For story and full results visit the Knoxville Raceway website.
410 1st heat - Fast qualifier Daryn Pittman got a very nice start. Ian Madsen gave up the lead to Sammy Swindell and then came back to pass him back for the victory. Then, after the checkers, Madsen's motor blew up on the back stretch ending his night.
410 2nd heat - On the initial attempt at the start pole-sitter Mark Dobmeier got on the gas too early and was penalized one row for jumping the start. On the second try David Gravel got a very nice start, but it was defending Knoxville Nationals champ Tim Shaffer who took the win.
410 3rd heat - Lynton Jeffrey had a very good start. Rookie A.J. Moeller started outside of row one and spun sideways exiting turn two sending the field scrambling. Johnny Herrera could not avoid Moeller and both cars went for a tumble. Brian Brown goes on to win this one, a very impressive feat considering that he spent most of Friday night at the hospital getting x-rays.
410 C Main - Jessica Zemken was running second when her right front tire came off as she raced down the back stretch.
410 Dash - The six-car field fanned out four wide as they hit the chalk line for the start. Tyler Walker went on to win while Terry McCarl took an extra lap to perhaps express his thoughts on the start.
360 C Main - Ronnie Blair tagged the turn one guardrail on lap two. Henry Van Dam was impressive coming from the fifth row to take the win. The final transfer out of the D-Main Brady Bacon charged through the field to finish fifth, just one spot out of moving up to the B-Main.
360 B Main - The final lap of this one was a thriller as Daryn Pittman, who started ninth, passed leader Clint Garner in turns one and two. Racing into turn three Pittman was forced to the cushion as he tried get around Larry Ball Jr. so Garner hugged the berm and the two raced wheel-to-wheel off of four with Garner taking the win by an eyelash, or 0.032 seconds.
410 A Main - Brian Brown avoided disaster when he hopped a wheel on Jason Johnson's #41 as the two raced full speed down the back stretch on lap one. Fortunately Brian was able to keep it on all fours as another hard ride could have been very serious. Kevin Swindell came from a row two start to take the lead on the opening lap and when his father Sammy spun as he was trying to pull to the infield in turn two on lap nine his margin was wiped away. Once back to racing Tyler Walker riding the high line was able to stay within six car-lengths of Swindell who was working the low line around the half-mile. With five laps remaining the leader was closing quickly on Robby Wolfgang and Bud Kaeding who were racing up in Walker's line, but when Kaeding drove to the bottom into turn one Swindell had to turn his car nearly sideways to keep from hitting Kaeding. Kevin recovered nicely and stayed ahead of Walker over the remaining laps to take the win. Walker was the runner-up for the second week in a row here followed by fifth row starters Danny Lasoski and Tim Shaffer. For the second week in a row Mark Dobmeier made a big run coming from row ten to take fifth.
360 A-Main - With lightning flashing to the west the field took the green and then went to red as Dustin Selvage bicycled and then went end over end sending his tail tank vaulting over the wall in turn two. The race went red again on lap three as Derek Hagar hopped the berm and then went for a tumble in turn one. Once back to green Sammy Swindell drove past Randy Hannagan for second and then set his sights on leader Shane Stewart. Swindell had erased the lead and was ready to pounce on Stewart when the caution flag waved on lap eleven for Clint Garner who was sitting next to the guardrail in turn one. On the restart Stewart hit the button perfectly and pulled out to a big margin over Swindell. The lightning was getting very close as Swindell cut back into that lead and with lapped traffic again coming into play it looked like Sammy was ready to make another run at lead until he jumped the cushion in turn one with five laps remaining. That was exactly what Stewart needed to pull away for his second straight 360 Nationals Championship while Sammy's bobble allowed Tim Shaffer to slip by him for second. Bill Alley followed Swindell in fourth while Davey Heskin completed the top five.
If anybody was wondering what effect the Nationwide Series race at Newton would have on tonight's crowd, the answer is apparently "none" as the front stretch grandstand was as full as you would usually see for a Wednesday night at the 410 Nationals. Reports are that the Iowa Speedway was packed tight as well to see a thrilling finish with former sprint car phenom Ricky Stenhouse Jr. being shoved across the line by Carl Edwards. Two big crowds within thirty miles of each other shows that Iowa truly is the heartland of racing.
We didn't stick around to see the scramble to get 135 sprint cars loaded up and out of the pits before a line of strong thunderstorms swept through with high winds and heavy rain. The weather is supposed to clear for Sunday night's USAC non-wing sprint show here supported by the 305's.
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