Saldana Soars at Eagle : Wins Eagle Nationals to Claim Seventh Win of 2007

By Tony Veneziano, World of Outlaws PR Director

Twice this season, Joey Saldana and his Kasey Kahne Racing team have
welcomed new crew members to their team, and twice they have won in the
debut race for the new crew members.

On Saturday at Eagle Raceway in the Eagle Nationals, they welcomed
Kolten Gouse and Jared Ridge to the team. Both recently graduated high
school and will take to the road full-time with the team for the
remainder of the World of Outlaws season. Saldana welcomed the pair in
style on Saturday night, as they got to celebrate in Victory Lane, as he
won his seventh A-Feature event of the season.

Saldana powered his way to the lead on the eighth lap of the Eagle
Nationals, charging under Brooke Tatnell on the back straightaway, and
then holding off a furious charge from Jac Haudenschild over the last 10
laps of the race.

"It was a great night tonight," said Saldana, driver of the Open Joist
Mopar-powered JEI. "The team worked great collectively to win this race.
We know that we have a team that is capable of winning each time we get
to the track. We'll just keep building on this. We set up a strong
foundation for this team last season and we continue to build and grow.
This win is huge for Kasey Kahne Racing."

The race began with polesitter Brooke Tatnell jumping to the early lead
over Steve Kinser and Haudenschild. It was slowed on the fourth lap when
an accident involving several cars that were running in the Top-10 got
together. Daryn Pittman got the worst of it getting upside, ending his
night. Also, Steve Kinser's night was over after the incident. The rest
of the cars involved including current series point leader Donny Schatz
were able to continue after going to the work area,

Saldana lined up sixth for the 40-lap event and gained a couple of spots
on the opening lap. He moved into the third spot on the fourth lap when
the accident occurred. On the ensuing restart, the native of Brownsburg,
Indiana dove under Haudenschild coming off the fourth turn to claim the
runner-up spot. He would then shadow Tatnell for three laps before
making the pass for the lead and ultimately the win.

A number of caution flags slowed the race, and forced the cars to run a
number of laps under the yellow flag. This had many of the teams worried
about fuel and also if their tires would hold up. The only thing that
slightly worried Saldana was a lapped car in front of him that lost
power late in the race, bringing out a caution right in front of him
exiting the fourth turn.

"I think the crew was worried about fuels and tires, but I wasn't,"
explained the winner. "I knew we had a lot of fuel to begin the race and
we had a little bit harder of a tire on. We were fast down low and we
could pass down there. We tried a few new things with shocks tonight and
they worked."

Haudenschild thrilled the crowd with his trademark aggressive driving
style, as he tapped the wall several times as the laps wound down. He
had a very entertaining battle with 2001 World of Outlaws Champion Danny
Lasoski in the middle portion of the race. Haudenschild rode inches off
the wall, while Lasoski was stuck to the bottom of the track. The pair
traded the runner-up position a number of times. Late in the race,
Haudenschild also battled with Tatnell for the second spot, as he
continued to hug the wall.

"The car was pretty good tonight, and the crew did a good job," said
Haudenschild, driver of the Wright One Construction Maxim. "We got close
to Joey (Saldana) at the end and just came up a little bit short. We
gave it everything we had."

The native of Wooster, Ohio made up ground in traffic as he chased
Saldana, but each time he would close in on the leader, the yellow flag
flew, sending all the lapped machines to the rear of the field. On the
restarts in open track Saldana quickly jumped to a sizeable lead,
leaving Haudenschild looking for traffic to close the gap.

"We didn't need the yellows at the end," said the runner-up. "We were
very good in lapped traffic and that is where we made up ground running
up top. If we would have gotten in traffic with 10 or 15 laps to go, we
would have had a few more chances."

Before the World of Outlaws heat races took to the high-banked 1/3-mile,
the track crew along with officials from SLS Promotions reworked the
track, which drew rave reviews from the drivers at the end of the night.

"The track was very racy tonight," said Haudenschild, while signing
autographs for a throng of fans in the pit area. "It helped when they
worked on the track. We ran both the top and bottom."

Tatnell matched his season-best finish as he was third in the Eagle
Nationals, to earn his third straight Top-three finish at the track.
After winning his first Crane Cams Dash of the season, he earned his
first pole position and led his first laps of the 2007 campaign in
A-Feature competition.

"It's a happy/sad day," said Tatnell, driver of the Volcano Joe's Coffee
Schnee. "It's the best we have consistently been all year long, but it's
disappointing to lead and not win."

After enduring some bad luck the last couple of weeks, the strong run
lifted the team's spirit as they continue to close in on their first win
of the season. Early in the race, he pulled away before a caution
negated the lead he built up, and putting Saldana and Haudenschild right
on his tail tank.

"We found a few things during the week and those helped us," said the
native of San Souci, NSW, Australia. "I was searching the track for the
rubber. It was good to lead laps and run up front."

The always optimistic driver has always enjoyed racing at Eagle, and
admits that even when things aren't going great, he can usually turn
things around at Eagle.

"It's good bullring racing here, like what I grew up doing," explained
the multi-time champion in Australia. "You have to get your elbows up
and manhandle the car. We've always had good results here, no matter
what car I have been in. It's a good confidence boost for the team."

Danny Lasoski finished fourth in the Roth Motorsports Eagle to vault
into the third spot in the championship point standings. The native of
Dover, Missouri lined up 12th for the 40-lap event, and steadily worked
his way to the front. He gained two spots on the opening lap, and was a
benefactor of the lap-4 red flag, moving from 10th to fifth. From there,
he worked on Jason Sides for the fourth spot, and then got around
Haudenschild for second, before battling Tatnell late in the race for
the third spot.

Jason Meyers lined up 16th in the Eagle Nationals, and also had a very
consistent night aboard the Primerica Financial Maxim. He gained a
couple spots on the opening lap and also was a benefactor of the lap-4
incident, gaining five positions. He worked his way into fifth on the
28th-lap. It was his 13th Top-Five finish of the season and it moved up
into the fifth spot in points.

Chad Kemenah earned his sixth Top-10 finish of the season, as he was
sixth in the Hampshire Racing Engines Maxim. Kerry Madsen earned the KSE
Race Products Hard Charger Award after starting 23rd and finishing
seventh in the Selma Shell Maxim. Paul McMahan was eighth in the Bass
Pro Shops Eagle. Tim Shaffer was ninth in the Casey's General Stores Maxim.

Current World of Outlaws championship point leader Donny Schatz finished
10th in the Snap-on Tools J&J after getting caught up in the lap 4
accident and having to go to the work area and restart at the read of
the field. It was his 27th Top-10 finish in 30 events.

The night began with Saldana turning the quickest lap in time trials for
the sixth time this season. He also added to the number of laps that he
has led on the season, crossing the 200-lap marker which is best in the
series. In addition to this, he took over the lead in money earned after
picking up $10,000 for his seventh A-Feature triumph of the season.

The World of Outlaws return to action on Thursday, June 14 at the
recently reconfigured Tri-City Speedway in Illinois, for an event that
postponed by weather in April.

EAGLE RACEWAY NOTEBOOK

• FAST QUALIFIER: Joey Saldana paced the 27 cars that took time with an
AMB i.t. timed lap around the high-banked 1/3-mile oval in 12.456
seconds at 96.243 mph. For his qualifying effort, Saldana eared five
bonus points. The next four fastest qualifiers also earned bonus points,
including: Jason Solwold (4), Paul McMahan (3), Daryn Pittman (2) and
Donny Schatz (1).

• QUALIFYING WINNERS: Brooke Tatnell, Chad Kemenah and Jason Sides won
heat races… Terry McCarl won the B-Main… Brooke Tatnell won the Crane
Cams dash.

World of Outlaws Statistical Report; Eagle Nationals at Eagle Raceway;
Lincoln, NE.; June, 9, 2007

Qualifying

1) 9-Joey Saldana 12.456

2) R19-Jason Solwold 12.467

3) 20-Paul McMahan 12.554

4) 21-Daryn Pittman 12.628

5) 15-Donny Schatz 12.669

6) 11-Steve Kinser 12.697

7) 1X-Randy Hannagan 12.720

8) 3X-Chad Kemenah 12.726

9) 83-Danny Lasoski 12.776

10) 2-Brooke Tatnell 12.776

11) 35-Jac Haudenschild 12.785

12) 7S-Jason Sides 12.794

13) 24-Terry McCarl 12.861

14) 6-Tim Shaffer 12.872

15) 10C-Jeremy Campbell 13.010

16) 14-Jason Meyers 13.034

17) 5C-Chad Hillier 13.053

18) 36-Jason Martin 13.061

19) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr. 13.095

20) 11D-Dion Hindi 13.120

21) 7-Craig Dollansky 13.122

22) D1-Justin Henderson 13.123

23) 11H-Kerry Madsen 13.212

24) 8K-Zach Chappell 13.245

25) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 13.263

26) 4W-Matt Wasmund 13.403

27) 13-Seth Brahmer 14.107

Heat 1 (10 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)

1) 2-Brooke Tatnell

2) 21-Daryn Pittman

3) 1X-Randy Hannagan

4) 9-Joey Saldana

5) 14-Jason Meyers

6) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr.

7) 24-Terry McCarl

8) D1-Justin Henderson

9) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.

Heat 2 (10 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)

1) 3X-Chad Kemenah

2) 35-Jac Haudenschild

3) R19-Jason Solwold

4) 5C-Chad Hillier

5) 15-Donny Schatz

6) 6-Tim Shaffer

7) 11H-Kerry Madsen

8) 11D-Dion Hindi

9) 4W-Matt Wasmund

Heat 3 (10 Laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)

1) 7S-Jason Sides

2) 11-Steve Kinser

3) 83-Danny Lasoski

4) 7-Craig Dollansky

5) 20-Paul McMahan

6) 8K-Zach Chappell

7) 36-Jason Martin

8) 10C-Jeremy Campbell

9) 13-Seth Brahmer

Crane Cams Dash (8 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting
positions of A-feature)

1) 2-Brooke Tatnell

2) 11-Steve Kinser

3) 21-Daryn Pittman

4) 35-Jac Haudenschild

5) R19-Jason Solwold

6) 9-Joey Saldana

7) 7S-Jason Sides

8) 15-Donny Schatz

9) 3X-Chad Kemenah

10) 20-Paul McMahan

B-main (10 laps, top 6 finishers transferred to A-feature)

1) 24-Terry McCarl

2) 10C-Jeremy Campbell

3) 36-Jason Martin

4) 11D-Dion Hindi

5) 11H-Kerry Madsen

6) D1-Justin Henderson

7) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. [$200]

8) 13-Seth Brahmer [$180]

9) 4W-Matt Wasmund [$175]

A-main (40 laps) - Starting Position [#]

1) 9-Joey Saldana[6] [$10,000]

2) 35-Jac Haudenschild[4] [$5,500]

3) 2-Brooke Tatnell[1] [$3,200]

4) 83-Danny Lasoski[12] [$2,800]

5) 14-Jason Meyers[16] [$2,500]

6) 3X-Chad Kemenah[9] [$2,300]

7) 11H-Kerry Madsen[23] [$2,200]

8) 20-Paul McMahan[10] [$2,100]

9) 6-Tim Shaffer[14] [$2,050]

10) 15-Donny Schatz[8] [$2,000]

11) 7S-Jason Sides[7] [$1,500]

12) 1X-Randy Hannagan[11] [$1,200]

13) 8K-Zach Chappell[22] [$1,100]

14) 36-Jason Martin[18] [$1,050]

15) 7-Craig Dollansky[21] [$1,000]

16) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr.[19] [$900]

17) 10C-Jeremy Campbell[15] [$800]

18) D1-Justin Henderson[24] [$800]

19) 11D-Dion Hindi[20] [$800]

20) 5C-Chad Hillier[17] [$800]

21) R19-Jason Solwold[5] [$800]

22) 24-Terry McCarl[13] [$800]

23) 11-Steve Kinser[2] [$800]

24) 21-Daryn Pittman[3] [$800]

Lap Leaders: Brooke Tatnell 1-7, Joey Saldana 8-40

KSE Hard Charger Award: Kerry Madsen