Rossburg, OH — Daryn Pittman has been searching for a spark all season long, as he has been close a number of times to breaking through for his first win of the campaign. He has had a number of strong runs cut short by bad luck, but that all changed on Sunday night as a fast race car and a little good fortune found him, as he was victorious in the 25th Annual Kings Royal at the famed Eldora Speedway in Ohio, with the cameras from SPEED capturing all of the action.
Pittman inherited the lead on the 28th lap after Joey Saldana who was leading came to a stop after making contact with the back straightaway wall due to a flat right rear tire. Pittman would lead on the restart and held off Jason Meyers on the last lap in traffic to pick up his first Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series win of the season. It was his third career win at Eldora Speedway, and he became the 14th winner of the famed Kings Royal and the fifth different winner in the last five years, as he donned the traditional purple robe, received the crown and held the scepter as he sat atop the throne with the Kings Court. The $50,000 triumph was his 26th career World of Outlaws win, which moved him into 15th on the all-time list.
“This is unbelievable right now,” said Pittman. “To put my name with the guys that I was able to listen to last night is amazing. It’s an honor for me. To be mentioned with (Doug) Wolfgang, (Jac) Haudenschild, Bobby Davis Jr., Sammy (Swindell), Steve (Kinser), Don Kreitz and all those guys is truly unbelievable.”
Pittman entered the 25th Annual Kings Royal with two Top-Five finishes in three starts at Eldora Speedway in 2008. He finished 11th on Friday in the Knight Before the Kings Royal, before rain postponed the Kings Royal on Saturday night.
“To say that we were underdogs coming into this weekend would be an understatement,” he commented. “We were good the first night and even better tonight. This is a turning point for our entire season hopefully. This is the time of the year to be good and the time of the year to make or break your season. We fell short early in the season and hopefully we can pick it up from here.”
Pittman who is just outside of the Top-10 in the championship standings was quick to credit his Titan Racing USA team for all of their hard work this season. For a large part of the season, crew chief Glenno Inglis has been doing the bulk of the work, as the team searched for an extra set of hands. They had former full-time crew member Bingo Jenkins and his father Gene helping the team at Eldora.
“We’ve been missing some parts to our race team and had one of our guys leave and just haven’t been able to fill them,” he explained. “We got him back this weekend and he’s not permanent, but he (Bingo Jenkins) and his dad (Gene) complete our race team in ways that are hard to describe. Glenno (Inglis) is an invaluable part and he was trying to carry the load on his own and it’s great to have some help to relieve him. You are only as good as the team around you and the people around you. That was never as true as this weekend.”
The race began with Saldana shooting to a quick lead on the high side of turns one and two. Pittman quickly charged by Dale Blaney and used a slide job to get around Meyers on the opening lap coming off turns three and four to move into second. Saldana opened a very sizeable lead in the first couple laps and by just the fourth lap was already in traffic.
He ran the high side of the track through traffic, with Pittman gaining ground on the seventh and eighth laps. On the ninth lap, Pittman was right on Saldana and was about to try a slide job coming off the fourth turn, when the red flag flew for a Shane Stewart flip. The open red flag period allowed the crews to come on the track and work on the cars.
On the restart, Pittman looked low on Saldana in turns one and two, but did not have enough momentum to make the pass. This allowed Saldana to again open a big lead, while Meyers and Dale Blaney closed in on Pittman.
The caution flag flew on the 15th lap after Dale Blaney spun while running fourth. Donny Schatz, the two-time defending Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion and current series point leader just avoided running into Blaney.
Saldana again used a strong restart to open a healthy lead. At the same time, Chad Kemenah worked his way around Schatz to snag the sixth spot. Saldana again was in traffic on the 18th lap and by this time had opened a very large lead, while Pittman had his hands full with Meyers as the pair battled for the runner-up spot.
Another caution flew on the 22nd lap, giving the leaders open race track with the lapped car going to the rear of the field. Saldana again used a strong restart to open a commanding lead, though the yellow flag would wave just two laps later as Terry McCarl got into the wall on the back straightaway while running fourth.
Saldana pulled away on the restart, though he lost a right rear tire on the 28th lap, making contact with the back straightaway wall and coming to a stop, thus giving the lead to Pittman. A caution just two laps later, setup a final 10 lap shootout to determine who “King 25” would be.
Pittman, piloting the Titan Garages Maxim, maintained his lead over Meyers as the laps wound down. He entered heavy traffic with five laps to go and this allowed Meyers to gain more ground each lap. With just three laps remaining, Meyers was all over Pittman. A lapped machine held up Pittman for the last two laps of the race, allowing Meyers to close in on the finale two laps.
“You don’t get these opportunities very often and you have to take advantage of them,” noted Pittman, who is a native of Owasso, Oklahoma. “You have to buckle down and drive your hardest laps. You know that if you make one mistake that it could cost you the race. I calmed myself down and hit my marks and tried not to hit the fence. I had to keep my tires under me because I knew the (No. ) 14 car was definitely there and probably had a faster race car.”
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