Whenever Knoxville Raceway comes on the schedule for the World of Outlaws Series, cue up Donny Schatz as the favorite.
The eight time Knoxville Nationals champion and now 12-time winner in the series went on to win in the “Sprint Car Capital of the World” on Saturday Night.
“[By getting my 12th win] it means this team is doing a phenomenal job crossing their I’s and dotting their I’s and crossing their T’s,” Schatz said. “But, they are doing it better than they have in the past so you can expect it.”
Donny Schatz was passed on lap one of the feature when Justin Henderson had a got a jump on the restart, however retook the lead a lap later. Henderson stuck with Schatz, but would not get another chance at a restart as fog took over.
“It was crazy, but it just goes to show ya the sprint car fans and push truck drivers that spend hours packing it with their vehicles,” Schatz said. “The fans stayed with us so thats what keeps us motivated on nights like tonight.”
The action got as far as the World of Outlaws dual last chance qualifiers, before the rain arrived.
At 9:18pm CT, rain started falling in the area, and the Knoxville Track Crew got things cleaned up fast. Moments away from starting the those last chance qualifiers, the rain picked up and misted for about 20 minutes starting at 9:43pm.
Given the rain delay officially started at 9:43pm, the drivers were not called to their cars until 12:31pm and the checkered flags flew at 2:18pm.
Authors Note* A big thank you to the Knoxville Track Crew on getting things going after such a delay. A lot of work was put into keeping the track up and these guys did their jobs and then some.
Donny Schatz extended his lead in the points standings to 177 over Shane Stewart.
World of Outlaws Points Standings
Driver pts/behind
1. Schatz 4677/-0
2. Stewart 4500/-177
3. Madsen 4451/-226
4. Sweet 4422/-255
5. Saldana 4395/-282
The Outlaws will have short time to recover from the late night at Knoxville as they head to Husets Speedway on Sunday afternoon.
