ROSSBURG, OH: Donny Schatz and the Tony Stewart-owned World of Outlaws team has dealt with plenty of adversity in 2018.
And it’s early.
Ricky Warner needed to have a kidney removed. He returned, and then Steve Swenson, “Scuba,” suffered a broken leg. It’s been one thing after another, and yet, Schatz continues to win races.
The bad part for the competition, Schatz’s car could be better. The team is still fine tuning in preparation for the summer months and high-paying races.
But it hasn’t slowed Schatz down. He added to his season accolades Saturday night, completing a World of Outlaws weekend sweep of #LetsRaceTwo! in the 30-lap main event at historic Eldora Speedway.
“These three guys work well with me, and in each case, the other two picked up the slack,” said Schatz, who has won four of the last five World of Outlaws events. “It’s what they do. That’s why they are in the position they are in.
“They are three great guys [Warner, Scuba, and Brad Mariscotti]. Gary DuBois has been with Steve Kinser forever and works for Tony … He came to help, and I can’t thank him enough for that.”
Continued Schatz, “I think it’s actually helped us, because you don’t race with the same person every day, and you can try different things. It kind of opens your eyes to new things. It’s exciting, but I can’t wait until they are all back and working together.”
It doesn’t seem to matter with this group … the outcome doesn’t change. Schatz and Co. adapt, adjust, and continue to rack up wins.
This one wasn’t as easy as some of his past romps around Eldora. Parker Price-Miller jumped out to the early lead, with Schatz in tow. Logan Schuchart slipped past Aaron Reutzel for third on Lap 4 and gave chase.
Schatz pounded the bottom and middle early on and ran off the left rear of Price-Miller. That led to a pass for the top spot heading through Turns 3 and 4 on Lap 5.
The pace was slowed on Lap 8 when Sheldon Haudenschild clipped the wall coming out of Turn 4 to bring out the red flag. Just before the incident, Schuchart took second from Price-Miller.
When the race went back to green, it was all Schatz at the front of the field. He built a .863-second lead by Lap 10 and was starting to pull away.
But Schuchart, who finished second to Schatz on Friday night, didn’t go away. He was equally good on the bottom and trimmed the lead to .441 seconds in lapped traffic by the 17th circuit.
Schatz made a bold move on Lap 23. Not satisfied with the car on the bottom of the speedway in Turns 1 and 2, the nine-time World of Outlaws champ took a chance and blew around the top. He ran inches from the fence, which allowed Schuchart to get a run through the corner.
But the move paid off the next time around. Schatz was able to get momentum off the cushion and maintain a .643-second lead on Lap 24.
“I just wanted to see if I could keep my speed going,” Schatz said. “I could get really stuck to the bottom and middle for most of the race, but at the end, I didn’t seem to be as good as I wanted to be.
“So, it was time to try it. Now is the time to be trying those things to see if you can get better, because you don’t get any more opportunities before you come back and they pay big money.
“We still have improvement to do, so me and Rick will figure it out on the ride home, make some notes, and come back.”
It was good enough in this case.
Traffic was an issue over the next few laps. It allowed Schuchart to cut the lead in half run one car-length off the pace when the two leaders crossed the stripe to complete Lap 25.
But before Schuchart could make a move, the caution was displayed on Lap 26. Spencer Bayston slowed in Turns 3 and 4 before pulling into the work area, which set up a five-lap dash to the finish.
“I was just being super cautious, and sometimes you look at who are racing against, and you get a little cautious,” Schatz said. “You think big picture at the end of the year, and you want to be at the right table at the banquet. Sometimes, that plays into the emotions when you hit lapped traffic.
“I figured Logan would be there. He was good all weekend long, really solid. But, you can’t pay attention to what is going on behind you. That’s not how I race.
“I think if he would’ve got by, I could’ve railed the top and got back by. But, I guess we won’t know because we got the caution.”
Race over.
There was no battle to the finish. Schatz drove away on the restart, building an .877-second lead with two to go. By the time the race was complete, the North Dakota ace had the win in the bag by 1.329 seconds.
“I felt good to the end,” Schatz said. “I really felt solid, and that’s what we want to do at the end of the race, which is be the best.
“I didn’t feel like I was giving the max. I was being cautious. I race the way I race, and people can try to force me to race a different way, but I think they are the ones who are going to have to figure out a change.”
Schuchart capped a solid weekend with a second straight runner-up finish. Aaron Reutzel was third, followed by 15th-place starter Kraig Kinser. Tim Shaffer was fifth.
“Last night I needed a yellow, and tonight, I didn’t,” Schuchart said. “I wish they wouldn’t have thrown that yellow. I didn’t really think they needed to, but hey, that’s the way it played out.
“We were close and to run that close with a car that good … I mean, he won the Kings Royal two years in a row and won both races this weekend, so he’s very tough. To run that close, it gives us good feedback to come back here for the July races.”
Feature Finish, 30 Laps: 1. Donny Schatz; 2. Logan Schuchart; 3. Aaron Reutzel; 4. Kraig Kinser; 5. Tim Shaffer; 6. Parker Price-Miller; 7. Kerry Madsen; 8. Brad Sweet; 9. Ian Madsen; 10. Daryn Pittman; 11. Jason Sides; 12. Jason Johnson; 13. Brady Bacon; 14. David Gravel; 15. Shane Stewart; 16. Jacob Allen; 17. Joey Saldana; 18. Rico Abreu; 19. Paul McMahan; 20. Chad Kemenah; 21. Brent Marks; 22. Spencer Bayston; 23. Cole Duncan; 24. Sheldon Haudenschild.