"It's been a tough couple of races," said Schatz. "We had a solid car at Las Vegas for the final race and had a component malfunction. Here at Devil's Bowl, we didn't qualify great, but were moving forward in the features until we had those caution flags, which cooled our tires and they never came back. It's really frustrating, because we are all working hard and just can't seem to catch a break."

In Friday's preliminary action, Schatz drew an early qualifying number and the track was still very wet and he ended up 22nd in the 49-car field. A fifth place finish in the fourth heat race qualified the #15 J&J for the 20-lap feature. After starting 23rd and working his way to 16th, three caution flags came out in the first eight laps and after the third caution, Schatz began to move back and finished 21st.

Schatz bounced back on Saturday and qualified 14th and had a terrific race with Steve Kinser in the second heat race. Forced again to start deep in the field (18th), the Minot Missile made another charge and was challenging for a top ten spot when consecutive red flags stopped the race on the ninth circuit. Just as the case was on Friday when the race resumed, Schatz couldn't continue his charge to the front and finished 15th.

The team will remain in the Southwest this week with Saturday night and Sunday programs in Oklahoma City, OK.