FARGO, N.D. (August 28, 2023) – Following a pair of crown jewel events in the Knoxville Nationals and Jackson Nationals, the World of Outlaws made their second and final trek north to North Dakota for the Second Leg of the Northern Tour at River Cities Speedway on Friday and the Duel in the Dakotas at Red River Valley Speedway on Saturday. 

Schatz was fast out of the gate at River Cities, timing in sixth quick and racing to a heat race win. After drawing the No. 2 pill for the dash, Schatz took the lead at the drop of the green flag from the outside of the front row over Sheldon Haudenschild. 

Schatz ran an incredible lap of 9.517 en route to the dash win on the extremely fast and tacky racing surface to earn the pole position for the 40 lap feature. 

On both the initial start and the subsequent restart after an opening lap red flag, Schatz was seemingly at a disadvantage starting for the pole position as Haudenschild powered around him on both occasions. 

Schatz ran second until Logan Schuchart snuck by on the lap 15 restart. 

Schatz ran third for the remainder of the race to collect a spot on the podium.

“We were okay, just kind of married to the top,” said Schatz after the race. “The bottom was there the whole race, but I just couldn’t get down there. We’ll have to work on that. 

“I kind of gave it away at the start there with Sheldon getting around us on the top – same thing we were able to do in the heat and in the dash,” continued Schatz. “I think being on the inside kind of cost us, but we still had 40 laps to get it done, but we didn’t. Still, a pretty solid performance. On to tomorrow.” 

Schatz turned in another strong run at Red River Valley on Saturday, timing in sixth quick before making another dash by way of a second place run in his heat. 

Schatz started the feature in sixth, ran as high as high and as low as eighth, but took the checkers in the seventh position on what was a racy three-eighths mile oval. 

The Outlaws will now make the 21 hour jaunt to the Pacific Northwest for the Sage Fruit Skagit Nationals at Washington’s Skagit Speedway. Three night event will run Thursday through Saturday before the Outlaws cap off Labor Day weekend with a stop at Gray’s Harbor Raceway on Monday. 

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