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Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Preview: Rite Aid Outlaws Showdown

Concord, NC-- May 20, 2008--The inaugural Outlaws World Finals last November at The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway provided some of the most thrilling racing all season long for the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series and has the drivers anxious to return to the racy four-tenths mile oval in Concord, North Carolina. Steve Kinser, Danny Lasoski and Daryn Pittman all battled for the win on the last lap on a track surface that was prepared immaculately, and received rave reviews from every driver in attendance, with Kinser, the 20-time series champion coming out on top.

Drivers from the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series will get their first of two chances to return to The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway this week for the Rite Aid Outlaws Showdown on Friday, May 23. All of the action will be LIVE on SPEED from 8-11 p.m. Eastern as well.

The series first competed at the track in 2000, with two-time series champion Mark Kinser taking the wins in those events. Steve Kinser earned his first victory at The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway in 2002. With his win last season, he is now one of just two drivers that have multiple A-Feature wins at the track.

In the last eight World of Outlaws races at the facility, there have been eight different drivers visit the winner's circle.

Other current World of Outlaws drivers that have won at the four-tenths mile include: two-time defending series champion Donny Schatz who was victorious last May in the Rite Aid Outlaws Showdown, as well as current series point leader Jason Meyers who won the first A-Feature event of the inaugural Outlaws World Finals last season, and Daryn Pittman who was triumphant in 2002 at the track.

In what is shaping up to be one of the most competitive seasons in series history, there is a tight battle at the top of the standings as the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series schedule begins to gain steam. After an event at the famed Williams Grove Speedway in Pennsylvania last Thursday night, Jason Meyers holds a five point lead in the championship standings over Craig Dollansky. Meyers leads the series with four A-Feature wins this season, while Dollansky has reached Victory Lane twice.

Dollansky continues to lead the Qwik Liner Cup which awards points to the Top-Five in time trials each race, for the first 13 events of the season. Heading into the Rite Aid Outlaws Showdown, he has a seven point advantage over Meyers, with four events remaining in that competition. The drivers will all be shooting for the track record of 11.880 seconds which was established by Jeff Shepard on October 6, 2001.

After charging from the 17th starting spot to finish second last week at Williams Grove, Schatz is just seven points out of the lead as he chases his third consecutive title. He is the only driver that has finished in the Top-10 in all nine races this season.

Joey Saldana, driving for Kasey Kahne Racing also gained significant ground on the leaders after a third-place finish last week and is 39 markers behind the leading trio.

Kinser is fifth in points, after earning his first win of the season last Thursday night. He has five Top-10 finishes, with three of those being Top-Five in nine events.

The remainder of the Top-10 in points is: Jac Haudenschild in sixth, reigning Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Kerry Madsen in seventh, Chad Kemenah, the series top rookie in 2006 in eighth, Terry McCarl in ninth and Pittman in 10th.

Also in action on Friday, May 23 in the Rite Aid Outlaws Showdown will be Tim Shaffer, the series top rookie in 1999, Jason Sides, who won the rookie crown in 2003, Lucas Wolfe, the current rookie leader, second-year driver Sam Hafertepe Jr., Shane Stewart, who wore the rookie crown in 2005, Kraig Kinser, the 2004 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year, and sophomore drivers Tony Bruce Jr. and Chad Hillier.

All of the action of the Rite Aid Outlaws Showdown will be captured LIVE on SPEED, from 8-11 p.m. Eastern on Friday, May 23 with Bobby Gerould on the call, along with National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Inductee Brad Doty offering expert analysis and Shane Andrews reporting from the pit area.

2007 Race Recap: Donny Schatz earned his first career A-Feature win at the track, after scoring a preliminary feature triumph in 2000, the first season the series visited The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Schatz lined up in the fifth spot for the 30-lap event. Paul McMahan took the lead on the opening lap after a red flag led to a complete restart. McMahan began to pull away early before a series of yellow flags and another red flag bunched the field. On each subsequent restart, he shot to a sizeable advantage with Schatz doing all he could to keep up.

When the pair entered lapped traffic with less than five laps to go, Schatz closed the gap and he dove low coming off the fourth turn to take the lead on the 27th lap. From there, he would pull away as he recorded his seventh A-Feature win of the season and his first in the Rite Aid Outlaw Showdown, which was contested in front of a sold out crowd.

Tony Bruce Jr. earned a career-best third-place finish, with 2001 World of Outlaws champion Danny Lasoski in fourth and 20-time series titlist Steve Kinser in fifth.

Jason Meyers made history on November 2, as he became the first A-Feature winner of the inaugural Outlaws World Finals.

Meyers dove under Schatz exiting the third turn on the final lap, after using a strong run off the second corner that helped ultimately propel him to the lead, with Schatz battling back on the high side of the track exiting in the fourth turn. Meyers won a drag race down the front straight away to take the checkered flag by 0.155 seconds, before a very large and enthusiastic crowd that witnessed the historic event that saw the World of Outlaws compete for the first time ever on the same track on the same night with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series.

Meyers started on the pole, after winning the Crane Cams Dash, and led at the drop of the green flag, entering the first turn, with Schatz taking the lead exiting the second turn. Meyers inched ahead of Schatz a couple of times during the 30-lap event, but each time it was Schatz being officially scored as the leader at the line. Meyers led one lap on the night, but it was the most important one, the last one.

Early in the race, a number of battles ensued, as Tim Shaffer worked on Steve Kinser for several laps as the pair battled for the third position. A restart on the third lap after a caution, gave Kinser a chance to make a run on Meyers for the second spot, with the latter maintaining the runner-up spot. Just two laps later the yellow flag flew again.

While trying to chase down Schatz, Meyers had to endure five yellow flags, as well as a red flag. He used strong restarts each time to keep pace with Schatz in open track.

Steve Kinser and Danny Lasoski put on a show in the finale of the inaugural Outlaws World Finals on November 3, as they battled for the win.

The race began with Kinser leading from the pole, with Lasoski who started third getting around Daryn Pittman for the runner-up spot. The top-two pulled away slightly on the third lap, while Jason Meyers closed on Pittman as the pair tussled over the third spot.

On the sixth lap, Kinser began to encounter lapped traffic, allowing Lasoski to close back in. With drivers running high, low and in the middle of the track, there was two and three-wide racing throughout the field.

The caution flag flew on the ninth lap, as Kinser and Lasoski were in traffic, giving them an open race track on the restart. On that restart, Kinser was running on the high side of the track and Lasoski looked low for the lead as they exited the second turn and again in the third and fourth turns. He tried this same move several times over the next few laps. All the while, Daryn Pittman stayed right with him and was looking for an opportunity to make a move.

The caution flew on the 16th lap, with Kinser quickly jumping out to an eight car-length lead on the restart. At the same time, Pittman began to heavily pressure Lasoski for the runner-up spot. By the 19th lap, the three leaders were all within inches. Lasoski again looked for the lead on the low side of the second turn. Kinser fought off his attempts and continued to pace the field, as the laps wound down.

A red flag on the 21st lap set up a nine-lap shootout between Kinser, Lasoski and Pittman. Kinser used another strong start to jump to a slight lead, though Lasoski and Pittman caught him two laps later and the trio was nearly side-by-side going down the front straightaway. Lasoski tried again to dive under Kinser exiting the second turn for the lead and could not quite get enough momentum to make the pass.

On the final lap, Lasoski made a couple of charges at Kinser, and came up just inches short at the finish line. Over the last few laps, Kinser moved to the bottom of the track as held off several attempts by Lasoski to take the top spot.

Pittman was third, with Schatz fourth and Meyers fifth.

What to look for at The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway:

* The cameras from SPEED will be rolling for the first of three super-sized live three hour events during the 2008 season for the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series. Donny Schatz won three times on SPEED last year, while six total drivers were victorious including: Jason Meyers twice, Joey Saldana twice, as well as Steve Kinser and Craig Dollansky.

* Five drivers have earned A-Feature wins with the World of Outlaws this season. There have been eight drivers visit Victory Lane with the series at The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway, dating back to 2000, including three drivers last season.

* Steve Kinser is one of just two drivers that has multiple A-Feature wins at the 0.4-mile track. He is the only driver that led an event from start to finish at the track last year, capping the season off with a thrilling victory in the Outlaws World Finals leading all 30 laps and holding off a hard charging Danny Lasoski and Daryn Pittman at the end.

* Jason Meyers led one lap in the first A-Feature of the Outlaws World Finals last season, en route to winning the event over two-time defending series champion Donny Schatz. The current World of Outlaws point leader has four A-Feature wins this season to lead the series.

* Donny Schatz, the two-time defending series champion has three Top-Four finishes at The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway last season. The event this week will mark his first driving for Tony Stewart Racing at the track that lies across the street from Lowe's Motor Speedway.

*Tony Bruce Jr. earned a career-best third-place finish last spring in the Rite Aid Outlaws Showdown.

* Lucas Wolfe, the leader in the chase for the Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Award set fast time last season during the Outlaws World Finals and also earned a Top-10 finish in that event.

* Daryn Pittman finished in the Top-10 in all three events at The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway last season, including a podium finish in the finale of the Outlaws World Finals. He is a past winner at the track, taking the checkered flag in 2002.

By the Numbers- The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway:

0.4- Miles around The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway

1 Lap led by Jason Meyers en route to a win in the Outlaws World Finals last season

3- A-Feature events that will be contested by the World of Outlaws this season at The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway

4- Laps led by Donny Schatz en route to the victory last May at the track; Drivers that led laps in feature racing competition at the track last season

5- Points that separate Jason Meyers and Craig Dollansky atop the World of Outlaws championship standings; Drivers that have won an A-Feature event this season

7- Drivers that have been quickest in time trials this season with the World of Outlaws

8- Drivers that have won an A-Feature event with the series at the track

9- Top-10 finishes for Donny Schatz in nine starts, the only driver to have Top-10 finishes in every race this season

10- Degrees of banking in the turns at The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway; Drivers that have led laps in A-Feature competition this season

11.880- Track record established by Jeff Shepard on October 6, 2001 in time trials

17- Total events contested by the World of Outlaws at The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway including preliminary features dating back to 2000

20- Drivers competing full-time with the World of Outlaws this season

30- Laps led by Steve Kinser last season to win the finale of the Outlaws World Finals

33- Laps led by Donny Schatz at the track last season

48- Drivers that competed in the inaugural Outlaws World Finals at the track last fall

71- Laps led by Craig Dollansky in 2008 to lead the series

93- Laps lead by Steve Kinser at the track during his career in A-Feature and preliminary feature events

121.221- Track record in miles per hour established in time trials by Jeff Sheppard in 2001

671- Miles from Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown, New York where the World of Outlaws were scheduled to compete on May 18 before rain postponed that event to The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway

12,000- Dollars the winner will receive on Friday, May 23

51,300- Dollars earned by Jason Meyers through May 15 to lead the series

76,540 Dollar in the purse on Friday, May 23

Tickets: On Friday, May 23 at The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Adult tickets will be $25, with kids12-under just $10. For ticket information visit: www.lowesmotorspeedway.com or call 1-800-455-FANS (3267).

Next Up: The series inaugural visit to the state-of-the-art high-banked half-mile at Virginia Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 24.

-credit: woo