CONCORD, N.C. — A sellout crowd of more than 14,000 fans saw a piece of sprint-car racing history Saturday night at The Dirt Track  @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
Two of the best drivers in the history of the World of Outlaws battled side by side for the final 10 circuits of the four-tenths-mile oval with Steve Kinser beating Danny Lasoski by half a car length to win the World Finals, which concluded the season for the traveling sprint-car series.
It was also a night on which Donny Schatz celebrated his second-consecutive series championship.
Racing on what arguably may have been the best surface in the history of the track that opened in 2000, Kinser and Lasoski put on what was easily the best sprint-car race that has been held at the state-of-the-art facility.
The 53-year-old Kinser and the 48-year-old Lasoski ran first and second from the green flag on. With Lasoski running his trademark line on the bottom and Kinser on the cushion, Lasoski made a pair of runs at Kinser prior to caution flags which slowed the event. But after a lap-20 red flag when Mark Smith flipped, the action got serious.
Lap after lap Kinser would fly off the top through the corners and pull to a lead down the straightaways, only to have Lasoski pull even on the low side as the pair slid through the turns. Lasoski saved his best for last, pulling slightly ahead as the pair exited the fourth turn heading to the checkered flag.
But Kinser had the power on the outside to win the drag race to the finish and earn his 10th victory of the season and the 543rd of his career.
“It was a great race track this weekend,” Kinser said after the event that was televised live on Speed. “They did a great job and they got it opened up so you could race on it. The fans saw a great race. I don’t think you can get any better than that and get it any closer than that. I was seeing the (No.) 83 (Lasoski) every lap in (turns) three and four.”
“You never know what’s going to happen,” explained the winner. “You just run your pace and try not to change your lines and hope that everything

QUIET EXIT: Donny Schatz finished fourth in the final race of his 2007 championship season. (Mike Gbur/JMS Pro Photo)

works out well.”

Lasoski was frustrated after losing the final battle of a season that rarely saw Kinser and Lasoski fighting at the front of the field.
“It was a heck of a show,” Lasoski said. “We gave it everything we had to try and win. I knew he (Kinser) wasn’t going to move off the top, so we had to run across the bottom and we came up a little short. I think I could have used him up a little bit on the last lap, but I don’t think he would have done that to me and I’m not going to race that way either.”
Daryn Pittman finished third and was only a couple of car lengths behind the lead duo most of the distance. Schatz clinched the title after finishing fourth.
“You can’t win championships, unless you win the battles,” said Schatz. “We won the battles this year, and I thought we would be a little better tonight. I don’t know if we sealed up the tire or if I used it too hard. I could not get going. That’s just part of racing. I had a good seat to watch the battle up front and that was neat.”
Friday night winner Jason Meyers finished fifth.