By Tony Veneziano
Mechanicsburg, PA-September 30, 2010- Perserverence has been a key attribute to Joey Saldana’s success this season. After breaking his left hand earlier in the year and needing 10 screws and a plate inserted to help it heal, he was back in the car the very next race and scored a Top-10 finish and within three races was back in Victory Lane. He looks to bounce back in a similar way this weekend in the National Open at the famed Williams Grove Speedway as he returns from a concussion sustained in a vicious crash on the opening lap at Eldora Speedway last Friday that kept him out of the seat at Lernerville Speedway the following night.
Saldana is currently third in the World of Outlaws championship standings, in what is the closest-ever four-way battle for the title. He is 35 markers behind 20-time series champion Steve Kinser who is second and 85 behind leader Jason Meyers with four-time and defending series champion Donny Schatz in fourth, 89 points back with six races remaining on the 2010 calendar.
Following his wreck at Eldora, Saldana spent last Friday night in the hospital in Dayton, Ohio for observation before heading home to Indiana, where he has been resting and recuperating all week. He visited a Chiropractor on Wednesday and met with a Neurologist today.
Saldana leads the World of Outlaws with 13 A-Feature wins this season. He also is on top of the leader board in laps led and is the only driver that has paced the field for more than 300 laps in A-Feature events. The second generation driver has 46 Top-10 finishes on the year with 36 of those being Top-Five performances.
The native of Brownsburg, Ind. finished second earlier this season at Williams Grove Speedway and has been among the Top-10 in three of the four races the series has contested at the famed half-mile in 2010. He set fast time in qualifying in the series first visit of the season to the track back in May and was fourth quickest the following night.
The National Open kicks off for the World of Outlaws on Friday, October 1 with a full racing program and continues with the 40-lap $50,000-to win finale on Saturday, October 2 with the cameras from SPEED capturing all the action for broadcast at a later date.
The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including: Armor All (Official Car Care Products), Chizmark & Larson Insurance , Goodyear Tires (Official Tire), SuperClean (Official Cleaner-Degreaser), VP Racing (Official Racing Fuel); in addition to contingency sponsors, Jake’s Custom Golf Carts, KSE Race Products, Penske Shocks , R2C Performance, Racing Electronics, S&S Volvo; Engine Builder’s Challenge participants Don Ott Racing Engines, Kistler Engines, Shaver Specialties and Speedway Engines; and Chassis Builder’s Challenge participants J&J Auto Racing, Maxim Racing and XXX Race Company.