One of the marks of a champion and a championship caliber team is the way that they are able to bounce back from adversity and bumps in the road. That is exactly what three-time and defending World of Outlaws champion Donny Schatz and his Tony Stewart Racing team did on Sunday night at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wisconsin. After having a rear end fail while leading on Saturday night at Charter Raceway Park, Schatz was on a mission and he battled Jason Meyers in lapped traffic for most of the race to earn his ninth A-Feature win of the season.
Schatz nearly swept the event, beginning the night by setting fast time in qualifying, along with winning the Crane Came Dash to earn the pole position for the 30-lap A-Feature, which he would lead 15 laps of en route to the triumph. The only blemish on the night for the North Dakota native was a second-place finish in the second heat race.
“Anytime you win these is great,” said Schatz. “We have to thank all of these fans for coming out. It was a great night and I’m glad to see all the people. It feels great to get back to Victory Lane.”
Schatz led from the pole, with Meyers steadily working his way up from the fifth starting spot. He moved into second on a lap-6 restart and dove under Schatz for the lead on the eighth lap in turn one, though Schatz would battle back and retake the top spot in turns three and four and officially was credited with leading that lap.
The pair began to encounter heavy lapped traffic at this point, with Meyers powering his way past Schatz on the back straightaway in traffic on the 12th lap to take the top spot. He opened a slight lead at this point, but again a couple of laps later Schatz closed in. Once he cleared a couple of lapped cars, Meyers pulled away and at one point had about a straightaway lead on Schatz.
With seven laps to go, he encountered the heaviest traffic of the night, having to get on the brakes and allowing Schatz close right back in. On the 26th lap, Meyers drifted a little high exiting the fourth turn as he worked to clear a couple of lapped cars and that gave Schatz the opening he needed down low and he took the lead in turns one and two and would go on to lead the final four laps of the race to earn the $10,000 win aboard the Armor All J&J.
“Jason (Meyers) did a great job out there,” stated Schatz. “Sitting second in traffic like that is the cat bird’s seat and I’ve lost a lot of them like that. I’m just glad I was there at that time. He was really good up top and got going and I really didn’t know if I had anything for him. When we got to traffic, I got smart and got the wing back and started to drive it.”
For Schatz, it was his second consecutive World of Outlaws win at Cedar Lake Speedway and the seventh win of his career at the high-banked 3/8-mile. He competed regularly at the track in the early days of his career as he climbed the sprint car racing ladder.
“It was a pleasure being able to grow up racing around here,” noted Schatz. “I learned a lot around here and racing at Jackson (Speedway, in Minnesota), Sioux Falls (Huset’s Speedway), Fargo (Red River Valley Speedway), Grand Forks (River Cities Speedway). I was lucky to grow up in this part of the county and be able to race so many great race tracks. I learned a lot from every one of them and it’s all helped me today.”
Meyers was credited with leading a total of 15 laps on the night in the GLR Investment KPC. He pulled out to a couple of very healthy leads as he weaved his way through lapped traffic. He used the only restart of the night after a lap-6 caution to get around Brooke Tatnell for the runner-up spot before tracking down Schatz.
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