Saldana Wins World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Race At Skagit Speedway
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Sep 01, 2008
Joey Saldana had the N C Machinery Caterpillar Clash at Skagit Speedway circled on his calendar ever since the 2008 Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series schedule was announced last year. The two-night event at Skagit not only is one of the best paying races of the season, but a home race for his team, which is owned by Kasey Kahne, a native of Enumclaw, Washington, who has six career wins at the high-banked track.
Saldana nearly won the event last season, and was determined this year to return to the winner’s circle at the three-tenths-mile bullring, where he was victorious in 2002. Saldana used a strong restart on the 32nd lap on Sunday night to dive under Jason Meyers in turns one and two to take the lead. He then held off Meyers and 20-time Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion Steve Kinser over the last five laps of the 40-lap contest to take home the $25,000 top prize.
“It was huge for Budweiser and our whole Kasey Kahne Racing team,” said the winner. “We’ve been struggling and this is definitely a race that was on our list to win. Last year we came up one spot short and to win it this year is a great effort for us. Hopefully we can build on this.”
The race began with Kinser, who started second charging to the lead on the high side of turns one and two with Meyer in-tow. Craig Dollansky gained a spot on the opening lap, while Saldana, who started sixth, picked up two positions, passing Jason Solwold who won on Saturday night at Skagit Speedway, along with two-time defending series champion Donny Schatz to move into fourth.
After opening a slight lead on the first three laps, Kinser had Meyers right on him by the fourth circuit. He looked high exiting turns one and two on the sixth lap and was able to dive under Kinser entering turn three, just before the leaders entered lapped traffic. Kinser charged back as the pair was side-by-side on the front straightaway the very next lap. He looked low on Meyers in turns one and two but could not quite make the pass. At this same time, Saldana was able to work his way around Craig Dollansky to move into third.
On the 10th lap, Saldana and Dollansky were both able to get around Kinser as he slipped up the tracks on the back straightaway losing some momentum. At this point, Meyers was in heavy lapped traffic, which allowed Saldana and Dollansky to close up on him, when the first caution of the night flew with 13 laps in the books.
“When we got into good lapped traffic, I really thought I was going to get him,” explained Saldana. “I think in lapped traffic I was better than him, but in open track on the cushion, he was killing me. The only way I was going to win was on a restart where he made a little mistake and I could take his line away. That’s what happened and that’s what got us the win.”
The restart on the 13th lap saw Meyers quickly pull away to an eight car length lead, though he was back in traffic just three laps later, again allowing Saldana to gain ground on him.
Meyers continued to lead as the halfway point of the race neared, and had a close call in the third turn with a slower machine that he was lapping, that moved down the track in front of him. He continued to lead in traffic, with Saldana and Dollansky able to gain ground when he was held up, but once he was able to clear the lapped machines, Meyers would open a slight lead.
A couple of separate cautions with less than 10 laps remaining gave Saldana two opportunities on restarts to make a move on Meyers. On the second restart on the 32nd lap, Saldana dove under Meyers in turns one and two to take the lead. The second generation driver had about a four car length lead when an accident involving Jac Haudenschild and Jonathan Allard led to an open red flag. This gave Saldana and his crew a chance to fine tune their Budweiser/Open Joist Mopar-powered JEI.
“We put a little left rear in it and filled it with full and put the wing back,” noted Saldana, who is a native of Brownsburg, Indiana. “I just tried to run five really good laps and not do anything stupid.”
Saldana opened a slight lead on the final restart, with Meyers and Kinser battling for the runner-up spot. He wound up crossing the finish line over a second ahead of Meyers, to earn his fourth A-Feature win of the season and the 38th of his World of Outlaws career.
After starting the night by turning in the third fastest lap in time trials, Saldana and his team were forced to change an engine prior to the third heat, where he worked his way to second to earn a spot in the Crane Cams Dash.
“My guys have been working hard all year,” Saldana said with a smile. “They have been working hard for me for the last two years. It’s no different this year. We’re just not having the year that had hoped for and this (win) definitely helps. We changed a lot over the winter and we caused a lot of our bad luck this year. I think we are getting back to basics and hopefully that means we’ll run up front more consistently.”
Meyers led the most laps on Sunday night, pacing the field for 26 circuits. He wound up second aboard the GLR Investments KPC to earn his 20th consecutive Top-Five finish dating back to July 9. He also began the night by setting fast time to earn five bonus points and he gained nine more points on Donny Schatz in the series championship standings and now trails by 82 markers.
“It was a good night,” Meyers said. “I just had a bad restart and that cost us the race. I have to do a better job than that, that’s all there is to it. Everyone here did a great job tonight and I had a great race car. Everything was running perfect and one mistake there and he (Saldana) capitalized on it. He did a good job and it was still a good point night for us. We’re still gaining on the leader so we’ll keep doing what we are doing. We’ll get them tomorrow night.”
Kinser led the first five laps of the race and would up third in the Q Oil Maxim, to pick up his 23rd Top-Five finish of the season. Early in the race he was able to pull away in open track as he chased his second career win at Skagit Speedway. He twice had to pass Craig Dollansky late in the race, after his initial pass was negated when a caution flew prior to a full lap being completed.
“I needed to move higher in (turns) one and two,” said Kinser. “I needed to move higher in (turns) one and two. I had a good car and I had a good restart there at the end.
I had a good car and I had a good restart there at the end.”
Donny Schatz finished fourth in the Armor All J&J to extend his streak of Top-10 finishes to 47 events. He is the only driver that has finished in the Top-10 in each and every race this season.
Craig Dollansky was fifth in the Snap-on Tools Maxim, with Saturday night’s winner Jason Solwold in sixth aboard the Extreme Oilfield Technology Maxim. Shane Stewart was seventh in the Roth Motorsports KPC, with Paul McMahan eighth in the Casey’s General Store Maxim. Daryn Pittman came all the way from 18th to finish ninth in the Titan Garages Maxim, with Kerry Madsen finishing 10th in the TK Concrete Maxim after lining up 22nd to earn the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award.
After having a tough time negotiating lapped traffic on Saturday night en route to a third-place finish, Meyers was able to maneuver a lot better through the slower machines on Sunday night. He took his car all over the track as he weaved his way through the slower machines.
“The track was a little wider tonight,” shared Meyers. “I actually thought our car was better in traffic. I don’t know how everyone else was getting through, but we getting through really well. I hated to see those yellows, because it was going pretty good for us.”
During the open red flag with five laps remaining, Meyers and his team just made minor adjustments to their machine.
“We didn’t really change much,” he said. “I knew I had a good car so we didn’t really have to make any changes.”
After leading the majority of the N C Machinery Caterpillar Clash last season only to have a mechanical failure in the driveline end his night, Steve Kinser was glad to finish on the podium at Skagit. He competed in the series first three events at the track during the inaugural 1978 season.
“It was a good comeback,” said the veteran driver. “The guys did a great job giving me a good car tonight. We were back in the Top-Five and have been there most nights over the last few months.”
The Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series returns to action on Monday, September 1 at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Washington.
