IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

February 8, 2009 Joey Saldana, Randy Hall race into Alltel All-Star Contest Late passes slide Saturday’s Volusia winners closer to $10,000 Alltel bonus BARBERVILLE, Fla. — Feb. 7, 2009 — For the second time in the first five nights of racing at the 38th Annual Alltel DIRTcar Nationals By UNOH on Saturday at Volusia Speedway Park, the Sprint Car driver who took the white flag failed to win the race in the World of Outlaws feature. At the same time, Randy Hall says he got the biggest UMP DIRTcar Modified victory of his career, earning a spot in Sunday’s Gator Championship. Those thrilling wins give each driver a chance to become the 2009 Alltel All-Star. Fans can vote via text message to 247253 and enter their favorite driver’s letter code, or by visiting AlltelAllStar.com and casting a ballot. Votes will be tallied daily until Feb. 28. The overall winner as determined by fan votes will receive the $10,000 grand prize, while the top vote-getter in the other three divisions will earn $1,000. Over 12 consecutive nights from Feb. 3 to Feb. 14, 410 Sprint Cars, UMP DIRTcar Modifieds, Dirt Late Models and Big-Block Modifieds will all compete. On the second qualifying night for the Gator Championship, Hall slid to the front off of a restart and held on for the victory. “I wasn’t even going to come down here this year,” said Hall, of Olean, N.Y. “But my sponsors got together and sent me down here. It may not be the biggest paying win of my career, but it certainly is the biggest. We’ve been coming down to Florida for about 12 years and I have kind of stayed away from this place because I kept getting beat up here. It feels good to come here and know we can run with everyone.” As one of two Kasey Kahne Racing World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series drivers, Saldana has the pressure of constantly competing in the spotlight. The native of Brownsburg, Ind., started on the pole Saturday night, but rising star Cody Darrah grabbed the top spot early on, then Jason Sides slid into the lead on Lap 21 and again on Laps 23-29 before Saldana was able to go around him in the final corners to take the checkered flag. Afterward, Saldana talked about how much winning the Alltel All-Star grand prize would mean. “I think the biggest thing for me is that my dad was a racecar driver and I’m a second generation driver,” he said as he made his case for why fans should vote for him. “This is a very tough sport. I don’t think people realize how tough it is. Sometimes I wonder why I even do it, but when you get an opportunity like that, when you have a son and see what he might be going through, or the challenges he’s going to face in racing, sometimes it’s better to just go to school and try to be good at something, be a doctor, be a lawyer. $10,000 would definitely go a long way toward putting my son through school.” Through five nights of competition at the Alltel DIRTcar Nationals By UNOH, the Alltel All-Star contenders and their text message Letter Codes (in parenthesis) include: Sprint Cars — Donny Schatz, Fargo, N.D. (b); Stevie Smith, Broken Arrow, Okla. (d); Joey Saldana (f). UMP DIRTcar Modifieds — Jared Landers, Batesville, Ark. (a); Austin Dillon, Lewisville, N.C. (c); Randy Hall, Olean, N.Y. (e). For more information about Alltel, please visit www.alltel.com. To cast your vote online visit www.AlltelAllStar.com. Alltel DIRTcar Nationals By UNOH Statistical Report — Night 5 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series 30-lap A-main Pos. / Car / Driver / Start / Earnings 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] Lap leaders: Joey Saldana 1-2, 18-20, 22, 30; Cody Darrah 3-17; Jason Sides 21, 23-29 UMP DIRTcar Modified Gator Championship Qualifying Night 2 20-lap A-main Pos. Car Name 1 10H Randy Hall 2 89 Mike Spatola 3 88 Jeff Taylor 4 6T Corky Thomas 5 182 Randle Sweeney 6 71A Ryan Aho 7 12H Jason Hughes 8 48 Wayne Hammond 9 70 Matt Aber 10 T3 Dave Groves 11 44N Darrell Nelson 12 O7 Jeff Thomas 13 3L Jeff Leka 14 7R Kent Robinson 15 26H Justin Houston 16 17JE J.E. Stalder 17 33 Jeff Matthews 18 55H Scott Hansen 19 17X Rich Michael 20 4 Stormy Scott 21 51M Eddie Martin 22 1s Tommie Seets Jr 23 2J Blake Jegtvig 24 *222 Mike Knight Alltel DIRTcar Nationals By UNOH Daily Schedule Pits open at 3 p.m., grandstands at 5 p.m., racing at 7:30 p.m. February 3, Tuesday All Star Circuit of Champions (Donny Schatz) UMP DIRTcar Modifieds (Jared Landers) February 4, Wednesday All Star Circuit of Champions (Donny Schatz) UMP DIRTcar Modifieds (Jared Landers) February 5, Thursday All Star Circuit of Champions (Stevie Smith) UMP DIRTcar Modifieds (Austin Dillon) February 6, Friday World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series (Donny Schatz) UMP DIRTcar Modifieds “The Gator” qualifying Night 1 (Jared Landers) February 7, Saturday World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series (Joey Saldana) UMP DIRTcar Modifieds “The Gator” qualifying Night 2 (Randy Hall) February 8, Sunday World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series UMP DIRTcar Modifieds “The Gator” Championship February 9, Monday UMP DIRTcar Late Models UMP DIRTcar Modifieds February 10, Tuesday UMP DIRTcar Late Models UMP DIRTcar Modifieds February 11, Wednesday UMP DIRTcar Late Models Advance Auto Parts Big Block Modifieds February 12, Thursday World of Outlaws Late Model Series Advance Auto Parts Big Block Modifieds February 13, Friday UMP DIRTcar Late Models Advance Auto Parts Big Block Modifieds February 14, Saturday World of Outlaws Late Model Series Advance Auto Parts Big Block Modifieds Have an opinion on this story? 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