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Saldana takes King's Royal Tune-Up.
Rossburg, OH— July 11, 2008—If Joey Saldana wins the 25th Annual Kings Royal at Eldora Speedway, he would join elite company, as the only two drivers that have won the famed race more than two times, are 20-time Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion Steve Kinser and Jac Haudenschild. Saldana got off to a great start in his quest for his third Kings Royal crown, as he was victorious on Friday in the Knight Before the Kings Royal. Butch Schroeder held off Dale Blaney, who was doing double duty, to capture the companion NRA (National Racing Alliance) Sprint Invader finale.
Saldana used a classic Eldora slide job on former Kings Royal winner Dale Blaney to take the lead on the 14th lap, and held off a hard charging Jason Meyers down the stretch to earn the $10,000 victory, which was the 36th of his Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series career.
“We needed this one,” said Saldana. “We have been struggling here lately. It’s nice to win a race at Eldora. They talk about the Knoxville Nationals, but the Kings Royal is just as big. It certainly deserves its mark in sprint car racing. It’s nice to run good the night before and hopefully we can run well tomorrow.”
Saldana lined up third in the Budweiser/Open Joist Mopar-powered JEI and moved into second on the opening lap, as he got around pole sitter Rob Chaney, when Blaney had taken the lead. This came after the trio went three-side down the back straightaway.
Jason Meyers moved up to fourth in the early going, putting a slider on Chaney coming off the fourth turn. Chaney got sideways as he tried to battle back for the spot and spun, leading to the first caution of the night. On the ensuing restart, Saldana looked to the high side of turns one and two for a way around Blaney. At the same time, Donny Schatz battled Steve Kinser, as the pair traded slide jobs a number of times. Schatz took the fourth spot from Kinser on the third lap, but the second yellow flag of the night flew before the lap was completed and thus Kinser retained the position.
On the restart, Blaney powered his way to a sizeable lead, with Saldana chasing him. A five-car accident in the third turn on the sixth lap right in front of the leaders, led to a very tense moment for Blaney. He found a small opening to dive through after getting on the brakes as hard as he could. Saldana followed him through unscathed. The teams all had a chance to come on the track and work on their machines since it was an open red flag period.
The next restart saw Blaney go to the low side of the track with Saldana looking high off the second turn and again off turn four. He opened a lead in clean track, but quickly was back in traffic, which allowed Saldana to close in and make the pass for the lead and ultimately the win on the 14th lap as they were in dense lapped traffic. Meyers also used a slide job to move into second. A couple laps before that, six-time Kings Royal winner Steve Kinser lost an engine while running fourth, ending his night.
“It was tough in traffic,” noted Saldana, a native of Brownsburg, Indiana. “A lot of them want to race you, and they are not even racing the guy ahead of them in the running order. I had to do my job in traffic, because I have been beat a lot in traffic this year and I didn’t want to have that happen again. It gets old after a while.”
Meyers stayed with Saldana, while Craig Dollansky who had worked his way from 14th to fourth while running on seven cylinders, battled with Blaney.
Saldana began to pull away though once he got in traffic, which gave Meyers a chance to close in. With five laps to go, Saldana has trouble getting around a lapped machine and Meyers closed to within three car lengths. Meyers charged off the fourth turn, reminiscent of the Wednesday night at Limaland Motorsports Park when he won. Saldana held him off down the front straightaway by 0.267 seconds.
The victory was the second of the year for Saldana at Eldora, though his team ran a completely different set-up that in their previous visits to the legendary half-mile earlier this season. The second generation driver has 16 career wins at the track and has finished first or second in three of his last four starts at Eldora.
“We have kind of gone back to what everyone else is going and it’s clearly better for our race car right now,” he explained. “We are rolling around the track a lot better lately.”
Meyers was second in the GLR Investments KPC, with Blaney in the Berlin Bakery Maxim in third, Donny Schatz in the Armor All J&J in fourth and Craig Dollansky in the Snap-on Tools Maxim in fifth.
Shane Stewart was sixth in the Roth Motorsports KPC, with Jac Haudenschild in the Owens Corning Fiberglass Maxim in seventh, Terry McCarl in the Big Game Treestands Eagle in eighth, Stevie Smith in the R.A.C.E. Foundation JEI in ninth and Kenny Jacobs in 10th aboard the Southern Crane & Tractor Supply JEI.
Tim Allison led the early going of the NRA night capper, with several drivers dicing for the number one spot before Schroeder was able to jump into command and the eventual win. He had opened a huge gap over the field, as Dale Blaney was advancing quickly from deep within the pack.
Blaney ran out of time and had to settle for runner-up honors, with Greg Wilson, Mike Brecht and Allison completing the top five. --30--
KNIGHT BEFORE THE KINGS ROYAL
July 11, 2008
Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaw Sprint Cars – 40 cars
Fast Time: Kenny Jacobs 13.523
Heat 1: Donny Schatz, Shane Stewart, Paul McMahan, Kenny Jacobs, Jason Sides, Randy Hannagan, Dustin Daggett, Chad Blonde, Caleb Griffith, Kevin Nouse
Heat 2: Joey Saldana, Steve Kinser, Sam Hafertepe, Jr., Brock Mayes, Tim Shaffer, Chad Hillier, Greg Wilson, Kevin Huntley, Jac Haudenschild, Bruce White
Heat 3: Dale Blaney, Stevie Smith, Terry McCarl, Ed Lynch, Jr., Kraig Kinser, Kerry Madsen, Chad Kemenah, Tim Hunter, Ryan Meyers, Todd Wanless
Heat 4: Rob Chaney, Jason Meyers, Daryn Pittman, Craig Dollansky, Brian Paulus, Tony Bruce, Jr., Lee Stark, Jeremy Campbell, Todd King, Scott Curran
Dash: Rob Chaney, Dale Blaney, Joey Saldana, Jason Meyers, Steve Kinser, Donny Schatz, Shane Stewart, Stevie Smith, Terry McCarl, Kenny Jacobs
C-Main: Chad Blonde, Kevin Huntley, Todd Wanless, Todd King, Bruce White, Scott Curran, Ryan Meyers
B-Main: Jac Haudenschild, Kerry Madsen, Randy Hannagan, Chad Hillier, Tim Hunter, Chad Kemenah, Greg Wilson, Caleb Griffith, Dustin Daggett, Tony Bruce, Jr., Lee Stark, Jeremy Campbell, Chad Blonde
A-Main: 1)Joey Saldana 2)Jason Meyers 3)Dale Blaney 4)Donny Schatz, 5)Craig Dollansky 6)Shane Stewart 7)Jac Haudenschild 8)Terry McCarl 9)Stevie Smith 10)Kenny Jacobs 11)Daryn Pittman 12)Paul McMahan 13)Chad Kemenah 14)Kerry Madsen 15)Tim Shaffer 16)Rob Chaney 17)Kraig Kinser 18)Randy Hannagan 19)Steve Kinser 20)Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 21)Brock Mayes 22)Chad Hillier 23)Jason Sides 24)Brian Paulus 25)Ed Lynch, Jr.
NRA Sprint Invaders – 29 cars
Heat 1: Dale Blaney, Gary Fast, Butch Schroeder, Mark Grabill, J. R. Stewart, Aaron Maloney, Aaron Schaffer, Ron Blair, Rick Boughan, Dwain Leiber
Heat 2: Mike Brecht, Greg Wilson, Mike Miller, Jeff Williams, Sean Robinson, Dane Naida, Brent Gehr, Mark Hery, Kent Wolters
Heat 3: Dustin Daggett, Tim Allison, Darren Long, Luke Hall, Mike Dunlap, Jared Horstman, Scott Carter, Bob Carman, Bob Gehr, Jr.
B-Main: Jared Hortsman, Dane Naida, Scott Carter, Ron Blair, Dwain Leiber, Kent Wolters, Aaron Maloney, Mark Hery, Aaron Schaffer, Bob Gehr, Bob Carman, Brent Gehr, Rick Boughan, Ryan Ruhl
A-Main 1)Butch Schroeder 2)Dale Blaney 3)Greg Wilson 4)Mike Brecht 5)Tim Allison 6)Gary Fast 7)Dustin Daggett 8)Sean Robinson 9)Jeff Williams 10)J R Stewart 11)Dwain Leiber 12)Mike Miller 13)Mike Dunlap 14)Scott Carter 15)Dane Naida 16)Darren Long 17)Luke Hall 18)Mark Grabill 19)Jared Horstman 20)Ron Blair
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