Brown Wins, Schatz Crowned WoO STP Sprints Champion

Winner Brian Brown (center) second place Stevie Smith (right) and third place Daryn Pittman (left) stand in victory lane after the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series World Finals Saturday night at The Dirt Track at Charlotte. Photo by CMS/HHP

CONCORD, NC – The 2014 World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series season went out with a bang on the final night of the Bad Boy Buggies World of Outlaws World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte as the series saw a first-time winner in victory lane, crowned a new champion and said goodbye to a legend.

In front of a sold out crowd, Brian Brown out-battled the Outlaws and held off challenges from Daryn Pittman and Stevie Smith to score his first ever series win. It was a long time coming for the Grain Valley, MO native.

“I’ll tell you what, to win your first one, there’s nothing better than winning in front of 30,000 of your friends, is there?” Brown said in victory lane. “These guys, I think, take these Outlaw wins for granted. We’ve tried a lot and we’ve run up a lot of second place finishes. I thought there, I maybe gave that one away. I don’t really know what I did wrong but Daryn got going there and we buckled back down. I said, ‘you know what? I’m going to give it all I’ve got here.’ I’m going to put it in the fence or maybe try to win this.”

Brown started the feature on the pole in his No. 21 FVP car with Pittman, who won the previous night at World Finals, next to him. When the green flag fell, the two staked their positions on track – Brown to the top, Pittman to the bottom.

As the field came around for lap eight, Donny Schatz, who started sixth, was battling Kerry Madsen for fourth when the two made contact that left Schatz stopped against the turn three wall. Schatz restarted in 25th after the caution.

While Pittman and Brown continued their battle for the lead, Smith took over the third position from Madsen.

As the laps wound down, the top-two caught lapped traffic, giving Pittman the opportunity he needed.

“We were right with him and really need to get to traffic for my line to take over,” Pittman said. “He was definitely quicker than me on the top of one and two, I felt like I could gain on him in three and four. It worked out perfect. I stayed right with him and I got to lapped traffic and he opened the door up just enough that I could get by him.”

Just as Pittman took the lead in his No. 9 Great Clips car, a caution came out. Pittman saw this as an opportunity for him in the closing laps. Ultimately though, Pittman said it was his undoing.

“The main thing I knew I had to do was to get going on that restart and not spin my tires and try to get a good run on Daryn,” Brown said. “I just wasn’t sure what he was going to do there. I didn’t know where he was running, so I thought he may peel off the bottom and give me the top. He did that, and that’s probably the best top I hit in one and two the whole race, and it made it work.”

As Pittman got bottled up and slid back, Smith, who had been running third much of the night in his No. 51S Miller Chevrolet car, moved into second and set his sights on Brown. The two drivers battled through the closing laps with Brown holding the lead. As the drivers hit the front stretch with the checkered flag in the air, Smith drag raced Brown back to the line, but came up short.

“It’s been a lot of fun and congratulations to (Brown),” Smith said. “He did a really nice job here and this win. He’s been running fast all year. We’re glad to get second. We would have loved to beat him on that last lap – I just couldn’t get it done.”

Pittman, who finished the night in third, said he probably should have moved to the top.

“I knew it was faster up there but just thought I could run the line that I’ve been running all night and hold him off,” Pittman said. “Especially out in clean air I thought it would make a big difference but it just wasn’t enough. So congrats to Brian. At the end of the day this is a great weekend for this team.”

In addition to taking home his ever Outlaws win, Brown became the 24th different and seventh first-time winner of the season.

While Schatz had the championship locked up at Port Royal Speedway two weeks ago, his charge back into Saturday night’s feature further cemented how his team was able to be so dominant all season.

After rising as high as fifth, Schatz fell back to 25th after his spin and subsequent caution. In the succeeding laps he picked up position after position, moving back into the top-five by lap 21. After mixing it up on the restart with three to go, Schatz moved into fourth and stayed there.

“When you drive for one of the best car owners in the sport and the best guys in the pit area, you never give up on them,” Schatz said at the end of the night. “I had no choice. It’s not in the cards to quit. We weren’t happy having to go to the back but it is what we were dealt and I made the best of it.”

After a disappointing end to 2013, Schatz was a man on a mission in 2014, determined not to let the mistakes of the previous year derail another shot at the title. He ultimately compiled 26 wins, the most of any single season in his career, 63 top-fives, 80 top-tens and eight quick time awards.

At the end of Saturday night, Schatz was finally able to hoist the 2014 championship trophy above his head and salute his whole STP / Armor All team.

“Hats off to the whole STP team. They put us in this position where we came here and we didn’t have to race for the win to win the championship but that doesn’t change how we race and tonight proves it.

“It was a great year winning wise but when you sit there and look at the stats of this car, it wasn’t in the work area but twice all year and it was last night and tonight, that’s just tremendous. It’s what these STP guys do. They’re just phenomenal at their jobs – they don’t let anything undone.”
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The night also marked the end of an era for the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series as 20-time champion and 577-time winner Steve Kinser concluded his Salute to the King Tour and his tenure as a full-time touring driver with the series.

After pacing the four-wide salute before the start of the feature, Kinser took the checkered flag in 23rd.

Kinser’s Tony Stewart Racing teammate Schatz summed it up after being crowned champion.

“Tonight’s a sad night to have the last, final night of Steve Kinser full-time,” Schatz said. “It’s been an honor and a privilege to be able to watch him, as a child racing and then grow up and race next to him – be his teammate, have arguments with him, have a few drinks with him and enjoy it… Just an honor to be a part of it. It’s going to be different when we get to the next race in a couple of months and he’s not there.”

World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series
The Dirt Track at Charlotte – Concord, NC
WoO World Finals – Nov. 8, 2014

1. 21-Brian Brown
2. 51S-Stevie Smith
3. 9-Daryn Pittman
4. 15-Donny Schatz
5. 29-Kerry Madsen
6. 2D-Danny Lasoski
7. 71M-Joey Saldana
8. 49-Brad Sweet
9. 51-Paul McMahan
10. 7-Craig Dollansky
11. 24R-Rico Abreu
12. 14K-Dale Blaney
13. 4-Cody Darrah
14. 7S-Jason Sides
15. 14-Lance Dewease
16. 98H-Dave Blaney
17. 2-Shane Stewart
18. 27-Greg Hodnett
19. 1A-Jacob Allen
20. 19M-Brent Marks
21. 1s-Logan Schuchart
22. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild
23. 11-Steve Kinser
24. 12-Lynton Jeffrey
25. 45-Tim Shaffer
26. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss