Story By: TYLER ALTMEYER / TONY STEWART RACING – BROWNSBURG, IN – Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing and Donny Schatz put it all on the line Friday and Saturday at Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, not only capping the weekend with a pair of main event starts and one top-ten finish, but ultimately highlighting Posse Country’s prestigious program with a hard-charging performance in Friday’s preliminary, rallying big from 27th to finish 13th.
In actuality, the weekend’s official opener was contested after the weekend finale on Saturday, as Mother Nature ruined all hope for Friday’s preliminary to be completed on time.
Schatz, ace of the Advance Auto Parts, Carquest, Ford Performance, MadJax XSeries, Curb Records, Sage Fruit, Absolute Automation and Security, Hunt Brothers Pizza, Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts, Mobil 1, Hoosier Racing Tires, VP Racing Fuels, GEARWRENCH, No. 15 sprint car, earned his weekend’s aforementioned top-ten in the 40-lap, $75,000 National Open finale, crossing the checkers eighth after starting 17th on the A-Main grid. The top ten was Schatz’ 39th of the season with the Greatest Show On Dirt.
Obviously, forward progress was a common theme in Schatz’ Williams Grove invasion. The ten-time World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion, also a six-time National Open champion, used his forward progress to propel himself to fifth in the Series’ championship standings, now ahead of Logan Schuchart by 18 markers.