Kevin Swindell made a late pass to pick up a win in the USAC Midget main event and his father Sammy nearly did the same in the 410 c.i. Sprint Car feature Saturday night at the Knoxville Raceway.
This was night number two of the Pepsi/Mountain Dew Knoxville Midget Nationals and the driver who swept the event in 2008, Brad Sweet, jumped to the early lead from the outside of the front row. The track was much racier tonight as drivers ran both high and low and, with Sweet up on the top side, Jerry Coons Jr. made the pass for the lead using the rail on lap number three. Kevin Swindell had started his Bullet chassis in row four and he was on the move primarily using the low groove to move up to the second spot. With no cautions in the event, by the time Swindell picked up the chase of Coons he was a full straightaway behind with less than ten laps remaining.
I could sense that the lead was shrinking a bit, but not enough that he could make a challenge so my attention was pulled further back in the field where drivers were racing in groups of four or five swapping lines, and positions, in each corner. This was exactly the type of action that has been seen in the past when the Midgets have made their appearance at the big half-mile. With three laps to go I took a peek back to the front to see that Swindell was now within striking distance of the lead coming out of turn four and as they went through turns one and two and down the back straightaway it was evident who the faster car was now. Going into turn three Coons appeared to miss his mark and slipped just off the bottom enough that Kevin was able to slide under him for the lead coming to the white flag. Over the final five laps Swindell had been using a higher line in one and two so Coons charged back to the bottom and nosed ahead again, but only for a split second as Swindell's momentum off the top side rocketed him to the front off turn two and he claimed the victory much to the approval of the solid crowd on hand. Sweet and fellow Californian Darren Hagen swaped the third spot back and forth several times over the last ten laps and at the checkers it was Sweet who prevailed for the position with defending USAC Midget points champion Cole Whitt rounding out the top five.
As Kevin climbed from his car in victory lane his mother Amy looked around and asked "where's Sammy", but the youngster had to celebrate without his father as Sammy was strapping himself into Ricky Logan's car #10 in preparation for the twenty-lap Sprint Car main event that was up next. Logan had some family commitments that he needed to tend to and with Swindell in town to run, and win the Master's Classic the night before (driving Clint Garner's #40) who better to fill in for the evening? For the second week in a row, the right qualifying time and the proper draw of the invert pill by the fastest qualifier landed point leader Johnny Herrera on the front row of the starting grid and he wasted no time establishing a solid lead. Terry McCarl moved quickly from eighth to second and when the caution waved for Joey Moughan who had stopped in turn one, the crowd was energized as McCarl pulled alongside Herrera under caution to let him know who was second and then Swindell pulled alongside McCarl as if to say, "hey don't forget that you have me back here".
Herrera again opened a bit of a lead, but it shrunk quickly as the lead trio quickly approached traffic with eight laps to go. The leader was able to put a few cars between himself and his challengers and Swindell drove past McCarl for the second spot. With two to go, the two lapped cars between Herrera and Swindell slipped out of the groove and Swindell stormed by quickly closing in on the leader. On the final lap Herrera slipped just a bit off of turn two and Swindell made a run at him trying to squeeze past on the bottom, but Herrera pinched him down entering three to stop the charge and pick up another 2009 win at Knoxville. McCarl finished in third with quick qualifier Dusty Zomer fourth and pole-sitter Skip Jackson was fifth.
K-ville Notes....Brady Bacon was running fifth late in the Midget main after starting eleventh, but he dropped out of the event late in the race....Hall of Fame inductee Fred Rahmer came up one position short of qualifying for the Sprint Car feature as Josh Schneiderman held him off over the final laps of the B-Main......Joey Moughan was impressive in winning his heat race tonight before having mechanical issues in the feature.....Both Brian Brown and Terry McCarl donated their purse money tonight to the family of Chad McDaniel who lost his life the night before in a two car crash during the Midget feature.....There was plenty of speculation, but no cold hard reason that I could report on in regard to the disappointing car count for the USAC Midgets. But I will say that the eighteen cars that started tonight's feature put on one heck of a show!
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