SCHATZ CONTINUES PODIUM FINISHES IN SUMMER NATIONALS OPENER

MECHANICSBURG, PA (July 23) – Donny Schatz continued his recent run of top-three finishes with the World of Outlaws on Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway. Schatz raced the Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) No. 15 Armor All/STP/ParkerStore J&J to a second place finish in the 25-lap Summer Nationals opening night A-Feature.

“We’re getting better every night and right now that’s all we can ask for,” admitted Schatz, following his second runner-up finish of the week. “We qualified good, raced well in the heat race, and just came up one spot short in the main event. Lance (Dewease) had a little better car than we did and got away from us. We were getting better as the race went on and that is what we were trying to do. Hopefully, we can come back tomorrow and do just a little bit better.”

Schatz opened the program by turning the fastest lap in the field of 48 cars to earn his second fast time award of the season. He raced to second in the heat race and fourth in the dash to earn a top-four starting position. On the initial start, Schatz was on the move, jumping into fourth. Unfortunately, the start came back and on the second try, Schatz found himself in fifth. A lap seven red stopped the action when his TSR teammate Steve Kinser got into the wall while running second. Schatz restarted in third and ultimately would pass Paul McMahan for the runner-up spot. He spent the final 9 laps trying to track down Dewease, but simply ran out of laps.

Schatz and the Armor All crew will return to Williams Grove on Saturday for the $20,000-to-win finale of the Summer Nationals. Schatz has won the Summer Nationals three times (2003, 2007 and 2008), and his most recent win of that 2008 triumph. That win was the last time an Outlaw regular defeated the PA Posse member at “The Grove”, and Schatz hopes to be able to break their seven-race win streak.  The action continues on Sunday with a trip to Lebanon Valley Speedway in New York.