Knoxville 360 Nationals Night One Goes To Brown

As he was signing autographs during intermission Brian Brown told the crowd that after he screwed up during qualifying he knew that he needed to win everything else on the evening to put himself in a good position for Saturday’s championship night. “I won my heat race and I even tried to be the first one over here to the grandstand to sign autographs, but they won’t give me any bonus points for that,” Brown jokingly told announcer Tony Bokhoven. “Now I just need to go out and win tonight’s feature.” And he would do just that putting the Factory Value Parts car #21 in victory lane on the first night of the 20th Annual Arnold Motor Supply 360 Knoxville Nationals.


Brian Brown cruises past the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum on his way to victory - Barry Johnson photo

Brown’s twelfth-quick qualifying effort and his victory in the second heat race earned him the third-starting position for the twenty-lap main event and he drove around the outside of Zach Chappell on lap two to take the lead. As Brown pulled away the driver on the move was Dustin Selvage as he blew past Chappell and Tim Kaeding to move into second by mid-race and showed signs of closing the gap on the leader as Brown worked traffic. The first caution of the event waved on lap thirteen when Chappell slowed on the front stretch ending what looked to be a sure top-five finish for the tall thin Oklahoma driver. On the restart Selvage was able to stay with Brown, but could not mount a challenge before the caution waved again on lap fifteen, this time for a shredded right rear tire on the #83 of Kaeding who was running fourth at the time.

Dustin Selvage (7) flashes by Tim Kaeding for second - Barry Johnson photo

Once again on the restart Brown closed the door on Selvage in turn one and then never looked back as he cruised the final five laps to victory. Selvage was the runner-up followed by the night’s quick qualifier Chad Humston in third. Jason Johnson started tenth and finished fourth and the pole-sitter Jamie Veal completed the top five. Bronson Maeschen, who was second quick in qualifying, raced to a sixth-place finish, Lee Grosz was seventh, eighth went to Matt Covington, Brady Bacon was ninth and Tony Bruce Jr. drove from row eleven to finish tenth.

Chad Humston (1M) tales third from Aussie Jamie Veal late in the main event - Barry Johnson photo

360 Nats Thursday Notes…..Chad Humston, a weekly competitor in Knoxville’s 360 division, posted the fastest qualifying lap of 15.875 that was originally announced as a new track record, but was later corrected as saying that it was just a tick off of the standard. Both he and Dustin Selvage should sit at the top of the points after night number one. Could this be the year that a Knoxville track regular who does not compete in the 410 division wins the 360 Nationals?…..Tim Kaeding passed Jonathon Cornell on the final lap of the first heat for the fourth and final transfer spot. Cornell then came up one spot short of getting to the feature out of the B-Main when he could not chase down Johnny Anderson. Look for the youngster out of Sedalia, Missouri, to make a run at the “alphabet soup” Saturday night as his point total may land him near the front of the C-Main…..The only red flag of the night came on the opening lap of the third heat race when Erin Crocker pushed up the track in turn one, made contact with another car and then went end over end three or four times before hitting the fence. Erin climbed out of the car, told the Safety Team that she was fine and then hopped in the golf cart with infield announcer Mike Roberts who then drove her back to her trailer. Crocker’s sponsor “City Chevrolet” is a trap waiting to catch even the best of announcers with a slip of the tongue, kind of like the first driver’s name that I ever had to say over the microphone, Bill Shipman……think about it…..Sixteen-year-old Californian Justyn Cox was impressive driving past quicker qualifiers Matt Moro and Johnny Anderson in heat three to be the only driver who started outside of the six-car inverts to transfer to the A-Main. Cox had qualified 33rd out of the forty-nine-car field…..Kansas driver Logan Walker and his crew will hopefully have something to joke about over a pizza this week when they sent him out for the fourth heat with the two bolts missing from the front support for the top wing. The wing came down during the pace laps, Logan found his way to the work area and the crew added the bolts just in time to get Walker back on the track for the start of the race. Later in the evening, Walker’s nose wing shifted during the running of the C-Main….Selvage was the only driver to start sixth and win a qualifying heat as he passed D.J. Brink to take heat five.

Two speedsters from Oklahoma, Brady Bacon (99) and Matt Covington (95) do battle during Thursday's feature event - Barry Johnson photo

The 360 Nationals continue tonight (Friday) with well over fifty cars and drivers set to make their qualifying attempts for Saturday’s finale.