Bad Breaks Roll Saldana's Way at Brainerd
Team Mopar driver Joey Saldana and his Kasey Kahne Racing team ran into hard luck on Oct. 3, when the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws (WoO) Sprint Car Series ran its first-ever event at North Central Speedway in Brainerd, Minn. Saldana's Budweiser/Open Joist machine was leading on lap 19 of the 35-lap A-main when an apparent throttle-linkage failure knocked him not just out of the lead, but also out of the event.
Until that point, it had been a terrific evening for Saldana. After setting the seventh-fastest lap in time trials on the 3/8-mile dirt track, the popular Indiana driver won both his heat race and the "dash" event, earning himself a pole-position start for the main event. He trailed youngster Lucas Wolfe in the opening laps, then took the top spot on lap eight and set sail, only to have what looked like a sure victory stolen away by the aforementioned linkage problem. Saldana was listed in 23rd place in the official finishing order.
One night later, on Oct. 4, Saldana made it to the checkered flag seventh in the WoO feature at Minnesota's Princeton Speedway. In that event, Saldana mounted a thrilling charge after starting 14th in the 40-lap war at the high-banked, quarter-mile bullring.
The World of Outlaws road show now heads west, as the Kahne team and their peers point their transporters toward New Mexico and a two-day show at New Mexico's Hollywood Hills Speedway on Oct. 11–12. With the run for the WoO championship now entering its home stretch, Saldana — a five-time winner this season in America's most prestigious Sprint Car series — has moved to third in the series standings. For more info on the WoO Sprint Car Series, visit http://www.worldofoutlaws.com.
