Tony Stewart Racing teammates Kinser, Schatz eye their own Memorial Day double

It’s only appropriate that on Memorial Day weekend, the World of Outlaws (WoO) STP Sprint Car Series is set to do battle at dirt tracks in North Carolina and Indiana. Tony Stewart Racing’s (TSR) Steve Kinser In photo) and Donny Schatz continue one of the most grueling racing schedules in all of motorsports this weekend with Friday’s Circle K/NOS Energy Drink Outlaw Showdown at The Dirt Track at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway and Monday’s Memorial Day spectacular at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway’s.

With a slate of major motorsports events all across the landscape including the IndyCar Series’ Indianapolis 500, NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 and Formula 1’s Grand Prix of Monaco, the WoO STP Sprint Car Series stars will bookend the weekend with stops 29 and 30 of their 92-race 2014 WoO campaign.

Friday’s annual May stop at The Dirt Track is part of the weekend festivities at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It’s the 30th night of WoO competition on the 4/10-mile clay oval, which opened in May 2000. Schatz, driver of the TSR No. 15 STP/Armor All/Crimsafe J&J, leads all drivers with seven career WoO A-Feature wins. The five-time WoO champion won his seventh A-Feature during the opening night of last year’s World Finals. He finished third in the season finale to increase his career number of top-10s there to 24. Kinser, pilot of the TSR No. 11 Bad Boy Buggies/J.D. Byrider/Chevrolet Performance Maxim, is making his final run at his 21st WoO STP Sprint Car Series championship in this season tabbed the World of Outlaws “Salute to the King Tour.” Each of the first 20 starts at The Dirt Track by “The King of the Outlaws” resulted in top-10 finishes. The Bloomington, Indiana racer was a winner at the facility in October 2001, and he also won the 2007 World Finals finale after leading all 30 laps. He finished fifth in last year’s season finale.

“We always enjoy racing in Charlotte," Kinser said. "It’s one of the premier tracks in the country and a place where you want to win. The fans in that area are some of the best around. As a kid from Indiana, Memorial Day weekend was always special with the Indianapolis 500 and it’s no different for people down there with the Coca-Cola 600. It’s a huge weekend in racing and, if you can get a win or two during the weekend, it feels pretty special. We’re excited about the opportunity Friday. We’ve been running all over the place and had some good nights and some we’d like to forget. Hopefully, Friday is one of the good ones.”

The weekend concludes with Monday’s race at Lawrenceburg, where Schatz has been victorious in two of the last three WoO stops at the 3/8-mile high-banked dirt oval located in southeast Indiana. He raced to victory in 2009 and finished his night in victory lane again last May. Kinser won the Outlaws’ first race at Lawrenceburg back in May 1979. He finished fourth in 2012 and 17th last season.

Through 28 WoO races this season, Schatz continues to hold third in the championship standings. He has 4,076 points and trails leader Daryn Pittman by 38 markers. He has three wins, 18 top-fives and a series-best 26 top-10s. The Fargo, North Dakota driver has earned 12 consecutive top-10s. Kinser remains seventh overall with 3,774 points and is 340 points out of first.

Friday at The Dirt Track, the pit gates will open at 1 p.m. EDT and the grandstands open at 4 p.m. Hot laps are scheduled to begin at 6:20 p.m. For tickets and more information, contact the track by calling (800) 455-FANS, or visit www.charlottemotorspeedway.com.

Monday at Lawrenceburg, the pit gates will open at 2 p.m. EDT with the grandstands opening at 4 p.m. Hot laps are set for 6 p.m. For more details and ticket information, contact the track at (812) 539-4700 or visit www.lawrenceburgspeedway.com.

Race fans unable to attend this weekend’s races can catch all of the action on DIRTVision.com. Fans can listen live as Johnny Gibson, “Voice of the Outlaws,” calls the action as he does at all WoO Sprint Series events on the DIRTVision.com cybercast, as well as on the DIRT Radio Network. Go to www.DIRTVision.com for more information on all the site features, including updated results from each night of racing, as well as a chat room to interact with other race fans.

Tony Stewart Racing