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Schuchart Slides into Victory Lane

Unlike the others, Logan Schuchart did not scale his car right away in victory lane. Rather, the Hanover, Pa. native took the time to hug his family in front of a local crowd. Schuchart won his second World of Outlaws Craftsman® Sprint Car Series race of the season Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway – less than 100 miles from his hometown.

Thereon, Schuchart jumped on the back of his racecar and began to climb to the wing and the confetti waiting for him at the top. Schuchart slid down the front of the wing as hundreds of fans applauded his dominant performance in the 30-lap feature. He led 28 laps, starting the feature on the outside of the first row in second.

“It means a lot to win here,” Schuchart said. “Port Royal is where we started so to win here at home, we’re proud. We’re still from P.A. no matter what anybody says.”

The qualifying flights earlier in the night foreshadowed the battle between pole-sitter Lucas Wolfe and Schuchart. Wolfe recorded the night’s quick time with a 15.278; he established the track record for 410-sprints with 15.168 on July 5, 2014.Schuchart was second fastest in qualifying, just .02 seconds off his pace. Together, the feature showcased the two drivers’ quickness around the half-mile oval.

Schuchart wasted no time, challenging Wolfe in the opening lap of the race. Though Wolfe slammed the door on his attempts in turns two and four, a caution the following lap essentially gave Schuchart a do-over.

Schuchart took advantage of the early-caution, finally making the pass low in turn two. In the next four laps, Schuchart extended his lead to a 2.316-second margin. By this time, the front of the 25-car field reached lapped traffic. However, his buffer did not last long as the race’s second caution compromised his lead.

“It felt like the longest 30 laps ever,” Schuchart said. “We’ve had races where we’ve been out front and have slowed down in lapped traffic. I got a little nervous. But once I got the top rolling, I could kind of pull the wing back and get my speed back. It felt pretty good. We’re just really proud of this whole Shark Racing team.”

On the restart, Wolfe reclaimed the lead but only momentarily. Schuchart answered back, soon reestablishing a comfortable cushion between him and Wolfe. Wolfe did not get another chance to challenge him. Within the final 10 laps of the feature, Wolfe began to fade while Greg Hodnett and Donny Schatz took a similar route to the podium. Wolfe held onto fourth position.

“Donny showed me the bottom off two and four and we moved down,” said Hodnett, who finished second. “I got going on the bottom but Logan was gone. He was in another zip code. We were just lucky to be able to come up to second. It was a great field of cars and great fans.

Schuchart increased the spread to nearly four seconds in the closing laps of the race and ultimately won by a 4.705-second margin. Schuchart said the second half of the year is when the team really started to click. But, he owed his quick lap times and overall success to car owner Bobby Allen, who is also his grandfather. Allen was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1998.

“He’s been doing it himself lately,” Allen said. “He has a different car a little bit – different motor that seemed to work pretty well. It’s great to get [a win] anywhere you can get them, but it was great to get it here. He had the car working good and was driving it very well.”

Schatz, rounding out the podium, recorded his 58th top five performance of 2016. With five races left in the season, Schatz is two top five finishes shy of tying his total from last season.

“Obviously you want to win when you come out. That’s how you get the ‘Champion’ status,” Schatz said. “When you don’t, you have to figure out why. So, we have a little work to do there. It was fun. [The track] did a great job giving us a great surface to race on top to bottom. You get to go to a lot of places in the country, and to see the pride that goes into what everyone has done here…it’s just crazy how much pride the fans take in it. A lot of racetracks in the country people take for granted, but it’s great to see [the pride] right here.”

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