Series LaSalle event report 2010-07-08

Joey Saldana Reigns Supreme in Kasey's King of LaSalle While Jason Meyers Claims Overall Title in the Showdown for the Bud Crown

LaSalle, IL- July 8, 2010- Joey Saldana opened the Showdown for the Bud Crown with a win back in March and he wrapped up the four-race mini-series in the exact same way on Thursday night, picking up the victory over his teammate Paul McMahan at LaSalle Speedway in Illinois during Kasey's King of LaSalle Presented By Budweiser.

Saldana started sixth and quickly moved to the front. He challenged McMahan on a number of double file restarts, taking the top spot on a lap-22 restart. He charge into the lead in turn one, with McMahan battling back and taking the lead down the backstretch, with Saldana powering off turn four to move in front again. He would lead the remaining 14 laps en route to his seventh A-Feature win of the season and his first career triumph at LaSalle Speedway.

"It was a great effort," said Saldana. "We drew dead last (for time trials) and qualified 10th. We started ninth in the dash and moved up to sixth and then went from sixth to win, that was a great effort. They can't say that we started on the front row and they gave us that one. We worked for everything the whole night. We worked with our car and the whole crew did a really good job."

Saldana was out front with two laps remaining when the third and final red flag of the night flew, setting up a double file restart and a two-lap shootout for the $10,000 top prize. Saldana chose the high side of the high-banked ?-mile for the restart, which marked the only time of the six double file restarts on the night that the leader chose the high side of the track. The native of Brownsburg, Indiana used a strong restart to jump out to a couple of car lengths lead and was able to open a slight gap on the final lap on the way to his 66th career World of Outlaws A-Feature win, which put him just one behind Stevie Smith who is eighth on the all-time series win list.

"I knew it was better and my car was working better on the top," shared the winner of his choice of the high side of the track on the double file restart. "I think the only reason Paul (McMahan) went up there was that I showed him my nose too soon and he felt like he felt like he was getting a good run up off the bottom. On initial starts, the bottom is definitely better, but on the double file restarts, the leader sets the pace, so to me the top was clearly better."

For Saldana, it was his second win this season aboard the Budweiser Maxim with his car owner in attendance, both coming during events that were part of the Showdown for the Bud Crown which was promoted by Kasey Kahne along with the World Racing Group.

"He's put a lot into the World of Outlaws and I just hope everyone appreciates what he's doing," said Saldana of his car owner. "I know we do and Budweiser does. He not only has these cars out here racing, but he takes time out of his very busy schedule to try and promote the World of Outlaws. That's why he wanted to put this series on and come to these tracks that we hadn't been to in a while and he got us back to these places. The crowds have been tremendous and the racing has been awesome."

McMahan led the first 21 laps on Thursday night after starting on the pole. He was challenge by Lucas Wolfe early in the race and then Jac Haudenschild. Each time he was leading under caution, the veteran chose the low line in the Great Clips Maxim on the double file restarts. He came into the night second in the Bud Crown standings and wound up just four points behind Jason Meyers who claimed the title for the four-race mini-series.

"I knew if Joey (Saldana) got out front he would be hard to catch," said McMahan. "He cleared me one time and I got back underneath him and we went back ahead and I just couldn't clear him. It was a great effort by the whole KKR team to come home first and second. We tried to come in and win this Bud Crown tonight and came up just a few points short. We did everything we had to do. We out qualified Jason (Meyers). We matched him in the heat race and outran him in the main event. We just came up a few points short."

Steve Kinser continued to be the most consistent driver on the World of Outlaws circuit on Thursday night, coming all the way from the 15th starting spot to finish third in the Bass Pro Shops Maxim to earn his series leading 31st Top-10 finish of the season. The 20-time series champion steadily worked his way to the front and was able to gain a number of spots late in the going on double file restarts.

"It wasn't too bad," Kinser stated. "I just have to get qualified better. I was pretty good the second half of the race when I could move up the track some. I had my hands full the rest of the night, but I'm not going to complain. I didn't figure I'd finish in the Top-Three tonight so I'll take it."

Jason Meyers came home eighth in Kasey's King of LaSalle aboard the GLR Investments KPC to win the overall Showdown for the Bud Crown title by a mere four points over Paul McMahan, with Kinser third. The trio split a $15,000 bonus for their efforts in the four-race mini-series. Meyers was victorious in Round 2 back in March at Volunteer Speedway.

"It's really a neat deal for companies like Budweiser and someone like Kasey Kahne to get behind our sport and to come out here and put some races on for us with this mini-series," Meyers said. "It was really great that they did this and we are very thankful to them. We've been working really hard this season and had a very good start to the year and hopefully this is a sign of things to come."

Donny Schatz, the four-time and defending World of Outlaws champion worked his way to fourth on Thursday night in the Armor All/STP J&J. Lucas Wolfe came home fifth in the Allebach Racing Maxim, with Tim Kaeding sixth in the DTR Transport KPC. Jason Sides was seventh in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim with Meyers eighth. Kraig Kinser was ninth in the Quaker State Maxim, with Danny Lasoski rounding out the Top-10 in the Casey's General Store JEI.

The World of Outlaws return to action on Saturday, July 10 with the Jim Boyd "JB" Memorial at Beaver Dam Raceway in Wisconsin.

KASEY'S KING OF LASALLE NOTES

* FAST QUALIFIER: Jac Haudenschild paced the 25 cars that took time with an AMB i.t. timed lap around the high-banked 1/4-mile oval at 10.712 seconds at 84.018 mph. For his qualifying effort, Haudenschild earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Kraig Kinser (4), Paul McMahan (3), Lucas Wolfe (2) and Donny Schatz (1).

* LASALLE SPEEDWAY QUALIFYING WINNERS: Jason Meyers, Donny Schatz and Paul McMahan won heat races. Paul McMahan won the dash. Ricky Logan won the Last Chance Showdown

* FEATURE WINNERS: There have been 33 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature events held in 2010. The winners include Jason Meyers (The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Thunderbowl Raceway, Volunteer Speedway, Tri-State (Okla.) Speedway, Virginia Motor Speedway, I-96 Speedway and North Central Speedway), Joey Saldana (Thunderbowl Raceway, Volunteer Speedway, I-55 Raceway, Eldora Speedway, Dodge City Raceway Park, River Cities Speedway and LaSalle Speedway), Steve Kinser (Volusia Speedway Park, Jackson Speedway, River Cities Speedway and Lakeside Speedway), Jason Sides (Houston Raceway Park , Tri-City Speedway and Missouri State Fair Speedway), Jac Haudenschild (Paducah International Raceway and Knoxville Raceway), Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park and The Dirt Track at Charlotte), Sammy Swindell (Dodge City Raceway and Huset's Speedway), Brooke Tatnell (Knoxville Raceway and Junction Motor Speedway), Craig Dollansky (Lone Star Speedway), Chad Layton (Williams Grove Speedway), Paul McMahan (Eldora Speedway) and Fred Rahmer (Williams Grove Speedway).

* 1/4-WINNERS: LaSalle Speedway is a high-banked 1/4-mile oval. The World of Outlaws have raced three times this season on a track that size. The winners include: Joey Saldana (River Cities Speedway and LaSalle Speedway), Steve Kinser (River Cities Speedway), and Jason Sides (Houston Raceway Park).

-source: WoO