Tony Stewart Racing claims two sprint car titles on one night

November 8, 4:44 PMSprint & Midget Car Racing ExaminerRichard Manfredi

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Donny Schatz (Credit: Flickr.com/photos/bantam10/)

Tony Stewart Racing had just about a perfect night on Saturday, as his drivers claimed the major national sprint car titles from 3,000 miles apart.

At the season-ending World Finals at the Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Donny Schatz did enough over the weekend to claim his fourth consecutive World of Outlaws title. He swept both qualifying sessions on Thursday night to pick up a valuable 10 points over second-place Jason Meyers, and then used finishes of second and sixth on Friday and Saturday nights clinch the title.

Meyers did all he could during the weekend, beating Schatz to the line for the victory on Friday night and then edging Steve Kinser to the line for third on Saturday. Meyers finished the season 19 points behind Schatz in the closest finish in World of Outlaws points history.

At was also an historic night for Joey Saldana on Saturday night, as he claimed the World Finals title by passing Dale Blaney on lap 15 of the 30-lap feature. It was Saldana’s 20th World of Outlaws sanctioned victory of the 2009 season, making him one of only five people to win 20 or more races in one season.

Hours after Schatz won the World of Outlaws sprint car title, Levi Jones added the USAC National Sprint Car crown to the Tony Stewart Racing mantle. Jones finished third at the Oval Nationals at Perris Auto Speedway in Southern California, which was enough to clinch his third career title with two races remaining.

His nearest competitor Dave Darland had a rough week, crashing on Friday and Saturday night preliminary action and sustaining too much damage to continue. When Cole Whitt flipped during the A-main at the Oval Nationals on Saturday, the stage was set for Jones to clinch the title.

While Jones was celebrating his national title, Damion Gardner was basking in the glory of his first career Oval Nationals crown. Gardner passed Mike Spencer with three laps left in the 40-lap race, spoiling Spencer’s bid to become the first Southern California-based driver to win the title since Tony Jones in 2000.

However, Gardner cut his non-wing racing teeth at Perris Auto Speedway, having won the 2005 USAC/CRA title, and claimed allegiance to California after the race.

Last year’s Oval Nationals winner wasn’t at the track to defend his title. Because of a rain out from the previous weekend, Jesse Hockett was at I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Ark. for the ASCS Short Track Nationals. Hockett hasn’t a factor, finishing eighth, but the winner was a familiar name as Tony Bruce Jr. claimed the title and $15,000 winner’s purse for the second consecutive year.

Bruce Jr. took the lead from Danny Wood on lap five of the 40-lap race and never looked back, cruising to a comfortable victory. Wayne Johnson finished second, while Shane Stewart, Travis Rilat and Sammy Swindell rounded out the top five. Stewart ended the weekend with a 24-point lead over Jason Johnson for the ASCS National series title with only the three-night Western World Championships remaining.