Schatz Wins his Sixth National Open Title

Donny Schatz. (Dan McFarland photo)

By T.J. Buffenbarger

MECHANICSBURG, PA (October 3, 2020) — Donny Schatz may be having an off season to his high standards, but when people look back at the record books it will show that Schatz won the biggest paying sprint car race of the 2020 season with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car series. Schatz picked up a $75,000 payday Saturday at Williams Grove Speedway during the National Open. The win was Schatz’s sixth title in the event, more than any other driver in event history.

After taking the checkered flag Schatz got into the wall on the cool down lap and after clearing the scales after the race his crew had check over the steering to make sure it was safe to push back to victory lane. Schatz had a humorous excuse to the snafu after the checkered flag that involved some of the passionate fans at Williams Grove.

“I smoked the wall there going down the backstretch and knocked the steering arm off it,” said Schatz. “ I was probably pretty excited. I was trying to wave at those guys in the infield in turn three that told me I sucked before the race started. I figured I would remind them that before that race I was the only five-time National Open champion and now its six. So, thank you guys for the motivation in turn three, it was just what I needed.”

Schatz passed Friday’s feature winner at Williams Grove, David Gravel, and held off a late surge by Kyle Larson for the victory. Afterwards Schatz was grateful for the victory during a year that has been stressful as the Tony Stewart Racing team develops their new Ford engine.

“I was talking to Paul McMahan earlier and he asked me after this year if I needed blood pressure medicine? I told him no, I didn’t need blood pressure medicine,” said Schatz. “You are going to have years like this, that’s just racing. When you are building things from the ground up you going to expect to have problems, you expect to have failures, you expect to have things not go the way you want. These guys work their tails off, the guys at Ford, all of our partners that have stood behind us through what we consider a being in the ditch, in the trench. Thank them for that.

Logan Schuchart led the opening circuit of the 40-lap main event with Gravel and Schatz in tow. After pulling away to a sizeable lead early on Gravel was able to hang with Schuchart after restart on lap five.

Following a pair of cautions flags for Danny Dietrich having a flat tire and Aaron Reutzel having to stop to change helmets after something broke his face shield Gravel was able to drive around Schuchart using the bottom of the track in turns three and four to take the lead. Schatz followed Gravel around Schuchart for second.

Once they leaders started to enter traffic Schatz closed in on Gravel for the lead. On lap 23 Schatz took the lead from Gravel using the bottom of turns one and two.

After a planned fuel stop on lap 27 Schatz pulled away while Larson started making his presence felt passing Gravel for second. Schatz maintained a comfortable distance over Larson until being held up by a slower car on lap 37. This allowed Larson to close in on his back bumper, but Larson slipped in turn four and allowed Schatz to maintain his lead.

Larson as able to get into striking distance on the final lap but ran out of space and time bouncing off the turn four wall on the final lap as Schatz motored away to victory. Larson held on for second with Schuchart rounding out the podium.

Schatz was quick to credit his crew for continuing to work hard during a challenging 2020 calendar year.

“These teams revolve around money and these crew guys. These crews, that is their bread and butter. It feels good to get them that money and the biggest win of the year. Its been a trying year. I don’t think there is a person in this place that can’t say this is was of the worst years I can remember in my lifetime.”

After all the challenges this year winning the biggest paying sprint car race of the year in front of a large crowd at Williams Grove Speedway also was not lost on Schatz.

“It’s great to see people in the stands, great to see the event that was put on this weekend. Hats off to these guys for making it $75,000 to win and making it the biggest paying sprint car race of the year. Its even better to be standing here.”

World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series
Williams Grove National Open – Night #2
Williams Grove Speedway
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania
Saturday October 3, 2020

Qualifying Flight-A
1. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 16.685
2. 1A-Jacob Allen, 16.807
3. 57-Kyle Larson, 16.851
4. 91-Kyle Reinhardt, 16.953
5. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 16.989
6. 9-James McFadden, 16.998
7. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 17.018
8. 2M-Kerry Madsen, 17.069
9. 21-Brian Brown, 17.122
10. 24-Lucas Wolfe, 17.125
11. 13-Paul McMahan, 17.161
12. 51-Freddie Rahmer, 17.178
13. 83-Spencer Bayston, 17.186
14. 39-Justin Peck, 17.254
15. 39M-Anthony Macri, 17.275
16. 11Z-Zeb Wise, 17.285
17. 5-Brent Marks, 17.302
18. 1-Logan Wagner, 17.308
19. 11-T.J. Stutts, 17.324
20. 3-Jac Haudenschild, 17.338
21. 1X-Chad Trout, 17.355
22. 33M-Mason Daniel, 17.515
23. 12-Brent Shearer, 17.523
24. 55K-Robbie Kendall, 17.563
25. 99M-Kyle Moody, 17.688
26. 73B-Brett Michalski, 17.765
27. 6-Bill Rose, 17.962

Qualifying Flight-B
1. 71-Shane Stewart, 17.103
2. 41-David Gravel, 17.156
3. 17X-Ian Madsen, 17.176
4. 72-Daryn Pittman, 17.227
5. 14-Parker Price-Miller, 17.316
6. 49-Brad Sweet, 17.351
7. 26-Cory Eliason, 17.355
8. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 17.379
9. 15-Donny Schatz, 17.389
10. 5C-Dylan Cisney, 17.391
11. 7S-Jason Sides, 17.464
12. 69K-Lance Dewease, 17.488
13. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 17.507
14. 2-Carson Macedo, 17.51
15. O7-Bill Balog, 17.602
16. 18-Gio Scelzi, 17.691
17. 35-Zach Hampton, 17.703
18. 19M-Landon Myers, 17.708
19. 48-Danny Dietrich, 17.741
20. 17B-Steve Buckwalter, 17.768
21. 2C-Wayne Johnson, 17.932
22. 54-Zach Newlin, 17.966
23. 21P-Brian Montieth, 18.031
24. 49H-Bradley Howard, 18.262
25. 75-Nicole Bower, 18.297
26. 19-Troy Wagaman, 18.392
27. 12W-Troy Fraker, 18.875

Non-Qualifier (8 Laps):
1. 1X-Chad Trout [1]
2. 2C-Wayne Johnson [2]
3. 33M-Mason Daniel [3]
4. 99M-Kyle Moody [9]
5. 21P-Brian Montieth [6]
6. 19-Troy Wagaman [12]
7. 54-Zach Newlin [4]
8. 73B-Brett Michalski [11]
9. 75-Nicole Bower [10]
10. 6-Bill Rose [13]
11. 49H-Bradley Howard [8]
12. 12-Brent Shearer [5]
13. 12W-Troy Fraker [14]
14. 55K-Robbie Kendall [7]

DRYDENE Heat Race #1 (8 Laps):
1. 57-Kyle Larson [2]
2. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [1]
3. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [3]
4. 39M-Anthony Macri [8]
5. 5-Brent Marks [9]
6. 21-Brian Brown [5]
7. 11K-Kraig Kinser [4]
8. 13-Paul McMahan [6]
9. 83-Spencer Bayston [7]
10. 1X-Chad Trout [11]
11. 11-T.J. Stutts [10]

DRYDENE Heat Race #2 (8 Laps):
1. 1A-Jacob Allen [1]
2. 9-James McFadden [3]
3. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [2]
4. 2M-Kerry Madsen [4]
5. 51-Freddie Rahmer [6]
6. 11Z-Zeb Wise [8]
7. 1-Logan Wagner [9]
8. 24-Lucas Wolfe [5]
9. 39-Justin Peck [7]
10. 2C-Wayne Johnson [11]
11. 3-Jac Haudenschild [10]

DRYDENE Heat Race #3 (8 Laps):
1. 15-Donny Schatz [5]
2. 1S-Logan Schuchart [7]
3. 26-Cory Eliason [4]
4. 48-Danny Dietrich [10]
5. 14-Parker Price-Miller [3]
6. O7-Bill Balog [8]
7. 17X-Ian Madsen [2]
8. 7S-Jason Sides [6]
9. 35-Zach Hampton [9]
10. 33M-Mason Daniel [11]
11. 71-Shane Stewart [1]

DRYDENE Heat Race #4 (8 Laps):
1. 41-David Gravel [1]
2. 72-Daryn Pittman [2]
3. 49-Brad Sweet [3]
4. 87-Aaron Reutzel [4]
5. 5C-Dylan Cisney [5]
6. 2-Carson Macedo [7]
7. 69K-Lance Dewease [6]
8. 18-Gio Scelzi [8]
9. 17B-Steve Buckwalter [10]
10. 99M-Kyle Moody [11]
11. 19M-Landon Myers [9]

DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash (6 Laps):
1. 41-David Gravel [1]
2. 1S-Logan Schuchart [3]
3. 1A-Jacob Allen [4]
4. 15-Donny Schatz [2]
5. 57-Kyle Larson [8]
6. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [7]
7. 9-James McFadden [5]
8. 72-Daryn Pittman [6]

D-main (8 Laps):
1. 19-Troy Wagaman [2][-]
2. 54-Zach Newlin [3][-]
3. 21P-Brian Montieth [1][$125]
4. 73B-Brett Michalski [4][$125]
5. 6-Bill Rose [6][$125]
6. 49H-Bradley Howard [7][$125]
7. 12W-Troy Fraker [9][$125]
8. 75-Nicole Bower [5][$125]
9. 12-Brent Shearer [8][$125]
10. 55K-Robbie Kendall [10][$125]

C-Main (10 Laps):
1. 83-Spencer Bayston [1][-]
2. 35-Zach Hampton [2][-]
3. 17B-Steve Buckwalter [4][$150]
4. 33M-Mason Daniel [6][$150]
5. 39-Justin Peck [3][$150]
6. 1X-Chad Trout [5][$125]
7. 19M-Landon Myers [10][$125]
8. 11-T.J. Stutts [9][$125]
9. 99M-Kyle Moody [8][$125]
10. 2C-Wayne Johnson [7][$125]
11. 19-Troy Wagaman [12][$125]
12. 54-Zach Newlin [13][$125]
13. 3-Jac Haudenschild [11][$125]

Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps):
1. 71-Shane Stewart [2]
2. O7-Bill Balog [4]
3. 69K-Lance Dewease [10]
4. 21-Brian Brown [3]
5. 11K-Kraig Kinser [1][$300]
6. 2-Carson Macedo [6][$250]
7. 17X-Ian Madsen [8][$225]
8. 13-Paul McMahan [9][$200]
9. 11Z-Zeb Wise [5][$200]
10. 1-Logan Wagner [7][$200]
11. 24-Lucas Wolfe [11][$200]
12. 83-Spencer Bayston [14][$200]
13. 18-Gio Scelzi [13][$200]
14. 35-Zach Hampton [15][$200]
15. 7S-Jason Sides [12][$200]

NOS Energy Drink Feature (40 Laps):
1. 15-Donny Schatz [4][$75,000]
2. 57-Kyle Larson [5][$12,000]
3. 1S-Logan Schuchart [2][$7,500]
4. 41-David Gravel [1][$4,000]
5. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [6][$3,500]
6. 72-Daryn Pittman [8][$3,000]
7. 1A-Jacob Allen [3][$2,700]
8. 39M-Anthony Macri [13][$2,500]
9. 5-Brent Marks [17][$2,200]
10. 49-Brad Sweet [12][$2,100]
11. 69K-Lance Dewease [23][$2,000]
12. 51-Freddie Rahmer [19][$1,650]
13. 9-James McFadden [7][$1,550]
14. 71-Shane Stewart [21][$1,200]
15. 26-Cory Eliason [10][$1,100]
16. 2-Carson Macedo [25][$50]
17. 21-Brian Brown [24][$1,000]
18. 48-Danny Dietrich [14][$1,000]
19. 5C-Dylan Cisney [20][$1,000]
20. 2M-Kerry Madsen [15][$1,000]
21. 11-T.J. Stutts [26][$]
22. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [11][$1,000]
23. 24-Lucas Wolfe [28][$]
24. 14-Parker Price-Miller [18][$1,000]
25. 6-Bill Rose [29][$]
26. O7-Bill Balog [22][$1,000]
27. 83-Spencer Bayston [27][$]
28. 87-Aaron Reutzel [16][$1,000]
29. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [9][$1,000]

Lap Leaders Logan Schuchart 1-11, David Gravel 12-21, Donny Schatz 22-40
KSE Hard Charger Award: 69K-Lance Dewease[+12]