IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

February 8, 2009 Down to the wire: Saldana Wins Thriller over Sides at Volusia on last lap Barberville, FL— February 7, 2009—Joey Saldana did not lead the most laps on Saturday night during the 38th Annual Alltel DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH at Volusia Speedway Park, but he led the last few hundred feet of the most important one, the last one to edge Jason Sides by just 0.138 seconds to earn his 40th career World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature win. Saldana led four times for seven laps in a race that saw him, Sides and Cody Darrah trade the top spot on six occasions. The win for the second generation driver was worth $10,000 and was his second with the World of Outlaws at Volusia Speedway Park. “It feels great to win this early in the season,” said Saldana. “We put ourselves in position to win. That is what you have to do with these guys to win races. Tonight we did it. We could have given up after a 24th place qualifying effort, but we stuck with it and got the win.” Saldana led from the pole aboard the Budweiser Maxim after winning the Crane Cams Dash with Cody Darrah nearly taking the lead on each of the first two laps. Darrah did take the lead on the third lap and quickly began to open a sizeable advantage on Saldana in the early stages of the 30-lap contest. The leaders found traffic on the sixth circuit, which allowed Saldana to move in on Darrah. As Saldana did his best to track down the young Pennsylvania driver, Sides who started eighth steadily powered his way into the Top-three using the high side of the half-mile. Sides got around Stevie Smith on the fourth lap, before quickly charging around Daryn Pittman and Chad Layton to move into the Top-Five. He went from fifth to third on the 11th lap, motoring by Greg Hodnett and Jac Haudenschild to set his sights on Saldana. Saldana took the lead back on the 17th lap using the low side of turns one and two. Sides, the 2003 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year, moved into second on the very next lap. Darrah saw his night come to an end on the 20th lap as he lost power in his machine while running third, after leading 15 laps earlier in the race. “We had a good car,” said Saldana. “We stuck with the top and Cody (Darrah) showed me the bottom. In lapped traffic I thought the top would be better, but the middle and bottom actually got better. I got a good run off (turn) two coming for the checker and had a good run on him and got the win.” Sides continued his charge to the front as he tracked down Saldana on the 21st lap and took the lead, only to have Saldana reclaim it on the very next lap. After running side by side for the better part of two laps, Sides retook the lead as he powered his way around the high side of Saldana coming off turn four on the 23rd lap. Sides began to pull away when the first caution of the season flew for a stalled car on the front straightaway, setting up a five lap shootout. Sides used a strong start to quickly pull away as he continued to use the top side of the track. With three laps to go, Saldana pull right behind Sides and shadowed him for the final couple laps. He looked low in turns one and two and the pair had a drag race down the backstretch with Sides retaining the lead at the line. On the final lap, Saldana dove under Sides as they came off the fourth turn to inch him out at the line. For Sides, it was his second consecutive runner-up finish at Volusia Speedway Park and in three races this week at the half-mile he has finished on the podium in each and every one of them aboard the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim. He has finished sixth or better in all six of his starts this season in North America and has eight finishes of sixth or better in his last ninth starts including during an off-season stint in Australia. “To start eighth and get to second and finish second would be great, but when you get to the lead and lead that many laps and have the caution come out and for him to drive back by on the last lap hurts,” Sides said. “Maybe we can keep this momentum going and have another good run tomorrow night and hopefully keep that going all year.” Jac Haudenschild picked up a third-place finish in the Owens-Corning Fiberglass Maxim after winning the third heat race. For the native of Wooster, Ohio, it was his third consecutive Top-10 finish this week during the 38th Annual Alltel DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH. “The car felt good,” said Haudenschild. “I have felt good in it ever since we got down here. We have been pretty good every night so far. The car felt good in the dash and we had a good starting spot which always helps. We were able to run up there.” Greg Hodnett was fourth in the Macri Concrete JEI, with Stevie Smith in the Zemco Speed Equipment Maxim rounding out the Top-Five. Steve Kinser was sixth in the Quaker State Maxim, followed by Daryn Pittman in the Pete’s Bridge Street Motors Maxim, Donny Schatz in the Armor All J&J, Sammy Swindell in the Tom Rolfe Trucking Maxim and Jason Meyers in the GLR Investments KPC. The final night of action for the World of Outlaws during the 38th Annual Alltel DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH will be on Sunday night at Volusia Speedway Park, with $10,000 going to the winner. 38th ANNUAL ALLTEL DIRTCAR NATIONALS BY UNOH NIGHT TWO NOTES • FAST QUALIFIER: Sammy Swindell paced the 37 cars that took time with an AMB i.t. timed lap around the semi-banked half-mile oval at 13.275 seconds at 135.593 mph. For his qualifying effort, Swindell earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Stevie Smith (4), Donny Schatz (3), Steve Kinser (2), and Craig Dollansky (1). • QUALIFYING WINNERS: Greg Hodnett, Daryn Pittman, Jac Haudenschild and Chad Layton won heat races…Joey Saldana won the Crane Cams Dash…. Jason Meyers won the B-Main. • FEATURE WINNERS: There has been two World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature event held in 2009. The winners include: Joey Saldana (Volusia Speedway Park) and Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park). • HALF-MILE WINNERS: Volusia Speedway Park is a semi-banked half-mile oval. The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series has raced twice this season on a track that size. The winners include: Joey Saldana (Volusia Speedway Park) and Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park). World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; 38th Annual Alltel DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH; Volusia Speedway Park; Barberville, FL; February 7, 2009 Qualifying 1) 10-Sammy Swindell 13.275 2) 1-Stevie Smith 13.294 3) 15-Donny Schatz 13.301 4) 11-Steve Kinser 13.306 5) 19-Craig Dollansky 13.325 6) 20-Kraig Kinser 13.326 7) 14AJ-Wayne Johnson 13.359 8) 24-Terry McCarl 13.360 9) 22H-Greg Hodnett 13.370 10) 7S-Jason Sides 13.372 11) 89-Cody Darrah 13.380 12) 55-Chad Layton 13.391 13) 7M-Mark Smith 13.409 14) 25-Daryn Pittman 13.421 15) R19-Jac Haudenschild 13.435 16) 8K-Chad Kemenah 13.438 17) 14-Jason Meyers 13.479 18) 3C-Cale Conley 13.488 19) 11E-Mike Erdley 13.517 20) 51-Fred Rahmer 13.523 21) 55M-Kerry Madsen 13.543 22) 18-Tony Bruce Jr. 13.549 23) 6-Danny Lasoski 13.553 24) 9-Joey Saldana 13.553 25) 5W-Lucas Wolfe 13.556 26) 96-Bronson Maeschen 13.564 27) 83JR-Tim Kaeding 13.582 28) 89G-David Gravel 13.583 29) 30C-Lance Dewease 13.629 30) 4-Danny Smith 13.636 31) O-Glenn Styres 13.636 32) 22TI-Brian Ellenberger 13.637 33) 39-Doug Esh 13.674 34) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 13.709 35) 17-Pat Cannon 13.769 36) 4B-Tom Busch 13.901 37) 13-Jesse Hockett 14.160 Heat 1 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature) 1) 22H-Greg Hodnett 2) 7M-Mark Smith 3) 10-Sammy Swindell 4) 19-Craig Dollansky 5) 55M-Kerry Madsen 6) 14-Jason Meyers 7) 13-Jesse Hockett 8) 5W-Lucas Wolfe 9) 39-Doug Esh 10) 30C-Lance Dewease Heat 2 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature) 1) 25-Daryn Pittman 2) 7S-Jason Sides 3) 1-Stevie Smith 4) 20-Kraig Kinser 5) 18-Tony Bruce Jr. 6) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 7) 3C-Cale Conley 8) 96-Bronson Maeschen 9) 4-Danny Smith Heat 3 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature) 1) R19-Jac Haudenschild 2) 89-Cody Darrah 3) 14AJ-Wayne Johnson 4) 15-Donny Schatz 5) 83JR-Tim Kaeding 6) 6-Danny Lasoski 7) 11E-Mike Erdley 8) 17-Pat Cannon 9) O-Glenn Styres Heat 4 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature) 1) 55-Chad Layton 2) 9-Joey Saldana 3) 8K-Chad Kemenah 4) 11-Steve Kinser 5) 24-Terry McCarl 6) 22TI-Brian Ellenberger 7) 51-Fred Rahmer 8) 89G-David Gravel 9) 4B-Tom Busch Crane Cams Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature) 1) 9-Joey Saldana 2) 89-Cody Darrah 3) 55-Chad Layton 4) R19-Jac Haudenschild 5) 1-Stevie Smith 6) 25-Daryn Pittman 7) 22H-Greg Hodnett 8) 7S-Jason Sides 9) 7M-Mark Smith 10) 10-Sammy Swindell B-main (12 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature) 1) 14-Jason Meyers 2) 3C-Cale Conley 3) 11E-Mike Erdley 4) 6-Danny Lasoski 5) 51-Fred Rahmer [$200] 6) 5W-Lucas Wolfe [$180] 7) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. [$175] 8) 89G-David Gravel [$160] 9) 22TI-Brian Ellenberger [$150] 10) 30C-Lance Dewease [$150] 11) 4-Danny Smith [$150] 12) 17-Pat Cannon [$150] 13) 96-Bronson Maeschen [$150] 14) 13-Jesse Hockett [$150] 15) O-Glenn Styres [$150] 16) 4B-Tom Busch [$150] 17) 39-Doug Esh [$150] A-main (30 laps) - Starting Position [#] 1) 9-Joey Saldana[1] [$10,000] 2) 7S-Jason Sides[8] [$5,500] 3) R19-Jac Haudenschild[4] [$3,200] 4) 22H-Greg Hodnett[7] [$2,800] 5) 1-Stevie Smith[5] [$2,500] 6) 11-Steve Kinser[12] [$2,300] 7) 25-Daryn Pittman[6] [$2,200] 8) 15-Donny Schatz[11] [$2,100] 9) 10-Sammy Swindell[10] [$2,050] 10) 14-Jason Meyers[18] [$2,000] 11) 20-Kraig Kinser[14] [$1,500] 12) 55-Chad Layton[3] [$1,200] 13) 6-Danny Lasoski[23] [$1,100] 14) 8K-Chad Kemenah[17] [$1,050] 15) 19-Craig Dollansky[13] [$1,000] 16) 14AJ-Wayne Johnson[15] [$900] 17) 83JR-Tim Kaeding[24] [$800] 18) 7M-Mark Smith[9] [$800] 19) 55M-Kerry Madsen[21] [$800] 20) 24-Terry McCarl[16] [$800] 21) 3C-Cale Conley[19] [$800] 22) 18-Tony Bruce Jr.[22] [$800] 23) 11E-Mike Erdley[20] [$800] 24) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[25] [$0] 25) 89-Cody Darrah[2] [$800] Note: Sam Hafertepe Jr. used a World of Outlaws Provisional to start the A-Feature. Lap leaders: Joey Saldana 1-2, 18-20, 22, 30; Cody Darrah 3-17; Jason Sides 21, 23-29 SuperClean Start of the Night Award: Jason Sides Penske Power Position Award: Jac Haudenschild KSE Hard Charger Award: Danny Lasoski Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! or Email KARNACto send a letter to the editor!