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Cornhusker Roots: Joey Saldana Looks to Add to Success at I-80 Speedway in Nebraska

Open wheel race fans in Nebraska certainly know the name Saldana. Currently, it’s World of Outlaws driver Joey Saldana, who carries the family lineage in racing circles. Prior to him, though, it was his father, the legendary, Joe Saldana, who hailed from Lincoln and raced on many of the dirt tracks in the Cornhusker State during his Hall of Fame career behind the wheel.

The younger Saldana picked up a very popular win at I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Neb., last year with a number of family members and friends in attendance. He will return to the high-banked, four-tenths-mile this week on Friday, June 5 for the NAPA Auto Parts Outlaw Showdown.

“Anytime you can win at your home track or in an area where you grew up or have family at means a lot,” said Saldana. “My grandparents were from Lincoln as well as aunts and uncles. I-80 Speedway wasn’t around when my Dad was racing out there in the 1960s and 1970s, but it’s still the location he grew up and the people around there know who he was and what he accomplished. There were a lot of people that only get to see us race once a year and to win with them there is pretty special as well and I know it’s special for my Dad as well when I can win out there.”

Saldana raced for the first at I-80 Speedway (the known as Nebraska Raceway Park) with the World of Outlaws in 1996. He finished fifth and 10th in a pair of A-Feature events, as well as earning a top-10 in a preliminary feature. Prior to his win last season, Saldana’s best finish at I-80 came in a preliminary feature in 2000, when he finished second.

The veteran driver has raced at I-80 Speedway in six different seasons. In five of those years he raced in multi-day events, including the former three-day Cornhusker Shootout. Saldana has made 18 starts with the World of Outlaws in his career at I-80 Speedway, including preliminary features, racking up 16 top-10 finishes, of which nine have been top-five performances, including his win last year.

“I-80 is a track I love racing at,” he said. “It was a fixture with the World of Outlaws for a lot of years and then we didn’t go back for a while and luckily we went back last year. It’s a track that fits what we do really well. It’s the perfect size for winged sprint cars. I-80 was one I certainly highlight on my calendar when I saw it was on the World of Outlaws schedule. Hopefully we can do what we did last year and pick up a win again.”

Entering this week’s trio of races, which begin in Indiana on Wednesday night, followed by the event at I-80 on Friday and then a trip to Kansas City on Saturday, Saldana is coming off a fourth-place finish at Attica Raceway Park in Ohio last weekend, which marked his ninth top-five finish of the season as he chases his first win. He has led laps in six different races this season, which total up to 74 laps led, third-most in the series. Saldana has best fastest in time trials three times in 2014.

“We have been really, really close to getting that first win and either I’ve made a mistake or something has happened on the race car,” he stated. “We’ve had the speed to win races, but just haven’t been able to get it done yet. Right now the main goal is to get the car basic and get solid top-five and top-three finishes and knock a win off and learn from that and hopefully get a few more.”

Saldana and his Motter Motorsports team are currently sixth in points, just 21 markers out of the top-five. The series top rookie in 1996 has finished among the top-five in points in each of the last three seasons. In his career, Saldana has finished in the top-10 in points on 13 occasions, including a career-best second-place showing in 2007.

“Last year was our second year together and to wins seven races and finish up in points is big for a team like ours,” Saldana said. “We are up against a lot of big teams and it’s expensive to be out here running a World of Outlaws program. For what we do, the last two years have been really solid efforts. This year we have been struggling and just have to get a feel for our race car and build consistency and I-80 is the perfect place to turn things around.”

The visit to I-80 Speedway will be one of just two races in Nebraska in 2015 for Saldana and his fellow World of Outlaws competitors as they return to the Cornhusker state in August.

Tickets for the NAPA Auto Parts Outlaw Showdown at I-80 Speedway on Friday, June 5 can be purchased online at http://slspromotions.ticketforce.com. General admission tickets are also available at local participating NAPA Auto Parts stores, with a special $5 OFF discount. Fans will then need to bring the ticket receipt and exchange that at the ticket booth for a General Admission ticket on race day.

For more information on tickets visit www.slspromotions.ticketforce.com.

Twitter: @SLS_Promotions

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