Barberville,FL — They opened the 38th Annual Alltel DIRTcar Nationals Tuesday night with a pair of wins. World of Outlaws Sprint Car champion Donny Schatz and UMP DIRTcar Modified star Jared Landers doubled their fun Wednesday at Volusia Speedway Park with dominating performances.
The victories mean Landers and Schatz remain the only eligible drivers in the Alltel All-Star competition. Fans can vote via text message to 247253 and enter their driver’s letter code or by visiting AlltelAllStar.com. 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.
More than 80 UMP DIRTcar Modifieds took the track Wednesday night, but it was Landers, 26, who wound up starting on the outside of the front row. He charged to the lead and never looked back for his second consecutive victory and the fourth win in the past two seasons at Volusia.
“I couldn’t ask for much more,” said Landers, a native of Batesville, Ark., who brought to Victory Lane his five-month-old son, who has never seen his father fail to win a race. “I don’t know I just hope I can keep it up. At least I might be able to win the Modified part if I can keep everyone else out of it. If one of these guys (Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon or Ryan Gifford) gets in it I’m in trouble. I want to leave with the most wins. The competition is so hard.”
There were 45 cars in the Sprint Car pits on Wednesday night. Schatz followed up his remarkable worst-to-first run in the opener by starting on the pole Wednesday night alongside Joey Saldana, creating an all-NASCAR team owner front row as Tony Stewart Racing owns Schatz’s car and Kasey Kahne Racing owns Saldana’s machine. Schatz, 31, the three-time and defending World of Outlaws champion, quickly raced to the front. He was lapping cars in no time, but Saldana started reeling him in late. When it looked like Saldana was sizing up Schatz with a couple of laps to go for a move on the lead, Greg Wilson flipped down the backstretch and brought out a caution. Schatz left no doubt on the restart, showing off some serious horsepower as he drove away from the field on a green-white-checkered finish.
“When you’re a race fan, you want to see a race. I think anybody that was here Tuesday night saw something that doesn’t happy very often,” Schatz said of his incredible run in the opener that he hopes will entice fans to cast a ballot for him in the Alltel All-Star contest.
Through two nights of competition at the Alltel DIRTcar Nationals By UNOH, the Alltel All-Star contenders and their text message Letter Codes include:
Sprint Cars — Donny Schatz, Fargo, N.D. (b).
UMP DIRTcar Modifieds — Jared Landers, Batesville, Ark. (a).
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
All Star Circuit of Champions 30-lap A-main
1. 15 Donny Schatz (1)
2. 9 Joey Saldana (2)
3. 7s Jason Sides (4)
4. 25 Daryn Pittman (7)
5. 11 Steve Kinser (6)
6. 1 Stevie Smith (9)
7. 83jr Tim Kaeding (5)
8. 55 Chad Layton (8)
9. 14 Jason Meyers (13)
10. 33 Danny Lasoski (10)
11. 8k Chad Kemenah (11)
12. 4 Danny Smith (14)
13. 20 Kraig Kinser (17)
14. 19 Craig Dollansky (23)
15. 2 Dale Blaney (15)
16. 10 Sammy Swindell (16)
17. 3c Craig Conley (19)
18. R19 Jac Haudenschild (24)
19. 6f Bob Felmlee (18)
20. W20 Greg Wilson (3)
21. 83 Tim Shaffer (21)
22. 24 Terry McCarl (12)
23. 17 Pat Cannon (23)
24. 22h Greg Hodnett (20)
UMP DIRTcar Modified 20-lap A-main
1. Jared Landers
2. Ryan Gifford
3. Jeff Taylor
4. Darrell Nelson
5. John Henry
6. Tim Hancock
7. Jason Hughes
8. Jeff Leka
9. Randy Hall
10. Jacob Hawkins
11. Corky Thomas
12. Benji Lacrosse
13. Steve Arpin
14. Mike Hansen
15. Alan Mondus
16. Todd Sherman
17. Rich Michael
18. Gary Cook Jr
19. Mike Knight
20. Mark Noble
21. Chad Evans
22. Grant Junghans
23. Devin Gilpin
24. Ken Schrader
25. Kent Robinson
26. Dave Hess Jr
27. Kenny Wallace
28. Scott Green
