After picking up the win at the last World of Outlaws event on Sunday in Maryland, the Big Game Treestands #7 team traveled south to The Dirt Track at Charlotte in North Carolina for the Circle K NOS Energy Outlaw Showdown with the cameras rolling live on SPEED. The night was very special for Craig Dollansky as son Garrett signed in for competition making his first career World of Outlaws start at age 18.
With 29 drivers signed into the semi-banked 4/10-mile pit area, the night got off to a sour start as Dollansky suffered motor issues in qualifying and posted the 23rd fastest lap. An all Dollansky lineup for row four of heat #2 saw father and son line up side-by-side for the start with Dad getting the jump on Garrett and advancing to 6th to transfer into the main event.
In the 30-lap A-Main the MobileStar Maxim started inside row eleven and motored to fifteenth before the first caution on lap 6. When the green flag came back out Dollansky continued chipping away as he ran two positions better before another yellow at the halfway point. A stretch of green flag action until lap 23 then saw the Aggressive Hydraulics #7 charge into the top-ten and run eighth. Gaining a couple more spots before two more cautions with three to go, ‘The Crowd Pleaser’ used a great restart to power past three cars and assume 3rd as he took the checkered flags with a podium finish.
“It was unfortunate to have some trouble in qualifying but anytime you start that far back and get that far up towards the front it’s a good run for your entire team,” explained the Elk River, Minnesota native who picked up his 2nd KSE Hard Charger Award. “We were working through cars early and had some good restarts so to come home 3rd was a great run for Big Game Treestands, Aggressive Hydraulics, MobileStar, and everyone that supports this team.
“Our car was getting better as the race wore on and I would have liked to see five more laps. Joey did a great job and our hat is off to that entire team they did a great job getting the win. Our car was getting good late even in the open track we were starting to come on. To start 21st and get up to 3rd is a great run. DJ and Luke worked their tail off and did a great job. We brought down a backup car for my son Garrett and it was the first time in a car for him since August. I couldn’t have been more proud of him, he did an awesome job.”
The Big Game Treestands #7 team now travels to Lawrenceburg Speedway in Indiana where action continues on Memorial Day.
