Dodge City, KS — Ninth Wonder of the World of Outlaws: Saldana Wins at Dodge City Raceway Park
Dodge City, KS— June 12, 2009—Joey Saldana has always enjoyed racing at Dodge City Raceway Park in Kansas and has always been fast at the track as well. After becoming the first World of Outlaws driver to win two career A-Feature events at the track last season, he picked up his third victory at the pristine 3/8-mile on Friday night, after taking the lead from Jason Meyers on a restart on the eighth lap, pacing the field the rest of the way, with the cameras from SPEED capturing all of the action for future broadcast.
For Saldana, the $10,000 triumph was his ninth win of the season, which matches his car number. He now has 48 career World of Outlaws wins and is just three victories out of the eighth spot on the all-time win list and two short of 50 A-Feature victories.
“That was a great car tonight,” said Saldana. “I can’t say enough for my team. They did an awesome job. We were running so good up top. The longer I ran, the better I got. The lapped car were pretty tough. They didn’t realize you were running the top. It was a great run for us.”
On the seventh lap, Saldana caught Jason Meyers and ran side-by-side with him down the back straightaway. He looked high in turns three and four and then dove under Meyers as the pair charged into turns one and two on the next lap, nearly taking the lead. The caution then came out and on the restart, Saldana went to the high side in turns one and two and powered his way around Meyers. He would go on to lead the final 23 laps of the 30-lap contest aboard the Budweiser Maxim for Kasey Kahne Racing.
“I had him passed and he kind of chopped me going down into one,” Saldana noted. “I thought I had a bunch of mud in my left front and I thought that may have cost me the race. I knew once I could get him, I was pretty good, so I wasn’t very worried.”
Saldana began the night by turning the 16th fastest lap in time trials, which put him on the pole for the fourth heat race which he won to earn a spot in the Crane Cams Dash where he finished sixth. He moved up to fourth on the second lap and just two laps later was in third. He took the runner-up spot from Brian Ellenberger on the fifth go-around and set his sights on Meyers.
“It seems like all year we have struggled in qualifying and with our car all night, until we push off for the feature and we have hit on something,” explained the winner. “We just have to qualify better and get our qualifying package better. I don’t know if it’s me or what, but someone has to do a better job and it’s probably me. That win right there shows, that’s a good car.”
Meyers led from the outset and endured a complete restart after the caution flew before the first lap was completed. He led on the second start as well and quickly jumped out to a comfortable lead as Brian Ellenberger worked on Lucas Wolfe for second. Meyers wound up finishing second for the fourth time in 2009 aboard the GLR Investments KPC. He also moved into the second spot in the series championship standings as he chases his first series title.
“We’re right there where we need to be,” stated Meyers. “If you run second enough, you’re going to win your races. It’s unfortunate to give that one up. My hat is off to Joey (Saldana) and that team. You give him a lip and he does a nice job and we have to get better there. We were a little looser than we needed to be. This entire team worked hard tonight and they deserved to win and I didn’t get it done for them.”
Brian Ellenberger ran second early in the race and wound up a career-best third in the Ti22 Performance J&J. He began the night by winning the third heat race to earn a spot in the Crane Cams Dash, where he finished third to start on the second row in the A-Feature. All of which were career bests.
“I’m ecstatic about that,” said Ellenberger of his podium finish. “The car was good from the beginning of the night. It’s exciting to finish third here. Sonny (Kratzer) and my crew have done a great job for me. We’ve made some changes to this race car and it’s really worked. The car is working great right now.”
After three cautions in the first seven laps of the race while Meyers was in front, the remainder of the contest went non-stop after Saldana took the lead. Saldana was able to build a big lead in lapped traffic as he used the high side of the track to charge around the slower machines, en route to a five-plus second victory.
“I think I needed a caution late in the race,” stated Meyers. “I didn’t get through the traffic like I should have. I was running a completely different line than what Joey (Saldana) was. If I would have closed back up on him, I think I would have been able to race with him, but I just didn’t get through the traffic like I needed. I’ll have to be better tomorrow night.”
Ellenberger passed fellow Pennsylvanian Lucas Wolfe on the second lap to take the runner-up spot and set his sights on Meyers. He ran second for three laps, before Saldana got around him. He ran a very solid third for the rest of the race as he continues his rookie season with the World of Outlaws.
“Jason (Meyers) was right in front of me and I knew he would be tough to get by,” shared Ellenberger of his mindset while running second. “I thought I might have an opportunity once we got to lapped traffic. Joey (Saldana) zinged me on that one restart and kind of took the wind out of my sail.”
Steve Kinser finished fourth in the Quaker State Maxim, with Brooke Tatnell nearly taking that spot at the line aboard the Titan Garages Maxim, finishing a mere 16-thousandths of a seconds behind in fifth.
Jason Sides was sixth in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim, with Tim Kaeding rebounding from a first lap spin to work his way back to seventh in the DTR Transport KPC. Craig Dollansky was eighth in the DirecTV Maxim, with Sammy Swindell ninth aboard the Tom Rolfe Trucking Maxim. Danny Lasoski rounded out the Top-10 in the Casey’s General Store Maxim.
Donny Schatz, the current series point leader finished 13th in the Armor All J&J and retained the point lead.
The World of Outlaws wrap-up the Boot Hill Showdown on Saturday night at Dodge City Raceway Park, with the cameras from SPEED on hand to capture all of the action again.
