EASTABOGA, Ala. — Make no mistake about it, Donny Schatz is back.
Last year served up perhaps the most trying time of his career. After battling struggles through the first half of 2025, Schatz and Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing parted ways in August.
Schatz patched together plans to finish his 29th consecutive World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series season, driving for four different teams over the last few months. He went winless for the first time since his rookie year in 1997.
But throughout it all, Schatz made one thing clear: he’s not done. The 10-time champion linked up with CJB Motorsports for his 30th season with The Greatest Show on Dirt. They unloaded with speed at Volusia Speedway Park to open the campaign, but gremlins continued to cause them to start toward the tail of the field.
Then on Friday the scene shifted to the Talladega Short Track and Schatz and the CJB crew put together a nearly perfect night. They timed in second quickest in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying. Schatz won his heat and followed that by topping the Toyota Dash. That lined him up on the pole for the 35-lap feature, and Schatz was just about perfect.
He faced early pressure from Bryce Lucius and Sheldon Haudenschild, but once the leaders got to traffic, the Fargo, N.D., driver took them to school. Schatz moved all over the track as he put cars between himself and Haudenschild and drove away to one of the most popular wins we’ll see all year.
“I just can’t remember the last one,” Schatz admitted. “It was a long time ago. What can you say? These guys. Chad (Clemens) built this team from the ground up. We didn’t want to do anything to cripple Brenham (Crouch) in any way. These guys worked their tails off this winter. When we went to Volusia, I said, ‘I think if we’re alright, we can win a race there.’ I felt like we were good enough to. We just didn’t get things to go the right way. But, man, Talladega. We just had a solid all night performance. To get back to Victory Lane feels really good. It’s like getting a monkey off your back.”
The triumph was Schatz’s first trip to World of Outlaws Victory Lane in 510 days dating back to Oct. 12, 2024 at Lincoln Speedway. He’d never won at Talladega before, making it the 90th different track that his now 317 career checkered flags are spread across.
For CJB, Schatz becomes the sixth different driver to top a World of Outlaws race with the Chad Clemens-owned team, joining David Gravel, Paul McMahan, Spencer Bayston, Fred Rahmer and Shane Stewart.
Haudenschild’s punctuated a strong week for himself and KCP Racing with a runner-up result.
Michael “Buddy” Kofoid bounced back from Monday’s mechanical misfortune with a third-place effort.
Lucius and Garet Williamson completed the top five.
With Carson Macedo finishing seventh and David Gravel in 11th, the two are now knotted atop the standings.
The finish:
Feature (35 Laps): 1. 15-Donny Schatz[1]; 2. 18-Sheldon Haudenschild[4]; 3. 83-Michael Kofoid[3]; 4. 32-Bryce Lucius[2]; 5. 23-Garet Williamson[8]; 6. 17B-Bill Balog[5]; 7. 41-Carson Macedo[13]; 8. 1S-Logan Schuchart[7]; 9. 9-Daison Pursley[9]; 10. 17-Spencer Bayston[6]; 11. 2-David Gravel[17]; 12. 1A-Ashton Torgerson[12]; 13. 7S-Chris Windom[14]; 14. 77-Giovanni Scelzi[22]; 15. 19-Brent Marks[18]; 16. 27-Emerson Axsom[11]; 17. 9R-Chase Randall[10]; 18. 6-Kasey Jedrzejek[20]; 19. 15K-Creed Kemenah[19]; 20. 40-Howard Moore[15]; 21. 16C-Scotty Thiel[21]; 22. 98-Ricky Peterson[25]; 23. 28M-Conner Morrell[23]; 24. 51-Scott Bogucki[24]; 25. 2C-Cole Macedo[16]
