Pair of Podiums Bookend Saldana’s Trip To Florida
Story By:Peterson Media
Photos By:Pete MacDonald/Racersguide.com
Barberville Fla.- Reuniting with the Roth Motorsports team to kick off their 2016 World of Outlaws season in Florida after debuting in Arizona back in January, Joey Saldana was able to score a pair of podium finishes during the busy five nights of racing billed as the DIRTcar Nationals.
“I have to thank Dennis and Teresa Roth for this opportunity and their commitment to the World of Outlaws,” Saldana said. “Overall I think we had a successful trip, and I think that if am a little better and our car is a little better we probably grab two victories, but it was a nice start to the season.”
Running the first two nights of the DIRTcar Nationals under the Artic Cat Circuit of Champions banner, Saldana was able to open things up by timing the Roth Enterprises/HR Livestock/Roth Investments No. 83 machine in 10th fastest overall before racing his way to a heat race win.
Moving into the Dash, the ‘Brownsburg Bullet’ lined up on the front row and out dueled Dave Blaney for the win and the right to line up on the pole for the 30-lap A Main Event.
When the green flag dropped, Saldana was hard on the throttle as he jumped out to a nice lead as Blaney, and Greg Hodnett gave chase. As the race clicked off uninterrupted laps, lapped traffic became a factor for Saldana and it allowed his competitors to close up on him.
Getting tight on the exit of turn four coming to complete the 18th lap, Blaney was able to sneak underneath him and take the lead. With cautions coming on lap 20 and 21, Saldana would battle with Blaney and Donny Schatz over the course of the final laps of the race and would close his night out with a third place effort.
Timing in 14th fastest overall on Thursday night, Saldana would finish sixth in his heat race and grid the field from the eighth row for the 30-lap A Main. Able to gain some positions on the wicked fast Volusia Speedway, Saldana would close out the All Star portion of the week with a 12th place finish.
When the World of Outlaws season kicked off on Friday night, Saldana did not time in like he needed to with the new World of Outlaws format, and 15th fastest lined him up in the second row of his heat race.
Needing to advance into the Top-Two to earn a Dash berth, Saldana’s third place finish would place him in the sixth row for the feature. A wild feature event would see Saldana come from the back after his Roth Motorsports team replaced a damaged nose wing to finish 12th in the season opening feature event.
Picking up an eighth place finish on Saturday night, Saldana came back on Sunday night and turned in his best performance of the week.
Timing the Roth Enterprises/3H Cattle/KPC No. 83 in second fastest, Saldana would race his way to a heat race win before winning the Dash and earning the right to lead the field to green in the final feature event of the week.
Starting alongside a red-hot Brad Sweet, Saldana was able to get the early jump on what was an extremely fast racing surface. Leading the first eight laps the caution flew on lap nine and put Sweet next to Saldana for the restart.
The restart would see Sweet get a run and take over the lead while Saldana ran in the second spot and battled with Lucas Wolfe. Falling back to third late in the race, Saldana would fend off David Gravel for the final podium spot as he closed the week with his second podium and ended up fifth overall in the DIRTcar Nationals points.
“It was really good to end the week the way we did,” Saldana said. “It was good to put a whole night together and find some speed during time trials. I am really looking forward to this season ahead, and hopefully we can be a little better in a couple of weeks and give Dennis and Theresa Roth another World of Outlaws victory.”
The Roth Motorsports team would like to thank Roth Enterprises, HR Livestock Transportation, Roth Investments, 3H Cattle, Mobil1, FK Rod Ends, Weld Wheels, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, Kent Performance, Kaeding Performance, and Astro Titanium for their support in 2016.
ON TAP: Joey and the Roth Motorsports team will be back in action on Februay 26th at the Cotton Bowl Speedway and on the 27th at the Royal Purple Raceway.
2016 BY THE NUMBERS: Starts-10, Wins-0, Top 5’s-2, Top 10’s-7.
