From J&J
McKENZIE, Tennessee – With three wins in the five DIRTcar Nationals feature events, J&J Auto Racing led the way as Sprint car racing took center stage in Florida during Speedweeks. Seven-time World of Outlaws champion Donny Schatz raced the Tony Stewart Racing J&J to a pair of victories while former WoO champion Dave Blaney scored an Arctic Cat All-Star Circuit of Champions triumph in Dan Motter’s No. 71m J&J.
ARCTIC CAT ALL-STARS
Dave Blarney was the star of Wednesday night’s DIRTcar Nationals opening night with the Arctic Cat All-Stars. Blaney earned a front row starting spot after accumulating enough points to score a spot in the dash and then racing to a second-place finish in the dash driving the Motter Equipment sponsored No. 71m J&J. Blaney took the lead on lap 15 and withstood a pair of late restarts and several challenges from Schatz in the TSR No. 15 Bad Boy/Chevrolet Performance J&J. In the end, Blaney came out on top followed by Schatz to give J&J a one-two finish.
“I’m thrilled to be driving for Dan Motter,” said Blaney, following his 47th career All-Star win. “We wanted to come here and be competitive, and we ended up winning it. Can’t thank my guys enough. They did a great job tonight and really helped put this entire deal together.”
In night two of the DIRTcar Nationals, Schatz came out on top putting on a great performance in the TSR No. 15 J&J. He started 10th and worked his way into the top-five by lap 10. He continued his charge forward gaining second on lap 14 and then he chased down leader Jason Johnson and took the lead on lap 20. Schatz drove away to score his 12th career victory with the All-Stars.
“This is an incredible race team,” Donny Schatz said. “I didn’t want to have to call the boss tonight and tell him I left something on the table. Just an incredible effort by these guys. You have to go where everyone else isn’t. We were decent, I just had to find my way around. Once we got going, we were pretty good. This race team is incredible for sure. I have the best job in the business.”
WORLD OF OUTLAWS
Schatz continued his stellar week by taking the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series A-Feature event on Saturday night. Schatz qualified second and finished second in heat two. He started the 30-lap main event in fifth and overtook Brad Sweet on lap 22 and like he did on Thursday night, drove away to score the win. It was his eighth career WoO victory at Volusia and 205th WoO A-Feature win of his career.
“I’d be even better if we could win all of them,” said Schatz. “That’s what this team shoots for, that’s what they aim for, and that’s what they work hard for. We’re here tonight and that’s all that matters… Another good night, lots of people in the stands, glad to see everybody.”