ROSSBURG, OH (July 17, 2023) – Never giving up. That’s how Donny Schatz has described his team over the past few seasons and that was never more evident this weekend at Eldora Speedway for the richest four days in the history of Sprint Car racing. 

Looking at results from earlier in the week, it may have been a stretch to consider Schatz a favorite for Saturday night’s 40th running of the $175,000-to-win King’s Royal. But in true Team 15 fashion, when their backs were against the wall, they rose to the occasion. 

Schatz dominated the 40-lap feature to claim his sixth King’s Royal crown and his third win of the 2023 campaign. 

“I don’t know what you say, I guess the stars lined up,” said Schatz after the race. 

When asked in victory lane how this win was different from his previous King’s Royals, Schatz said, “It’s the adversity lately. We are not performing the way we want, but tonight we did.”

In the events at Eldora earlier in the week leading up to the King’s Royal, Schatz finished seventh, eighth, and 16th, respectively. As Schatz explained after the race, the Tony Stewart / Curb-Agajanian Racing team pulled down a different car for Saturday’s race with a two-year-old motor. 

“It runs pretty damn good,” said Schatz. 

“When you get in a race car and go out and hot lap, you kind of know if you’re going to be in the game or not. The last three days, I don’t feel like I’ve been in the game. When we hot lapped and qualified tonight, I could tell there was a little bit of something there that we hadn’t had and it made the car roll around there different.”

Schatz led the field to the green flag and immediately jumped out to the race lead. 

The event was plagued with cautions and red flags as rain leading up to the event made for fast and choppy conditions on parts of the high-banked half-mile dirt oval. 

Schatz was able to pull away from the field on each and every restart, and at the checkers, took the win by just under four seconds over defending race winner Brent Marks. 

Schatz currently sits sixth in the World of Outlaws standings. The series heads to Pennsylvania this week for stops at BAPS Motor Speedway in York Haven on Wednesday and at Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg on Friday and Saturday. 

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

Stats:
Races: 40
Wins: 3
Top Fives: 14
Top Tens: 21