Kyle Larson went flag-to-flag to win Wednesday night's opener of the 57th Annual 5-Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals and as he was celebrating in victory lane the burning question was whether or not the NASCAR Cup Championship contender would be able to return to compete in Saturday night's headliner.
Larson started Paul Silva's #57 from the pole for the 25-lap main event, but it was the driver to his right Austin McCarl who got the jump on the start and led the field into turn one. Larson powered by McCarl on the inside of turn four though to officially lead lap one as the opening night crowd kept an eye on Donny Schatz who quickly moved from eighth to fifth. The only caution of the race came on lap three when Parker Price-Miller slowed on the back stretch so that he could get to the work area and allow his Townline Variety crew to replace a broken front wing.
On the restart Schatz continued his march to the front driving past Greg Hodnett and then McCarl to then set his sights on the leader. With Larson working down low, Schatz tried the cushion and he was almost to within striking distance before lapped traffic came into play. Larson worked it like a pro though and Schatz could never get close enough to make a bid for the lead as Larson scored his third career victory here at the Knoxville Raceway. Schatz would earn the most points on the night with his second place finish, Greg Hodnett continued his strong trip to Iowa with a third place run, Brad Sweet tallied the second most points on the night after finishing fourth while Austin McCarl may well have locked himself into Saturday's finale by finishing fifth.
Kerry Madsen made a run at Schatz for third early on, but the night's fastest qualifier faded back to sixth at the checkers which was still good enough to rank him third in qualifying points for the evening. Shane Stewart was seventh and Paul McMahan posted a strong showing in eighth and that could put him in the top sixteen that will lock themselves into the Championship race after Thursday's qualifying. Another budding NASCAR star Christopher Bell finished ninth and Bill Balog came from the 18th starting spot to complete the top ten.
Wednesday Notes......Qualifying early was a definite advantage as Madsen was the first car on the clock, the second car out Lucas Wolfe was third quick and the third driver on the track A.J. Moeller was fifth......Moeller, the young driver from Rockwell City, Iowa, started eighth and finished eighth in his heat race, but when he is out front he is a rocket and he appeared to have a win in the B-Main within his grasp until something broke on the car sending him over the cushion and into the turn four guardrail with just four laps remaining......My pick for the Rookie of the Nationals, Spencer Bayston posted what was the second best lap at the time when he went out sixth, but he was then light at the scales dropping him all the way to the bottom of the list. The team, owned by Kevin Swindell, must have then decided to save their equipment for Friday night where a top four finish in the feature still locks you into Saturday night's finale (Thursday afternoon update: The Knoxville Raceway posted on its Facebook page today that the two drivers who were disqualified at the scales during qualifying, Bayston and Chase Wanner, have been offered the opportunity to qualify again tonight due to a diagnostic issue with the scales) .....Aaron Reutzel finished fourth in the first heat race, but was then disqualified for losing a muffler during the race. He too then packed it up for the night with Friday's new format allowing for a second chance.....Scott Bogucki was running a strong second in the third heat race before his engine let go allowing Paul McMahan to then fight off Lucas Wolfe for that fourth and final transfer spot.....The final transfer position from the B-Main came down to the final lap as Tim Shaffer raced around the outside of Sheldon Haudenschild to make the main event. Sheldon appeared to be in a position to slide up the track and shut the door on Shaffer in turns one and two, but instead held his line through the middle......Larson's full-time job has him racing at Michigan this weekend, a track that he runs very well at so it will be interesting to see if car owner Chip Ganassi will allow his Championship contender to fly back to Iowa to start mid-pack (Larson is fifth in points after night one) in a Sprint Car race that doesn't carry the meaning to him as much as it does to Kyle and all of us. The correct business decision would be to say "no", but we will see what happens......Meanwhile, barring dominating performances from two drivers on Thursday night, Donny Schatz will start from the front row of the Championship race and given his performance tonight I would say that he is ready to return to victory lane.
Thursday night's action gets underway with hot laps at 7:15 and if you have not experienced a Friday night at the Nationals under the new format, well then you are just missing out on some of the best racing you will see anywhere. Come join us at Knoxville!
Thursday, August 10, 2017
Wednesday, August 9, 2017
Simpson, Kile and Plummer Dominate West Liberty's Tuesday Show
Three drivers put on dominant performances as Coors Light, through Fleck Distributing, and Arnie Ranta Motorsports presented the annual Open Late Model Shootout at the West Liberty Raceway Tuesday night. A large crowd was on hand as the Farley Speedway Promotions crew not only booked Late Model legend Scott Bloomquist for the evening, they also made arrangements for Brian Birkhofer to take a brief break from his retirement to thrill his fans at the track where he made his first laps.
For the second night in a row Birkhofer, driving the Arnie Ranta Motorpsorts car #30, would set quick time over the sixteen car field and he would then draw the number one pill for a straight up start the remainder of the evening. The reason for the #30 on the car? Brian had stated the night before in Farley that the #15B had been retired so he went with the number of his favorite basketball player, Steph Curry.
Birkhofer would start on the pole of a stacked first heat, but would fade to sixth at the finish as Chris Simpson took the win. This would then put Simpson on the pole for the forty-lap $10,000-to-win main event and even with Bloomquist lined up directly behind him Simpson quickly opened up a comfortable lead. A slowing Jay Johnson would bring out the first caution of the event on lap seven and Simpson would again drive away from the field on the restart.
Joel Callahan's right rear tire shredded on lap twenty-four and as Chris pulled away once again on the restart his brother Chad Simpson did battle with Bloomquist for second. Chad would gain the advantage for a couple of laps before Bloomquist took back the position and by then the leader was more than a straightaway ahead as Chris Simpson completely dominated this race. Bloomquist was a distant second followed by Chad Simpson, Rodney Sanders came from tenth to fourth while Monday's winner at Farley, Spencer Diercks was fifth. Birkhofer was passing cars over the last half of the race and finished sixth after starting eleventh, Brent Larson was seventh, Tyler Bruening eighth, Denny Eckrich was ninth and Matt Furman filled out the top ten.
Nick Marolf was the other heat race winner on the night and he was impressive racing in the third position for several laps before fading and then dropping out of the event.
A solid field of eighteen Modifieds were on hand, but when Kurt Kile finally had some luck in a redraw they would all be chasing him for twenty-five laps. Until tonight it seems that I am always writing about Kile starting in the fifth or sixth row and then racing his way into a top-five finish, but after starting second here he was unchallenged on his way to a convincing victory. Jeff Waterman and Brandon Banks literally raced each other throughout the entire distance and, up until lap seventeen when Derrick Stewart drove around them both, it was for the second position. At the checkers it would be Waterman who prevailed in the battle to finish third behind Kile and Stewart, Banks took fourth and young Jarrett Brown completed the top five.
Colton Livezy would lead the opening laps of the twenty-lap main event for the Sport Mods before Tim Plummer drove around him on the outside going down the front stretch on lap four. The race would then be delayed by three different cautions on lap ten before Plummer again left the field in his wake. One final caution waved with two laps remaining when Cory Van Zante and Ryan Walker tangled in turn one while racing for fifth and on the restart there would be no challenge to Plummer as he eased on in for the win ahead of Dalton Simonson and Charlie Weber. Cody Harris would hold down the fourth spot while Van Zante used the top shelf to pass five cars in those final two laps to get back to fifth.
I'm sure that there was, and will be much discussion as to how to get more than sixteen cars for a $10,000-to-win Open Late Model show here in eastern Iowa, just like there was last year after this event and even earlier this year when the MARS West crew pulled out of the Slocum 50, just as they did at this event. We might just have to accept the fact that first, there just aren't very many open cars in Iowa anymore, and second that the open late model drivers that are to the east and south of us are used to racing on little bullrings that make West Liberty look like the dirt equivalent of Talladega. Short counts are not just happening here as there was a $5,000-to-win Super Late Model race in Kentucky this past weekend that only drew nine cars and even the Friday night MARS West event at Lebanon's Midway Speedway in the heart of their southwest Missouri region had only seventeen.
Creative promoting like bringing in Bloomquist and getting Birkhofer back on the track for a couple of nights packed the stands and, from what I saw of the people in attendance on Tuesday night, they were plenty happy with what they saw.
Tonight kicks off the 57th Annual Five Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals and you will find coverage of all four nights here on the Back Stretch!
For the second night in a row Birkhofer, driving the Arnie Ranta Motorpsorts car #30, would set quick time over the sixteen car field and he would then draw the number one pill for a straight up start the remainder of the evening. The reason for the #30 on the car? Brian had stated the night before in Farley that the #15B had been retired so he went with the number of his favorite basketball player, Steph Curry.
Birkhofer would start on the pole of a stacked first heat, but would fade to sixth at the finish as Chris Simpson took the win. This would then put Simpson on the pole for the forty-lap $10,000-to-win main event and even with Bloomquist lined up directly behind him Simpson quickly opened up a comfortable lead. A slowing Jay Johnson would bring out the first caution of the event on lap seven and Simpson would again drive away from the field on the restart.
Joel Callahan's right rear tire shredded on lap twenty-four and as Chris pulled away once again on the restart his brother Chad Simpson did battle with Bloomquist for second. Chad would gain the advantage for a couple of laps before Bloomquist took back the position and by then the leader was more than a straightaway ahead as Chris Simpson completely dominated this race. Bloomquist was a distant second followed by Chad Simpson, Rodney Sanders came from tenth to fourth while Monday's winner at Farley, Spencer Diercks was fifth. Birkhofer was passing cars over the last half of the race and finished sixth after starting eleventh, Brent Larson was seventh, Tyler Bruening eighth, Denny Eckrich was ninth and Matt Furman filled out the top ten.
Nick Marolf was the other heat race winner on the night and he was impressive racing in the third position for several laps before fading and then dropping out of the event.
A solid field of eighteen Modifieds were on hand, but when Kurt Kile finally had some luck in a redraw they would all be chasing him for twenty-five laps. Until tonight it seems that I am always writing about Kile starting in the fifth or sixth row and then racing his way into a top-five finish, but after starting second here he was unchallenged on his way to a convincing victory. Jeff Waterman and Brandon Banks literally raced each other throughout the entire distance and, up until lap seventeen when Derrick Stewart drove around them both, it was for the second position. At the checkers it would be Waterman who prevailed in the battle to finish third behind Kile and Stewart, Banks took fourth and young Jarrett Brown completed the top five.
Colton Livezy would lead the opening laps of the twenty-lap main event for the Sport Mods before Tim Plummer drove around him on the outside going down the front stretch on lap four. The race would then be delayed by three different cautions on lap ten before Plummer again left the field in his wake. One final caution waved with two laps remaining when Cory Van Zante and Ryan Walker tangled in turn one while racing for fifth and on the restart there would be no challenge to Plummer as he eased on in for the win ahead of Dalton Simonson and Charlie Weber. Cody Harris would hold down the fourth spot while Van Zante used the top shelf to pass five cars in those final two laps to get back to fifth.
I'm sure that there was, and will be much discussion as to how to get more than sixteen cars for a $10,000-to-win Open Late Model show here in eastern Iowa, just like there was last year after this event and even earlier this year when the MARS West crew pulled out of the Slocum 50, just as they did at this event. We might just have to accept the fact that first, there just aren't very many open cars in Iowa anymore, and second that the open late model drivers that are to the east and south of us are used to racing on little bullrings that make West Liberty look like the dirt equivalent of Talladega. Short counts are not just happening here as there was a $5,000-to-win Super Late Model race in Kentucky this past weekend that only drew nine cars and even the Friday night MARS West event at Lebanon's Midway Speedway in the heart of their southwest Missouri region had only seventeen.
Creative promoting like bringing in Bloomquist and getting Birkhofer back on the track for a couple of nights packed the stands and, from what I saw of the people in attendance on Tuesday night, they were plenty happy with what they saw.
Tonight kicks off the 57th Annual Five Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals and you will find coverage of all four nights here on the Back Stretch!
Monday, August 7, 2017
Brown Sets Sail To Win Weld Racing Capitani Classic
While other drivers seemed to be married to the bottom Brian Brown would set sail on the high side around the Knoxville Raceway Sunday night and, after a spirited race with Greg Hodnett, the popular driver who was among those featured in a fitting tribute to the late Ralph Capitani went on to win the race that honors the legendary promoter. This was the 6th Annual Capitani Classic at the Knoxville Raceway, but the first since Cappy had passed away in February.
Sixty-nine 410 Sprint Cars signed in on the evening to once again make it the best single night value in the sport and the qualifying action was intense as only twenty-four drivers would start the 25-lap main event. Using the head-to-head two lap dash Pole Shuffles to set the first four rows of the headliner, Kerry Madsen and Greg Hodnett would start from the front row with Hodnett snaring the early lead.
Caution waved on lap three when Lynton Jeffrey spun in turn one and on the restart Hodnett had a new challenger in Brian Brown. Brown had started eighth on the grid, but immediately went to the top and had quickly made his way to second before the caution and when the field went back to green that high side run continued to work as Brown took over the lead on lap four. Hodnett would battle back though to take the lead on lap six and the two drivers then thrilled the crowd with a back and forth battle between two drivers, and two grooves, with Hodnett digging down low and Brown sailing around the cushion.
Brown would have the edge once again on lap eleven and as he started to put some distance on Hodnett, Kerry Madsen came back into play taking the second spot on lap fifteen. Madsen was cutting into Brown's lead little by little, but it was clear that he would run out of laps until the caution waved with just two to go when the right rear tire on Spencer Bayston's #39 exploded in turns three and four.
Both Madsen and Hodnett were primed to get one last shot at the leader on the restart, but there would be no catching Brown who continued to ride the cushion to a convincing victory. Madsen would finish in the second spot while Brad Sweet slipped past Hodnett to take third. Austin McCarl closed out a solid run in fifth after starting tenth, Ian Madsen came from the seventh row to finish sixth, Joey Saldana had a solid showing in seventh, Danny Dietrich was eighth, Chad Kemenah ninth and Davey Heskin charged to tenth after starting in the 24th and final position.
Cappy Notes.....Non-wing ace Kevin Thomas Jr. drove the Indy Race Parts #71 and made the show running 18th......Cory Eliason, the young driver out of California, thrilled the crowd by winning three Pole Dashes in a row over Brown, Sammy Swindell and Chad Kemenah to start fifth in the main event. Eliason would drive Harley Van Dyke's #5H to a twelfth place finish in the feature......Don Droud Jr. was the only driver to come from outside of the four car invert to make the top three transfer from a heat race. When everybody in front of him went to the bottom at the start of the fourth heat race, the sixth-starting Droud went to the cushion and made it all the way to second before Eliason dropped him back to third at the checkers. This forced Daryn Pittman and Group 2 fast qualifier Tim Shaffer to run the second B-Main where Shaffer was nipped in the final laps by Davey Heskin for the final transfer......Keep your eye on Spencer Bayston this week. Driving the Kevin Swindell owned #39 Bayston pounded the cushion to race to the win in the sixth heat race and will be my pick to be the Nationals Rookie-of-the-Year.
The night started with this well produced video tribute to Ralph Capitani who passed away earlier this year and I know that I was not the only one who had tears in my eyes as the large crowd watched it on the large video screens. It took me back to the memories that I had of this great man from first getting to know him as a young columnist for Hawkeye Racing News and then as the "taxi cab" announcer that IMCA brought with them for a couple of Summer Series events at Knoxville. It was such a thrill when I answered the phone one morning in March of 1998 and the gruff sounding voice on the other end said, "Jeff, this is Ralph Capitani. Would you be interested in announcing at the Knoxville Raceway on a weekly basis this season?"
There was no way that I was going to say "no"!
He will be missed by so many, but his legend and what we now have to enjoy through his leadership will always live on.
Cappy!
Sixty-nine 410 Sprint Cars signed in on the evening to once again make it the best single night value in the sport and the qualifying action was intense as only twenty-four drivers would start the 25-lap main event. Using the head-to-head two lap dash Pole Shuffles to set the first four rows of the headliner, Kerry Madsen and Greg Hodnett would start from the front row with Hodnett snaring the early lead.
Caution waved on lap three when Lynton Jeffrey spun in turn one and on the restart Hodnett had a new challenger in Brian Brown. Brown had started eighth on the grid, but immediately went to the top and had quickly made his way to second before the caution and when the field went back to green that high side run continued to work as Brown took over the lead on lap four. Hodnett would battle back though to take the lead on lap six and the two drivers then thrilled the crowd with a back and forth battle between two drivers, and two grooves, with Hodnett digging down low and Brown sailing around the cushion.
Brown would have the edge once again on lap eleven and as he started to put some distance on Hodnett, Kerry Madsen came back into play taking the second spot on lap fifteen. Madsen was cutting into Brown's lead little by little, but it was clear that he would run out of laps until the caution waved with just two to go when the right rear tire on Spencer Bayston's #39 exploded in turns three and four.
Both Madsen and Hodnett were primed to get one last shot at the leader on the restart, but there would be no catching Brown who continued to ride the cushion to a convincing victory. Madsen would finish in the second spot while Brad Sweet slipped past Hodnett to take third. Austin McCarl closed out a solid run in fifth after starting tenth, Ian Madsen came from the seventh row to finish sixth, Joey Saldana had a solid showing in seventh, Danny Dietrich was eighth, Chad Kemenah ninth and Davey Heskin charged to tenth after starting in the 24th and final position.
Cappy Notes.....Non-wing ace Kevin Thomas Jr. drove the Indy Race Parts #71 and made the show running 18th......Cory Eliason, the young driver out of California, thrilled the crowd by winning three Pole Dashes in a row over Brown, Sammy Swindell and Chad Kemenah to start fifth in the main event. Eliason would drive Harley Van Dyke's #5H to a twelfth place finish in the feature......Don Droud Jr. was the only driver to come from outside of the four car invert to make the top three transfer from a heat race. When everybody in front of him went to the bottom at the start of the fourth heat race, the sixth-starting Droud went to the cushion and made it all the way to second before Eliason dropped him back to third at the checkers. This forced Daryn Pittman and Group 2 fast qualifier Tim Shaffer to run the second B-Main where Shaffer was nipped in the final laps by Davey Heskin for the final transfer......Keep your eye on Spencer Bayston this week. Driving the Kevin Swindell owned #39 Bayston pounded the cushion to race to the win in the sixth heat race and will be my pick to be the Nationals Rookie-of-the-Year.
The night started with this well produced video tribute to Ralph Capitani who passed away earlier this year and I know that I was not the only one who had tears in my eyes as the large crowd watched it on the large video screens. It took me back to the memories that I had of this great man from first getting to know him as a young columnist for Hawkeye Racing News and then as the "taxi cab" announcer that IMCA brought with them for a couple of Summer Series events at Knoxville. It was such a thrill when I answered the phone one morning in March of 1998 and the gruff sounding voice on the other end said, "Jeff, this is Ralph Capitani. Would you be interested in announcing at the Knoxville Raceway on a weekly basis this season?"
There was no way that I was going to say "no"!
He will be missed by so many, but his legend and what we now have to enjoy through his leadership will always live on.
Cappy!
Saturday, August 5, 2017
Underdog Garner Captures 360 Knoxville Nationals
Despite being a seven-time track champion in the 360 division at the Knoxville Raceway Clint Garner still considers himself to be an underdog when it comes to the annual 360 Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank and rightfully so. The Sioux Falls based driver races once a week here from April through August and in this race he lines up with drivers who do this for a living, some racing year round if a trip to Australia is in the mix, so when Garner points out that he can count on one hand how many times he has passed Wayne Johnson in his career, or how many times he has passed Danny Lasoski, or Sammy Swindell or Brian Brown you can understand why, in this event, he truly is an underdog. And as the large crowd in attendance showed both in the pre-race introductions, as well as the post-race celebration, everybody loves an underdog!
Garner earned the pole position for the 25-lap championship feature starting alongside two-time 360 Nationals champion Wayne Johnson and when the green flag waved Johnson would pinch Garner down to the berm exiting turn two to take the lead. As this happened though, Friday night's winner Greg Hodnett spun in turn two to wipe out that start and the field was reset with Hodnett dropping from the inside of row four to the back.
On this start Garner would beat Johnson to turn one to take the lead while the driver to watch in the opening laps was Brian Brown. Starting on the outside of row six Brown had an amazing start driving around the two rows in front of him before even reaching the flag stand and his charge to the front would continue blowing past Tim Shaffer for fifth entering turn three on lap five. When Brown jumped the cushion though in turn four that allowed Shaffer to drive back under him and the two would then battle for the position over the next six laps before Brown could get back around Shaffer for fifth.
Meanwhile the top four of Garner, Johnson, Jamie Ball and Aaron Reutzel were getting away with Garner looking solid until the mid-race point when Calvin Landis slowed and pulled to the infield at the exit of turn four. Apparently without brakes Landis then coasted through the work area and back out onto the front straight before coming to a stop on the track to cause a most unusual caution and, as it would turn out, the only caution of the race.
Johnson had a run on the restart, but when Garner went to the bottom to block Johnson had to back off allowing Ball to move to second on the cushion in turns one and two. Johnson would battle back though as both he and Brown dropped Ball back to fourth and the lead that Garner had quickly built up started to fade away. As Johnson looked for a faster line to make his final bid for the lead he would jump the cushion in turn one allowing Brown to get a run on him and take second away with four laps to go. That exchange allowed Garner to get away once again and while Brown was able to close the gap a bit over the final laps there would be no catching Clint Garner on this night as he captured his first 360 Knoxville Nationals crown.
Brown noted afterward that it just would not have been right for a driver like Garner, who has been so dominant here over the years, to go without a 360 Nationals championship, so while he was pleased with his run from twelfth to second he was also happy for the man who had beat him tonight. Johnson had to settle for the third spot, Aaron Reutzel finished fourth while Jamie Ball had a nice run in fifth. Christopher Bell drove his Tony Stewart Racing entry to a sixth place finish ahead of Sam Hafertepe Jr. who had lined up thirteenth for the restart. Jeff Swindell came from fourteenth to eighth, Tim Shaffer was ninth and Greg Hodnett battled back to tenth leaving us all to wonder what might have been if not for the opening lap spin.
In preliminary action Lee Grosz went the distance to win the D-Main while the C-Main was absolutely stacked with talent both young and old, male and female. Joey Saldana driving the Indy Race Parts car #71 would take the win ahead of Sammy Swindell who was amazingly back in action after his grinding crash on Thursday night. Tyler Groenendyk finished third, Chad Kemenah was fourth with Jordyn Brazier fifth. McKenna Haase thrilled the crowd on a mid-race restart driving past several drivers including Kemenah and Tony Stewart as the young lady locked in a transfer to the B in sixth. And, due to the fact that Ryan Roberts, had scratched from the B-Main after taking hot laps, the seventh-place finisher in the C-Main would also transfer and it would be Stewart taking the position with a final lap pass of Jared Horstman.
When infield announcer Mike Roberts then made his way over to Stewart's pits to get his thoughts, "Smoke" said, "I just need to get some laps around here, everything that I did in the C was wrong so we are going to try something new. If you've never seen a monkey screwing a football, watch me in this B-Main."
Classic!
Five cars would come out of the B-Main to go to the Championship and had there been a yellow in this 15-lapper things could have been very interesting as both Saldana and Swindell made big moves early only to find themselves just too far behind with too few laps to get to the front. Dusty Zomer is getting settled back into the Buffalo Wild Wings ride and he would win the B going away. Jason Martin would take second away from Matt Moro in the closing laps while Terry McCarl would then nip Moro at the line for third. Taylor Malsam would secure the fifth and final transfer after passing Rager Phillips mid-race. Davey Heskin would come up one spot short in sixth as Saldana came from seventeenth to seventh.
The 305 Sprint Cars ran a full show in support tonight and while the car count was light at fourteen, most were capable of taking the win so the racing was solid. Eric Bridger set quick time and landed on the pole position for the 15-lap main event, a race that he would lead easily until lap eight when Joe Simbro looped his car in turn four. On the restart Matthew Stelzer found the high line to his liking as he was able to keep pace with Bridger and with just two laps remaining Stelzer would drive around the leader on the outside. Giving up the line that got him to the front Stelzer then went low to block and when he slipped off the bottom in turn three Bridger stormed right back to the front to be the first to see the white flag. Going back to the top side Stelzer made one last run, but he could not complete the pass before Bridger reached the checkers for his second win during this, his rookie campaign. Stelzer would take second as Kade Higday made a big run following the restart to go from seventh to third. Tyler Glass finished fourth and Ryan Leavitt was fifth.
With a threat of rain in the area track officials started the show a bit earlier than usual and then kept things humming along all night with the final checkers waving at 9:28 p.m. Action continues tonight, Sunday, as the 410's take over with the annual Capitani Classic, perhaps the best value in Motorsports when you consider the large car count, the talent level and the price of admission. Hope to see you there!
Garner earned the pole position for the 25-lap championship feature starting alongside two-time 360 Nationals champion Wayne Johnson and when the green flag waved Johnson would pinch Garner down to the berm exiting turn two to take the lead. As this happened though, Friday night's winner Greg Hodnett spun in turn two to wipe out that start and the field was reset with Hodnett dropping from the inside of row four to the back.
On this start Garner would beat Johnson to turn one to take the lead while the driver to watch in the opening laps was Brian Brown. Starting on the outside of row six Brown had an amazing start driving around the two rows in front of him before even reaching the flag stand and his charge to the front would continue blowing past Tim Shaffer for fifth entering turn three on lap five. When Brown jumped the cushion though in turn four that allowed Shaffer to drive back under him and the two would then battle for the position over the next six laps before Brown could get back around Shaffer for fifth.
Meanwhile the top four of Garner, Johnson, Jamie Ball and Aaron Reutzel were getting away with Garner looking solid until the mid-race point when Calvin Landis slowed and pulled to the infield at the exit of turn four. Apparently without brakes Landis then coasted through the work area and back out onto the front straight before coming to a stop on the track to cause a most unusual caution and, as it would turn out, the only caution of the race.
Johnson had a run on the restart, but when Garner went to the bottom to block Johnson had to back off allowing Ball to move to second on the cushion in turns one and two. Johnson would battle back though as both he and Brown dropped Ball back to fourth and the lead that Garner had quickly built up started to fade away. As Johnson looked for a faster line to make his final bid for the lead he would jump the cushion in turn one allowing Brown to get a run on him and take second away with four laps to go. That exchange allowed Garner to get away once again and while Brown was able to close the gap a bit over the final laps there would be no catching Clint Garner on this night as he captured his first 360 Knoxville Nationals crown.
Brown noted afterward that it just would not have been right for a driver like Garner, who has been so dominant here over the years, to go without a 360 Nationals championship, so while he was pleased with his run from twelfth to second he was also happy for the man who had beat him tonight. Johnson had to settle for the third spot, Aaron Reutzel finished fourth while Jamie Ball had a nice run in fifth. Christopher Bell drove his Tony Stewart Racing entry to a sixth place finish ahead of Sam Hafertepe Jr. who had lined up thirteenth for the restart. Jeff Swindell came from fourteenth to eighth, Tim Shaffer was ninth and Greg Hodnett battled back to tenth leaving us all to wonder what might have been if not for the opening lap spin.
In preliminary action Lee Grosz went the distance to win the D-Main while the C-Main was absolutely stacked with talent both young and old, male and female. Joey Saldana driving the Indy Race Parts car #71 would take the win ahead of Sammy Swindell who was amazingly back in action after his grinding crash on Thursday night. Tyler Groenendyk finished third, Chad Kemenah was fourth with Jordyn Brazier fifth. McKenna Haase thrilled the crowd on a mid-race restart driving past several drivers including Kemenah and Tony Stewart as the young lady locked in a transfer to the B in sixth. And, due to the fact that Ryan Roberts, had scratched from the B-Main after taking hot laps, the seventh-place finisher in the C-Main would also transfer and it would be Stewart taking the position with a final lap pass of Jared Horstman.
When infield announcer Mike Roberts then made his way over to Stewart's pits to get his thoughts, "Smoke" said, "I just need to get some laps around here, everything that I did in the C was wrong so we are going to try something new. If you've never seen a monkey screwing a football, watch me in this B-Main."
Classic!
Five cars would come out of the B-Main to go to the Championship and had there been a yellow in this 15-lapper things could have been very interesting as both Saldana and Swindell made big moves early only to find themselves just too far behind with too few laps to get to the front. Dusty Zomer is getting settled back into the Buffalo Wild Wings ride and he would win the B going away. Jason Martin would take second away from Matt Moro in the closing laps while Terry McCarl would then nip Moro at the line for third. Taylor Malsam would secure the fifth and final transfer after passing Rager Phillips mid-race. Davey Heskin would come up one spot short in sixth as Saldana came from seventeenth to seventh.
The 305 Sprint Cars ran a full show in support tonight and while the car count was light at fourteen, most were capable of taking the win so the racing was solid. Eric Bridger set quick time and landed on the pole position for the 15-lap main event, a race that he would lead easily until lap eight when Joe Simbro looped his car in turn four. On the restart Matthew Stelzer found the high line to his liking as he was able to keep pace with Bridger and with just two laps remaining Stelzer would drive around the leader on the outside. Giving up the line that got him to the front Stelzer then went low to block and when he slipped off the bottom in turn three Bridger stormed right back to the front to be the first to see the white flag. Going back to the top side Stelzer made one last run, but he could not complete the pass before Bridger reached the checkers for his second win during this, his rookie campaign. Stelzer would take second as Kade Higday made a big run following the restart to go from seventh to third. Tyler Glass finished fourth and Ryan Leavitt was fifth.
With a threat of rain in the area track officials started the show a bit earlier than usual and then kept things humming along all night with the final checkers waving at 9:28 p.m. Action continues tonight, Sunday, as the 410's take over with the annual Capitani Classic, perhaps the best value in Motorsports when you consider the large car count, the talent level and the price of admission. Hope to see you there!
Friday, August 4, 2017
Hodnett Bests Friday Field At 360 Nationals
Veteran driver Greg Hodnett drove under young Trey Starks on lap eight and never looked back winning by a full straightaway on night number two of the Knoxville 360 Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank Friday. Despite the convincing qualifying night victory, Hodnett will start seventh in Saturday night's championship event.
Starks and Brian Brown made up the front row for tonight's twenty-lap main event and despite the star studded field behind them you had to figure that Brown, the 2014 winner of this event, would be the man to beat. It was the young driver from the Pacific northwest, Trey Starks that would lead lap one though before Brown put the slider on him in turns one and two on the second trip around the historic half-mile. With Brown working the bottom, Starks stayed up on the cushion and appeared to have a run on the leader before the caution waved on lap four after a spin by Sawyer Phillips in turn three.
On the restart Starks was able to regain the lead bringing the fifth starting Greg Hodnett with him as Brown was shuffled back to third. Hodnett then applied the pressure and Starks was able to fight off the challenge for two laps before Hodnett motored by on the inside in turn two on lap eight. The caution waved one more time on lap ten when Parker Price-Miller, driving the Townline Variety #67, slowed with mechanical issues and on the restart there was no staying with Hodnett who pulled away over the final ten laps to take the victory.
Brown used the mid-race restart to slip past Starks and he would come home second while Starks posted an impressive podium finish in third. Quick qualifier on the night, Clint Garner finished in the fourth position and his point total will put him on the pole for the championship A-Main on Saturday night. The ageless Jeff Swindell had a strong showing in fifth, Dusty Zomer is settling back into the Buffalo Wild Wings car with a sixth place finish, Nate Van Haaften closed out a solid evening in seventh and he will start third in Saturday's finale. Wayne Johnson's eighth place feature finish scored him enough points to start to the outside of Garner in Saturday's main event, while Sam Hafertepe Jr. and Christopher Bell both needed a transfer out of the B-Main to finish ninth and tenth.
Friday Notes......If you are looking for Thursday's story here on the Back Stretch you are not going to find it as I was in Washington DC on business, returning just in time to catch tonight's action......It definitely paid to go out early to qualify tonight as the first three drivers to hit the track qualified fourth (Stu Snyder), third (Christopher Bell) and first (Clint Garner) respectively......The first heat race had an incident at the start when contact broke the front end on Brooke Tatnell's #63. Tatnell had missed the six car invert after qualifying late in the forty-eight car field and his bad luck continued later in the B-Main when the front mounts on his top wing broke causing the wing to flip over backwards while staying attached to the car. This came mid-race after he had advanced several positions after starting in the back......In the second heat race Ryan Giles ran off to a big win while Wayne Johnson had to wonder if Jason Martin had a rear view mirror in his car. Martin literally used the entire track to hold off Johnson for the second spot while Greg Hodnett passed Chad Kemenah with three laps remaining to earn the fourth and final transfer spot, a move that would allow him to later win the night's feature race......Trey Starks also had to make a late move to earn the fourth and final transfer from the third heat, but his came in a different way as Christopher Bell had pulled even with him on the high side exiting turn four coming to the white flag. Starks drove deep into turn one though to slide up in front of the current NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series point leader and when Bell tried to cross him over coming off the bottom of turn two Starks nearly forced Bell into the infield before he backed off entering turn three......In the fourth heat Matt Juhl appeared to have a transfer position locked up before his right front tire blew in turn four coming to the withe flag. That caused him to veer right and into the turn four guardrail bringing out the caution and moving Sawyer Phillips into that fourth spot. Phillips had lined up eighth on the grid, but let's just say that he was three-wide and coming with the third row as the green flag waved to start the heat and just before Juhl's misfortune Phillips had put a slider on McKenna Haase to take fifth.....Chris Martin caught a break in the fifth heat when Dylan Peterson's car went up in smoke late in the race. Not only did it allow Martin to go from fifth to fourth, but as Peterson slowed Joey Saldana who had been challenging Martin for position had to hit the binders to keep from making contact.......The B-Main was a star-studded affair that would only see four drivers move on to the back of tonight's feature and current Lucas Oil ASCS National Series point leader Sam Hafertepe Jr, flexed his muscles coming from the fourth starting spot to take the win......Christopher Bell, driving Tony Stewart's second car for the weekend, finished in second, Terry McCarl was third and following a restart with just four laps to go Chad Kemenah came from ninth to fourth to make the A-Main.......After getting away with it in his heat race, Phillips again edged his way forward before the green flag waved in the feature splitting the middle of the row in front of him Jared Horstman and Scott Bogucki. Lined up right behind Phillips in row eleven, Bell also passed a few cars before the start.......Following Phillips' spin on lap eight he was obviously not happy with Bogucki as Sawyer repeatedly poked him in the rear bumper while Bogucki was likely a bit peeved with Phillips for making his row three-wide at the start. They would go at it again while under the lap ten caution......During the post-race media conference Hodnett noted that a change in schedule for the Dream race out east, plus the fact that he is well out of all points races this year is the reason why they decided to come out a week earlier for the 360 Nationals.....Brian Brown was very complimentary of both Hodnett and Starks noting that Greg, who like Brown is a bit taller than most sprint car drivers, had given Brian his first driver's suit many years ago and then touted Starks as one of the young guns to watch after saying that he got his first chance to get to know him just two nights ago when they were racing each other quite hard out at the Slidewayz Karting Center.......Looking ahead to Saturday night's action Ian Madsen announced on social media tonight that his team had a change of plans as they would now head south to Pevely's I-55 World of Outlaws show since they had "hurt" their 360 engine on Thursday night. Ian is slated to start eighteenth in the A-Main, so that will likely mean that five cars will now transfer out of Saturday's B feature. After being the top point man on Thursday night, Jamie Ball's total of 473 was only good enough for fourth after both nights concluded.
The field is now set for the 27th Annual 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank and the 305 Sprints will join the action as well on Saturday night. Hope to see you in Knoxville!
Starks and Brian Brown made up the front row for tonight's twenty-lap main event and despite the star studded field behind them you had to figure that Brown, the 2014 winner of this event, would be the man to beat. It was the young driver from the Pacific northwest, Trey Starks that would lead lap one though before Brown put the slider on him in turns one and two on the second trip around the historic half-mile. With Brown working the bottom, Starks stayed up on the cushion and appeared to have a run on the leader before the caution waved on lap four after a spin by Sawyer Phillips in turn three.
On the restart Starks was able to regain the lead bringing the fifth starting Greg Hodnett with him as Brown was shuffled back to third. Hodnett then applied the pressure and Starks was able to fight off the challenge for two laps before Hodnett motored by on the inside in turn two on lap eight. The caution waved one more time on lap ten when Parker Price-Miller, driving the Townline Variety #67, slowed with mechanical issues and on the restart there was no staying with Hodnett who pulled away over the final ten laps to take the victory.
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| Greg Hodnett (27) takes the lead away from Trey Starks - Barry Johnson photo |
Brown used the mid-race restart to slip past Starks and he would come home second while Starks posted an impressive podium finish in third. Quick qualifier on the night, Clint Garner finished in the fourth position and his point total will put him on the pole for the championship A-Main on Saturday night. The ageless Jeff Swindell had a strong showing in fifth, Dusty Zomer is settling back into the Buffalo Wild Wings car with a sixth place finish, Nate Van Haaften closed out a solid evening in seventh and he will start third in Saturday's finale. Wayne Johnson's eighth place feature finish scored him enough points to start to the outside of Garner in Saturday's main event, while Sam Hafertepe Jr. and Christopher Bell both needed a transfer out of the B-Main to finish ninth and tenth.
Friday Notes......If you are looking for Thursday's story here on the Back Stretch you are not going to find it as I was in Washington DC on business, returning just in time to catch tonight's action......It definitely paid to go out early to qualify tonight as the first three drivers to hit the track qualified fourth (Stu Snyder), third (Christopher Bell) and first (Clint Garner) respectively......The first heat race had an incident at the start when contact broke the front end on Brooke Tatnell's #63. Tatnell had missed the six car invert after qualifying late in the forty-eight car field and his bad luck continued later in the B-Main when the front mounts on his top wing broke causing the wing to flip over backwards while staying attached to the car. This came mid-race after he had advanced several positions after starting in the back......In the second heat race Ryan Giles ran off to a big win while Wayne Johnson had to wonder if Jason Martin had a rear view mirror in his car. Martin literally used the entire track to hold off Johnson for the second spot while Greg Hodnett passed Chad Kemenah with three laps remaining to earn the fourth and final transfer spot, a move that would allow him to later win the night's feature race......Trey Starks also had to make a late move to earn the fourth and final transfer from the third heat, but his came in a different way as Christopher Bell had pulled even with him on the high side exiting turn four coming to the white flag. Starks drove deep into turn one though to slide up in front of the current NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series point leader and when Bell tried to cross him over coming off the bottom of turn two Starks nearly forced Bell into the infield before he backed off entering turn three......In the fourth heat Matt Juhl appeared to have a transfer position locked up before his right front tire blew in turn four coming to the withe flag. That caused him to veer right and into the turn four guardrail bringing out the caution and moving Sawyer Phillips into that fourth spot. Phillips had lined up eighth on the grid, but let's just say that he was three-wide and coming with the third row as the green flag waved to start the heat and just before Juhl's misfortune Phillips had put a slider on McKenna Haase to take fifth.....Chris Martin caught a break in the fifth heat when Dylan Peterson's car went up in smoke late in the race. Not only did it allow Martin to go from fifth to fourth, but as Peterson slowed Joey Saldana who had been challenging Martin for position had to hit the binders to keep from making contact.......The B-Main was a star-studded affair that would only see four drivers move on to the back of tonight's feature and current Lucas Oil ASCS National Series point leader Sam Hafertepe Jr, flexed his muscles coming from the fourth starting spot to take the win......Christopher Bell, driving Tony Stewart's second car for the weekend, finished in second, Terry McCarl was third and following a restart with just four laps to go Chad Kemenah came from ninth to fourth to make the A-Main.......After getting away with it in his heat race, Phillips again edged his way forward before the green flag waved in the feature splitting the middle of the row in front of him Jared Horstman and Scott Bogucki. Lined up right behind Phillips in row eleven, Bell also passed a few cars before the start.......Following Phillips' spin on lap eight he was obviously not happy with Bogucki as Sawyer repeatedly poked him in the rear bumper while Bogucki was likely a bit peeved with Phillips for making his row three-wide at the start. They would go at it again while under the lap ten caution......During the post-race media conference Hodnett noted that a change in schedule for the Dream race out east, plus the fact that he is well out of all points races this year is the reason why they decided to come out a week earlier for the 360 Nationals.....Brian Brown was very complimentary of both Hodnett and Starks noting that Greg, who like Brown is a bit taller than most sprint car drivers, had given Brian his first driver's suit many years ago and then touted Starks as one of the young guns to watch after saying that he got his first chance to get to know him just two nights ago when they were racing each other quite hard out at the Slidewayz Karting Center.......Looking ahead to Saturday night's action Ian Madsen announced on social media tonight that his team had a change of plans as they would now head south to Pevely's I-55 World of Outlaws show since they had "hurt" their 360 engine on Thursday night. Ian is slated to start eighteenth in the A-Main, so that will likely mean that five cars will now transfer out of Saturday's B feature. After being the top point man on Thursday night, Jamie Ball's total of 473 was only good enough for fourth after both nights concluded.
The field is now set for the 27th Annual 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank and the 305 Sprints will join the action as well on Saturday night. Hope to see you in Knoxville!
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