Eldora Speedway | 13929
St Route 118 | New Weston | OH | 45348
For immediate news release e-mail: mail@eldoraspeedway.com
SALDANA TOPS WORLD OF OUTLAWS
From
Tony Veniziano (World of Outlaws)
Rossburg, OH— September 19, 2008—One of the toughest
feats to accomplish with the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws
Sprint Car Series is to sweep an event, which consists of setting
fast time, winning a heat race, winning the Crane Cams Dash
and also being victorious in the A-Feature event. Last season
Joey Saldana was the only driver to turn the trick with the
series. He became the first driver to pick up a clean sweep
this season on Friday night as he kicked off the Chevy American
Revolution weekend at the famed Eldora Speedway in Ohio by having
a perfect night.
He led
all 30 laps of the A-Feature event to pick up the $10,000 top
prize, after starting on the pole to earn his fifth A-Feature
win of the season with the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws
Sprint Car Series and the 39th of his career. He has won three
times this season at Eldora, including twice with the World
of Outlaws to bring his career total at the legendary half-mile
to 17.
“It
was a good night for us,” said Saldana. “Last year
we were the only car that pulled that (a sweep) off and so far
this year we are the only car to do it, and that’s a tribute
to my team. We’ve been so hit and miss this year that
gets frustrating because you want to race guys like Donny Schatz
and Steve Kinser every night. Tonight we were as fast as them,
if not better.”
Saldana
powered his way to a huge lead early in the race aboard the
Budweiser/Open Joist Mopar-powered JEI, as Lucas Wolfe and Kraig
Kinser tried to keep pace running second and third. By just
the fourth lap, Saldana was already in traffic on the blazing
fast half-mile. That lead was negated on the fifth lap as the
first caution of the night flew when Craig Dollansky spun off
turn four while battling Wolfe for the third spot.
A strong
restart saw Saldana again pull away from the field. The caution
would fly once more on the 22nd lap with a red flag coming out
on the 24th lap, for a wicked crash involving Craig Dollansky,
Jason Meyers and Tim Shaffer. Dollansky was transported to a
local hospital with a right arm injury. On each of the restarts,
Saldana motored his way down the front straightaway to quickly
open a comfortable lead.
“We’ve
been doing our homework,” he noted of the performance
of his team’s engines. “Speedway (Engines) went
home and did their homework and we have these motors running
strong. We have Williams Grove coming up and we have struggled
there with motors and we have new things there to try. We tried
something here and tonight it was a great success. Hopefully
we can take some of that and repeat something similar to that
at the Grove. It was a good run for us tonight.”
The final
restart of the race took place with just seven laps remaining,
with Saldana out front and Steve Kinser, who won nearly 60 times
in his career at Eldora Speedway directly behind him. A strong
restart would propel Saldana over the last few laps and he wound
up winning by over a second and a half.
“Steve
(Kinser) is really good on restarts and at making you make a
mistake and getting a slide job going into (turn) one,”
explained the winner. “I just didn’t want him to
get a run on me, because he is really good at that, especially
here. I was just trying to keep him off his marks and thinking
what I was going to do and it worked. We were good enough to
pull away and that’s all that matters.”
In his
last start at Eldora in the Kings Royal, Saldana was dominating
the event when he had a tired explode on him, which was the
second time that had happened at Eldora to him this season while
leading. While the win on Friday night does not completely make
up for those heartbreaks, Saldana and his team were not going
to let the storied track take another win from them as they
continue to chase wins to wrap up the 2008 season and gear up
for 2009.
“I’ve
very proud of these guys,” shared Saldana about his crew.
“You have to have great people to have a great team. It
will be a lot of work for everyone going from one car to two
next year. We have great people and we just have to get out
team running as good as we know that we can do. When you have
so many things going on with your team it can be hard to keep
track of all the things that are making your car successful
each night. Hopefully we can get all of that ironed out and
I think that is what we are doing.”
Steve Kinser,
the 20-time World of Outlaws champion finished second on Friday
night aboard the Q Oil Maxim, after lining up sixth. He battled
Chad Kemenah for the first four laps, before passing him on
the fifth go-around. He gained a spot when Dollansky spun and
next put a textbook slide job on Lucas Wolfe on the 12th lap,
after battling the rookie driver for a number of laps to move
into third.
Once in
the third spot, Kinser shadowed his son Kraig for the better
part of eight laps, before snagging the runner-up spot from
him with 11 laps to go. Late in the race, he was able to gain
some ground on Saldana in traffic, but Saldana regained what
he lost each time he got back to open track.
Chad Kemenah
picked up his second consecutive third-place performance at
Eldora Speedway in the Kantor Oil Company Maxim. He started
third and lost two spots on the opening lap, before battling
Lucas Wolfe for fourth and then Kraig Kinser for third.
“I
like coming here and I learned how to race here, so that helps,”
said Kemenah. “We just have to win. We’re really,
really close. We have been hanging around the Top-Five. We’re
running third and second and the win can’t be too far
away. Hopefully we knock that door down and can continue to
win from there.”
Donny Schatz,
the two-time defending Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint
Car Series champion finished fourth in the Armor All J&J
at his car owner Tony Stewart’s track, with his teammate
Kraig Kinser rounding out the Top-Five in the Bass Pro Shops
Maxim.
Daryn Pittman,
who won the Kings Royal at Eldora back in July was sixth on
Friday night in the Titan Garages Maxim. Terry McCarl was seventh
aboard the Big Game Treestands Maxim. Kerry Madsen was eighth
in the TK Concrete Maxim, with Jac Haudenschild ninth aboard
the Owens-Corning Fiberglass Maxim. Sam Hafertepe Jr. rounded
out the Top-10 in the Fusion Energy Boost J&J.
Kemenah
was able to gain a lot of ground in lapped traffic, though each
time he closed in on the lead pack the caution would fly. Under
the open red flag on the 24th lap, his crew changed a couple
of things on the car for the final sprint to the checkers.
“I
needed longer green flag runs,” explained the native of
Findlay, Ohio. “I had a harder tire on than most people.
The cautions were hurting me more than they were helping me.
You never know. I have been burned a couple of times leading
races this year with too soft of a tire on. Tonight we guessed
on a hard one and probably could have had a little bit softer
one on.”
Kemenah
began his night by turning the third fastest lap in time trials
and followed that up with a second-place performance in the
third heat race to earn a spot in the Crane Cams Dash where
he finished third. He was quick to point out an intangible that
is vital to being successful at Eldora that he has learned over
the years.
“You
don’t really ever lose focus here,” he noted. “You
have to be focused when you come here. The minute you lose it
at this place, it will bite you real quick.”
