Those of you who have followed the Back Stretch over the years know that I cover the Nationals a little differently than I do other events using more of a Notebook style approach since you can find actual "race stories" through so many other venues. I will continue to do that in 2016, so let's proceed!
Forty-seven cars signed in for qualifying that started about a half hour later than normal due to a late afternoon spit of rain that definitely made for a fast race track. Even though it was hot and humid the top four qualifiers were in the 14 second bracket led by Daryn Pittman's lap of 14.791. Pittman was the 20th car out to time and the second fastest qualifier, sixty-year-old Sammy Swindell was the 30th car to trip the clock. Biggest surprise? A.J. Moeller, the track regular who has shown a history of qualifying well, but still the tenth best in this field is very impressive. Biggest disappointment? Greg Hodnett who was the final driver to make the heat race inverts in 40th. If he would have been six one thousandths of a second slower his night would have went a completely different direction....stay tuned.
The start of the first heat of the night was a near disaster when Tasker Phillips and Scott Bogucki made contact racing down the straightway. Fortunately both drivers were able to make the save and the race stayed green dropping the second row starters to the back of the running order right away. The race for the lead soon got crazy as well when Matt Covington had a run on leader Daniel Harding as they came off of turn two. With Covington pulling even on the outside, Harding came up the track going down the back stretch and contact sent the two cars into a spin. Harding somehow straightened out and continued on while Covington did a wheelstand before slamming into the inside guardrail nose first. As Covington's car was towed to the pits, track officials ordered Harding to the work area for a safety check and after passing that exam he was allowed to return to the lead position for the restart. Harding first fought off a bid for the lead by Jeff Swindell who was bringing the Sonner #47 car back to life, but on the final lap Chad Kemenah passed the Australian driver to take the win. Without the caution that eliminated Covington it is likely that Daryn Pittman would have finished fifth in this one and would have been headed to the B-Main.
Danny Smith, who a week ago tweeted a photo of his "special" Knoxville paint scheme, slowed and pulled to the infield right after the green flag waved on heat two and the caution soon waved when Brian Brown stopped on the back stretch. Brown restarted at the rear but could only get back to eighth at the checkers. Danny Dietrich driving the throwback Weikert Livestock #29 passed Sheldon Haudenschild with two laps to go to take the fourth and final transfer in a race that was won by "Lady Lightning" Paige Polyak. During this race a bolt flew into the stands and struck a woman who was sitting in section H Row 20 in the cheek. She was checked out by medical personnel and later returned to her seat for the rest of the program.
Rico Abreu who was disappointed with his 33rd best qualifying effort started on the front row of the third heat and walked away from the field winning by more than a straightaway over fellow Californian Colby Copeland. Ian Madsen who was 3rd fast in qualifying started eighth and finished eighth in this one as he and Josh Schneiderman swapped positions twice, but they wished it were for something closer to the front.
Dusty Zomer slipped by Johnny Herrera on lap nine to win the fourth heat. Donny Schatz was mired in eighth place early in this one and based upon how tough it had been for the other fast qualifiers to get into the top four it looked like Schatz was fighting an uphill battle. This is Donny Schatz at the Knoxville Nationals though and he was soon challenging for fourth and he then took third from Jamie Veal with a couple of laps remaining. Give him a couple of more laps and he would have won the race. This effort here tells me that Schatz is on his game and will likely be up front again on Saturday night.
Greg Hodnett found the speed again and went flag-to-flag from the pole to dominate the fifth and final heat race of the night. Combined with his poor qualifying effort though he would later start 20th in the 25-lap main event.
Six cars started the C-Main with four of them set to advance to the B and it was Josh Baughman taking the easy win. Dean Jacobs finished in the third spot, but failed to report to the scales so that allowed Danny Smith to continue his night.
Only three of the top ten qualifiers, Pittman, Jamie Veal and Schatz were able to come from the fourth row and transfer from the heats so that meant that the other seven, Sammy Swindell, Ian Madsen, Danny Holtgraver, Lynton Jeffrey, Brian Brown, Craig Dollansky and A.J. Moeller would line up at the front of the B-Main where only four advance. After a spirited early battle with Madsen, Swindell pulled away and went on to win while the race for fourth was very entertaining. Craig Dollansky was holding the position, but Jason Sides had found something on the bottom and was closing quickly. With six laps remaining Sides pulled even going down the front stretch only to have Dollansky pinch him off at the entrance of turn one to maintain the final transfer. With his momentum altered momentarily Sides gave up the fifth position to Brian Brown over the final laps, but both of them would have to start making plans for Friday instead of running the A.
For Brown this is a huge turnaround over the past couple of Nationals when he was the primary challenger to Schatz and was ready to breakthrough, much the same as Schatz did after a couple of near misses here. With the new Friday night format, Brian has a chance to come back and get qualified for the Championship race by finishing in the top four of the Friday night feature, however the past has shown that if one of the qualifying nights gets rained out, the format goes back to the old method where the Friday, or "Non-Qualifier" feature winner earns the 11th starting spot in Saturday's C-Main. Brown, and many other drivers, are praying for no rain tonight (Thursday).
 |
| Right about now I was getting chills listening to Outlaws announcer Johnny Gibson giving his familiar call - Barry Johnson photo |
Wednesday's feature was spectacular with plenty of action throughout the field plus an epic mid-race battle for the lead between the guy in the black hat and the handsome young hero. Jeff Swindell who is looking to make his first Nationals A-Main since 1999 was the early leader off the pole until Shane Stewart threw a slider at him in turns one and two on lap ten. Stewart literally cleared the front of Swindell's car by an inch or two and when the veteran driver tried to come back at him in turn three that allowed Schatz to push him back to third on the following lap.
The caution waved a lap later when the left rear wheel came off of Lynton Jeffrey's car and it was then punted by the right rear tire of Johnny Herrera's ride. The wheel took off like a rocket, but fortunately a catch fence that has just in the past year or two been heightened off turn two caught the flying wheel and kept it in "the ballpark".
The race for the lead took full attention following the restart as Stewart used both lines to try to ward off Schatz. Donny pulled even with him on the front stretch on lap twelve only to have Stewart slide back up in front of him in turn two. And then in turns three and four it was Schatz throwing the slider only to have Stewart turn back under him and the two again raced down the front stretch side-by-side. When Shane again slid up the track to shut the door it seemed to settle that battle until the caution waved on lap seventeen for Herrera who had slowed due to damage from his encounter with the loose wheel. (Insert bad Kenny Rogers joke here if you must)
I expected another run from Schatz on this final restart, but this time he could not get to Stewart to even consider trying a slider on the leader over the final eight laps and the crowd roared their approval as the guy in the white hat, Shane Stewart scored the win. Schatz was second, Chad Kemenah rounded out a solid night in third, Daryn Pittman's fourth place finish helped him to be to high point man on the night and Jamie Veal continued to impress in fifth. But perhaps the most impressive and barely noticed drive of the night was from Greg Hodnett who came from the tenth row to finish sixth. Even with that run though his qualifying time buried him in 19th for the points tally from night one so he too will be praying for no rain on Thursday. Jeff Swindell faded to seventh and his point total should at least lock him into the first five rows of Saturday night's B-Main or, if it rains out Thursday, perhaps that last row of the Championship feature under the old format. So there is at least one driver who wants it to rain tonight! Pole sitter Wayne Johnson finished eighth, Rico Abreu advanced five spots to ninth and Dusty Zomer filled out the top ten.
 |
| Okay, so he is wearing a black hat in victory lane, but you get the premise! - Barry Johnson photo |
Showing that a good qualifying time is better than a top ten feature finish, Sammy Swindell is sixth in points after finishing 13th in the feature and Craig Dollansky is on the bubble spot, 8th in points after night one following an 11th-place feature run after starting 24th. Remember that under the new (no rain outs) format, the top sixteen in points after both nights are locked into the Championship race.
After the delayed start the show was run along in a nice fashion with the final checkered flag waving just past 10:30. However, with the area under a Flash Flood Watch for tonight and a squall line predicted to develop and march through later, track officials will have to be in hurry up mode just like they were one week ago under a similar weather threat. Will an 8:58 p.m. checkered flag be able to beat the rain?
Hopefully that won't be the test and I do hope to see you tonight, and the rest of the weekend in Knoxville!
 |
| Shane Stewart on his way to victory Wednesday night at the 5 Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals - Barry Johnson photo |
No comments:
Post a Comment