Sprint Car Recaps

Shane Stewart Scores another Knoxville Nationals Night One Win

Daryn Pittman leads the event standings after quicktime

KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Aug. 10, 2016 — Shane Stewart did it again in Wednesday night’s 5-Hour ENERGY Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s General Stores as he scored on a qualifying night for the third year in a row – his fifth time overall – and second win in a row after capturing the previous night’s Capitani Classic.

Stewart battled past Jeff Swindell and held off Donny Schatz through the opening night of Knoxville Nationals — looking much like a replay from last year’s Nationals.  After passing fellow Oklahoma native Wayne Johnson on lap 3, Stewart closed in on leader Swindell, giving him a run for his money on Lap 9, and finally taking him on Lap 10.

“I hope you’re interviewing me one more time this week,” said Stewart from Victory Lane. “I’ve got a great car right now, but I know that we’re going to have to pick it up just a little bit more to beat that No. 15 [Donny Schatz].”

Schatz, who had already worked his way up from six, took Swindell in Lap 11 and fought Stewart for the remaining 15, but just couldn’t seal the deal, despite a brief advantage in Lap 14. A caution for Lynton Jeffrey, who lost a wheel on Lap 12, seemed like the perfect opportunity for Schatz to charge, but it wasn’t until two laps later that Schatz managed to capture his short-lived lead. Much like the previous year, the two drivers have spent much of the 2016 World of Outlaws Craftsman® Sprint Car Series season battling each other.

And like last year, Stewart’s No. 2s is once again sporting a special paint scheme honoring retiring NASCAR star Jeff Gordon and his early sprint car career.

Meanwhile, third into victory lane was Chad Kemenah, who brought his Hunter Racing No. 10h up from fifth. “This is good for Saturday, and takes a little bit of pressure off,” said Kemenah. “Maybe on Saturday, we can be just as consistent or a little bit better.”

Another Outlaw victory went to yet another Oklahoma native, Daryn Pittman, who made quicktime at 14.791 — still shy of the Nationals one-lap record of 14.547 set by Cory Darrah in 2009. Pittman was followed by Sammy Swindell, who came in at 14.794, and Australians Ian Madsen and Jamie Veal, who came in at 14.887 and 14.995 respectively.

Following night one, Pittman leads the Knoxville points standings with 485 points over second place Jamie Veal, who has 477 points. Donny Schatz, Chad Kemenah, and Shane Stewart round out the top five positions.

The 56th 5-Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s General Stores continues tomorrow night with the second qualifying race. To find out more information and to learn how to buy tickets, visit http://www.woosprint.com/knoxville-nationals.

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Gravel Battles Rain, Restarts for Prelude to the Ironman Win

Scores his second straight win and seventh of the season

PEVELY, Mo. – Aug. 5, 2016 – Neither rain nor restarts could dampen David Gravel‘s Friday night as he dominated the Monroe Shocks and Struts Prelude to the Ironman at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 and scored his second straight and seventh overall World of Outlaws Craftsman® Sprint Car Series victory of the season.

Off-and-on light rain fell on the 1/3 mile, bullring in Pevely, Mo. throughout the feature, but Gravel was the class of the field in his No. 5 Big Game Treestands machine. Multiple restarts hit in the middle of the 35-lap main event, but Gravel held off the competition behind and cruised to the finish. He has led the last 75 laps of World of Outlaws competition.

“We’re really rolling right now,” Gravel said in victory lane. “It was a really fast race track around the top and the rain made the top even better and tighter as the race went on… We’ve won a rain-shortened race so you don’t want to get too many of those. You want to earn them. You needed that 35-lap workout because 55 laps tomorrow is going to be tough, for sure.”

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Wilmot Warrior: David Gravel wins O’Reilly Auto Parts Badger 40 at Wilmot Raceway

Scores his sixth World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series victory of the season 

By Tony Veneziano

WILMOT, Wisc. – July 30, 2016 – David Gravel has been under the weather over the course of the last week, but he didn’t let that slow him down on Saturday night in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Badger 40 at Wilmot Raceway in Wisconsin. The native of Watertown, Connecticut, led all 40 laps to claim his sixth World of Outlaws Craftsman® Sprint Car Series win of the season.

Gravel has now won in both of his starts with the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series at Wilmot Raceway and has 13 career wins with the series.

“It’s been a rough last six or seven days for me and I’m just starting to feel better,” said Gravel, who drives the Big Game Treestands machine for CJB Motorsports. “The car was just awesome. I’ve only had one other car ever that has driven perfect like that. There was a lot of yellows and that gave Donny (Schatz) a lot of shots at me and chances to try to change it up a little bit.”

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Schatz Comes Out On Top of Three-Way Battle at Ohsweken

Scores his 16th World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series victory of the season

OHSWEKEN, Ont. – July 26, 2016 – A three-way battle for the lead dominated Tuesday night’s Six Nations Showdown at Ohsweken Speedway with Donny Schatz, Jacob Allen and Brad Sweet jockeying for the top spot. Ultimately, it was Schatz who broke away from the pack and claimed his 16th World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series victory of the season.

The win was the third in the last four seasons for Schatz at Ohsweken – the series’ only stop in Canada this season.

“Always good to get a win,” Schatz said. “Canada has been very good to me. I love coming up here… Glad to be at Ohsweken tonight. We’re going to go back to the (United) States and try to win some more.”

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A Little Luck and A Lot of Skill Help Lance Dewease to Summer Nationals Win

Retains coveted Morgan Cup trophy for the Pennsylvania Posse and pockets $25,000 

MECHANICSBURG, Pa. – July 23, 2016 – Lance Dewease’s World of Outlaws Craftsman® Sprint Car Series victory in the the Champion Racing Oil Summer Nationals finale at Williams Grove Speedway on Saturday night took a lot of hard work and a little good luck.

Dewease, who spent much of the first two-thirds of the feature looking for a line around Joey Saldana, battled to the lead on one restart, had do it again after the caution flew before a lap was completed and then, after the caution flew on the final lap for Aaron Ott, who spun near the start/finish line, ran out of fuel as the open red was called.

“I was out (of fuel) about six laps before that,” Dewease said. “It kept shutting off going down the straight away. I just slowed way out of the throttle so I could try to make it to the end, took the white, it sputtered a little going up the back stretch, I thought I was good and we come of four for the checkered and the yellow comes out. I thought, man, we’re done… Everything went our way tonight.”

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Daryn Pittman Pounces on the Posse at Williams Grove Summer Nationals        

Posse regulars Dewease and Hodnett round out the podium 

MECHANICSBURG, Pa. – July 22, 2016 – Daryn Pittman held off the Pennsylvania Posse in Friday night’s Champion Racing Oil Summer Nationals opener at Williams Grove Speedway to score his seventh World of Outlaws Craftsman® Sprint Car Series victory of the season.

Posse regulars Lance Dewease and Greg Hodnett both tried to run down the No. 9 Great Clips car, but Pittman held tough and gave the Outlaws their second win in Posse territory this season.

“I don’t know if I’m more nervous with (Hodnett) behind me or (Dewease) – neither one of them you want to see on the scoreboard,” Pittman said in victory lane. “Man, we won again at Williams Grove… this is a special race track to win at.”

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David Gravel Battles to Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup Victory

Picks up his fifth World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series victory of the season

SARVER, Pa. – July 19, 2016 – Donny Schatz did not make it easy, but David Gravel proved up to the task as he battled to his fifth World of Outlaws Craftsman® Sprint Car Series victory of the season in the 25th Annual Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup at Lernerville Speedway on Tuesday night.

Gravel started from the front, but did not have an easy road as Schatz moved forward early and then began challenging the Watertown, Conn.-native for the lead. Through lapped traffic, Schatz closed the distance and then battled by Gravel. Gravel kept up the pressure though and, the next lap by, was in position when Schatz bobbled on the cushion. He took back the top spot and held off challenges through the end of the 40-lap feature.

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Eldora Speedway Crowns King Donny XXXIII at Kings Royal

Schatz scores his third Kings Royal title and 15th World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series victory of the year 

ROSSBURG, Ohio – July 16, 2016 – It has been nearly a decade since he last stood in victory lane at the Kings Royal, but Donny Schatz looked like a natural as he was crowned King Donny XXXIII – his third Kings Royal title since 2007 – on Saturday night at Eldora Speedway.

Schatz who drew number 15 in the qualifying pill draw and was looking to get his 15th World of Outlaws Craftsman® Sprint Car Series victory of the season had the luck on his side, he just needed the hard work to push him through – and that’s exactly what he and his team did.

“This is unbelievable,” Schatz said. “It’s been a challenge here all weekend and it’s one of them places, we felt like we’ve been good at the Royal and we’ve maybe just done the wrong things. But not tonight. We were awesome all night. These guys got the car qualified well, got through the Heat, the car was awesome in the Heat races. It’s such a blast.”

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Daryn Pittman Tops in Knight Before the Kings Royal Victory

Donny Schatz and Rico Abreu repeat their previous night’s performance

ROSSBURG, Ohio – July 15, 2016 – Daryn Pittman dominated the Knight Before the Kings Royal at Eldora Speedway on Friday night, as he cruised to his sixth World of Outlaws Craftsman® Sprint Car Series victory of the season.

For Pittman, the win was his first at the historic half-mile oval in Rossburg, Ohio since May 4, 2013. Even with the victory, Saturday night’s $50,000-to-win Kings Royal, one of the most coveted wins in all of motorsports, was on Pittman’s mind.

“Hats off to this Great Clips team. We had a really great car,” Pittman said. “It doesn’t matter how good you are tonight. We can’t do exactly what we did, tomorrow night. Tomorrow night is a new race track. Try to go after my second Kings Royal. It was a pretty special win in 2008.”

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