FARGO, N.D. (June 6, 2023) – It was a couple of home games for Donny Schatz over the weekend as the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series returned to the upper Midwest for the first time this season. Schatz scored a podium run in what was an exciting finish on Saturday night at Ogilvie Raceway to highlight the weekend.
The action began on Friday at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Schatz had to dig out of a bit of a hole early on, timing in 14th quick, but a fourth-place run in his heat secured a spot in the 40-lap A-main.
Starting 11th, Schatz moved up a couple of spots early. The race was marred by several cautions and never established a long green flag run. Midway through the race, World of Outlaws officials determined that the high groove was dominant, meaning all restarts would be single file for the rest of the race. Soon thereafter, the surface began to take rubber making passing even more difficult.
Schatz would cross the line in 8th in an uncharacteristically uneventful River Cities feature.
On Saturday, the Tony Steweart / Curb-Agajanian Racing team made the four-and-a-half hour drive from Grand Forks to Ogilvie, Minnesota, located about 40 minutes north of Minneapolis, for the first-ever visit by the Outlaws to the three-eighths mile speedway.
Schatz timed in second-quick, just missing out on claiming a brand new track record. After a heat win, he started fifth for the feature.
Schatz ran around the fifth position for the majority of the race but stole a podium position on the final lap. Five cars were battling for positions second through sixth as the white flag waved. As they headed into turn three, every car drifted to the high side, while Schatz drove in the moisture around the inside groove. Schatz shot off of turn four, driving from fifth to third, and nearly took second from Logan Schuchart at the line.
“I struggled the whole racing. We just cannot get the balance right,” said Schatz after the race. “It’s stuck so hard on the right rear and we fought it all night, but we got a respectable finish out of it. (The track) was kind of like last night where you just rip around the lip. I tried to make some things work on the bottom. It seemed like it would work one lap, then the next I couldn’t hit it quite right.
“We go to Knoxville next week and that’s a place where we feel like we have a pretty good baseline and balance for, so we’ll see if we can rebound there and have a little bit better run.”
The last time the World of Outlaws were at Knoxville Raceway, Schatz was standing in victory lane after being crowned his 11th Knoxville Nationals title last August. Schatz currently sits fifth in the standings, 188 points out of the lead.
Schatz and the entire Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing team would like to thank all of their great partners for their continued support!
Carquest Auto Parts, Advance Auto Parts, Curb Records, Ford Performance, Sage Fruit, Mobil 1, Absolute Automation & Security, Nivel Parts & Manufacturing, Hunt Brothers Pizza, J&J Auto Racing, Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts
Schatz’s Statbook:
2023 World of Outlaws Stats:
Races: 26
Wins: 2
Top Fives: 11
Top Tens: 15