LAS VEGAS – When Donny Schatz failed to reach victory lane during Wednesday night’s opener to the FVP Platinum Battery Outlaw Showdown at The Dirt Track at Las Vegas, it marked a phenomenon that hasn’t occurred in six years.
Schatz is winless in the first three races of the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series, the first time he’s failed to win in the opening trio of features since the 2013 season.
That year, Schatz missed out on scoring during the DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park in Florida, but came to Las Vegas and won the opening night of the track’s two-day weekend.
It makes him a safe bet to potentially break out of his perceived slump during Thursday night’s Sin City finale, though Schatz put on an impressive show by coming from 11th to finish third on Wednesday.
“That was the best we could do there,” Schatz said after the race. “We gave it our best shot and were in the mix for the whole race. Hats off to my guys. We’re gaining on things and getting a little bit better. The track was awful tricky tonight, compared to normal, and I’m not too sure that the wind wasn’t throwing me a bit of a curveball there at the end.
“We’ll go back and tune things up for tomorrow and see if we can’t do a little bit better.”
Schatz moved up to second in Outlaw points after Wednesday night, eight points back of the lead, and is the only driver this season to score top-five finishes in all three races held so far.
When told about the statistic regarding his three-race winless drought, Schatz had a snappy comeback.
“I find it funny that people even come up with dumb stats like that,” he noted.
– Gio Scelzi appeared to be in the catbird’s seat during the closing laps at Las Vegas on Wednesday, running second to leader Tim Shaffer and appearing to have a shot on a sequence of late restarts.
However, Scelzi stumbled on the final green flag of the night and dropped from second to fifth, seeing a potential third-straight victory for Roth Motorsports slip through his fingers.
After the race, Scelzi was quick to absorb the blame and vowed to come back stronger.
“I just made a late mistake on that last restart and ended up fifth,” said Scelzi. “Thank you to Roth Motorsports and Bernie (Stuebgen, crew chief) for giving me a car capable of winning tonight. I’m learning more and more every night (out) with the World of Outlaws and I’m excited for tomorrow.”
– Interestingly enough, Scelzi outran his Roth teammate Daryn Pittman all night long, with Pittman having to settle for seventh after winning the first two races of the season in Florida.
The pair matched each other by both winning their respective heat races, but Scelzi then finished higher than Pittman did in both the DIRTvision Fast Pass Dash and the 30-lap main event.
Pittman did maintain the point lead, however, but now has Schatz breathing down his neck.
– On a track not traditionally known for passing due to its high speeds and sweeping nature, Las Vegas did see a pair of less well-known names rip through the field on Wednesday night.
Cory Eliason had a strong showing for Rudeen Racing, earning hard-charger honors by coming from 23rd to finish eighth, while Brent Marks crossed the line 11th after using a provisional to start the feature.
– Brad Sweet had to start his first Last Chance Showdown in 481 days on Wednesday night, after failing to make the A-main through heat-race action. He went on to finish ninth in the 30-lap feature.
Sweet’s last time missing the cut in his heat race prior to this week was on Nov. 3, 2017, during the opening night of the World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
