From Twenty-First To First, Schatz Scores His Seventh Knoxville Nationals Championship

I predicted that we would see a new name added to the list of champions at the Knoxville Nationals. I was wrong.

Donny Schatz used the 22-lap B-Main essentially as a test session, a race where he came on strong late to pass Lynton Jeffrey on the final lap for a win that would place him in the twenty-first starting position for the 50-lap Nationals Championship feature.

The first try at a start saw Stevie Smith drive too high into turn one where he hopped the cushion, smacked the guardrail and went for a tumble. When the race did get underway it was Brian Brown who would set a fast pace while Schatz began his march to the front. A caution on lap four slowed the field again and Schatz had already moved up to twelfth in the restart order.

As Brown continued to hold a comfortable lead over pole-starter Joey Saldana, Schatz was bringing some drivers along with him from the back of the lineup as Kyle Larson and Chad Kemenah were also on the move. With the race nearing the mid-point and the scheduled five minute break, Schatz locked into a battle for fifth with Kevin Swindell where they would swap the position back and forth just before the caution waved.

Now lined up sixth with twenty-six laps remaining, what many thought before the evening began was not possible was now inevitable, Donny Schatz was going to win his seventh Knoxville Nationals. Yes, Brian Brown had been strong throughout the opening half of the distance, but Schatz had been gaining ground on him even while passing people. There were still twenty-six laps to run and you just knew that it was over.

The green flag waved and Schatz immediately disposed of Swindell for fifth. A few laps later he was in fourth, then third and just two laps later he blew by Justin Henderson for second. By then Brown had a full straightaway lead, but it was not going to be enough, Schatz was coming.

The gap closed quickly and with ten laps to go Schatz was within striking distance, then on lap forty-one he drove by Brown like he was standing still in turn two and that was it. With Schatz pulling away to score his seventh Nationals championship in eight years, Brown now had to hold back a late charge from Henderson to finish second. Paul McMahan worked his way into the fourth position while Chad Kemenah nipped Kyle Larson by inches at the line to take fifth. Kemenah had started 19^th while Larson had come from 17^th. Saldana faded to seventh at the checkers, Danny Lasoski finished eighth, Steve Kinser was ninth and Cap Henry closed out a fine week coming from 18^th to tenth.

“Brown, you’re going to win this someday. Believe me, I know how you are feeling,” said Schatz in the post-race press conference referring to his two years of being the runner-up before he started this amazing winning streak. Schatz actually attributed his win tonight to driving, and winning, some Late Model races earlier this season, “I drove it like a Late Model from the middle out. That experience really helped me with the track conditions as they were tonight.” Schatz scored two Late Model wins on consecutive nights in late May at Williston Basis Speedway and at Nodak Speedway in his home state of North Dakota.

Despite the amazing back-to-front performance the winner was still greeted by a steady stream of boos from the large crowd, something that Schatz knows to expect. “Heck, I was one of the many that were booing Steve Kinser back in the day.” And while Kinser’s mark of twelve Nationals titles is still a record that many think will never be equaled, “the new king in town” as Brian Brown described him moved another step closer on this perfect Saturday night for racing in Knoxville, Iowa.

A big thanks to Brian Stickel and the entire Knoxville Raceway staff for the fantastic hospitality over the past two weeks and I will now look forward to returning the final week of September for the annual Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals.