J&J AUTO RACING TEAMS SHINE WITH VICTORIES ACROSS THE MAP

From J&J Auto Racing

McKenzie, TN — (Aug. 14) — During the last two weeks, the focus of Sprint car racers has been at historic Knoxville Raceway. It was one of many venues where J&J Auto Racing teams were victorious. Donny Schatz won the sport’s biggest event, the Knoxville Nationals, for the sixth time in a J&J, and was joined as a recent J&J winner by his boss and three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart. Veteran Brooke Tatnell, Dale Howard, Derek Hagar and Nate Hammaker were also recent winners.

TONY STEWART

The Columbus, Ind., native continue steam rolling through the competition by racing the TSR No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1/Coca-Cola J&J from 12th to first in the URC event at historic Williams Grove Speedway. The victory was an emotional one for Stewart as it was his first triumph at the famed track.

On Friday night, Stewart was back in action in New York competing in the URC/Patriot 360 Sprint Challenge at Black Rock Speedway. Stewart earned the pole position in the TSR No. 14 J&J and chased early leader Randy West for the first seven laps. The leaders swapped the top spot on lap eight before Stewart seized command of the 25-lap race. Stewart led the rest of the way to score his second career URC victory, just one week after earning his first at Williams Grove Speedway.

BROOKE TATNELL

The 360 Knoxville Nationals have become extremely competitive over the years. In the second preliminary program last week, it was veteran racer Brooke Tatnell who came out on top. Tatnell piloted Duane Nelson’s No. 14 Protofab Engineering J&J from the third starting spot and kept close to the leaders during the opening 10 laps. He took advantage of mid-race restart and seized the lead. Once in front, the Australian shoe wasn’t going to be denied and he rolled on to score the win.

DALE HOWARD

It was another victory for Dale Howard at Riverside International Speedway on Saturday, Aug. 4. Howard drove his brother Josh’s No. 47 J&J to victory in the 360 Winged Sprint car class.

DEREK HAGAR

In Saturday night’s United Sprint Car Series event at Clayhill Motorsports in Atwood, Tenn., it was another J&J driver that shined. Derek Hagar finished third in his heat, won the USCS Goodyear Speed Dash and then drove his No. 9JR J&J to victory in the 25-lap feature event.

NATE HAMMAKER

Last Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway, Nate Hammaker became the first driver to become a repeat in the 358 division this season. Hammaker, who started the No. 66 J&J sixth, took the lead at the halfway point. Once at the front, Hammaker cruised uncontested to his second win of the season at the track and fourth overall of his career.

DONNY SCHATZ

The sport’s biggest event has been a personal stomping ground for Donny Schatz during the last decade. He has only finished outside the top-two once since 2002. In this year’s 52nd annual Goodyear Knoxville Nationals, he began his pursuit of another victory by finishing third in Wednesday’s preliminary feature. The Fargo, N.D. racer gained momentum Friday night by charging from 10th to win the National Speedsport News World Challenge. On Saturday night, he started the Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) No. 15 STP/Armor All/Chevrolet J&J fifth and raced into the lead on lap 14 of the 50-lap race. Once in front, he built a commanding lead before the race was stopped on lap 26 for a mandatory pit stop. When the race resumed, he pulled away from the field and during the final 10 laps he had to fight off a furious charge from Brian Brown to pick up the win.

“There’s something about this place when we come here for the Nationals, it’s game on,” said Schatz, after holding off Brian Brown by 0.117 seconds, the closest finish in Nationals history. “It takes everything to be right. When you get on it and get it right, it’s something that you can keep bringing back here. That’s why we’ve been able to get this success because the baseline we have for coming here is an awesome baseline.”