Friday

BARBERVILLE, Fla. — Craig Dollansky had just two months to prepare for the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series 2008 season.
After joining Larry Woodward Racing to pilot the No. 2 in early December, he and his new team worked countless hours in the shop, meticulously getting ready for their first season together.
All of the hard work paid off on Friday night, as he led wire-to-wire to claim the first of three nights of action for the series as part of the 37th Annual Alltel DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park.
“It’s great to get the first win of the year at Volusia,” said Dollansky after his 22nd career WoO triumph. “It’s a great way to kick off the season. I am very happy for the race team. I had a great race car. We set fast time and had a good starting position and capitalized on that.”
Dollansky started second in the 30-lap contest and took the lead at the drop of the green flag, while battling Daryn Pittman. Also on the opening circuit, two-time defending Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion Donny Schatz charged around Pittman and Joey Saldana to move into second.
Dollansky maintained his lead in the early going and was setting a blistering pace, entering lapped traffic on just the fourth lap on the spacious half-mile. This allowed Schatz to close back in.
A red flag period on the seventh lap bunched the field up, but a strong restart by Dollansky gave him a comfortable advantage. The leaders were just about to enter lapped traffic again on the 11th circuit when the caution flew. Another strong restart for Dollansky was negated when the caution flew two laps later. After a red flag on the 16th lap, Dollansky used an open track to pull away as the laps wound down.
Schatz caught him with less than 10 laps to go, but could not make a pass for the lead. Schatz finished in the top five for the fourth consecutive night this week at Volusia.
Terry McCarl lined up 15th and charged to a third-place finish. Lance Dewease passed the most cars of the night, transferring through the B main and finishing fourth after starting the feature 23rd. Jason Meyers rounded out the top five.

Saturday

BARBERVILLE, Fla. — After losing twice to Donny Schatz earlier in the week, Jason Meyers held off the two-time defending Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion to win Saturday night’s event during the Alltel DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park.
The $10,000 victory marked the first for the team in their brand new self-designed and self-built chassis. Countless hours were spent developing the mount during the off-season and Meyers had been fast all week.
“We had a goal to come down here and start off well,” said Meyers. “We have been working hard for this all winter. To come out and win on the second night is definitely achieving that goal. Everybody has been working hard. We’re looking forward to a great season.”
The 30-lap event began with Tim Kaeding, who started on the pole, leading the first seven laps. Meyers used a strong restart on the eighth circuit to take the lead. Schatz eventually took second from Kaeding.
On lap 13, Schatz dove low and grabbed the lead. After a couple of laps in traffic, Meyers regained the point on lap 16. Schatz closed in a couple of times late in the race in traffic, but Meyers worked the lapped cars to perfection in earning his 19th career WoO victory.
“It wasn’t exciting when he passed me, but it was exciting when I passed him back,” said Meyers. “Donny has been great the last couple of years and he will strong again this year and to be up here on the podium with him and Joey Saldana is an honor for us, especially being on the top of the podium.”
Schatz earned his fifth top five of the week by finishing second.
Saldana was third, with Jeff Shepard and Craig Dollansky rounding out the top five.