Saldana in Kings Royal Tune-UP
By: Larry Boos
ROSSBURG, OH (July 11, 2008) – If Joey Saldana wins the 25th Annual
Kings Royal at Eldora Speedway, he would join elite company,
as the only two drivers that have won the famed race more than
two times, are 20-time Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint
Car Series champion Steve Kinser and Jac Haudenschild. Saldana
got off to a great start in his quest for his third Kings Royal
crown, as he was victorious on Friday in the Knight Before the
Kings Royal. Butch Schroeder held off Dale Blaney, who was doing
double duty, to capture the companion NRA (National Racing Alliance)
Sprint Invader finale.
Saldana used a classic Eldora slide
job on former Kings Royal winner Dale Blaney to take the lead
on the 14th lap, and held off a hard charging Jason Meyers down
the stretch to earn the $10,000 victory, which was the 36th of
his Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series career.
“We needed this one,” said
Saldana. “We have been struggling here lately. It’s
nice to win a race at Eldora. They talk about the Knoxville Nationals,
but the Kings Royal is just as big. It certainly deserves its
mark in sprint car racing. It’s nice to run good the night
before and hopefully we can run well tomorrow.”
Saldana lined up third in the Budweiser/Open
Joist Mopar-powered JEI and moved into second on the opening
lap, as he got around pole sitter Rob Chaney, when Blaney had
taken the lead. This came after the trio went three-side down
the back straightaway.
Jason Meyers moved up to fourth in
the early going, putting a slider on Chaney coming off the fourth
turn. Chaney got sideways as he tried to battle back for the
spot and spun, leading to the first caution of the night. On
the ensuing restart, Saldana looked to the high side of turns
one and two for a way around Blaney. At the same time, Donny
Schatz battled Steve Kinser, as the pair traded slide jobs a
number of times. Schatz took the fourth spot from Kinser on the
third lap, but the second yellow flag of the night flew before
the lap was completed and thus Kinser retained the position.
On the restart, Blaney powered his
way to a sizeable lead, with Saldana chasing him. A five-car
accident in the third turn on the sixth lap right in front of
the leaders, led to a very tense moment for Blaney. He found
a small opening to dive through after getting on the brakes as
hard as he could. Saldana followed him through unscathed. The
teams all had a chance to come on the track and work on their
machines since it was an open red flag period.
The next restart saw Blaney go to the
low side of the track with Saldana looking high off the second
turn and again off turn four. He opened a lead in clean track,
but quickly was back in traffic, which allowed Saldana to close
in and make the pass for the lead and ultimately the win on the
14th lap as they were in dense lapped traffic. Meyers also used
a slide job to move into second. A couple laps before that, six-time
Kings Royal winner Steve Kinser lost an engine while running
fourth, ending his night.
“It was tough in traffic,”
noted Saldana, a native of Brownsburg, Indiana. “A lot of
them want to race you, and they are not even racing the guy ahead
of them in the running order. I had to do my job in traffic,
because I have been beat a lot in traffic this year and I didn’t
want to have that happen again. It gets old after a while.”
Meyers stayed with Saldana, while Craig
Dollansky who had worked his way from 14th to fourth while running
on seven cylinders, battled with Blaney.
Saldana began to pull away though once
he got in traffic, which gave Meyers a chance to close in. With
five laps to go, Saldana has trouble getting around a lapped
machine and Meyers closed to within three car lengths. Meyers
charged off the fourth turn, reminiscent of the Wednesday night
at Limaland Motorsports Park when he won. Saldana held him off
down the front straightaway by 0.267 seconds.
The victory was the second of the year
for Saldana at Eldora, though his team ran a completely different
set-up that in their previous visits to the legendary half-mile
earlier this season. The second generation driver has 16 career
wins at the track and has finished first or second in three of
his last four starts at Eldora.
“We have kind of gone back to
what everyone else is going and it’s clearly better for
our race car right now,” he explained. “We are rolling
around the track a lot better lately.”
Meyers was second in the GLR Investments
KPC, with Blaney in the Berlin Bakery Maxim in third, Donny Schatz
in the Armor All J&J in fourth and Craig Dollansky in the
Snap-on Tools Maxim in fifth.
Shane Stewart was sixth in the Roth
Motorsports KPC, with Jac Haudenschild in the Owens Corning Fiberglass
Maxim in seventh, Terry McCarl in the Big Game Treestands Eagle
in eighth, Stevie Smith in the R.A.C.E. Foundation JEI in ninth
and Kenny Jacobs in 10th aboard the Southern Crane & Tractor
Supply JEI.
Tim Allison led the early going of
the NRA night capper, with several drivers dicing for the number
one spot before Schroeder was able to jump into command and the
eventual win. He had opened a huge gap over the field, as Dale
Blaney was advancing quickly from deep within the pack.
Blaney ran out of time and had to settle
for runner-up honors, with Greg Wilson, Mike Brecht and Allison
completing the top five.
--30--
KNIGHT BEFORE THE KINGS ROYAL
July 11, 2008
Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaw
Sprint Cars – 40 cars
Fast Time:
Kenny Jacobs 13.523
Heat 1: Donny Schatz, Shane Stewart, Paul McMahan, Kenny
Jacobs, Jason Sides, Randy Hannagan, Dustin Daggett, Chad Blonde,
Caleb Griffith, Kevin Nouse
Heat 2: Joey Saldana, Steve Kinser, Sam Hafertepe, Jr.,
Brock Mayes, Tim Shaffer, Chad Hillier, Greg Wilson, Kevin Huntley,
Jac Haudenschild, Bruce White
Heat 3: Dale Blaney, Stevie Smith, Terry McCarl, Ed Lynch,
Jr., Kraig Kinser, Kerry Madsen, Chad Kemenah, Tim Hunter, Ryan
Meyers, Todd Wanless
Heat 4: Rob Chaney, Jason Meyers, Daryn Pittman, Craig
Dollansky, Brian Paulus, Tony Bruce, Jr., Lee Stark, Jeremy Campbell,
Todd King, Scott Curran
Dash: Rob Chaney, Dale Blaney, Joey Saldana, Jason Meyers,
Steve Kinser, Donny Schatz, Shane Stewart, Stevie Smith, Terry
McCarl, Kenny Jacobs
C-Main: Chad Blonde, Kevin Huntley, Todd Wanless, Todd
King, Bruce White, Scott Curran, Ryan Meyers
B-Main: Jac Haudenschild, Kerry Madsen, Randy Hannagan,
Chad Hillier, Tim Hunter, Chad Kemenah, Greg Wilson, Caleb Griffith,
Dustin Daggett, Tony Bruce, Jr., Lee Stark, Jeremy Campbell,
Chad Blonde
A-Main: 1)Joey Saldana 2)Jason Meyers 3)Dale Blaney 4)Donny
Schatz, 5)Craig Dollansky 6)Shane Stewart 7)Jac Haudenschild
8)Terry McCarl 9)Stevie Smith 10)Kenny Jacobs 11)Daryn Pittman
12)Paul McMahan 13)Chad Kemenah 14)Kerry Madsen 15)Tim Shaffer
16)Rob Chaney 17)Kraig Kinser 18)Randy Hannagan 19)Steve Kinser
20)Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 21)Brock Mayes 22)Chad Hillier 23)Jason
Sides 24)Brian Paulus 25)Ed Lynch, Jr.
NRA Sprint Invaders – 29
cars
Heat 1: Dale
Blaney, Gary Fast, Butch Schroeder, Mark Grabill, J. R. Stewart,
Aaron Maloney, Aaron Schaffer, Ron Blair, Rick Boughan, Dwain
Leiber
Heat 2: Mike Brecht, Greg Wilson, Mike Miller, Jeff Williams,
Sean Robinson, Dane Naida, Brent Gehr, Mark Hery, Kent Wolters
Heat 3: Dustin Daggett, Tim Allison, Darren Long, Luke
Hall, Mike Dunlap, Jared Horstman, Scott Carter, Bob Carman,
Bob Gehr, Jr.
B-Main: Jared Hortsman, Dane Naida, Scott Carter, Ron
Blair, Dwain Leiber, Kent Wolters, Aaron Maloney, Mark Hery,
Aaron Schaffer, Bob Gehr, Bob Carman, Brent Gehr, Rick Boughan,
Ryan Ruhl
A-Main 1)Butch Schroeder 2)Dale Blaney 3)Greg Wilson 4)Mike
Brecht 5)Tim Allison 6)Gary Fast 7)Dustin Daggett 8)Sean Robinson
9)Jeff Williams 10)J R Stewart 11)Dwain Leiber 12)Mike Miller
13)Mike Dunlap 14)Scott Carter 15)Dane Naida 16)Darren Long 17)Luke
Hall 18)Mark Grabill 19)Jared Horstman 20)Ron Blair
www.eldoraspeedway.com
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