MECHANICSBURG, Pa. — After missing the feature the last time the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series visited Williams Grove Speedway in May, Daryn Pittman was a little worried heading into the Cleveland Brothers Summer Nationals Friday night.
But there was little need to worry as Pittman made a thrilling pass on two-time defending series champion Donny Schatz with just three laps remaining to pick up the victory at the historic half-mile oval.
Pittman was running third with just five laps remaining and charged past Chad Kemenah before using a late restart to his advantage to overtake Schatz. Pittman held off Schatz over the last two laps to pick up his second win in the last three races.
“My hat is off to my crew,” said Pittman. “They did a great job. Maxim built us a new race car and got me in a seat that I feel more comfortable in and more confident in because I know it’s safer. The car felt awesome from the time we unloaded it. We’ve been good for about three years now here, and we came here in the spring and struggled and missed the show. It feels good to come here and rebound. It was a great effort by the whole team.”
Pittman lined up sixth in the Titan Garages Maxim and gained two spots early, powering past 20-time series champion Steve Kinser and Brian Leppo. He patiently worked on Jeff Shepard, taking third from him on the 11th lap. He then reeled in Kemenah and used the late restart to make a bid for the win.
After sliding by Schatz in the second turn, the pair drifted up to the wall, with Schatz getting on the brakes for a split second and then doing his best to fight back.
“I knew it was my only shot,” commented Pittman. “You know that Donny (Schatz) doesn’t make mistakes, especially when he is out front. I saw that he went to the top on the prior restart when I was running third. I thought if he opened the door, my only shot would be to get a good run on him off four and be even with him at the (restart) cone and put a slider on him. We were both fast in (turns) three and four and both running the same line. When you run that line, it’s hard to pass. We’re just going for wins now and if we mess up going for wins, that’s just the way it is.”
The win for Pittman was his 27th with the World of Outlaws in his career, which placed him in a tie with Craig Dollansky for 14th on the all-time win list.
Schatz finished second.
“We were decent tonight, but we obviously didn’t have the car to win the race,” said Schatz. “I just wasn’t getting the forward drive that I needed. Tomorrow is a new day and we learned some things tonight that worked and we tried some things that hurt us. It is what it is and tomorrow is a fresh night and I know that we’ll be all right tomorrow.”
Kemenah, Kinser and Jason Meyers, who started 14th, rounded out the top five.