CONCORD, N.C. – story and audio by Managing Editor Jacob Seelman for Speed77 Radio and Race Chaser Online – Chris Seelman photo – Donny Schatz threw everything but the proverbial kitchen sink at polesitter Joey Saldana Friday night.
Unfortunately for the five-time World of Outlaws champion, none of his efforts were ultimately successful.
Saldana, driving the No. 71M Motter Motorsports machine, led from start to finish in Friday’s 30-lap Circle K/NOS Energy Drink Outlaw Showdown at the Dirt Track at Charlotte, picking up his fourth Outlaws win of the season in front of a packed grandstand in Concord, North Carolina.
Saldana started on pole after winning the dash, and was humbled in victory lane to have beaten one of the best ever in World of Outlaws competition at Charlotte.
“We’re a small team, and here we are taking it to the big guys,” Saldana said in victory lane as he took in the emotion of winning at as prestigious a venue as Charlotte. “When a guy like Donny who’s won as much as he has here is coming after you and you can beat him to the checkered flag, it means a lot. This one means a lot tonight.”
The “Brownsburg Bullet” drove to victory despite several spirited charges from the STP/Armor All No. 15 along the way, the toughest coming at Lap 9 when Schatz actually got around Saldana in Turns One and Two before an untimely caution flag flew for a Kory Crabtree spin on the backstretch that negated the efforts of the Tony Stewart Racing machine.
Due to World of Outlaws rules, scoring reverts to the last completed lap, sending Schatz back to second and on the charge once again.
Schatz tried two more times to sneak around Saldana, once on Lap 21 in lap traffic, getting side by side with Saldana coming to the stripe, and again with three laps to go in Turn 3 on the high side, but each time Saldana was able to hold off Schatz’s advances.
After the race, Schatz lamented the caution that flew on Lap 9, frustrated that the break didn’t fall his way to keep the lead.
“I don’t know what the deal was with that caution; I thought we had completed at least one more lap, but I guess we reverted back and (Saldana) kept the lead,” Schatz said after the race. “After that, I feel like we had a good enough car to get back around him but just couldn’t catch traffic like we needed to.
“I just needed to figure out how to pass him a few more times, I guess. That’s the secret of the game. These STP guys, I really wanted to get a win for them. They keep putting a great racecar under me and keep making it better. That’s all you can really ask for.”
“I guess sometimes it’s just not your night.”
Shark Racing’s Logan Schuchart, Paul McMahan and Cody Darrah completed the top five at the finish.
Kasey Kahne Racing’s Daryn Pittman entered the night with a four-race winning streak on the line, but he never factored into the A-main battle.
After qualifying 15th and finishing fourth in his heat race, Pittman lined up 14th for the feature, and ultimately ended up rallying to the 8th position.
The result kept Pittman in the points lead by a single marker over Saldana after coming into the night with a 19 point advantage.
“I’m fairly happy with our A-Main,” Pittman said. “We never come with the goal of running eighth, but we dug ourselves such a big hole in the time trials that we couldn’t dig ourselves out of it.
“Truthfully, it’s a bad night for us. If our bad nights are eighth-place finishes, that’s a good thing. We were going forward and we salvaged a respectable finish.”
The event’s biggest accident occurred on a restart after the lap nine Crabtree caution, when Larson-Marks driver Shane Stewart clipped the wheel of the 49 of Brad Sweet and flipped spectacularly after making contact with one of the infield tires.
Stewart was unhurt in the crash, which also collected Jason Sides.
Schatz set fast time to begin the night, and he, Paul McMahan and Saldana won heat races on the night.
Jonathan Davenport dominated the FASTRAK Late Model Series portion of the night, setting fast time and going on to win leg one of the FASTRAK Triple Crown by leading every lap of the late model A-main.
