Schatz Passes Stewart Late for Ninth Win of 2018 at Charlotte

Schatz Passes Stewart Late for Ninth Win of 2018 at Charlotte

Story By: Anthony Corini/WoO

Photo By: Dave Biro/DB3

CHARLOTTE, NC – May 25, 2018 – Donny Schatz continues his dominance of the 2018 World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series 40th Anniversary Season. Schatz passed Shane Stewart on Lap 24 and went on to win his ninth Feature of the year and 11th of his career at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway. 2017 Outlaw Showdown winner Logan Schuchart completed the podium.

Schatz won the Sears Craftsman Dash to earn the pole for the 30-Lap Feature, but it was Stewart leading the opening lap, utilizing the top of the racing surface.

Stewart set a torrid pace out front and reached lapped traffic quickly before a Lap 10 yellow for Jacob Allen cleared the track for the Bixby, OK native. A caution two laps later for Clyde Knipp would be the final stoppage of the Feature, as the remaining 18 laps went Green-to-Checkered.

Stewart, in search of his first win of the season, again approached traffic quickly in front of Schatz while Brad Sweet, Logan Schuchart and Sheldon Haudenschild waged war for third. That aforementioned trio put on the best race of the evening throwing massive slide jobs, jockeying for position around The Dirt Track at Charlotte.

As laps began to dwindle, Schatz continued to close in on the leader running a car length lower than Stewart was. Schatz showed his nose underneath Stewart multiple times but Stewart stayed in the gas to maintain the lead.

As heavy traffic loomed, Schatz swooped underneath Stewart successfully to lead Lap 24 and the Fargo, ND native would never look back going on to win by 1.684 seconds in front of Stewart.

“In this sport, what you see is what you get, nobody wants to run second, but sometimes it does help when entering lapped traffic. I started moving around the track and my car kept getting better and better,” Schatz said in Victory Lane.

“We’ve been short a [crew] guy all year. I can’t take credit for this, I just drive the thing. These guys have dug and dug through all the adversity this season. We seem to get better through adversity though. I can’t wait for the next race,” Schatz added with a smile.

Shane Stewart, who’s Kyle Larson Racing No.2 team is based out of nearby Mooresville, NC, praised his crew for all the hard work this week. “I can’t thank my guys enough. Maintaining a World of Outlaws Sprint Car requires a lot of work and a lot of money. This is a strong finish for our team. We’ve had a tough start to the year, but hopefully we can get some momentum into the summer months,” Stewart said.

Schuchart, who was victorious in this event a year ago, echoed Stewart’s sentiment about the hard work of his crew, “We haven’t been racing a whole lot lately because of the weather, but these guys haven’t taken a day off. We struggled a little bit on restarts tonight, but we were really strong.”

Sweet and Haudenschild completed the top five with Ian Madsen, Daryn Pittman, Jason Johnson, David Gravel and Gerard McIntyre, Jr – in his first career start at Charlotte – completing the top ten. Brent Marks earned his fourth KSE Hard Charger honor of the season coming from a transfer in the Last Chance Showdown to finish 12th.

With NASCAR at the big track at Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend, World of Outlaws car owners Kasey Kahne and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. raced with the Series. Kahne made his sixth Outlaw start of the year and came forward to an 11th place finish while Stenhouse, in his first Outlaw start since 2009, won the LCS and came home 16th in the No.17BC.

The World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series continues its 40th Anniversary Season with a Memorial Day race at Lawrenceburg Speedway in Indiana before making its inaugural visit to Fairbury American Legion Speedway (FALS) in Illinois on Wednesday, May 30.

Abbreviated Results from The Dirt Track at Charlotte – May 25, 2018: Feature (30 Laps): 1. 15-Donny Schatz [1][$12,000]; 2. 2-Shane Stewart [2][$5,700]; 3. 1S-Logan Schuchart [4][$3,500]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet [3][$3,000]; 5. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [8][$2,600]; 6. 18-Ian Madsen [5][$2,400]; 7. 9-Daryn Pittman [7][$2,300]; 8. 41-Jason Johnson [10][$2,200]; 9. 5-David Gravel [9][$2,150]; 10. O7-Gerard McIntyre [6][$2,100]; 11. 4-Kasey Kahne [13][$1,600]; 12. 19-Brent Marks [20][$1,350]; 13. 11K-Kraig Kinser [12][$1,300]; 14. W20-Greg Wilson [11][$1,200]; 15. 22-Cole Duncan [18][$1,100]; 16. 17BC-Ricky Stenhouse [19][$1,000]; 17. 44-Trey Starks [22][$900]; 18. 5B-Logan Seavey [21][$850]; 19. 7S-Jason Sides [14][$800]; 20. 13-Clyde Knipp [15][$800]; 21. 4B-Steve Butler [23][$800]; 22. 1A-Jacob Allen [16][$800]; 23. 20-Nick Drake [17][$800]; 24. 4S-Danny Smith [24][$800] Lap Leaders: Shane Stewart 1-23, Donny Schatz 24-30; KSE Hard Charger Award: 19-Brent Marks[+8]

Qualifying: 1. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 13.332; 2. 15-Donny Schatz, 13.426; 3. 18-Ian Madsen, 13.429; 4. O7-Gerard McIntyre, 13.52; 5. W20-Greg Wilson, 13.537; 6. 44-Trey Starks, 13.543; 7. 1A-Jacob Allen, 13.557; 8. 7S-Jason Sides, 13.582; 9. 49-Brad Sweet, 13.595; 10. 41-Jason Johnson, 13.608; 11. 2-Shane Stewart, 13.629; 12. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 13.66; 13. 17BC-Ricky Stenhouse, 13.681; 14. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 13.704; 15. 13-Clyde Knipp, 13.745; 16. 9-Daryn Pittman, 13.774; 17. 20-Nick Drake, 13.775; 18. 5-David Gravel, 13.807; 19. 19-Brent Marks, 13.831; 20. 5B-Logan Seavey, 13.899; 21. 22-Cole Duncan, 13.932; 22. 4-Kasey Kahne, 13.967; 23. 4B-Steve Butler, 14.11; 24. 4S-Danny Smith, 14.167; 25. 5A-Justin Barger, 14.236; 26. 1X-Scott Hunter, 14.495