CONCORD, N.C. - Although he didn't gain any points on World of Outlaws points leader Donny Schatz, Jason Meyers kept his title hopes alive by winning a crash-filled opening night of the World Finals at The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Meyers, who grabbed his 35th career A-Feature win, actually lost one point to Schatz after the championship leader finished second and scored the five-point bonus for being the fastest qualifier. But overall, Meyers cut the margin to 25 heading into the final race.
After starting from the pole, Meyers led the opening two laps before Dale Blaney passed him for the lead. On lap five, Meyers retook the top spot and held off numerous charges from Schatz before ultimately taking the checkered flag.
“These guys did a great job tonight," Meyers said. “We didn’t have the best of qualifying nights last night and that shows the kind of team we have right here. Nobody hung their heads and they were upset when they went to bed last night and they got up today and worked hard on this race car and gave me a great race car tonight. This entire team is doing a great job.”
Danny Lasoski, Craig Dollansky and Fred Rahmer rounded out the top five.
It was a wild night of racing that started with two caution flags before the first lap was even completed.
The first incident came when Greg Hodnett looped his car and got into the Turn 4 wall. When the field attempted the next green flag, Cody Darrah's No. 19 made contact in Turn 2 and did a series of flips before coming to a rest with heavy damage.
After a caution for Justin Henderson on lap 11, the field attempted to go green twice, but was put back under the caution/red flag again.
The first involved a hard crash between Brandon Wimmer, Jac Haudenschild and Steve Kinser on the frontstretch with each car sustaining heavy damage. Shortly after when the field went back to green, Dollansky and Terry McCarl tangled while racing for fourth and the end result sent McCarl into the Turn 2 wall. After climbing from his car, McCarl walked over to Turn 1 where Dollansky was parked to confront him, but was stopped by officials before he got to the car.
All drivers that were involved in accidents tonight walked away uninjured from their battered cars.
Joey Saldana finished 15th after retiring from the race on lap 15. He will finish third in the series standings as he sits 82 points out heading into Saturday.
Brad Sweet, who is running a third car for Kasey Kahne Racing, finished seventh after starting 22nd.
The World of Outlaws will conclude their season tomorrow night at The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Hot Laps are scheduled to start at 5:45 p.m. (ET).
B-Main 1. Justin Henderson 2. Kraig Kinser 3. Lucas Wolfe 4. Brooke Tatnell 5. Tim Shaffer 6. Mark Smith 7. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 8. Doug Dodson 9. Chad Layton 10. Jessica Zemken 11. Zach Zimmerly 12. Chad Kemenah 13. Curt Michael 14. Cale Conley 15. Don Droud Jr. 16. Lance Dewease 17. Ben Gregg
Crane Cams Dash 1. Jason Meyers 2. Dale Blaney 3. Donny Schatz 4. Terry McCarl 5. Jason Sides 6. Fred Rahmer 7. Steve Kinser 8. Cody Darrah 9. Danny Lasoski 10. Bob Felmlee
C-Main 1. Don Droud Jr. 2. Zach Zimmerly 3. Craig Folmar 4. Danny Holtgraver 5. Josh Weller 6. Keith Baxter 7. Kyle Pruitt 8. Glenn Styres 9. Bob Howard 10. Robbie Stillwaggon 11. Chris Shirek 12. Adam Wilt
Heat 1 1. Donny Schatz 2. Bob Felmlee 3. Ed Lynch Jr. 4. Craig Dollansky 5. Brian Ellenberger 6. Tim Shaffer 7. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 8. Mark Smith 9. Ben Gregg 10. Keith Baxter 11. Chris Shirek 12. Bob Howard
Heat 2 1. Jason Meyers 2. Jason Side 3. Joey Saldana 4. Jeremy Campbell 5. Daryn Pittman 6. Cale Conley 7. Chad Layton 8. Curt Michael 9. Don Droud Jr. 10. Robbie Stillwagon 11. Craig Folmar 12. Kraig Kinser
Heat 3 1. Terry McCarl 2. Fred Rahmer 3. Dale Blaney 4. Brian Montieth 5. Brandon Wimmer 6. Tim Kaeding 7. Jac Haundenschild 8. Lucas Wolfe 9. Jessica Zemken 10. Glenn Styres 11. Todd Kane 12. Justin Henderson
Heat 4 1. Danny Lasoski 2. Cody Darrah 3. Steve Kinser 4. Greg Hodnett 5. Brad Sweet 6. Lance Dewease 7. Brooke Tatnell 8. Chad Kemenah 9. Adam Wily 10. Josh Weller 11. Zach Zimmerly 12. Doug Dodson
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.
