Donny Schatz, seen here from an earlier victory, took the win in Saturday’ night’s World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series season finale at The Dirt Track at Charlotte. Photo: DIRTcar Nationals Media
Donny Schatz orchestrated the celebration of his 229th career trip to World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series victory lane differently Saturday night at The Dirt Track at Charlotte in Concord, North Carolina.
The 20-year series veteran – as usual – hoisted the flag into an erupting confetti machine after the World of Outlaws World Finals. But the thousands of fans erupted too when he tossed the checkered flag into the stands among the falling confetti.
Another extraordinary component to Schatz’s night-cap was his reflection on the other 24 wins during the season. Each victory added value to his season – alongside the 60 top-five’s and 77 top-10’s in a season with some-90 points races. Collectively, his consistent success throughout the rigor of one of the most premier national tours led to a dominant 314-point spread in the series’ points race.
With the points lead, Schatz officially captured his eighth series championship. Schatz has won a championship in 40 percent of his seasons with the Outlaws.
“I know fans would have loved to see it go down to the wire,” said Schatz about his championship campaign. “It’s hard to say in this sport when you take 92 events coast-to-coast you have during the season. We left Florida to start this season 100-plus points in the hole. We had to win. We dug out of that hole – a 100-point deficit to a 300-point deposit with four DNFs along the way. To me, it was one of the hardest fought comebacks that we’ve had, and I’m really proud of my guys for that. After that, it says there’s nothing my guys can’t do.”
Like Schatz alluded to, he and his Tony Stewart Racing team encountered adversity at DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park. Though he captured his first win of the season on the second night of the three-day event, Schatz did not make the feature in the opener and concluded the event placing outside of the top 10. For the reigning series champion, who won 31 races in 2015, he felt the pressure early-on.
“On paper, we won a lot of races and had no DNFs,” said Schatz recollecting on 2015. “The hardest thing you can ever do is come out of a hole. We came out of that hole, and had consistent top-five and top-three finishes. But, there were also some things we left on the table. We left a championship out of Knoxville (Nationals), but this championship somewhat makes up for that.”
This year’s championship and a victory at the highly-regarded King’s Royal at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway were two redeemable up-sides to the season. To him, those moments are still “hard to put into perspective.” In the 10-month span of preparation and competition, Schatz’s successes have yet to resonate with him. Though it will take Schatz some time to absorb the total success of the year, his triumph for the finale of World Finals was felt immediately in victory lane.
Schatz, who started fifth for the 30-lap feature, used his momentum from the previous night toward his 2016 season send-off. David Gravel led the field into the green flag. From there he alternated from the top in turns one and two to the bottom in turns three and four to maintain the top spot.
The first of four cautions on the second lap not only diminished Gravel’s buffer, but also regrouped the field. On the restart, Schatz charged forward. He picked-up his podium spot, then set his sights on quick-timer Greg Hodnett and Gravel ahead of him. Schatz eventually used lapped traffic to take over the second spot on the backstretch, and used the breaks in momentum from the cautions to his advantage.
The race’s second caution on the 13th lap again regrouped the field. Gravel defended his top spot on the restart and in turns one and two. However, on the following lap Schatz, made a successful move the second time around for the lead before another caution flew on the 15th lap.
Gravel stayed on pace with Schatz thereafter, with the race’s final caution with nine laps remaining gave Gravel another opportunity to strike.
Gravel tried to make a move on the Schatz, but couldn’t make it pay off. Schatz went on to take the win, with Gravel in second and Greg Hodnett in third.
Joey Saldana and Logan Schuchart rounded out the top five.
World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series
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Race Results – October 29, 2016
1. 15-Donny Schatz
2. 5-David Gravel
3. 27-Greg Hodnett
4. 83-Joey Saldana
5. 1S-Logan Schuchart
6. 21-Brian Brown
7. 2-Shane Stewart
8. 9-Daryn Pittman
9. 10H-Chad Kemenah
10. 7S-Jason Sides
11. 49X-Tim Shaffer
12. 99-Brady Bacon
13. 41-Jason Johnson
14. 48-Danny Dietrich
15. 2L-Danny Lasoski
16. 49-Brad Sweet
17. 1B-Dale Blaney
18. 5W-Lucas Wolfe
19. 23-Trey Starks
20. 17B-Bill Balog
21. 71M-Dave Blaney
22. 7-Paul McMahan
23. W20-Greg Wilson
24. 18-Ian Madsen
25. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild
26. 82-Sammy Swindell
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