ABBOTTSTOWN, Pa. — The old saying states that it’s better to be lucky than good. But when you’re both lucky and good, you’re going to be nearly unbeatable.
Such was the case on Saturday night at Lincoln Speedway for Donny Schatz. Luck was on his side on the 26th lap when leader Sheldon Haudenschild tagged the fence and got upside down. Haudenschild’s misfortune gifted the lead to Schatz, but a tinge of luck alone wouldn’t lead him to victory lane.
When the race restarted, Schatz had arguably the two hottest drivers in Sprint Car racing lined up right behind him. Carson Macedo and Michael “Buddy” Kofoid, who had combined to win 12 of the last 15 races entering Lincoln, restarted second and third.
But the 10-time World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car champion was unphased by the potent pair behind him. Schatz drove away over the final 10 laps. He perfected the middle of the three-eighths mile on his way to a nearly three-second win and $20,000 payday.
“Sheldon obviously was the class of the field all night,” Schatz said. “I can’t go up and do that. He did an awesome job up there. It just bit him, and we capitalized on his misfortune, obviously.
“This is huge. At this point in the game, it’s beyond confidence. We’re all confident in what we do. It’s just the results. This isn’t a game of I said I did this. It’s about putting it on paper and putting money in the bank. These guys work their tails off. The funny part is, I don’t think people realize that you have to work just as hard to run 14th as you do to win a race. So, hats off to them. It’s just an awesome night all around. Going out late (in Qualifying), we didn’t know that we were going to have a great shot at getting qualified well, but we did. We got ourselves through that Heat Race after I made a mistake on the first lap. We just kept digging all night long, and sometimes that’s what it takes.”
Schatz’s fifth win of 2024 bumped him up to 316 for his career.
The night also punctuated a statement season from the World of Outlaws in their rivalry with the PA Posse. The band of travelers claimed five of the seven faceoffs in 2024 to carry bragging rights into next year.
Well before the luck came around for Schatz, he showed that his Tony Stewart/Curb Agajanian Racing No. 15 would be in contention early in the race.
He lined up seventh for the 35-lapper and wasted no time getting to work by moving to fifth on the opening circuit. The Fargo, N.D., driver settled in there for a while before advancing to fourth on the 10th circuit and third two laps later.
Lap 18 is when Schatz muscled by Kofoid for the runner-up spot and looked to chase down Haudenschild. Schatz stayed with Haudenschild on a restart shortly after he took over second, but he couldn’t quite find the speed to pass him. The Carquest No. 15 paced the NOS Energy Drink No. 17, but that was all Schatz could manage.
And then disaster struck for Haudenschild with only 10 laps to go as he got a little too high in Turn 3 and clipped the wall before getting upside down.
That proved to be all Schatz needed as he took advantage of the good fortune by pulling away on his path to victory.
“I was just trying to roll with what speed I had there,” Schatz explained. “Early in the race, I tried to stay down there, but there was just a little bit of moisture right up next to the wall. Your car gets really weird when you’ve got two tires on the edge of it and two in the slick. I guess I was just doing too much seesawing. I just tried to slow it down and keep it stuck, and it worked obviously.”
The runner-up position belonged to Carson Macedo and the Jason Johnson Racing crew. With David Gravel finishing ninth, Macedo trimmed 14 more points off the gap between the two, and it now sits at 72 markers with seven races to go.
“Hats off to Philip Dietz, Adam Zimmerman, and Robby McQuinn, they gave me a great race car,” Macedo said. “I felt like I was really competitive the whole race. I started fifth and was able to kind of march up through there. Happy to put this JJR No. 41 back on the podium.”
Kofoid brought the Roth Motorsports No. 83 home third.
“Happy to be on the podium in central Pennsylvania,” Kofoid said. “This is probably one of the toughest tracks we come to. With it being that slick and that wide and that technical, it makes it even harder. That’s just a testament to Dylan (Buswell), Nate (Knotts), and Gage (Tyra) and their abilities and giving me a good car that can race good and be good in dirty air.”
Danny Dietrich and Chase Dietz completed the top five to represent the PA Posse.
The finish:
Feature (35 Laps): 1. 15-Donny Schatz[7]; 2. 41-Carson Macedo[5]; 3. 83-Michael Kofoid[3]; 4. 48-Danny Dietrich[14]; 5. 2D-Chase Dietz[8]; 6. 99M-Kyle Moody[18]; 7. 27-Troy Wagaman Jr[16]; 8. 39M-Anthony Macri[6]; 9. 2-David Gravel[19]; 10. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[4]; 11. X-Matt Campbell[25]; 12. 8-Freddie Rahmer[12]; 13. 17B-Bill Balog[9]; 14. 5R-Tyler Ross[2]; 15. 1X-Chad Trout[20]; 16. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[24]; 17. 23-Justin Whittall[21]; 18. 7S-Landon Crawley[22]; 19. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[1]; 20. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[11]; 21. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[15]; 22. 1S-Logan Schuchart[10]; 23. 19R-Mark Smith[13]; 24. 75-Cameron Smith[17]; 25. 39-Kody Hartlaub[26]; 26. 6B-Ryan Smith[23]