Fargo, N.D. (May 20, 2024) – Donny Schatz remains second in the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series Standings as he recorded a podium finish at Sharon Speedway last Saturday night in the No. 15 CarQuest / Ford Performance J&J.
Schatz and the Outlaws headed back to Ohio for a pair of races last weekend starting with the first visit of the season to Attica Raceway Park. Schatz started the night eighth quick in his qualifying group and third in his heat race, setting up a sixth row starting spot in the 35-lap main event.
Schatz ran outside the top ten on just the opening two circuits, moving into tenth on lap three. Schatz moved up four spots on a lap eleven restart, running just one spot shy of a top five at the completion of lap 11.
Another caution on the following lap saw Schatz running seventh as the race went back to green where he remained throughout the last half of the race, finishing seventh.
The Outlaws returned to Sharon Speedway on Saturday night where Schatz entered the night as the defending winner of the spring visit by the series at the track.
Schatz was fourth quick in qualifying and finished second in his heat to earn a spot in the dash. His fifth place run in the dash placed Schatz on the inside of the third row for the 30-lap feature.
Schatz passed Sheldon Haudenschild on lap three and began his pursuit of Gio Scelzi to take a podium spot. Schatz slid past Scelzi coming off turn four on lap 10 to take third for the first time.
Scelzi and Schatz swapped the position again following a lap 13 caution but Schatz took the spot for good on lap 15. From there, Schatz reeled in and passed Carson Macedo for the second spot off turn four following a lap 23 caution.
Schatz was reeling in David Gravel for the lead in the closing laps but ran out of time and finished second.
“[The leaders] were married to the top,” Schatz said post race. “I had just tried to make that bottom work as much as I could. Kind of wore it out there coming off two. In turn four there was grip there but you didn’t know where you were going to land. We just got by on the restart. The restart before that we lost the spot to Gio and had to get that back. We were good at the end. The guys are doing a great job, and everybody at Ford is working their tails off. It felt like we were decent and we’ll just keep building on it.”
This week the series remains in Ohio, racing two nights at Atomic Speedway in Chillicothe. Schatz has four wins at the speedway which came in a five year span between 2005 and 2009 including finishing second to Terry McCarl in the infamous “The Wave” race in 2007.
The outlaws will also be in action on Memorial Day Monday at Fremont Speedway for the Rick Ferkel Tribute. Schatz has two wins in four starts at Fremont. Schatz is just 54 points back of David Gravel for the series point lead as his quest for championship number 11 continues.
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, J&J Auto Racing, Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts
2024 Stats:
Races: 21
Wins: 2
Top Fives: 10
Top Tens: 18