The race began with Jason Meyers starting from the pole, leading the first 20 laps. On the 21st circuit, contact between Meyers and Schatz, as the latter went for the lead under, forced Meyers to the work area, thus relinquishing the lead to Saldana. Schatz did a 360 and was able to keep going, and retained his spot in the running order, after an inadvertent yellow flag was waved.
Saldana held the point for the next five laps, before Schatz charged around him at the start/finish line on the 26th lap. By the time the pair entered the second turn, Saldana had again surged back around the reigning series champion.
While they battled at the front, Shaffer, in the Casey’s General Stores Maxim powered his way from the ninth starting spot into the Top-Three. He patiently closed in on the duo in traffic.
“That was a blast, ” said Shaffer, a native of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. “We had a great race car and everything worked great. Everything seemed to go right tonight and it was a lot of fun. ”
Schatz came home in the third spot, to earn his ninth Top-Five finish in the first 10 races of the season. He continues to lead the series championship standings, as he chases his second World of Outlaws crown.
“We had all of our chances, we just didn’t get long enough runs, ” said Schatz, driver of the Parker Store J&J. “We needed to hit lapped traffic. For whatever reason this new format doesn’t let us get to lapped traffic without having yellows. It’s just the time of the year when we are not getting long enough runs and not really hitting lapped traffic so we can race guys. It’s been kind of wide open race tracks. We just keep plugging away at it. ” Saldana tried some different lines early in the race, as he ran in the second spot. He found as very strong line toward the middle of the race that helped propel him to his second win at Volunteer Speedway. He won an event with the All Star Circuit of Champions at the high-banked oval in 1993.
“I think the traffic was good, ” said Saldana. “The other guys were rolling the middle well, and they were not running the top as well as me. It helped me get around the top and the lapped cars slowed those guys down some. ”
On a night when his car owner, NASCAR star Kasey Kahne was the Grand Marshall of the event, Saldana made sure to send his owner home with a smile on his face, along with every fan that was in the crowd and witnessed the thrilling race.
“If they didn’t enjoy that one, they will never enjoy a sprint car race, ” he commented. “Everyone was trying hard, and you did not know what would happen. That was definitely a “full-on” sprint car race. Hopefully they all enjoyed it. ”
For Shaffer, his runner-up finish was his fourth Top-Five finish of the season. He got around Sammy Swindell on the 17th lap to break into the Top-Five. From there, he gained another spot, when Jason Solwold suffered a flat tire, and he then battled with Schatz for the second spot
“There was some great racing tonight and I am proud to be part of it, ” said the 1999 series Rookie of the Year. “The car was great and that is what we need to keep going. ” While he wanted to be in the winner’s circle, Schatz was able to take solace in the fact, that he was part of a historic night at Volunteer Speedway, as the World of Outlaws made their debut at the ultra-fast 4/10-mile oval, before the largest crowd in the 30-plus year history of the facility.
“It was a pretty nice little place, ” said the native of Fargo, North Dakota. “It was fun to be here and fun to race here. I just wish we would have finished a little better. ” Saldana began the night by setting a new track record in time trials, as he circled the high banks in 11.696 at a speed of just over 123 miles per hour. For that, he earned five bonus points, and with his win, he was able to cut the margin to only nine points between himself and Schatz.
Three-time World of Outlaws Champion Sammy Swindell finished a very solid fourth, in a home state race for the native of Germantown, Tennessee. He began the night by turning in the seventh quickest lap in time trials, in only his second start of the season. He followed that up with a heat race win to earn a spot in the dash where he finished fifth. Daryn Pittman passed more cars than anyone on the night, as he charged from 21st to fifth in the Titan Garages & Carports Maxim. In the early going he charged around Steve Kinser and Danny Lasoski, before breaking into the Top-10 and then the Top-Five. For the native of Owasso, Oklahoma, it was his third Top-Five finish of the year, as he is currently third in points.
The rest of the Top-10 was Tim Kaeding in sixth in the Steve Kinser Racing Maxim. Brooke Tatnell was seventh in the Volcano Joe’s Coffee Schnee. Danny Lasoski was eighth in the Roth Motorsports Eagle. Paul McMahan was ninth in the Bass Pro Shops Eagle, and Craig Dollansky was 10th in the Karavan Trailers Maxim.
The World of Outlaws wrap up their swing through the South on Saturday March 31 with their first visit to Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, Georgia, since 1999.
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