By Lee Elder
BARBERVILLE, Fla. (Feb. 5, 2010) – Joey Saldana ran away from the field and won the O’Reilly Auto Parts All Stars Circuit of Champions portion of the DirtCar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park Thursday.
Goodyear is the exclusive tire provider for the rear tire positions for the All Stars, as well as for the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series. The Outlaws are due to begin their 2010 season at Volusia Friday.
Saldana, the Bloomington, Ind. star who drives for Kasey Kahne, finished ahead of Wednesday’s winner, Craig Dollansky. Steve Kinser finished third after starting ninth, followed by Lucas Wolfe and Sam Hafertepe Jr.
“The racing surface tonight was completely different from last night,” said Justin Fantozzi, Goodyear’s marketing manager for global race tires. “Last night the drivers had what they term a ‘heavy’ track and tonight the track was taking rubber. Still, there were no issues with tread wear tonight. We saw teams using all three tread compounds that we are offering here this weekend.”
Some teams experienced situations related to their tires which caused a loss of air pressure during the main event.
Fantozzi said, “The teams involved told us, and our Goodyear engineers confirmed it, that those teams had cuts in their tires which they incurred during the race.”
Saldana, who also won his heat race, was working through lapped traffic while also staving off the bid by Greg Hodnett to take the lead. But after a caution period eight laps into the event, Saldana was able to stay ahead of the field.
“Hodnett got a run on me,” the winner said later. “I was probably too cautious in traffic.”
The DirtCar Nationals continue this weekend with three nights of World of Outlaws events.
More information about Goodyear Racing is available at www.racegoodyear.com.