Donny Schatz Charges Through Alphabet During Knoxville’s Capitani Classic
Story By: TYLER ALTMEYER / TONY STEWART RACING – BROWNSBURG, IN – Despite a three-day weekend that kicked-off with a rare ‘DNF’ score on Thursday, August 13, Fargo, North Dakota’s Donny Schatz preserved in true championship form and rallied for a pair of hard charging performances against the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, capping the One and Only/Capitani Classic weekend at Knoxville Raceway with a 12th-place performance during the $50,000-to-win finale on Saturday night.
Forced to start 24th on Saturday’s Capitani Classic grid, Schatz wasted little time and moved forward in a hurry, eventually gaining 12 spots in 30 circuits. Impressive enough, the ten-time World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion had to earn his A-Main starting position the hard way, battling his way through the evening’s C-Main and Last Chance Showdown after missing a transfer position in his respective feature qualifier. Schatz drove from 17th to win the C-Main before rebounding from 18th to finish fourth during the Last Chance Showdown. Mechanical misfortune during his respective qualifier led to his C-Main start.
Adding to his weekend’s stat sheet, Schatz’ Friday night A-Main performance also included an impressive charge to the front, this time bouncing ahead from 25th to 11th after utilizing a World of Outlaws provisional.
Thursday’s ‘DNF’ was the result of an incident involving four other competitors. The team ultimately made repairs allowing Schatz to return to the speedway, but additional problems previously undiscovered forced Schatz to retire.
Donny Schatz and the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing/DieHard/Advance Professional/Carquest Auto Parts/Technet Professional Automotive Service/Ford Performance/Mobil 1/Sage Fruit/Curb Records/Absolute Automation & Security/Hunt Brothers Pizza/Digital Ally/J&J Auto Racing/No. 15 team will continue their 2020 World of Outlaws championship-seeking campaign with a North Dakota doubleheader on Friday and Saturday, August 21-22. Schatz and the Greatest Show On Dirt will invade River Cities Speedway on Friday and Red River Valley Speedway on Saturday.
Schatz picked up the victory at River Cities Speedway on August 17, 2019, climbing ahead from the outside of row three.
