BARBERVILLE, Fla. — Feb. 12, 2015 — Kasey Kahne Racing's Daryn Pittman edged Tony Stewart Racing's Donny Schatz in an epic UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car main event Thursday night at Volusia Speedway Park's DIRTcar Nationals.
David Stremme followed by dominating the DIRTcar UMP Modified nightcap, holding off Austin Dillon, Nick Hoffman, Ty Dillon and hard charger Kyle Strickler.
Pittman was out front of the sprint car feature before a couple of cautions with less than five laps to go gave Schatz, the six-time defending World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion, a shot at running him down. Pittman went to the top, Schatz tried the bottom. They came off of turn four side-by-side the final three laps of the race. Pittman had just enough momentum on the high side of the half-mile dirt oval to slip in front at the checkered flag for KKR's first victory of the year.
"If the fans didn't enjoy that, you might as well not even bother come back," said Pittman, who won the 2013 World of Outlaws Sprint Car championship. "I've got to thank my guys. [Crew chief] Kale [Kahne], I didn't believe him. He kept telling me to run the top down there, and I'm sitting there second-guessing, going I don't know if that's a good move or not. We just stuck with it and glad that we stuck with our line and won it that way. Hats off to Donny, he's one of the cleanest there is. He could have definitely used me up on the backstretch there. He raced me clean and I try to feel like we do the same thing back. It's hard when you're battling for wins to not feel like you used up every bit of the racetrack to get there. Big win to get the year started off right. Hopefully we can come back in the next three nights and get another one."
Stremme, who also competes in NASCAR, started on the outside of the front row for the UMP Modified feature and charged to the front and stayed there, winning for the first time at Volusia Speedway Park. Austin Dillon, Hoffman and Ty Dillon ran a similar line trying to run down Stremme but to no avail. Strickler, who won on Wednesday night at Volusia, came from 19th to round out the top five in what might have been the most impressive run in the UMP Modified event.
"First and foremost we had a really great starting spot," Stremme said. "It was really hard to pass and I was screwing up there. I haven't raced without the spoilers. It's a little different. We had to tune our car a little bit different but it was fun. It was slick, that's how I like it. I knew Austin and those guys were there, they are tough. I've watched them year after down here. Same with Nick and Kyle and Kenny Wallace and Schrader and all them guys. It's really Kenny Wallace's fault that I got into this dirt racing but I love it … I think I got barely 50 dirt races under my belt in four years so it's really hard to come down here and win this. It's pretty big."
Nightly doubleheaders at Volusia run Friday through Saturday, Feb. 21. On Friday night the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series makes its season debut along with the DIRTcar UMP Modifieds.
For more information and updates on the DIRTcar Nationals, click DIRTcarNationals.com or follow on Twitter at @DIRTcarNats.
DIRTcar Nationals Statistical Report; Feb. 12, 2015; Volusia Speedway Park; Barberville, Fla.
DIRTcar UMP Modified A-Main (20 Laps) –1. 35-David Stremme [2]; 2. 3-Austin Dillon [4]; 3. 2-Nick Hoffman [5]; 4. 41-Ty Dillon [11]; 5. 8-Kyle Strickler [19]; 6. 16C-Josh Harris [1]; 7. 77-Ray Bollinger [3]; 8. 67-Garret Stewart [18]; 9. 1G-Devin Gilpin [8]; 10. 13-Jake Hawkins [16]; 11. 96-Cory Daugherty [7]; 12. 36-Kenny Wallace [10]; 13. 65-Bruce Takach [6]; 14. 25-Tyler Nicely [24]; 15. 64JR-Billy Workman Jr. [21]; 16. 9-Ken Schrader [22]; 17. 9M-Dale Mathison [14]; 18. 22T-Tony Anderson [20]; 19. D4-Dave Jamison [13]; 20. 7-Evan Taylor [12]; 21. OO-Bobby Rose [9]; 22. K9-Will Krup [17]; 23. 78-Rick Pratt [15]; 24. 85S-Mike Smith [23]. Hard Charger: 8-Kyle Strickler [+14]
All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car Series A-Main (30 Laps) – 1. 9-Daryn Pittman [1] ($5,000); 2. 15-Donny Schatz [15]; 3. 49-Brad Sweet [7]; 4. 27-Greg Hodnett [8]; 5. 29-Kerry Madsen [3]; 6. 71M-Joey Saldana [11]; 7. 83-David Gravel [9]; 8. 4-Cody Darrah [23]; 9. 7S-Jason Sides [10]; 10. 24-Terry McCarl [13]; 11. 98H-Dave Blaney [5]; 12. 41-Jason Johnson [20]; 13. 1S-Logan Schuchart [17]; 14. 11K-Kraig Kinser [14]; 15. 59-Danny Holtgraver [12]; 16. 63-Kody Swanson [16]; 17. 12-Robbie Stillwaggon [24]; 18. 2L-Danny Lasoski [2]; 19. 1-Lucas Wolfe [6]; 20. 11-Steve Kinser [22]; 21. 51-Paul McMahan [4]; 22. 7-Craig Dollansky [21]; 23. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. [19]; 24. 45-Tim Shaffer [18]. Hard Charger: 4-Cody Darrah [+15]
DIRTcar Nationals Day-by-Day Schedule (Grandstands open at 5 p.m.)
Friday, Feb. 13 – World of Outlaws Sprint Cars & DIRTcar UMP Modifieds
Saturday, Feb. 14 – World of Outlaws Sprint Cars & DIRTcar UMP Modifieds
Sunday, Feb. 15 – World of Outlaws STP Sprint Cars & DIRTcar UMP Modifieds
Monday, Feb. 16 – DIRTcar Late Models & DIRTcar UMP Modifieds 'Gator Championship'
Tuesday, Feb. 17 – DIRTcar Late Models & DIRTcar UMP Modifieds Triple 20s
Wednesday, Feb. 18 – DIRTcar Late Models & Super DIRTcar Series Big-Block Modifieds
Thursday, Feb. 19 – World of Outlaws Late Models & Super DIRTcar Series Big-Block Modifieds
Friday, Feb. 20 – World of Outlaws Late Models & Super DIRTcar Series Big-Block Modifieds
Saturday, Feb. 21 – World of Outlaws Late Models & Super DIRTcar Series Big-Block Modifieds
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