CONCORD, N.C. - Donny Schatz gained 10 points in the World of Outlaws championship standings after he was the fastest in the both time trial sessions for the World Finals at The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Returning in the same Mario Andretti/STP tribute paint scheme that he won the Knoxville Nationals with, Schatz posted respective fast laps of 13.794 seconds (104.393 mph) and 13.770 seconds (104.575 mph) to double up the five-point qualifying bonus.
Schatz headed into the night with a 19-point advantage over Jason Meyers and a 46-point lead on Joey Saldana. He now leads Meyers and Saldana by 29 and 56 points, respectively, heading into the first night of racing for the World Finals on Friday.
“It was a great start to the weekend,” Schatz said. “Those qualifying points are very important right now and that's what our goal was coming in. As long as we get through our heat race we are locked into a dash spot. Going for quick times this year is what has put us a little bit ahead. We're happy to go into the weekend with that. This car is awesome fast. These guys have definitely done their homework and they are pumped up right now.”
Meyers qualified 10th and 12th, respectively, while Saldana was 18th and 11th in sessions one and two.
Steve Kinser collected the second-most bonus points after posting the fourth and second-best laps.
“We certainly would have liked to have been in the top two for both," said Kinser, who timed in fourth for Friday night. "It's a good start and we had put a new car together and have been playing with it. We'll see what happens here.”
Other drivers that picked up bonus points were Jason Sides, who was second quickest in session one, with five points, plus Dale Blaney (3), Ed Lynch Jr. (3), Danny Lasoski (1) and Craig Dollansky (1).
Dollansky was debuting a new ride on Thursday night in the No. 7 Big Game Tree Stands Maxim.
Tonight's first qualifying session was held for Friday with the second going to Saturday, which will mark the last race of the season.
Action on Friday night will begin at 5:45 p.m. (ET) with hot laps.
The Dirt Track @ Lowe's Motor Speedway is a semi-banked 0.4-mile oval. The track record of 11.880 seconds was established by Jeff Shepard on October 6, 2001.
2008 Event Winners: Brooke Tatnell on October 31, Donny Schatz on November 1
Pit gates will open at 12:45 p.m. ET, with the grandstand gates opening at 4 p.m. ET with hot laps set for 5:45 p.m. ET.
