Tony Stewart Racing heading north of the border

The long road to a World of Outlaws (WoO) STP Sprint Car Series title stretches all across the United States and twice into Canada. A three-race tour through eastern Canada beginning in Quebec tonight and concluding with two races in Ontario closes out a busy July slate of action for Tony Stewart Racing’s (TSR) Donny Schatz and Steve Kinser.

Schatz and Kinser lead the Outlaws north of the border with races tonight at Autodromme Drummond in Drummondville, Quebec, Sunday at Cornwall (Ontario) Motor Speedway, and at Ohsweken (Ontario) Speedway Tuesday.

Kinser is making his final run through eastern Canada during the World of Outlaws “Salute to the King Tour.” The driver of the TSR No. 11 Bad Boy Buggies/J.D. Byrider/Chevrolet Performance Maxim won the Outlaws debut at Autodromme back in 2010 and charged from 12th to second in the Outlaws debut at Cornwall in 2012. The 20-time WoO champion has competed in all eight races at Ohsweken and he’s finished third on two occasions (2010 and 2012).

Schatz, the five-time WoO STP Sprint Car Series champion and current point leader, finished second last year at Autodromme and won the 2013 stop at Ohsweken in dominating fashion for his second career win at the track. His 2012 flag-to-flag victory in the 40-lap race at Cornwall kicked started his run to a fifth WoO championship. The driver of the TSR No. 15 STP/Armor All/Crimsafe J&J has scored eight top-10s in his last 10 starts.

Schatz has nine wins

The 2014 season has been a memorable one so far for Schatz, who has nine WoO A-Feature wins. In April, he earned his 150th career triumph, winning at historic Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, Texas. In early June, he won his 154th career A-Feature to move into third place all-time on the WoO win list trailing only Kinser (577) and Sammy Swindell (293) in victories. The historic victory came at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wisconsin, a track where the North Dakota native spent a number of Saturday nights racing early in his career.

For Kinser, the campaign has been filled with a number of special presentations as the 20-time champion makes his final run at a 21st WoO title. During his illustrious career, the Bloomington, Indiana native has won WoO A-Features in 36 states, three Canadian provinces, Mexico and Australia. He has been victorious at 142 tracks and his goal during the next four days is to move that number to 144 with initial wins at Cornwall and Ohsweken.

Said Kinser: “We want to come out and be competitive. We’d sure like to have an opportunity to race for a couple of wins. That’s why we’re out here to win races. It’s also a final chance to compete at these tracks. We were fortunate to win at Drummondville the first year and had pretty good run at Cornwall a couple of years ago. I know the Bad Boy Buggies crew (Scott Gerkin, Gary DuBois and Mark Angerett, Jr.) have been working extremely hard and putting a complete night together would be good for all of us. We’re searching for something. If we can get over the hump one night and have a little luck, we might be get there.”

54 of 92 races in the books

Following Wednesday’s WoO race at Fulton (New York) Speedway, the Outlaws have contested 54 of the 92 scheduled race nights in the 2014 WoO STP campaign. Schatz leads the series championship with 7,602 points and has a 55-point lead over Daryn Pittman. Schatz leads the series with 34 top-five finishes and a second-best 48 top-10s. Kinser currently ranks eighth and has posted eight top-five and 26 top-10 finishes.

 TSR