“Unfortunately a couple of guys after the leader lapped them, moved up into the line, ” noted the native of Clovis, California. “It kind of hurt me a little trying to get by them. I wasn’t that good when I got off the cushion in (turns) three and four. That hurt us a little bit tonight, but that’s just lapped traffic and sometimes it helps you and sometimes it hurts you. ”
Schatz used a strong start to get around his teammate Kraig Kinser, as well as Kerry Madsen on the opening lap to put himself in the fourth spot. He would wind up third in the Armor All J&J for Tony Stewart Racing, keeping his streak of being the only driver to finish in the Top-10 of each event this season intact.
“It was big strides for us tonight, ” shared Schatz. “We have been playing around too much and had something that felt halfway decent tonight. I know that Steve (Kinser) was better than us and it was just tough to get around guys out there, unless they made a mistake. We’ll take a Top-Three and go to Attica (Raceway Park) and try to win something. ”
On the opening start prior to the yellow flag, Schatz found a line that worked well for his car to gain a couple of spots early on a track that was tough to pass on He used that same move on the second start to snare two spots.
“It was the same for us on both, ” he said of the two starts. “It gave some guys a chance to see what other people did on the first start and to see how their car was and move around on the race track. It didn’t hurt us. We like to see it go straight through and usually that benefits us. ”
Shane Stewart picked up his second Top-Five finish in the last three events, coming home fourth in the Roth Motorsports machine. He kept pace early with Kinser, but had some trouble with his wing later in the event, which greatly affected the handling of his car as the fuel load burned off.
“All in all it was a good night for us, ” Stewart said. “We just have to keep this going. We had a good run at Charlotte (The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway) and a good run here. I think we would have been ok at Virginia (Motor Speedway) as well. We just had a little bad luck there. I’m happy with it and if we can keep the momentum going and the Top-Fives coming, then we’ll sneak in there and get a few wins. ”
Kraig Kinser had a very strong night, finishing fifth in the Bass Pro Shops Maxim, to earn his best finish of the young season. He began the night by turning the second fastest lap in time trials and followed that up with a second-place finish in the second heat race and a third-place finish in the Crane Cams Dash.
“The Bass Pro Chevrolet was pretty fast all night, ” said the third generation driver. “We learned a number of things that will help us as we go on to the next race. We were a little behind in the feature and were not quite as good as we were the rest of the night. It still was a great night. ”
Joey Saldana finished sixth on Monday night aboard the Budweiser/Open Joist Mopar-powered JEI, to earn his 10th Top-10 finish of the season. Terry McCarl was seventh in the Big Game Treestands Eagle to pick up his fifth Top-10 of 2008. Paul McMahan was eighth, with Kerry Madsen just behind him in ninth in the TK Concrete Maxim.
Craig Dollansky rounded out the Top-10 in the Aggressive Hydraulics Maxim, earning the KSE Race Products Hard Charger Award after starting 17th.
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