Paducah, KY — Sweet Redemption: Meyers Wins at Paducah International Raceway
Jason Meyers felt like a win slipped away from him and his team last season at Paducah International Raceway as he had just taken the lead when a caution flag flew prior to the lap being completed, placing him back in the second spot, where he would eventually finish. He made up for the near miss in impressive fashion on Friday night, leading all 30 laps to pick up his first career win at the high-banked 3/8-mile in the Bluegrass State.Meyers started on the pole and never looked back en route to the $10,000 triumph, which was the 29th of his World of Outlaws career, which ties him for 14th on the all-time win list. It was his second win of 2009 and helped him move into the third spot in the series championship standings, just 12 markers out of second.
“To be able to get our second win of the season is very special to us,” said Meyers. “We have had some new additions to the team recently and everyone is working hard and it is paying off.”
This team has been working very hard and they never quit. They keep digging. Hopefully this is not a sign of things to come, that both races we have won, we qualified outside of the (heat race) inversion and had to do it the hard way.”
After turning in the 22nd fastest lap in time trials, Meyers started sixth in the second heat race and powered his way to a runner-up finish to earn a spot in the Crane Cams Dash, in which he started second and would win to earn the pole position for the 30-lap main event aboard the GLR Investments KPC.
“That made the whole night right there, and that’s what these guys (his crew) do,” he noted of his strong heat race finish. “You go out and have a bad qualifying time and they don’t give up, they dig deep. They made some changes to the car and gave me one heck of a race car for the rest of the night. My hat is off to them. We have learned a few things the last few weeks and they have been working very hard during the week to make some changes to our car and building some new components. It’s working really well and hopefully this is a sign of things to come.”
The race began with Meyers leading from the pole, with Sammy Swindell, Joey Saldana and Donny Schatz all trading the second spot on the first lap. Meyers opened an early lead and found himself in lapped traffic on the sixth circuit, with Saldana closing in as the pair sliced through the slower machines.
The first caution flag of the night flew just one lap before the halfway point of the race with the leaders in heavy lapped traffic. The restart saw Meyers continue to lead while Saldana and Schatz battled for the second spot. As the battles behind him heated up, Meyers extended his lead and had a comfortable advantage on the 18th lap when the caution flag again waved.
Another strong restart saw the leader quickly pull away as again the battle for second between Schatz and Saldana heated up with Steve Kinser also moving up to the fourth spot with Randy Hannagan just behind him. An open red flag with nine laps to go gave the crews a chance to make adjustments on their car for the stretch run.
“We tightened the car up a little bit,” said Meyers of the changes his crew made during the red flag. “We have some different things on the race car right now and I didn’t know how it would react. We went out for the feature a little loose and the red (flag) helped us make a few changes that helped.”
The restart again saw Meyers continue to lead with Saldana and Schatz battling for second. Schatz was able to clear Saldana and quickly closed on Meyers pulling even with him in turns one and two running side by side down the back straightaway. At that same time, Saldana shredded a tire which sent him into the wall, collecting Jac Haudenschild and Tim Kaeding, who had nowhere to go, leading to a red flag.
On the last restart of the night, Meyers used the high side of the track to distance himself from Schatz, who pilots the Armor All J&J for Tony Stewart Racing, just enough over the last three laps to pick up the win.
“We didn’t need the reds and yellows,” Schatz said. “That red with three to go hurt us. We ran Jason (Meyers) down and passed him and the red came out. Our car normally goes well on the long runs. I guess second is a fair result, but it’s not what we wanted. “
Hannagan, who started 10th in the main event gained a number of spots in the second half of the race as he made his charge to the front of the field. He battled Steve Kinser for a number of laps before taking the third spot from the 20-time series champion. Hannagan, who won earlier this season in the Central Valley Meat Company Maxim, wound up third.
“We are really happy with it,” said Hannagan. “We made some changes after the dash. We were ok in the dash and I think the race track came to us more than anything. I kind of went on defense mode the last three (laps), because I had Steve (Kinser) behind me and I knew he would be charging. I think if I could have broke free, I could have gotten back to my racing. I was protecting third spot and that was kind of my fault there.”
Kinser finished fourth in the Quaker State Maxim to pick up his series leading 11th Top-10 finish of the season and he remains second in points, 28 markers behind Schatz as he chases his record 21st title.
Chad Kemenah, who won earlier this season with the World of Outlaws, turned in a very impressive fifth place performance aboard his own No. 6K Maxim.
Sammy Swindell, the three-time World of Outlaws champion, was sixth in the Tom Rolfe Trucking Maxim. Jason Sides was seventh in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim, with Craig Dollansky eighth in the DirecTV Maxim. Terry McCarl was ninth aboard the Big Game Treestands Maxim, with Danny Smith rounding out the Top-10 in the Doug Williams Trucking Maxim.
The World of Outlaws return to action on Saturday night at I-55 Raceway in Pevely, Missouri for another event on a high-banked bullring.
PADUCAH INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY NOTES
• FAST QUALIFIER: Joey Saldana paced the 35 cars that took time with a record setting AMB i.t. timed lap around the high-banked 3/8-mile oval at 12.825 seconds at 105.263 mph. For his qualifying effort, Saldana earned five bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points, including: Randy Hannagan (4), Terry McCarl (3), Jac Haudenschild (2), and Kerry Madsen (1).
• QUALIFYING WINNERS: Steve Kinser, Sammy Swindell, Craig Dollansky and Donny Schatz won heat races. Jason Meyers won the Crane Cams Dash. Brian Ellenberger won the B-Main.
• FEATURE WINNERS: There has been 12 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series A-Feature event held in 2009. The winners include: Joey Saldana (Volusia Speedway Park, Silver Dollar Speedway, Thunderbowl Raceway, Lone Star Speedway and Houston Raceway Park), Donny Schatz (Volusia Speedway Park-twice and The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway), Jason Meyers (Silver Dollar Speedway and Paducah International Raceway), Randy Hannagan (Thunderbowl Raceway) and Chad Kemenah (Manzanita Speedway).
• 3/8-MILE WINNERS: Paducah International Raceway is a high-banked 3/8-mile oval. The World of Outlaws have raced once on a track that size in 2008. The winner was Jason Meyers (Paducah International Raceway).
World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; Paducah International Raceway; Paducah, KY; April 17, 2009
Qualifying
1) 9-Joey Saldana 12.825
2) 1X-Randy Hannagan 13.007
3) 24-Terry McCarl 13.012
4) R19-Jac Haudenschild 13.191
5) 55-Kerry Madsen 13.200
6) 10-Sammy Swindell 13.204
7) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 13.287
8) 15-Donny Schatz 13.306
9) 83-Tim Kaeding 13.312
10) 55B-Joey Moughan 13.335
11) 19-Craig Dollansky 13.352
12) 7S-Jason Sides 13.440
13) 11-Steve Kinser 13.451
14) 22-Brian Ellenberger 13.466
15) 4-Danny Smith 13.565
16) 6K-Chad Kemenah 13.585
17) 6-Danny Lasoski 13.602
18) 14AJ-Wayne Johnson 13.641
19) 20-Kraig Kinser 13.698
20) 5W-Lucas Wolfe 13.764
21) 92-Daron Clayton 13.788
22) 14-Jason Meyers 13.877
23) 4X-Toni Lutar 13.966
24) 3D-Paul McMahan 13.968
25) 18-Tony Bruce Jr. 13.978
26) 12-Lynton Jeffrey 14.014
27) 57D-Tom Dickerman 14.030
28) 7M-Geoff Dodge 14.132 2
9) 8S-Steve Short 14.151
30) 97-Tommy Worley 14.195
31) 3B-Brad Greer 14.351
32) 6R-Ryan Bunton 14.430
33) 4K-Kody Kinser 14.661
34) D12-Doc Sloan 14.835
35) 10W-Tony Wilson 15.255
36) 65-Jordan Goldesberry -.—
Heat 1 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 11-Steve Kinser
2) 55-Kerry Madsen
3) 83-Tim Kaeding
4) 9-Joey Saldana
5) 6-Danny Lasoski
6) 18-Tony Bruce Jr.
7) 92-Daron Clayton
8) 8S-Steve Short
9) 4K-Kody Kinser
Heat 2 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 10-Sammy Swindell
2) 14-Jason Meyers
3) 1X-Randy Hannagan
4) 14AJ-Wayne Johnson
5) 97-Tommy Worley
6) 12-Lynton Jeffrey
7) D12-Doc Sloan
8) 22-Brian Ellenberger
9) 55B-Joey Moughan
Heat 3 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 19-Craig Dollansky
2) 24-Terry McCarl
3) 4-Danny Smith
4) 20-Kraig Kinser
5) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.
6) 57D-Tom Dickerman
7) 3B-Brad Greer
8) 4X-Toni Lutar
9) 10W-Tony Wilson
Heat 4 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 15-Donny Schatz
2) R19-Jac Haudenschild
3) 6K-Chad Kemenah
4) 7S-Jason Sides
5) 5W-Lucas Wolfe
6) 3D-Paul McMahan
7) 6R-Ryan Bunton
8) 7M-Geoff Dodge
9) 65-Jordan Goldesberry
Crane Cams Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature)
1) 14-Jason Meyers
2) 9-Joey Saldana
3) 15-Donny Schatz
4) 10-Sammy Swindell
5) 55-Kerry Madsen
6) R19-Jac Haudenschild
7) 11-Steve Kinser
8) 24-Terry McCarl
9) 19-Craig Dollansky
10) 1X-Randy Hannagan
B-main (12 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 22-Brian Ellenberger
2) 18-Tony Bruce Jr.
3) 3D-Paul McMahan
4) 92-Daron Clayton
5) 57D-Tom Dickerman [$200]
6) 6R-Ryan Bunton [$180]
7) 12-Lynton Jeffrey [$175]
8) 4K-Kody Kinser [$160]
9) 7M-Geoff Dodge [$150]
10) 3B-Brad Greer [$150]
11) 65-Jordan Goldesberry [$150]
12) D12-Doc Sloan [$150]
13) 4X-Toni Lutar [$150]
14) 8S-Steve Short [$150]
15) 55B-Joey Moughan [$150]
16) 10W-Tony Wilson [$150]
A-main (30 laps) – Starting Position [#]
1) 14-Jason Meyers[1] [$10,000]
2) 15-Donny Schatz[3] [$5,500]
3) 1X-Randy Hannagan[10] [$3,200]
4) 11-Steve Kinser[7] [$2,800]
5) 6K-Chad Kemenah[16] [$2,500]
6) 10-Sammy Swindell[4] [$2,300]
7) 7S-Jason Sides[13] [$2,200]
8) 19-Craig Dollansky[9] [$2,100]
9) 24-Terry McCarl[8] [$2,050]
10) 4-Danny Smith[15] [$2,000]
11) 14AJ-Wayne Johnson[18] [$1,500]
12) 55-Kerry Madsen[5] [$1,200]
13) R19-Jac Haudenschild[6] [$1,100]
14) 6-Danny Lasoski[17] [$1,050]
15) 20-Kraig Kinser[19] [$1,000]
16) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[20] [$900]
17) 22-Brian Ellenberger[14] [$800]
18) 9-Joey Saldana[2] [$800]
19) 83-Tim Kaeding[12] [$800]
20) 92-Daron Clayton[21] [$800]
21) 3D-Paul McMahan[22] [$800]
22) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[11] [$800]
23) 18-Tony Bruce Jr.[23] [$800]
24) 97-Tommy Worley[24] [$800]
Lap Leaders: Jason Meyers 1-30
SuperClean Start of the Night Award: Jason Meyers
Penske Power Position Award: Randy Hannagan
KSE Hard Charger Award: Chad Kemenah
Top-10 in Championship Standings
- Donny Schatz 1687
- Steve Kinser 1659
- Jason Meyers 1647
- Joey Saldana 1632
- Craig Dollansky 1600
- Sammy Swindell 1593
- Jason Sides 1590
- Terry McCarl 1557
- Danny Lasoski 1554
- Kraig Kinser 1540
