Four-time defending champion Shane Stewart was not on hand to try to make it five straight, but Brian Brown carried on his tradition of going from green to checkers as the Grain Valley, Missouri, driver scored his first-ever Arnold Motor Supply 360 Knoxville Nationals Championship Saturday night.
Brown was like a rocket when the green flag waved leaving fellow front row starter several car-lengths behind entering turn one for the first time and it only took six laps before the leader caught the back of the talented field. A caution on lap seven for a slowing Kevin Swindell erased that big lead for the moment and on the restart Brown again pulled away from the pack. This time he was aided by the fact that Beaver and Sammy Swindell were trading sliders for the second spot and when the cautioned waved again on lap nine for a Bronson Maeschen spin, it would be Swindell who would line up in second for the restart. Even the cagey veteran was no match for the FVP and Casey's General Stores sponsored #21 though as Brown again drove away leaving Swindell to deal with a challenge from Sam Hafertepe Jr.
Hafertepe would drive under Swindell for second on lap eleven and found himself a full straightaway back from Brown hoping that lapped traffic might give him an opportunity to catch up. With laps ticking away the driver out of Texas was able to pick up a couple of car lengths, but Hafertepe was still well behind the leader as behind him Davey Heskin would throw a challenge at Swindell for third with four laps remaining. Sammy was able to ward him off and a lap later Heskin's night went south quickly as his motor let go coming off of turn four.
With Heskin able to find his way to the infield in turn one the green stayed on and Brian Brown completed the twenty-five lap flag-to-flag performance to collect the $10,000 top prize. Hafertepe would finish in second, Swindell took third followed by Mark Dobmeier from tenth and Tim Shaffer from fourteenth. Jason Johnson took sixth, Beaver held on for seventh and Terry McCarl made a strong run from from twentieth to eighth. Jonathan Cornell and B-Main winner Danny Lasoski completed the top ten.
Friday Notebook
Tyler Druecke went flag to flag to win the E-Main ahead of crowd favorite Jac Haudenschild.
Johnny Herrera came from the outside of row three to win the D-Main ahead of Joey Moughan, Brandon Hanks and Billy Alley. Due to scratches from four of the C-Main qualifiers the top eight would advance and Haudenschild would pass Kevin Ramey with a lap and a half remaining to earn the final transfer.
Dustin Selvage drove by Gregg Bakker in turns one and two, then took the white and then the checkers to win the C-Main, Sean McClelland finished third and New Jersey's Robbie Stillwagon crossed the line in fourth, before he was disqualified for using an illegal left rear tire. This bumped Sheldon Haudenschild up into the B-Main while his father Jac's night came to an end in 15th.
Jon Agan's streak of bad luck continued on the opening lap of the B-Main when contact with Tasker Phillips sent Agan for a tumble in turn four. Tonight's incident was very close to the same place where Agan rolled last week and was hammered by Dakota Hendrickson. Sheldon Haudenschild tried to miss Agan, but wound up in the fence himself and both drivers were finished for the night. Once back to green Danny Lasoski would go unchallenged up front and Randy Hannagan would move past Wayne Johnson to take second. The race for the fourth and final transfer was a good one though as Dylan Peterson drove by Josh Higday with nine laps remaining. Higday stayed close though and on the final lap he threw a slider on Peterson in turn three to reclaim that final transfer spot at the checkers.
The 305 Sprint Cars ran a full program in support and Devin Kline earned his second straight feature win. Kline had started eighth on the grid and he was in fourth coming to a restart with five laps remaining. With the top three running the cushion, Kline drove to the bottom moving to second and a lap later he drove under Stacey Alexander to take the lead and then the win. Alexander finished in second, J Kinder came from tenth to third, Kevin Hetrick finished fourth, Mike Philbin was fifth and the young lady speedster McKenna Haase came from the seventh row to finish sixth.
The 410 Sprints will get their opportunity to tune up for next weeks FVP Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's General Stores with the third running of the Capitani Classic on Sunday night. You can expect a to see a full field of likely more than seventy cars so what better way to spend a Sunday night than at the Knoxville Raceway? Hope to see you there!
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