Clanton Shows The Way At Knoxville's Late Model Nationals Opener

Opening night of the 16th Annual Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals was not going to happen as the forecast called for a line of strong thunderstorms to develop to the west and then march through the area between seven and nine o'clock on Thursday night, the absolutely worst time for rain to fall on a dirt track if you are going to try to get a show in. I know of at least two friends of mine who stayed home because of the predicted weather and when I saw the radar at 4:30 in the afternoon I called my colleague Danny Rosencrans, who was on his way up from Missouri to hop in with me for the trip, to question our own judgment.

By 5 p.m. one last look of the radar started to show some weakening of that line of storms so we decided to go ahead and make the drive and for at least once in this season that has seen so many rainouts at tracks in the Midwest, Mother Nature proved to be a race fan as this line of storms dissipated while a new line developed already east of Knoxville.

The crowd was good given the conditions, although I am sure that it would have been better if the weather was as good as it will be tonight, so hopefully the track can make up for any lost revenue during Friday night's qualifying action.

Fifty-five Late Models signed in for action this year, solid and loaded with talent but still not as many as one might expect for an event like this. Notably missing were former champions Mike Marlar and Brian Shirley, but again this field is deep and Late Model fans are treated to one of the most entertaining formats in the sport. The field is split into two groups for qualifying and points are earned in qualifying (200 for first in each group with two point increments), the heat races (100 points to the winner of each of the six with three point increments) and the feature (200 points to the winner with two point increments). What makes the show though is that the heat races use a six car invert with only the top three advancing, the B-Mains are lined straight up for those who didn't make the transfer and the feature lineup is then set using an eight car invert based upon the point totals from qualifying and the heats.

This makes for some great racing all night long and while there are always drivers who will grumble about the format, especially those who are well known for lobbying for straight up starts like Thursday night's winner, the cream always rises to the top and puts on one hell of a show doing so.

Heat race number one saw Brian Birkhofer start from the pole with Jimmy Mars, the only driver to qualify for all previous fifteen feature races here to his outside. But it would be the first time visitor to Knoxville, Lucas Oil series Rookie-of-the-Year contender Shanon Buckingham from Tennessee who would drive by those two to take the convincing win. Mars seemed locked in for second with Birkhofer at risk of losing third to fastest qualifier Shane Clanton, but both Birky and Clanton closed in on Mars and coming to the white flag Birkhofer threw a slider on his former chassis building partner to take the second spot. With Mars having to check up a bit that allowed Clanton to drive under him into turn one and take the final transfer on the closing lap. So looking back now you could say that slider from Birky was a big part in deciding tonight's feature winner.

The second heat race saw Jeremiah Hurst lead all but the final straightaway as fellow front row starter Bobby Pierce swept around the outside of Hurst in turn four to take the win. Chris Simpson who had started fifth was able to get past Billy Moyer Jr. with two to go to take the final transfer position.

Dustin Nobbe and Frank Heckenast Jr. started from the front row of heat three and when Nobbe went high in turn two on the opening lap that allowed third starting Chase Junghans to race to the lead down the back stretch. On lap five though Junghans would slow with transmission troubles and pull to the infield. This race had the intrigue of having Scott Bloomquist start from the rear of the nine car field as in what seems to be an annual occasion here in Knoxville on the first night of qualifying, Bloomquist was battling issues, this time reported as electrical problems. He was on the move early though and when he tried to squeeze under Nobbe for fifth a bit of contact sent the pole sitter for a spin and Bloomquist appeared to have a shot at making the transfer now restarting from fifth. That did not happen though as while Ricky Thornton Jr., driving a car owned by Indiana's Chad Stapleton, pulled away for the win, Bloomquist dropped nearly to last as the green flag came back out and while he recovered a bit in the closing laps he could not get around Charlie McKenna for fifth. Heckenast and sixth starting Darrell Lanigan transferred along with Thornton.

Shannon Babb would go from the pole to the win in the fourth heat race, but there was plenty of action behind him as Hudson O'Neal, Tyler Erb and Jonathan Davenport waged a three car battle for the final two transfer spots. Contact in turn four between Erb and O'Neal allowed Davenport to drop Hudson to fourth and on the final lap when Erb drifted wide in turn two the winner of last week's World 100 still in his Brewster Baker Six-Pack wrap said "thanks for the extra three points kid" as Davenport finished second.

With the low line showing the advantage so far, Tyler Bruening was the first to rip the top racing out to a solid lead in the fifth heat with pole-sitter Josh Richards trying to keep pace. As the laps wound down Richards was able to get back in contention and with three to go he would put a slider on Bruening to steal the lead and the win. Devin Moran, who was racing for the first time here at Knoxville bobbled a bit in turn one on the final lap, but Chris Madden could not take advantage to get to third.

The sixth and final heat was dominated by Driver-of-the-Year favorite Brandon Sheppard aided by the fact that Dennis Erb Jr. and Ricky Weiss raced side-by-side throughout the twelve laps for second and Don O'Neal and Kyle Bronson were a bit further back doing the same thing for fourth. At the checkers it was Sheppard, Erb and Weiss heading to the A-Main.

This format also allows for the first B-Main to be in staging and ready to follow that final heat race with the top three in each B-Main making the show. And, with the lineup going straight up it should be no surprise that the guys who start up front should hold their positions. That was the case in the first B as drivers who started in the top three finished in the top three with Stormy Scott taking the win over Earl Pearson Jr. and Billy Moyer Jr. Scott Bloomquist started  ninth and advanced to fifth so if past history is any indication here look for Team Zero to be in the hunt for the win in tonight's second night of action.

Jimmy Owens took the win in the second B-Main as Chad Simpson drove Larry Moring's #1 to second and Kyle Bronson slipped past Hudson O'Neal with three to go to earn the 24th and final starting spot in the night's 25-lap feature.

Two young stars, Ricky Thornton Jr. and Devin Moran would bring the field to green with Thornton holding the edge on lap one before yielding to Moran on the second trip around the fabled half-mile. The only caution of the event would wave on lap four when Davenport slowed in turn two with front end damage and on the restart Tyler Erb charged to second into turn one. It has been a long time since the young driver from Texas has had a win after his blistering start to 2019 and he would throw caution to the wind driving deep into turn three and sliding right up across the nose of Moran to take the lead in turn four.

Barry Johnson photo

Just as he had in his heat race, Shane Clanton took advantage of Moran having to check up to pick up the second spot and on lap fourteen he would drive under Erb in turn one to take the lead. It was all over but the shouting from there as Clanton proved that his Capital Race Car was the fastest on this night driving away to a convincing win worth $7,000. Erb who was the winner here on opening night last year would settle for second while Darrell Lanigan nipped Ricky Weiss in a photo finish for third. Thornton would hold on for fifth just ahead of Clanton's Skyline Materials teammate Tyler Bruening in sixth. Brandon Sheppard moved from twelfth to seventh, Moran dropped to eighth, Bobby Pierce was ninth and Chris Simpson completed the top ten.

Barry Johnson photo

It was a very entertaining night of action that saw the final checkers wave at 9:41 p.m.!

They will do it all again in the same format tonight and on Saturday there will be a B-Main and the 100-lap finale supported by a full show for the Malvern Bank SLMR Late Models where 32 drivers have been invited. If you are a big fan of Late Models, Knoxville is the place to be this weekend!