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Saldana Takes World Of Outlaws Finale; Schatz Crowned Champion

Concord, N. C. – In the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series season finale at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Saturday evening, Joey Saldana won the battle and Donny Schatz was victorious in the war.

Along with dozens of others, they performed before an estimated crowd of 14,000 fans along with a nationwide television audience.

In the 30-lap feature race on the .4-mile dirt track, Saldana shot into the lead halfway through, going on to score his 20th victory of the 66-race season. The Indiana resident drove Kasey Kahne Racing’s Budweiser/Team ASE/Remington winged sprint car.

“Twenty wins mean a lot to us. It is pretty cool,” the victor said. “I didn’t think I could win 20 races in a lifetime. With our team, it is feast or famine — we either win or we break. I wish I could up here for the championship prize.”

Dale Blaney raced to second place ahead of championship contender Jason Meyers, 20-time champion Steve Kinser, Fred Rahmer and Schatz.
Meyers drove to victory on Friday evening ahead of fast-qualifier Schatz, who came in second.

On Saturday evening, Schatz only needed to finish 15th or better to chalk up his fourth consecutive championship, but he did much better than that in Tony Stewart Racing’s STP/Armor-All Chevrolet.

“It doesn’t matter whether it is four (championships) or another number, but today is very important to me,” the new champion said. “Friday night’s car was awesome but I got very conservative tonight, as today was the first time I really thought about this points deal. I got very nervous about everything, but it worked out for us.”

Car owner Stewart attempted to keep his driver calm. “Tony (Stewart) told me to worry about the war, not the battle,” said Schatz, who earned $150,000 for the championship.

Schatz’s car carried the commemorative colors of Mario Andretti’s 1969 Indianapolis 500 winning car, which put added pressure on the North Dakota native. “Mario (Andretti) told me when we did this STP thing that he doesn’t associate with losers, only with winners. His words put a big weight on our shoulders,” he stated.

Sharing the billing with the sprint cars was the World of Outlaws Late Model Series.

In the 50-lap feature for the late models, Jimmy Owens took the victory and he was trailed by Tim McCreadie, Earl Pearson Jr., Darrell Lanigan, Shannon Babb, Clint Smith and Josh Richards.

Said the victor, “The car was great, but we spent much of the night fixing it after last night’s incident. We worked on it until four or five this morning, and it is great to get this win in front of such a large crowd.”

The championship came down to a two-way battle between Richards and Steve Francis. When the dust settled, Richards took the championship and the $100,000 prize that goes with it.

“I don’t know what to say,” the West Virginia native said. “With everything we have been through, this is a dream come true. I would never have dreamed that we would become champion after the way our season began.”

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