All week at Knoxville Raceway, a statement echoed among the thousands of people around the property: “Don’t count out of Donny Schatz.”
He proved that Friday night, winning the Hard Knox Feature, and will try to do so again today as he chases his 12th NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s title from the 21st starting position – live on DIRTVision.
It’s a feat he famously accomplished in 2013 – exactly 11 years ago today – driving from 21st to win his seventh Knoxville Nationals championship.
But does Schatz believe in “don’t count out Donny Schatz?”
“You never count out the [Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing] guys,” Schatz said. “We had an off night. A lot of people capitalized on that. We dug ourselves out of that hole and got ourselves in the show. That’s the main part. So, yeah, I think this race team is really resilient. I don’t think you count them out ever. We’ll see what [Saturday] brings.”
Today will be Schatz’s 26th Knoxville Nationals start, tying him with Danny Lasoski for third most all-time – behind Sammy Swindell (34) and Steve Kinser (35).
Getting there, however, took a bit of luck out of Schatz’s control. After an 18th-place finish in Wednesday’s Qualifier Feature and a low points tally, Schatz found himself in Friday’s Hard Knox event for the first time to earn a spot in Saturday’s Feature. He initially finished fourth in his Friday night Heat Race – one spot out of the transfer – but third-place finisher Jack Dover was disqualified after not going to the scales. That put Schatz in the Hard Knox Feature, on the pole (due to setting Quick Time), and in position to eventually score his spot in Saturday’s contest.
But with that behind him, Schatz said after the race that he and the team would regroup this morning, talk about what did work, what didn’t work, what needs to be changed and listen to what ideas car owner Tony Stewart has.
“We’ll have a discussion,” he said. “There are a lot of guys here. I think the car owner wants to have a discussion with us about some ideas he’s got, so we’ll put enough of the bright minds together to get something drastic.”
The biggest hurdle tonight, especially with having to come from 21st, is maintaining equipment, Schatz said. With five laps to go Friday night, he said he could already feel his car starting to fade.
“The racetrack starts out pretty wet and she’s kind of hammer down,” Schatz said. “Then, she starts to change and you really go, and you better be in a good position when that happens. You have to be able to pick a car off here or there. Not use your stuff up.
“We’re going around there, and shocks are getting hot, things are starting to fade. It’s crazy how hard we’re able to race these cars and how much grip there is here and there… Guys are going to have to be pretty smooth and not use their stuff up. I think [today’s] race is going to come down to that. You’ve probably heard it a hundred times “use your stuff up.” That’s literally what is happening. We have to find a way to be better than everyone else.”
He added that the 1/2-mile track has been tricky all week, which is what led to him being passed for the lead by Logan Schuchart Friday night as he was searching for a line that worked.
“If you slow down too much to not get off the bottom, someone is going to rip the top,” Schatz said. “That’s what I was focused on, making sure I got off the top as hard as I could. I think that’s something that’s going to be pretty key [tonight]. I’ve got a few things I think we can do to be a little bit better.”
In addition to the historical markers Schatz can achieve tonight by winning, a victory would also be a special birthday gift to himself as he celebrates his 47th birthday today.
While grandstand tickets are sold out for Saturday’s 63rd NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s, you can still watch every lap of “The Granddaddy of Them All” live on DIRTVision.
