With the Knoxville Raceway taking the week off to recover from two full weeks of the 360 and 410 Sprint Car Nationals, the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders traditionally stage their own "Nationals" weekend with either two or three consecutive events. This gives area fans the opportunity to keep the buzz going after two weeks of Sprint Car heaven, plus you never know who just might drop in to compete with the Invader regulars.
This year it would be two nights of action starting on Friday at the Pepsi Lee County Speedway in Donnellson followed up by Saturday's show at 34 Raceway near Burlington.
With rain in the forecast for Friday and then having it actually develop right around the speedway at six o'clock both the car count and the attendance may have suffered a bit. Checking the radar as I was doing live reports for one of the night's sponsors, KILJ radio, it was amazing to watch the line of storms blow up both in the sky and on my screen showing that if the track would have been located just five more miles to the south we all would have been headed on the way home due to a gully washer. It did rain quite hard at the track though, but only for a minute or so before sprinkles lingered a bit longer and that had an interesting effect on the racing surface as the night went along.
With the extra moisture the track was both a challenge and a blessing as each time the Sprints were on the track early, for hot laps and the heat races, they would dig out a big ridge that would then have to be box bladed and rolled back in so that the racing surface could continue to widen out. The extra efforts of the track crew may have added to the length of the program, but believe me the wait was well worth it as by feature time drivers could run high, low and pretty much in between. We saw one pack go down the front stretch four wide at one point and there were sliders and cross overs going on throughout the pack leading a couple of people to tell me afterward that it was the best Sprint Car race that they had ever seen!
Now, to be fair, in making that proclamation I am pretty sure that those two had not been at Knoxville for the Championship A-Main of the Nationals in 2016, but still it was high praise and well deserved as there was definitely plenty of action to entertain the crowd. It was unfortunate though that the top two drivers were taken out of the event late when a soon-to-be lapped car spun in turn one leaving leader Josh Schneiderman and challenger Ayrton Gennetten with little time to react. Both did a great job of avoiding major impact, but the contact that was made was enough to eliminate both of them from competition.
For Schneiderman it continued "one of those years" where the speed is there, but the results are not and for Gennetten it was a disappointing end for the 18-year-old third generation driver who was making his first Invaders appearance ever. The young man showed a lot of class in the pits afterward stating that he was more mad at himself for not being able to completely miss the spun car and he told both Bill Wright and I that he wants to come up from the Lake of the Ozarks area more in the future to race against the Invaders because he knows that it will only make him a better racer.
Jamie Ball would inherit the lead on the restart and with Chris Martin and Paul Nienheiser, this weekend's driver of the Scott Bonar owned #50, swapping the second spot back and forth he would run the final eight laps unchallenged to score the win. Click here for the story and full results from Bill W.
The five weekly divisions were also in action at Lee County and while the Stock Car count was lean, the battle between Jeremy Pundt and John Oliver Jr. was a good one with Oliver holding off Pundt by a car-length to take the win. With his own Obsession Race Cars #17 down from issues at Memphis on Thursday night, Brandon Lennox wheeled Kevin Tomlinson's Obsession #49 to victory in the Sport Mod main event. Josh Barnes started near the front and ran away with the Sport Compact feature as he gets tuned up to defend his IMCA Super Nationals title at Boone in a couple of weeks. Jeff Waterman took the win in the IMCA Modified feature that saw "The Bash Brothers", Cody and Brock Bauman both crack the top five in their first trip over from Eureka, Illinois, taking second and fifth respectively. Denny Woodworth dominated a seven car field in the Crate Late Model division, a class that I am surprised has not taken off like I thought it would. Woodworth was the only car not owned by someone who was there on opening night in 2016 when the class got its start and, in my opinion, one of things that should be changed to help promote the growth would be to ditch the weekly draw and redraw format and instead go to a point average invert similar to what the other classes run. This is something that is never popular with the drivers, at least those who want to be vocal about it, but something needs to be done to get this thing going a bit and that just might be it.
Next Friday night will be Season Championship night at Lee County with the winged 305 Sprints joining the action with the admission price at just five dollars! The track will then take the month of September off before coming back with two big special events in October, the 6th Annual Fall Extravaganza will be on the 6th and 7th while the annual running of Shiverfest will be on Saturday October 28th.
I thought that the Invader car count might push thirty on Saturday night, but it was still a stout field of twenty-five that were on hand at 34 Raceway especially when you compare it to other 360 shows in the region this weekend. Fifteen-year-old Giovanni Scelzi, or Gio as he prefers, was in the field for the first-time driving the BDS Motorsports car #1 and the young Californian, the son of former drag racing champion Gary Scelzi, was very impressive winning his heat race, the Budweiser Shake Up Dash and the 25-lap main event all in convincing fashion. Josh Schneiderman bounced back nicely to take the runner-up position while Paul Nienhesier charged up to third after starting fifteenth. Jeff Laue and his crew had the 3/8th-mile high banks as well manicured as I have seen it for Sprint Car racing and once again the action was intense with drivers again being able to use multiple lines on the speedway. The results definitely reflected the diversity in age, and gender, of the Sprint Invaders as the young lady from Springfield, 16-year-old Bailey Goldsberry also won a heat race as did the soon to be 50-year-old Harold Pohren. Tanner Gebhardt, who is just eighteen-years-old himself, led the opening laps before yielding to his younger challenger Scelzi, finished in the fourth spot in the feature as last year's Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders champion Chris Martin, who soon turns twenty, was fifth. Pohren continued to lead the charge of the older generation in the feature finishing in sixth. Again you will find the story and full results at OpenWheel101 and make sure to mark your calendar for the final two events on the 2017 Invaders schedule, Sunday September 17th at the Quincy Raceways and Saturday September 23rd at 34 Raceway.
With the nice track conditions the racing in the four other divisions at 34 was also very entertaining. In the IMCA Modifieds nobody drives this track harder than Brandon Rothzen either riding the cushion hard all the way around on both ends, or setting his car on the cushion in turns one and three and then diving to the bottom to exit turns two and four and he quickly moved to second after starting tenth in the feature. Pole-sitter Jonathan Huston was not about to give in though and he held off the challenge for several laps before Rothzen slipped by to take the win. Cody Bauman finished third to close out a good two night trip into Iowa.
Rothzen also debuted a Stock Car on this night, but had to drive quickly to the infield with a fire under the hood during his heat race. It was a surprise to see him come out to tag the twelve car field for the feature where the action was soon intense at the front as Jake Wenig was trying to hold off both Tom Bowling Jr. and John Oliver Jr. Those three were giving the fans a thrill going three-wide for the point on a couple of occasions before a caution interrupted the fun. On the restart as Wenig powered up off of turn four, his throttle linkage broke causing Bowling to turn him sideways where both Ray Raker and Shane Watts piled into the former leader. A flat tire sent Oliver to the pits as well and there to challenge the new leader Bowling was none other than Brandon Rothzen who was again trying that high-to-low line in the turns to try to make a pass. Bowling would have none of it though as he held his line to take the win while Oliver showed his strength by passing Rothzen late to finish second.
The Mini Hauler Trucks do some rubbin' and racin' which gets the crowd going and it was Drake Fenton taking the win while the IMCA Sport Mod feature was a good one as well. Division rookie Ron Kibbe held the lead early, but when he was under pressure from both Austen Becerra and Kyle Hill, Kibbe missed the cushion in turn one and gave up the lead. Becerra and Hill then battled the rest of the way, without contact I might add as the two talented young drivers showed respect with Becerra taking the win by a car-length over Hill. Daniel Keltner and Vance Wilson were third and fourth while Randy Lamar made the trip down from the Quad Cities to finish fifth.
Points racing continues at 34 Raceway next Saturday night, August 26th, with Season Championship Night on September 2nd. The track will then close out its 2017 season, as mentioned above, with the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders Championship night on September 23rd.
Next up for me will be the Season Championship at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa this Wednesday. Hope to see you there!
Monday, August 21, 2017
Friday, August 18, 2017
Thornton Doubles Up As USMTS Returns To Memphis
After a seven year absence the Casey's General Stores United States Modified Touring Series returned to the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, Thursday night and you can bet that a large contingent of race fans and at least one driver are hoping that the track will once again be a regular stop on the Tour's busy schedule. The northeast Missouri track was once promoted by USMTS owners Todd & Janet Staley and was a mainstay on the schedule with twenty-two events being held up until 2010 and in fact Thursday's race was not even on the original USMTS schedule for 2017, but was a late addition.
Usually I would give you the story on the main event for the headline division first, but to tell the story of the night properly I instead need to go sequentially. So it all began with a beautiful sunrise over this sleepy little town. Okay, that's too far back....
A stout field of thirty-five USMTS Modifieds signed in as well as a diverse group of Out-Pace USRA B-Mods totaling thirty-three. The Holley USRA Stock Car division car count was surprisingly low at twelve despite the fact the $1,000 was up for grabs in the main event that saw Staley himself draw the pole position for the 18-lap feature race.
It would be outside front row starter Jason Cook though that would race to the early lead with Nathan Wood getting past Staley to apply the pressure on the leader. Hometown driver Eric Glass would draw the only caution of the race when he spun in turn one on lap four and on the restart Wood went right back to work on Cook. As starter Kevin Eggleston displayed the crossed sticks to indicate the halfway point of the race Wood was able to get by Cook to take the lead. Long distance traveler Derek Green from southern Minnesota had started eighth and he would take second away from Cook to put the challenge on Wood through the closing laps. Trying the top side in one and two and looking for room under the leader in three and four Green was ready to pounce on any mistake, but Wood did not make one and the two drivers took the checkers in the same order that they currently rank in the All Iowa Points for Stock Cars. Cook would finish in the third spot, Staley was fourth and Jesse Brown made the long tow down from Nashua, Iowa, to complete the top five.
B-Mods were up next for twenty laps and with two of the best in the Midwest, Curtis Van Der Wal and Andy Bryant starting second and third respectively it looked as though everybody else might be racing for third in this one. Columbia, Missouri's Galen Hassler had other ideas though as he would lead the opening lap before Cody Agee spun in turn two. On the restart, with Bryant moving into second and setting up to challenge Hassler, contact from Van Der Wal would send Bryant for a spin in turn two after the second lap was completed and both drivers were sent to the rear of the twenty-two car field.
Brayton Carter would take up the chase of Hassler after the restart until Ricky Thornton Jr. found the high line around the speedway to his liking. Driving Mike Tanner's #20T Thornton steadily moved to the front of the field after starting ninth and on lap twelve he barely squeezed between Hassler and the front stretch guardrail to take the lead. From there Thornton would set sail driving away from the pack to score the $1,000 win with Brayton Carter taking second. Van Der Wal would make it all the way back up to third at the checkers as Hassler and Carter VandenBerg completed the top five.
In victory lane Thornton stated that he had drawn the pole position for the grand finale, the USMTS Modified 40-lap feature and that if he could get up top early he might just be able to be standing here once again later in the evening. How right he was!
When the green flag dropped Thornton would beat fellow front row starter Jason Hughes to the corner and go right back to the now familiar cushion to set a fast early pace. Caution waved on lap eight when fluid from Michael Long's now disabled Modified soaked the entrance to turn one and after the cleanup a second caution came when the fourth-place car of Cory Crapser spun in turn one.
Once back to green there would be no stopping Ricky Thornton Jr. as he had that cushion dialed in to perfection propelling him to his second win of the night. Cade Dillard would get around Hughes for second on that lap eight restart, but Jason would battle back to take the runner-up honors as Dillard finished third. One of the more spectacular moves of the night came mid-race when Cayden Carter drove deep, deep, deep into turn three to put the slide job on his car builder Zack VanderBeek to take away the fourth spot and while it looked like Carter, who had started thirteenth, might be able to advance even further he could never reel in the lead trio. The current point leader in the Casey's Hunt for the Championship point standings, Stormy Scott filled out the top five.
The Memphis track once again lived up to its reputation of being wide and racy with four-wide racing seen on several occasions throughout the night. One of those resulted in disaster though for R.C. Whitwell who ran out of room on the back stretch, turned sideways and then launched into a harrowing series of barrel rolls all the way to the entrance of turn three on the opening lap of the third heat race. The crowd sat in stunned silence until announcer Chris Stepan relayed the good news that Whitwell had crawled out of his mangled Modified and was uninjured. In fact, the Arizona native later brought out a back up car and was able to move up into the fifth and final transfer position in a B-Main. He then finished twelfth in the feature.
The USMTS moves down to the Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City tonight for the second Grant Junghans Memorial event and the schedule is a busy one from there as The Hunt for the Casey's Cup continues until the 19th Annual Fall Jamboree at the Deer Creek Speedway in Minnesota. A big thank you to Todd & Janet and the entire Staley family and crew for the hospitality and here's hoping that we see Memphis at least once on the original USMTS schedule for 2018!
I go back into Sprint Car mode now for the annual Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders Nationals doubleheader tonight (Friday) at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and then Saturday at 34 Raceway west of Burlington. These two events are always fun to see just who might show up to join the Invader regulars and word is that St. Louis area driver Brad Loyet will be on hand at Donnellson while young Californian Giovanni Scelzi will join the field at 34 Saturday night. Who else will be there? Well hopefully YOU and you can look for us on the Back Stretch.
Usually I would give you the story on the main event for the headline division first, but to tell the story of the night properly I instead need to go sequentially. So it all began with a beautiful sunrise over this sleepy little town. Okay, that's too far back....
A stout field of thirty-five USMTS Modifieds signed in as well as a diverse group of Out-Pace USRA B-Mods totaling thirty-three. The Holley USRA Stock Car division car count was surprisingly low at twelve despite the fact the $1,000 was up for grabs in the main event that saw Staley himself draw the pole position for the 18-lap feature race.
It would be outside front row starter Jason Cook though that would race to the early lead with Nathan Wood getting past Staley to apply the pressure on the leader. Hometown driver Eric Glass would draw the only caution of the race when he spun in turn one on lap four and on the restart Wood went right back to work on Cook. As starter Kevin Eggleston displayed the crossed sticks to indicate the halfway point of the race Wood was able to get by Cook to take the lead. Long distance traveler Derek Green from southern Minnesota had started eighth and he would take second away from Cook to put the challenge on Wood through the closing laps. Trying the top side in one and two and looking for room under the leader in three and four Green was ready to pounce on any mistake, but Wood did not make one and the two drivers took the checkers in the same order that they currently rank in the All Iowa Points for Stock Cars. Cook would finish in the third spot, Staley was fourth and Jesse Brown made the long tow down from Nashua, Iowa, to complete the top five.
B-Mods were up next for twenty laps and with two of the best in the Midwest, Curtis Van Der Wal and Andy Bryant starting second and third respectively it looked as though everybody else might be racing for third in this one. Columbia, Missouri's Galen Hassler had other ideas though as he would lead the opening lap before Cody Agee spun in turn two. On the restart, with Bryant moving into second and setting up to challenge Hassler, contact from Van Der Wal would send Bryant for a spin in turn two after the second lap was completed and both drivers were sent to the rear of the twenty-two car field.
Brayton Carter would take up the chase of Hassler after the restart until Ricky Thornton Jr. found the high line around the speedway to his liking. Driving Mike Tanner's #20T Thornton steadily moved to the front of the field after starting ninth and on lap twelve he barely squeezed between Hassler and the front stretch guardrail to take the lead. From there Thornton would set sail driving away from the pack to score the $1,000 win with Brayton Carter taking second. Van Der Wal would make it all the way back up to third at the checkers as Hassler and Carter VandenBerg completed the top five.
In victory lane Thornton stated that he had drawn the pole position for the grand finale, the USMTS Modified 40-lap feature and that if he could get up top early he might just be able to be standing here once again later in the evening. How right he was!
When the green flag dropped Thornton would beat fellow front row starter Jason Hughes to the corner and go right back to the now familiar cushion to set a fast early pace. Caution waved on lap eight when fluid from Michael Long's now disabled Modified soaked the entrance to turn one and after the cleanup a second caution came when the fourth-place car of Cory Crapser spun in turn one.
Once back to green there would be no stopping Ricky Thornton Jr. as he had that cushion dialed in to perfection propelling him to his second win of the night. Cade Dillard would get around Hughes for second on that lap eight restart, but Jason would battle back to take the runner-up honors as Dillard finished third. One of the more spectacular moves of the night came mid-race when Cayden Carter drove deep, deep, deep into turn three to put the slide job on his car builder Zack VanderBeek to take away the fourth spot and while it looked like Carter, who had started thirteenth, might be able to advance even further he could never reel in the lead trio. The current point leader in the Casey's Hunt for the Championship point standings, Stormy Scott filled out the top five.
The Memphis track once again lived up to its reputation of being wide and racy with four-wide racing seen on several occasions throughout the night. One of those resulted in disaster though for R.C. Whitwell who ran out of room on the back stretch, turned sideways and then launched into a harrowing series of barrel rolls all the way to the entrance of turn three on the opening lap of the third heat race. The crowd sat in stunned silence until announcer Chris Stepan relayed the good news that Whitwell had crawled out of his mangled Modified and was uninjured. In fact, the Arizona native later brought out a back up car and was able to move up into the fifth and final transfer position in a B-Main. He then finished twelfth in the feature.
The USMTS moves down to the Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City tonight for the second Grant Junghans Memorial event and the schedule is a busy one from there as The Hunt for the Casey's Cup continues until the 19th Annual Fall Jamboree at the Deer Creek Speedway in Minnesota. A big thank you to Todd & Janet and the entire Staley family and crew for the hospitality and here's hoping that we see Memphis at least once on the original USMTS schedule for 2018!
I go back into Sprint Car mode now for the annual Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders Nationals doubleheader tonight (Friday) at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and then Saturday at 34 Raceway west of Burlington. These two events are always fun to see just who might show up to join the Invader regulars and word is that St. Louis area driver Brad Loyet will be on hand at Donnellson while young Californian Giovanni Scelzi will join the field at 34 Saturday night. Who else will be there? Well hopefully YOU and you can look for us on the Back Stretch.
Sunday, August 13, 2017
Schatz Holds Off Larson For His Tenth Knoxville Nationals Championship
Taking the point after David Gravel's engine failure Donny Schatz then held off a late charge from Kyle Larson to win his tenth 5-Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals championship Saturday night in front of large and boisterous crowd at the Knoxville Raceway.
Gravel and Schatz would start the fifty-lap headliner from the front row and the cheers could be heard above the roar of the 410 cubic inch engines as Gravel took the lead at the drop of the green and then pulled away from Schatz and the rest of the twenty-four car field. Running a blistering pace Gravel would start to work lapped traffic on lap six and that would allow Schatz and the third place car of Kerry Madsen to close the gap. The crowd roared as Madsen made a run at Schatz for second but the driver that has won this event in nine of the past eleven seasons squelched the bid and continued his pursuit of the leader.
Not a sound could be heard when Schatz charged under Gravel in turn three for the lead on lap sixteen, but they quickly came back to life when Gravel crossed over Schatz's slider and regained the lead down the front stretch.
The first caution of the race waved when Austin McCarl appeared to lose an engine on lap nineteen and once back to green Gravel continued to set a fast pace. It all came to an end though for the driver who scored a perfect night on Thursday when he slowed suddenly in turn four with his own motor issues giving up the lead and retiring for the night on lap twenty-two.
Schatz would assume the lead as the race went back to green, but only for two more laps before Terry McCarl slapped the guardrail in turn four causing one of the sponsor banners to fall to the track surface. Just one lap shy of the mid-race mark it was decided that the halfway pit stop would be held at that time and the majority of the fans were hopeful that somebody would be able to take the lead from Schatz following the break. Kerry Madsen would be hungry in the second spot while NASCAR star Kyle Larson had moved up from ninth to third. Some even held out hope that defending champion Jason Johnson might be able to pull off another miracle as he had raced his way to the sixth position after starting seventeenth, being one of the few drivers moving forward while using the low line around the historic half-mile oval.
On the restart Madsen made his bid with a big slider on Schatz entering turn one. Madsen would say later that he thought that he had him cleared, but then here came the green #15 with all four wheels above the cushion right back around him on the outside to maintain the lead. The big move would cost Madsen the second spot as well when Larson went driving by and the next several laps would be a high speed chase around the top side until Greg Hodnett slowed on lap thirty-eight to bring out the caution.
This excited the ABS ("Anybody But Schatz") contingent, however it was likely a benefit to Schatz who would now have a clear race track on the restart rather than having to negotiate traffic over the final twelve laps.
Larson took a look at Schatz in turn one on the restart only to have Donny pull away down the back stretch and as the laps clicked away Larson would stay within about ten car lengths. Lapped traffic running in both grooves would present a challenge for Schatz over the final three laps and when it looked like Larson might have a run on him the crowd came to their feet. Schatz handled the traffic like a master though and when the white flag waved he had them cleared while Larson had one more car to get around coming off of turn two.
With a nice run down the back stretch Larson gave it everything he had driving to the bottom in turn three, but as he slid up the race track Schatz drove around the challenging cushion one last time to pull away down the front straightaway and secure his tenth Nationals title. The win drew the usual chorus of boos from those who are getting tired of seeing him win, while many also applauded as he added to his list of amazing accomplishments here at Knoxville. Larson added to his legend, despite his young age, with his runner-up finish as Kerry Madsen finished third. Shane Stewart and Brad Sweet were fourth and fifth while Brian Brown finished sixth. Aaron Reutzel came from the nineteenth starting spot to finish seventh, eighth went to Rico Abreu, Daryn Pittman was ninth and the 2017 track champion here at Knoxville Ian Madsen completed the top ten.
Saturday Notes......The early preliminaries did not offer up much for story lines as the track slowly widened out for better racing. Rager Phillips won the E-Main, but then had his motor go up in smoke early in the D......Jamie Veal took the lead from Lee Jacobs on lap nine to win the D-Main, a big difference from last year when Veal started the Championship race from the second row and finished in sixth.....James McFadden, Brady Bacon, Bill Balog and Jac Haudenschild were the stout group of four that transferred out of the C-Main as "The Wild Child" held off current ASCS National Series point leader Sam Hafertepe Jr. in the closing laps......As it usually is the 22-lap B-Main, where four more drivers make the big show, was very entertaining especially in the closing laps. Young Trey Starks paced the field for the most of the race with former Nationals champion Tim Shaffer making the move up from an eighth-place start into the top four. Shaffer had just made the pass to take over second on lap nine when Balog slowed to bring out the caution sending Shaffer back to fourth for the restart. Once back to green only two more laps would be scored before Spencer Bayston tagged the guardrail in turn two ending his night. Before the incident Bayston had actually been racing with Dominic Scelzi for position, and for the Rookie of the Nationals title, so with Bayston's misfortune that title and bonus money would go to Scelzi. Also, an interesting question was raised tonight on Twitter wondering if, after his Wednesday night issue with the scales, was Bayston the first driver ever to race on all four nights of the Nationals?......Once back to green Lucas Wolfe replaced Justin Henderson in the top four before the caution waved again on lap sixteen, this time for a flat tire on the #19 of Brent Marks, erasing a pass by Jason Sides on Starks for the lead......On the restart both Sides and Shaffer would get around Starks and when Trey tried to battle back he slid up the track and dropped back to the fourth position. With two laps remaining Brooke Tatnell saw an opening under Starks for the necessary fourth spot and when he had to put his left front up on the berm in turn four to make the pass he clipped the starting line cone and tossed it onto the race track. The caution waved after the lap was scored, so the early leader Starks would now start fifth with just two laps left to get back into the top four. That task likely seemed impossible when Chad Kemenah passed him going down the back stretch, but when Tatnell muscled his way under Wolfe in turns three and four Starks went to the top and sailed around both Kemenah and Wolfe to claim the fourth and final transfer position behind Sides, Shaffer and Tatnell......The best A-Main finish from those four came from Tatnell who moved to 14th.......What looked so promising for Jason Johnson in the first half of the main went the other direction after halftime as he dropped back to eleventh at the finish, still an improvement of six positions from his original starting spot.....In the post-race press conference Schatz was very complimentary of Larson and said that he wished that he could run more Sprint Car events each year even though in most of the ones that he had seen him at this year, Kyle had beat him. "But not tonight! Hopefully he can go win a race in Michigan tomorrow"......Larson smiled and stated that this was in fact his fifteenth and last Sprint Car race of 2017 and that he had won nine of them and finished second three times. He thanked Chip Ganassi for letting him come back to compete tonight, something that was not in the original plans, and hoped that this extra exposure might allow his Cup team to secure a new sponsor for 2018......I would say that if you asked the 25,000 plus in attendance tonight who they wanted to win this year's NASCAR Monster Energy Cup championship, 99.9% of them would have given you the same answer. Go get 'em Kyle!.......Cup drivers with either open wheel experience or direct ties Ryan Newman, Ryan Blaney and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. enjoyed listening to the drivers during the press conference while team owners Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne were also on the grounds.
Another Nationals is in the books and once again this was an event that is so much more than racing. It is a reunion of friends and racing family and I must again thank the Nachbors, Keith, Jeff, Sean, Sam, Ethan and Grandpa for allowing me to invade their space and treat me like one the family at the track while Barry, Stephanie and Aidan Johnson do the same allowing me to set up home base with them in Pella each year. It was also a special week for me to have my son Morgan back where he should be this week after missing the past two years while he was working down south.
Kendra Jacobs and the entire Spire Sports Marketing Team do an excellent job with all of the "extras" that make this more than a race while John McCoy and his officials take care of the on track action. Can't wait to do it all again in 2018!
For those of you who still want to get your Sprint Car fix next weekend remember that the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders will be in action Friday night at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and Saturday night at 34 Raceway west of Burlington. Hope to see you there!
Gravel and Schatz would start the fifty-lap headliner from the front row and the cheers could be heard above the roar of the 410 cubic inch engines as Gravel took the lead at the drop of the green and then pulled away from Schatz and the rest of the twenty-four car field. Running a blistering pace Gravel would start to work lapped traffic on lap six and that would allow Schatz and the third place car of Kerry Madsen to close the gap. The crowd roared as Madsen made a run at Schatz for second but the driver that has won this event in nine of the past eleven seasons squelched the bid and continued his pursuit of the leader.
Not a sound could be heard when Schatz charged under Gravel in turn three for the lead on lap sixteen, but they quickly came back to life when Gravel crossed over Schatz's slider and regained the lead down the front stretch.
The first caution of the race waved when Austin McCarl appeared to lose an engine on lap nineteen and once back to green Gravel continued to set a fast pace. It all came to an end though for the driver who scored a perfect night on Thursday when he slowed suddenly in turn four with his own motor issues giving up the lead and retiring for the night on lap twenty-two.
Schatz would assume the lead as the race went back to green, but only for two more laps before Terry McCarl slapped the guardrail in turn four causing one of the sponsor banners to fall to the track surface. Just one lap shy of the mid-race mark it was decided that the halfway pit stop would be held at that time and the majority of the fans were hopeful that somebody would be able to take the lead from Schatz following the break. Kerry Madsen would be hungry in the second spot while NASCAR star Kyle Larson had moved up from ninth to third. Some even held out hope that defending champion Jason Johnson might be able to pull off another miracle as he had raced his way to the sixth position after starting seventeenth, being one of the few drivers moving forward while using the low line around the historic half-mile oval.
On the restart Madsen made his bid with a big slider on Schatz entering turn one. Madsen would say later that he thought that he had him cleared, but then here came the green #15 with all four wheels above the cushion right back around him on the outside to maintain the lead. The big move would cost Madsen the second spot as well when Larson went driving by and the next several laps would be a high speed chase around the top side until Greg Hodnett slowed on lap thirty-eight to bring out the caution.
This excited the ABS ("Anybody But Schatz") contingent, however it was likely a benefit to Schatz who would now have a clear race track on the restart rather than having to negotiate traffic over the final twelve laps.
Larson took a look at Schatz in turn one on the restart only to have Donny pull away down the back stretch and as the laps clicked away Larson would stay within about ten car lengths. Lapped traffic running in both grooves would present a challenge for Schatz over the final three laps and when it looked like Larson might have a run on him the crowd came to their feet. Schatz handled the traffic like a master though and when the white flag waved he had them cleared while Larson had one more car to get around coming off of turn two.
With a nice run down the back stretch Larson gave it everything he had driving to the bottom in turn three, but as he slid up the race track Schatz drove around the challenging cushion one last time to pull away down the front straightaway and secure his tenth Nationals title. The win drew the usual chorus of boos from those who are getting tired of seeing him win, while many also applauded as he added to his list of amazing accomplishments here at Knoxville. Larson added to his legend, despite his young age, with his runner-up finish as Kerry Madsen finished third. Shane Stewart and Brad Sweet were fourth and fifth while Brian Brown finished sixth. Aaron Reutzel came from the nineteenth starting spot to finish seventh, eighth went to Rico Abreu, Daryn Pittman was ninth and the 2017 track champion here at Knoxville Ian Madsen completed the top ten.
Saturday Notes......The early preliminaries did not offer up much for story lines as the track slowly widened out for better racing. Rager Phillips won the E-Main, but then had his motor go up in smoke early in the D......Jamie Veal took the lead from Lee Jacobs on lap nine to win the D-Main, a big difference from last year when Veal started the Championship race from the second row and finished in sixth.....James McFadden, Brady Bacon, Bill Balog and Jac Haudenschild were the stout group of four that transferred out of the C-Main as "The Wild Child" held off current ASCS National Series point leader Sam Hafertepe Jr. in the closing laps......As it usually is the 22-lap B-Main, where four more drivers make the big show, was very entertaining especially in the closing laps. Young Trey Starks paced the field for the most of the race with former Nationals champion Tim Shaffer making the move up from an eighth-place start into the top four. Shaffer had just made the pass to take over second on lap nine when Balog slowed to bring out the caution sending Shaffer back to fourth for the restart. Once back to green only two more laps would be scored before Spencer Bayston tagged the guardrail in turn two ending his night. Before the incident Bayston had actually been racing with Dominic Scelzi for position, and for the Rookie of the Nationals title, so with Bayston's misfortune that title and bonus money would go to Scelzi. Also, an interesting question was raised tonight on Twitter wondering if, after his Wednesday night issue with the scales, was Bayston the first driver ever to race on all four nights of the Nationals?......Once back to green Lucas Wolfe replaced Justin Henderson in the top four before the caution waved again on lap sixteen, this time for a flat tire on the #19 of Brent Marks, erasing a pass by Jason Sides on Starks for the lead......On the restart both Sides and Shaffer would get around Starks and when Trey tried to battle back he slid up the track and dropped back to the fourth position. With two laps remaining Brooke Tatnell saw an opening under Starks for the necessary fourth spot and when he had to put his left front up on the berm in turn four to make the pass he clipped the starting line cone and tossed it onto the race track. The caution waved after the lap was scored, so the early leader Starks would now start fifth with just two laps left to get back into the top four. That task likely seemed impossible when Chad Kemenah passed him going down the back stretch, but when Tatnell muscled his way under Wolfe in turns three and four Starks went to the top and sailed around both Kemenah and Wolfe to claim the fourth and final transfer position behind Sides, Shaffer and Tatnell......The best A-Main finish from those four came from Tatnell who moved to 14th.......What looked so promising for Jason Johnson in the first half of the main went the other direction after halftime as he dropped back to eleventh at the finish, still an improvement of six positions from his original starting spot.....In the post-race press conference Schatz was very complimentary of Larson and said that he wished that he could run more Sprint Car events each year even though in most of the ones that he had seen him at this year, Kyle had beat him. "But not tonight! Hopefully he can go win a race in Michigan tomorrow"......Larson smiled and stated that this was in fact his fifteenth and last Sprint Car race of 2017 and that he had won nine of them and finished second three times. He thanked Chip Ganassi for letting him come back to compete tonight, something that was not in the original plans, and hoped that this extra exposure might allow his Cup team to secure a new sponsor for 2018......I would say that if you asked the 25,000 plus in attendance tonight who they wanted to win this year's NASCAR Monster Energy Cup championship, 99.9% of them would have given you the same answer. Go get 'em Kyle!.......Cup drivers with either open wheel experience or direct ties Ryan Newman, Ryan Blaney and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. enjoyed listening to the drivers during the press conference while team owners Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne were also on the grounds.
Another Nationals is in the books and once again this was an event that is so much more than racing. It is a reunion of friends and racing family and I must again thank the Nachbors, Keith, Jeff, Sean, Sam, Ethan and Grandpa for allowing me to invade their space and treat me like one the family at the track while Barry, Stephanie and Aidan Johnson do the same allowing me to set up home base with them in Pella each year. It was also a special week for me to have my son Morgan back where he should be this week after missing the past two years while he was working down south.
Kendra Jacobs and the entire Spire Sports Marketing Team do an excellent job with all of the "extras" that make this more than a race while John McCoy and his officials take care of the on track action. Can't wait to do it all again in 2018!
For those of you who still want to get your Sprint Car fix next weekend remember that the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders will be in action Friday night at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and Saturday night at 34 Raceway west of Burlington. Hope to see you there!
Friday, August 11, 2017
Defending Champ Johnson Doubles Up Friday at Knoxville Nationals
After an early end to his qualifying night on Thursday the defending champion of the 5-Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals Jason Johnson locked himself in to Saturday night's Championship by winning the Friday night A-Main. Then, for good measure, Johnson denied Australian driver James McFadden the coveted "golden ticket" by also winning the annual Speed Sport World Challenge.
With the top four finishers qualifying for positions seventeen through twenty in tomorrow night's finale, Friday's 25-lap main event was very important and it would be Jacob Allen being perhaps a surprise leader of the opening lap. Johnson, who started outside of Allen on row one, raced to the lead on lap two just before the red flag waved when Lynton Jeffrey tipped over in turn three after getting up on the inside berm.
The only damage was to the wings so after a quick change in the work area Jeffrey rejoined the field for the restart. Johnson would pull away from Allen while Jeffrey would have his newly replaced top wing collapse just a couple of laps later sending him to the pits. With Johnson driving away Allen was doing his best to try to stay in the top four as Aaron Reutzel chased him, while the man to watch was Allen's Shark Racing teammate Logan Schuchart. Starting from row six Schuchart was on the move cracking the top four and not letting up there as he was then up to second with ten laps remaining.
What a story line it would have been if the two underfunded World of Outlaws regulars could have made the show on Saturday, but when Allen got sideways in turn four and then hopped up onto the berm in order to save it with eight laps remaining he quickly dropped out of third and eventually faded to twelfth at the checkers.
Johnson would win this one going away with Schuchart in second while second row starters Aaron Reutzel and Cory Eliason also transferred to Saturday's headliner finishing third and fourth respectively. Chad Kemenah tried to run down Eliason over the final five laps, but could not get to him in fifth as Spencer Bayston, Sheldon Haudenschild, Brooke Tatnell, Tim Kaeding and Sammy Swindell rounded out the top ten.
After his victory lane celebration wrapped up Jason Johnson would line up fourth for the twenty-lap Speed Sport World Challenge where the winner, if not already qualified for Saturday's A-Main, would lock himself into the big show. Front row starters James McFadden and Thomas Kennedy both needed that "golden ticket" and it would be McFadden taking the lead at the start. Kennedy, who switched to his own equipment tonight, had his night come to an early end when something popped under the hood on lap five when he was running a strong second.
Shortly after the restart Johnson would drive under McFadden for the lead and, just like he had a half hour earlier, Jason would open up a large gap on the field. McFadden would do his best to keep pace and as the laps wound down, with the leader now working traffic, he started to close back in. With two laps remaining Johnson had three cars racing for position front of him and when he showed his patience that allowed McFadden to close in quickly and he had a run at Johnson coming to the white flag. However, when he caught the berm coming off four that squelched McFadden's momentum and he could not make a run on Johnson who earned his second checkered flag of the night.
McFadden's second place run will help his checkbook, but he will start from fourth in tomorrow's C-Main. Brad Sweet made a late charge up to third and he just might be your dark horse for Saturday night. Dominic Scelzi was fourth and Brian Brown continued to show that he has the speed to win this week by passing Lynton Jeffrey late for fifth.
The field is now set for Saturday night with David Gravel and Donny Schatz starting from the front row. Both Brad Sweet and Brian Brown have proven that they are capable of challenging, Jason Johnson served notice tonight that he would like to defend his title even though he will have to do it from the ninth row and, if you haven't already heard, NASCAR team owner Chip Ganassi has given Wednesday's winner Kyle Larson permission to fly back from Michigan after practice to start ninth for the fifty lap main event.
Who will win the 57th Annual 5-Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals? Come join us and find out first hand!
With the top four finishers qualifying for positions seventeen through twenty in tomorrow night's finale, Friday's 25-lap main event was very important and it would be Jacob Allen being perhaps a surprise leader of the opening lap. Johnson, who started outside of Allen on row one, raced to the lead on lap two just before the red flag waved when Lynton Jeffrey tipped over in turn three after getting up on the inside berm.
The only damage was to the wings so after a quick change in the work area Jeffrey rejoined the field for the restart. Johnson would pull away from Allen while Jeffrey would have his newly replaced top wing collapse just a couple of laps later sending him to the pits. With Johnson driving away Allen was doing his best to try to stay in the top four as Aaron Reutzel chased him, while the man to watch was Allen's Shark Racing teammate Logan Schuchart. Starting from row six Schuchart was on the move cracking the top four and not letting up there as he was then up to second with ten laps remaining.
What a story line it would have been if the two underfunded World of Outlaws regulars could have made the show on Saturday, but when Allen got sideways in turn four and then hopped up onto the berm in order to save it with eight laps remaining he quickly dropped out of third and eventually faded to twelfth at the checkers.
Johnson would win this one going away with Schuchart in second while second row starters Aaron Reutzel and Cory Eliason also transferred to Saturday's headliner finishing third and fourth respectively. Chad Kemenah tried to run down Eliason over the final five laps, but could not get to him in fifth as Spencer Bayston, Sheldon Haudenschild, Brooke Tatnell, Tim Kaeding and Sammy Swindell rounded out the top ten.
After his victory lane celebration wrapped up Jason Johnson would line up fourth for the twenty-lap Speed Sport World Challenge where the winner, if not already qualified for Saturday's A-Main, would lock himself into the big show. Front row starters James McFadden and Thomas Kennedy both needed that "golden ticket" and it would be McFadden taking the lead at the start. Kennedy, who switched to his own equipment tonight, had his night come to an early end when something popped under the hood on lap five when he was running a strong second.
Shortly after the restart Johnson would drive under McFadden for the lead and, just like he had a half hour earlier, Jason would open up a large gap on the field. McFadden would do his best to keep pace and as the laps wound down, with the leader now working traffic, he started to close back in. With two laps remaining Johnson had three cars racing for position front of him and when he showed his patience that allowed McFadden to close in quickly and he had a run at Johnson coming to the white flag. However, when he caught the berm coming off four that squelched McFadden's momentum and he could not make a run on Johnson who earned his second checkered flag of the night.
McFadden's second place run will help his checkbook, but he will start from fourth in tomorrow's C-Main. Brad Sweet made a late charge up to third and he just might be your dark horse for Saturday night. Dominic Scelzi was fourth and Brian Brown continued to show that he has the speed to win this week by passing Lynton Jeffrey late for fifth.
The field is now set for Saturday night with David Gravel and Donny Schatz starting from the front row. Both Brad Sweet and Brian Brown have proven that they are capable of challenging, Jason Johnson served notice tonight that he would like to defend his title even though he will have to do it from the ninth row and, if you haven't already heard, NASCAR team owner Chip Ganassi has given Wednesday's winner Kyle Larson permission to fly back from Michigan after practice to start ninth for the fifty lap main event.
Who will win the 57th Annual 5-Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals? Come join us and find out first hand!
Gravel's Perfect Score First Since '92 at Knoxville Nationals
In 1992 Steve Kinser tallied a perfect score of 500 points on his qualifying night of the Knoxville Nationals; 200 points for setting quick time, 100 for winning his heat race from a full invert of ten cars, and then winning the feature from the eighth starting spot. Back then, while still impressive, it was not an uncommon feat, but even with the domination by one driver over the past decade nobody has done it again until Thursday night when David Gravel swept the night and then perhaps motivated the lion by pointing out in victory lane that Donny Schatz had not achieved what he just had.
The eighth car out to qualify Gravel laid down the fastest lap of the night at 15.072 and othat would start him eighth in the first heat as the number of cars inverted was changed several years ago when it was agreed upon that the competition had become more balanced throughout the field. The advantage of running the first heat is that the track above the cushion is ironed in after qualifying so drivers have an opportunity, at least for the first few laps, to run above the cushion and use the entire track which is exactly what Gravel did. Running "four high", or with all four wheels above the cushion, Gravel literally flew by the competition and even after taking the lead on lap four he continued to use the high line around the speedway to take the convincing win.
Gravel would line up eighth for the 25-lap main event, a race that had trouble getting started as on the first try a pair of 41's got together in turn four. Defending Nationals champion Jason Johnson started fourth, but got shuffled back through turns one and two so far that when the tenth starting Dominic Scelzi spun in turn four, Johnson made contact and the resulting damage was enough to end his night. This would now slide Gravel up to the sixth position for the restart, but when the front row of Mark Dobmeier and Wayne Johnson could not settle on a common pace the next try was waved off. The third time would be a charm, especially for Gravel who flared out and pulled even with the fourth starting Brian Brown as the front row hit the chalk line and he would complete the first lap in fifth behind Dobmeier, Brooke Tatnell, Johnson and Daryn Pittman as Brown found himself shuffled back to seventh. Gravel would then steadily work his way to the front taking second away from Tatnell on lap eight and then two laps later as Dobmeier started to work traffic Gravel charged by him on the bottom of turn one to take the lead. Just behind them though Tatnell's right rear tire blew and the caution waved putting Dobmeier back on the point for the restart.
Brown lined up third and he was able to make a run at Gravel as the green flew allowing Dobmeier to get away a bit as his two primary challengers traded the second position. Once Gravel regained the spot he closed back in on the leader waiting for lapped traffic to come into play once again to make his challenge. That came on lap seventeen when Dobmeier had to choose a line into three as he closed on a pair of slower cars and with that split second of hesitation Gravel went flying by to take a lead that he would not relinquish. Brown made the pass of Dobmeier soon after and while he could keep Gravel in his sights over the final five laps he could not reel him in as the twenty-five-year-old driver from Connecticut completed the perfect night to earn the pole position for Saturday's Championship race.
Brown's runner-up finish will start him fifth on Saturday night while Dobmeier's third-place run lands him in the 13th starting spot on Saturday. Ian Madsen came from ninth to finish fourth locking him into Saturday's finale while Daryn Pittman's fifth-place finish will put him the seventh position on Saturday. Wayne Johnson was sixth, Terry McCarl seventh, Danny Dietrich finished eighth, while Spencer Bayston and Rico Abreu waged an entertaining battle through the final laps to complete the top ten.
5-Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals Thursday Notes......Bayston was allowed to compete again tonight after it was determined that the scales had an issue Wednesday when what would have been his third fastest time was wiped out for not meeting the minimum weight. Unlike Wednesday when he was one of the first few cars to take to the track in qualifying, Bayston went out in the second half of the field tonight and was 26th on the time charts. He then qualified fourth out of the first heat and with his ninth-place finish in the feature his Thursday point total ranked 30th sending him to Friday night's show......Sammy Swindell had a rough night after qualifying 17th. He looked to have Kyle Reinhardt passed in turn four on the final lap of the second heat race only to have Reinhardt nip him at the line by just 0.004 seconds. In the B-Main Sammy was losing positions quickly on the opening lap and then slowed in turn one while in the middle groove. The caution waved for him as Swindell continued to move and even though he was told to go the back, Sammy rode around a couple of laps trying to get back in his position before finally pulling into the infield.......Tim Kaeding had the field covered in the third heat race, but as he was exiting turn four to take the checkers his right rear tire exploded. Kaeding was somehow able to keep the car off of the guardrail and limped toward the finish line with only Thomas Kennedy beating him to it.......When Paige Polyak stepped out of line and pulled even with the car in front of her on the start of the fourth heat, it was called back for another try. On this one Brian Brown would get into the back of Polyak as the green flag waved causing his front end to hop and Brown then had to calm himself down to recover. He did just that working his way up from eighth to pass Don Droud Jr. with two laps to go for fourth and then Jason Johnson for third coming to the checkers......A pair of Aussies, Brooke Tatnell and James McFadden got together on the start of the fifth heat sending both drivers to the work area for repairs. Tatnell was able to recover and get qualified for the feature while McFadden would come up one spot short of transferring from the B-Main when he could not chase down Jason Sides in the final laps.
The top sixteen in Saturday's Championship main event is set and will look like this with of course the question being whether or not Kyle Larson will return to compete:
David Gravel - Donny Schatz
Brad Sweet - Kerry Madsen
Brian Brown - Terry McCarl
Daryn Pittman - Greg Hodnett
Kyle Larson - Shane Stewart
Austin McCarl - Paul McMahon
Mark Dobmeier - Rico Abreu
Ian Madsen - Wayne Johnson
The top four finishers in tonight's (Friday) main event will start 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th with the top four from Saturday's B-Main competing the field. Oh yes, and don't forget the "Golden Ticket" that will go to tonight's winner of the Speed Sport World Challenge so join us tonight for another night of exciting qualifying action at the 57th Annual 5-Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals!
The eighth car out to qualify Gravel laid down the fastest lap of the night at 15.072 and othat would start him eighth in the first heat as the number of cars inverted was changed several years ago when it was agreed upon that the competition had become more balanced throughout the field. The advantage of running the first heat is that the track above the cushion is ironed in after qualifying so drivers have an opportunity, at least for the first few laps, to run above the cushion and use the entire track which is exactly what Gravel did. Running "four high", or with all four wheels above the cushion, Gravel literally flew by the competition and even after taking the lead on lap four he continued to use the high line around the speedway to take the convincing win.
Gravel would line up eighth for the 25-lap main event, a race that had trouble getting started as on the first try a pair of 41's got together in turn four. Defending Nationals champion Jason Johnson started fourth, but got shuffled back through turns one and two so far that when the tenth starting Dominic Scelzi spun in turn four, Johnson made contact and the resulting damage was enough to end his night. This would now slide Gravel up to the sixth position for the restart, but when the front row of Mark Dobmeier and Wayne Johnson could not settle on a common pace the next try was waved off. The third time would be a charm, especially for Gravel who flared out and pulled even with the fourth starting Brian Brown as the front row hit the chalk line and he would complete the first lap in fifth behind Dobmeier, Brooke Tatnell, Johnson and Daryn Pittman as Brown found himself shuffled back to seventh. Gravel would then steadily work his way to the front taking second away from Tatnell on lap eight and then two laps later as Dobmeier started to work traffic Gravel charged by him on the bottom of turn one to take the lead. Just behind them though Tatnell's right rear tire blew and the caution waved putting Dobmeier back on the point for the restart.
Brown lined up third and he was able to make a run at Gravel as the green flew allowing Dobmeier to get away a bit as his two primary challengers traded the second position. Once Gravel regained the spot he closed back in on the leader waiting for lapped traffic to come into play once again to make his challenge. That came on lap seventeen when Dobmeier had to choose a line into three as he closed on a pair of slower cars and with that split second of hesitation Gravel went flying by to take a lead that he would not relinquish. Brown made the pass of Dobmeier soon after and while he could keep Gravel in his sights over the final five laps he could not reel him in as the twenty-five-year-old driver from Connecticut completed the perfect night to earn the pole position for Saturday's Championship race.
Brown's runner-up finish will start him fifth on Saturday night while Dobmeier's third-place run lands him in the 13th starting spot on Saturday. Ian Madsen came from ninth to finish fourth locking him into Saturday's finale while Daryn Pittman's fifth-place finish will put him the seventh position on Saturday. Wayne Johnson was sixth, Terry McCarl seventh, Danny Dietrich finished eighth, while Spencer Bayston and Rico Abreu waged an entertaining battle through the final laps to complete the top ten.
5-Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals Thursday Notes......Bayston was allowed to compete again tonight after it was determined that the scales had an issue Wednesday when what would have been his third fastest time was wiped out for not meeting the minimum weight. Unlike Wednesday when he was one of the first few cars to take to the track in qualifying, Bayston went out in the second half of the field tonight and was 26th on the time charts. He then qualified fourth out of the first heat and with his ninth-place finish in the feature his Thursday point total ranked 30th sending him to Friday night's show......Sammy Swindell had a rough night after qualifying 17th. He looked to have Kyle Reinhardt passed in turn four on the final lap of the second heat race only to have Reinhardt nip him at the line by just 0.004 seconds. In the B-Main Sammy was losing positions quickly on the opening lap and then slowed in turn one while in the middle groove. The caution waved for him as Swindell continued to move and even though he was told to go the back, Sammy rode around a couple of laps trying to get back in his position before finally pulling into the infield.......Tim Kaeding had the field covered in the third heat race, but as he was exiting turn four to take the checkers his right rear tire exploded. Kaeding was somehow able to keep the car off of the guardrail and limped toward the finish line with only Thomas Kennedy beating him to it.......When Paige Polyak stepped out of line and pulled even with the car in front of her on the start of the fourth heat, it was called back for another try. On this one Brian Brown would get into the back of Polyak as the green flag waved causing his front end to hop and Brown then had to calm himself down to recover. He did just that working his way up from eighth to pass Don Droud Jr. with two laps to go for fourth and then Jason Johnson for third coming to the checkers......A pair of Aussies, Brooke Tatnell and James McFadden got together on the start of the fifth heat sending both drivers to the work area for repairs. Tatnell was able to recover and get qualified for the feature while McFadden would come up one spot short of transferring from the B-Main when he could not chase down Jason Sides in the final laps.
The top sixteen in Saturday's Championship main event is set and will look like this with of course the question being whether or not Kyle Larson will return to compete:
David Gravel - Donny Schatz
Brad Sweet - Kerry Madsen
Brian Brown - Terry McCarl
Daryn Pittman - Greg Hodnett
Kyle Larson - Shane Stewart
Austin McCarl - Paul McMahon
Mark Dobmeier - Rico Abreu
Ian Madsen - Wayne Johnson
The top four finishers in tonight's (Friday) main event will start 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th with the top four from Saturday's B-Main competing the field. Oh yes, and don't forget the "Golden Ticket" that will go to tonight's winner of the Speed Sport World Challenge so join us tonight for another night of exciting qualifying action at the 57th Annual 5-Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals!
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