in the middle of all of it too.”

“We work hard, we race hard … but at the same time we all know how to play hard too.”

And while the team and driver may rarely have a chance to sit back and reflect on all they’ve accomplished already, Saturday night afforded the boss a chance to do so, enjoying every small moment and shared laugh along the way.

“I don’t know if they really think about it until they get home … but I do,” Stewart smiled. “On a night like tonight, what they’ve done is special to watch and be a part of with them.”

About the Writer

Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network, as well as a periodic contributor to SPEED SPORT Magazine.

Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.

The 23-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.

Email Jacob at: editor@racechaseronline.com

Follow on Twitter: @Speed77Radio or @JacobSeelman77

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