Johnson Edges Out Schatz In a Knoxville Thriller

The 56th Annual 5 Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals had an amazing conclusion Saturday night as Jason Johnson edged out Donny Schatz by a car-length in a race that will be remembered by many as "the best that they have ever seen". The race for the lead over the final ten laps was so amazing that, honestly, I do not feel that I can give it justice in my words here on the Back Stretch, but I will give it a try and hopefully I will be able to link a highlight video here soon.

Yes, it had the added boost of the fact that Donny Schatz was looking for his tenth Nationals title in the last eleven years and while the fans in general showed him more respect than in years past it was still obvious that most of the large gathering wanted anybody else to take the checkers first. Few though thought that "anybody" would include Jason Johnson.

"The Racin' Cajun" looked strong in his Thursday night qualifying efforts landing him on the front row for the 50-lap finale next to Daryn Pittman, the driver that many felt had the best chance to unseat Schatz, and it would be Pittman who would open the race as the leader. Johnson went charging by on the outside to take the lead on lap eleven only to have Pittman come back on him a lap later and while this battle was a good one, it was allowing the third running Schatz to close quickly.

Donny went from third to first one lap later and quickly pulled away as the leaders worked traffic. The first caution of the race waved when Craig Dollansky slowed on lap sixteen and following the restart Schatz again opened an advantage that he carried all the way to the mid-race beak at lap twenty-five.

Crews were given just a three minute "halftime" this year so adding fuel and changing tires were the primary activities in the pits, while some others thrashed to make some more significant changes. Everybody pushed off in time and a look at the restart order showed Schatz out front with Johnson in second, Kerry Madsen was third, Pittman fourth and Shane Stewart was in fifth. With the race upfront capturing nearly all of the attention, the break allowed us to take notice that Greg Hodnett had come from eighteenth to ninth and that B-Main winner Kyle Larson had moved from twenty-first to eleventh.

Once back to racing Schatz went right back to the bottom line that he has mastered over the years here at Knoxville while Johnson let the kite string out and was flying around the cushion. The crowd roared its approval as Jason swept around the leader on lap 27 and then waited for Schatz to fight back. As Johnson's lead grew so did the cheers and the place nearly erupted when Madsen dropped Schatz back to third on lap 39. That thrill was short-lived though as Schatz regained the second spot with an aggressive move two laps later and when Johnson got over the cushion exiting turn four the race was on with Schatz closing quickly. Donny would take the lead with six to go, but Johnson would not give in and gave Schatz a couple of power moves of his own to take the lead with four laps remaining.



Jason Johnson rides the cushion at Knoxville - Barry Johnson photo

One block by Johnson entering turn one broke the momentum of Schatz and as Johnson opened a ten car-length lead it looked like this one was over. Another slip off the cushion in four as he came to the white flag though gave Schatz the opprtunity to close back in and as Johnson rode the high line around turns three and four for one last time, Schatz drove to the bottom and was making up ground fast. The two drivers came off of turn four nearly even and in the drag race to the checkers it was Jason Johnson taking the win by just a 0.168 second margin.

The crowd went absoultely nuts with fans high-fiving each other and literally dancing in the stands, a celebration that continued as Jason Johnson climbed to the top wing in victory lane.

The post-race discussion - Barry Johnson photo

After the race Schatz pulled alongside the winner unhappy with some of the daring moves that were made in those closing laps and afterwards, while sitting side-by-side in the pressroom it was obvious that any hard feelings were from the heat of the moment as Johnson explained. "I respect this guy so much and I want him to respect me." Yes, Jason Johnson had used some bold maneuvers to fight off Donny Schatz, but as Jason pointed out, "this is the god damn Knoxville Nationals!" And, as the winner of this absolute classic, Jason Johnson not only has the respect of Donny Schatz, but the entire Sprint Car racing world.

Shane Stewart joined his good friend on the podium in third and joked that maybe he gave the winner a little too much good advice when Johnson came asking about how to beat Schatz after Stewart held off the champ on Wednesday night. Pittman finished in fourth while Kyle Larson proved that he remains a Sprint Car star driving all the way up to fifth. Jamie Veal was sixth, Chad Kemenah was solid in seventh, Hodnett hung tough in eighth, Ian Madsen was ninth and David Gravel completed the top ten. Kerry Madsen had his top-five run go to the wayside when he pulled off with mechanical problems during the final three laps.

Barry Johnson photo

Earlier in the night only the second red flag of the week flew as R.J. Johnson bicycled on the cushion in turn three during the D-Main and when the front end dug in his car vaulted up and over the wall. Crashing through the billboards on the other side, R.J. actually said that it wasn't that "hard of a hit" as his car settled down outside of the track and he walked away uninjured.

So that puts a wrap on the 56th version of this event, a week that fought the weather on the first two nights, but still delivered four fantastic nights of racing topped off by a feature race that will set the bar high for the future. I have been coming here since 1976 and while I have seen many memorable Championship races, this one no doubt jumps to the top of the list and you can bet that I will continue to come back each August knowing that there is always the possibility that it could be replaced.

I want to thank Keith and Jeff Nachbor, Buck and Pat, Grandpa and the boys for allowing me to join the family this week. The chance to reunite with good friends for four nights of fun each year is what makes this event so special and while I told the boys that my readership from the teenage girl demographic is likely quite low, they made me promise to include the following for having to put up with me for the entire week.

Follow Ethan at nachbor7 on Twitter or at ethannachbor on Instagram and keep up with Sam on Instagram at SamNachbor.

Let me know how that works out for you guys.

Barry and Stephanie Johnson and daughter Aidan opened their home to me again this week and for that I am always so grateful.

And finally, a big thank you to Kendra Jacobs, John McCoy, the Marion County Fairboard and the entire staff at the Knoxville Raceway for the fantastic hospitailty all while presenting the absolute best event in auto racing!

Friday Five; Drivers Lock Themselves Into The Knoxville Nationals

Even though the Knoxville Nationals is in its 56th year it is good to know that it is open to change and after it had become obvious that the Friday night "non-qualifiers" show had become a bit stale a few years ago, a major change in the format was brought forth. For many, many years the top fifty in points from the Wednesday and Thursday qualifying sessions were "locked in" for Saturday while the rest of the field would run a full program on Friday night with the feature winner earning the eleventh starting spot in Saturday's C-Main......yay.

Under the new format only the top sixteen in points from the two qualifying nights lock into Saturday's A-Main, while drivers ranked 17th through 26th have the option to start from the first five rows in Saturday's "B" feature, or throw their hat back in the ring and run a full show on Friday where the top four in the main event leap frog those other ten and go straight to rows nine and ten in the Championship feature....YAY!

Not only does that make Friday night exponentially more entertaining, but officials even put a cherry on top by adding the winner of the Speed Sport World Challenge to the back of Saturday's finale if that driver had not already qualified. So with that, five more Friday night drivers advanced on to tonight's National Championship at the 56th Annual 5-Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's General Stores.

With 77 drivers signed in the field was split into two qualifying groups with the first group running heats one, two and three while the second group would make up heats four, five and six. Drivers qualifying at the back of each group would run a C-Main while each group would then have its own B-Main to set the 24-car feature field. Three cars would advance from each heat and the top four qualifiers would be inverted so, with no points being awarded, a driver would actually be better off qualifying seventh to twelfth within the group so that they could start from the front row of the heat rather than the second row. Pennsylvania drivers Lucas Wolfe and Jacob Allen would set quick time in their respective groups and while Wolfe was able to capitalize on the effort, it turned out to be a frustrating night for Allen.

Obviously points are not awarded in the heats either so with the lesser invert, and the reduced motivation for that driver running second to make that one more pass for the lead the six heat races were fun to watch, but nowhere near as intriguing as the previous two nights. Drivers from within the invert advanced through the first three and it would be a miscue by Allen that would spice up the fourth qualifier. Jacob had been shuffled back to fifth when he spun on the low side of turn three and then slid up the track. When the car went over the cushion it executed a soft rollover causing the first (and hopefully only) red flag of the week. After he was pushed back to the work area the crew wasn't even going to change the top wing since they were able to bend it back into shape, but with a broken suspension part officials would not let Allen return to the race at the back of the twelve car field. It was later reported that Allen was miffed at the decision, but if somebody would have explained to him that he was still going to start from the pole of the second B-Main even if he just went to his pit to start making full repairs it could have saved him the angst.

As it turned out, Allen's incident actually hurt Rager Phillips more as he held a comfortable lead before the red and appeared to have the race win well in hand. On the restart though both Dakota Hendrickson and Danny Lasoski powered by and then with just two laps to go Matt Moro took third away from Phillips to become the only driver on the night to qualify from outside of the invert. Phillips on the other hand would now start fourth in the second B-Main and needing a top three finish to advance he wound up in sixth.

After a disappointing qualifying night Brian Brown had taken to Twitter to complain a bit about the format, the same format that has seen him challenge Donny Schatz for the Championship the past few years. Another example of my belief that race drivers really do look at things as to how it effects them in the moment rather than how it is for all, drivers and fans included. As the last car out to qualify in Group B tonight, Brown showed that he was ready to race as he posted the third best qualifying lap and he continued that focus on the opening lap of the sixth heat when he powered from fourth to first in the first two turns, a move that would vault him to victory by a full straightaway.

The C-Main had a interesting contrast of youth and experience as three drivers were racing for the final two transfer positions. Teenager Chris Martin found himself locked in battle with both Jac Haudenschild and Danny Smith until "The Wild Child" spun Tony Shilling's #22 up the track in turn three. Martin pulled away from Smith on the restart and Danny was able to fight off a challenge first from Brian Paulus and then on the final lap from Byron Reed to move on to a B-Main.

Dustin Selvage and Kraig Kinser would go one-two in the first B-Main while young Trey Starks came from sixth to take the third and final transfer. The significance of that will be revealed a little later. Front row starters Jacob Allen and Cap Henry would lead the way in the second B-Main and when Cory Eliason slipped high off of turn four on the final lap it allowed Davey Heskin to drive by and steal the position. It looked as though Eliason was not aware that he was in a transfer spot as he was still trying different lines in an effort to catch Henry and that last move cost him dearly.

The starting grid for the 25-lap main event was now set and with the top four finishers advancing to the big show on Saturday it makes the fan watch this one in a much different manner. Especially tonight when there was an interesting race for the lead, but perhaps an even more intriguing one at the same time for fourth.

Rico Abreu started third, but when the front row of Lucas Wolfe and Greg Hodnett left the bottom open in to turn one, Rico charged through and then drove to the cushion in turn two to establish himself as the leader. Hodnett moved to second and sixth-starting Danny Lasoski was quickly up to third as Wolfe fell from the top four when Brian Brown took the position. Abreu opened a big lead early before Hodnett found the low line to his liking and began to reel him in. As the race for the lead tightened so too did the battle for that important fourth spot as Logan Schuchart closed in on Brown.

With six laps to go Hodnett had Abreu in his sights as the leaders worked traffic and Schuchart had pulled even with Brown down the back stretch only to have Brian slam the door on him entering turn three. With four laps remaining Schuchart again had a run off two and this time he completed the pass for fourth going down the back stretch. Just as Brown dove to the bottom in turn three to throw a slidejob at Schuchart the caution lights came on for the lapped car of Trey Starks that had spun on the cushion between turns three and four. Entering turn three at full speed Brown's car went up the track to the cushion where Starks sat and while he tried to squeeze between him and the fence, there was not enough room. Contact with both Starks and the guardrail left the FVP #21 too damaged to continue and if Brian Brown is going to once again challenge for the National Championship he will have to do it in dramatic fashion starting from mid-pack in tonight's C-Main. Don't count him out!

On the restart Hodnett was able to keep pace with Abreu, but could not mount a challenge as Rico scored his first career feature win here at the Knoxville Raceway. Lasoski held down the third spot while Schuchart could not hold back the resurgence of Lucas Wolfe who came back to take fourth. Tim Shaffer, the 2010 Nationals champion and the only driver to defeat Donny Schatz here the past ten years had his late charge come up just short as he finished fifth after starting sixteenth, Schuchart was sixth, Joey Saldana finished where he started in seventh, Stevie Smith was eighth while Sheldon Haudenschild and Brady Bacon filled out the top ten.

Later in the press room when Rico was asked how it felt to get his first ever win at Knoxville, he said that it was incredible and that he had just told Danny (Lasoski), who was sitting next to him, that he only had another 109 or 110 to go to catch him. Rico also noted how much it meant to win Friday night's feature as it was the race that his good friend, the late Bryan Clauson won here at the Nationals last year. In 2015 Abreu scored enough points on his qualifying night to make the A-Main, but when he honored his commitment to his K&N Series ride he had crewman Trevor Canales start and park the car. No start and park this year, you can bet that Rico will put on a show for the fans tonight.

The 25-lap Speed Sport World Challenge, an event that includes Australian drivers who race in the U.S. and Americans who did some racing Down Under this past winter, would close out the evening with the race winner earning the "Golden Ticket" to Saturday night's finale if that driver was not already qualified. The race is lined up with a deep invert based upon the points earned by the drivers on their qualifying nights and that landed Kraig Kinser and Jason Sides on the front row. Kinser, the 2005 Nationals Champion the year before Schatz started his ownership of the event, was fresh off of 25-laps where he had finished 17th and his crew had him dialed in for this one. Sides kept pace through most of the race until Kinser pulled away and the battle for second was then the one to watch over the final five laps. Danny Dietrich moved to second with four lap to go, then it was Ian Madsen in second with two to go. James McFadden traded the position with Madsen coming to the white flag and at the checkers it was Kinser, Madsen, McFadden, Dietrich, Jamie Veal and then Sides.

The field is now set for tonight's grand finale that will see the "E", "D", "C" and B-Mains leading up to the 50-lap National Championship that pays $150,000-to-win and $9,500 just to start. There will definitely be some contenders this year, but from what I saw on Wednesday night, especially in his heat race when he quickly drove from eighth to third, my money is on Donny Schatz to win his tenth Knoxville Nationals in eleven years. I will though be more than happy to lose that bet!

Come on out and join us on a beautiful night for the Knoxville Nationals!

Kaeding Wins as Knoxville Beats The Rain For The Second Straight Thursday

Last Thursday night the Knoxville Raceway ran off the opening night of the 360 Nationals in record time to beat a slow moving thunderstorm and tonight the scenario was essentially the same for the second qualifying night of the 5-Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals. A solid line of storms were training from west to east no more than thirty miles noth of the speedway while a line of storms that would turn severe pushed in from the west. But once again with great cooperation from the drivers and the crews, plus the fact that for the second night in a row starter Doug Clark was able to keep the red flag in the bag, the track was able to complete the full program with the final checkered flag waving at 9:30, about thirty minutes before the rain cut loose on the facility.

The track was more than a half second slower tonight than last night and paired with the fact that the third driver out, Brad Sweet, set quick time the oh so important qualifying process just wasn't as entertaining tonight as it was last night. Biggest surprise? It would be easy to go with Gary Taylor, but since his sixth best time was established as the second car out to qualify I am instead going to go with Parker Price-Miller. PPM driving the Hill Racing #77x went out 26th and qualified 8th. Biggest disappointment? The last driver other than Donny Schatz to win the Nationals, Tim Shaffer timed in 47th.

Clyde Knipp, the young Missouri driver who has tagged along with the World of Outaws for much of the 2016 season has to be asking why he was the 60th and final car out to time tonight when there were only 47 cars in action last night.

Terry McCarl is running a paint scheme this week honoring his father Lenard who passed away this year and he quickly moved from sixth to third in the first heat race. With three laps remaining though, he dropped a valve and it was obvious that his engine was laboring as he tried to nurse the car to the finish. Justin Henderson drove by McCarl for third and quick qualifier Brad Sweet was still a straightaway back with two to go. Sweet closed a bit, but T-Mac held on to make the transfer. McCarl's crew then went to work pulling the engine from his son Austin's car and dropping it into Terry's in time to make the main event.

A tip of the hat to Rager Phillips who went flag-to-flag to win the opening heat ahead of the 2016 360 track champion Clint Garner.

Joey Saldana showed that there was still some speed in the track when he went out 56th in qualifying and clicked off the second fastest time and in the second heat race he quickly moved from eighth to fourth. But then, after James McFadden blew by him down the back stretch, you could basically say that the rest of the night was one to forget for the "Brownsburg Bullet". Not only did he lose the transfer spot to McFadden, but he also gave up fifth to Dave Blaney sending Saldana to the B. More on that later. Ryan Bunton and Dale Blaney finished one-two with 18-year-old Chris Martin, the current Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders point leader finishing third.

Pennsylvania's Brent Marks went from third to first in the first set of turns and then ran away with heat race number three. Tim Kaeding showed some strength coming from sixth to third and despite trying every line that he could David Gravel could not track down Cap Henry for the fourth transfer.

Jac Haudenschild is driving Tony Shilling's car this week and being aboard a #22 again must have invigorated the Wild Child as he too went from third to first in the first two turns before running away with heat four. With Jason Solwold running second, Mark Dobmeier and Jacob Allen raced side-by-side just behind him for third. That tight racing allowed Kerry Madsen to close the gap mid-race and after Dobmeier shook off Allen, Madsen passed him as well in the closing laps to make the feature.

Jon Agan was scheduled to start second in the final heat, but did not make the call and tenth starting Shane Golobic pulled to the work area before the race went green with a broken sway bar. Brooke Tatnell made the "first lap, first turn" move of the night coming from fourth to first to take the lead and Tatnell then pulled away for a convincing win. Jason Johnson struggled a bit early, but then raced his way up to fourth to make the A-Main.

Heat races were completed at 8:41 p.m.

With lightning flashing to the north and west it was a very short break before the C-Main was pushed off and Agan not only made the call to start from the pole, he then went flag-to-flag to win it. Tim Shaffer started seventh and picked up two spots for fifth, but then in the final four laps he went from fifth to second to transfer along with Greg Wilson and D.J. Netto.

It was another tough night for the top ten qualifiers as only two of them, Kerry Madsen and Jason Johnson advanced from their heats, so once again the B-Main was loaded and there was only four tickets to the A-Main available. Brad Sweet and Joey Saldana raced side-by-side for most of the opening lap before Saldana took over and the caution waved for a slowing Don Droud Jr. with five laps remaining. Gary Taylor lined up fourth for the restart with Kyle Larson right behind him and when Taylor drove through the middle groove in turns one and two, Larson went to the cushion and made the pass. David Gravel joined the leaders and you now had a great three car battle between World of Otlaws regulars. As they raced into turn one though with three laps to go Sweet clipped the rear bumper of Saldana sending the leader sideways as Gravel powered by on the outside. Saldana was able to make the save, but he dropped to seventh in doing so and did not have enough laps to make up the positions needed to qualify for the A. Gravel hugged the bottom in an effort to hold off Sweet for the final lap, but when he slipped high exiting turn four Sweet charged through the opening and the two took the checkers wheel-to-wheel with the transponder giving the win to Sweet.

I'm sure that Saldana would have liked to have had a discussion with Sweet, but there was no time for chit chat as the wind had picked up and the lightning was ever closer. The rest of the A-Main was already in staging and as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. paced the field behind the wheel of Bryan Clauson's #17w, Sweet was the final car to push off just before the parade lap.

Dale Blaney grabbed the early lead as several cars went over the cushion in turns three and four on the opening lap, likely due to the wind gusts that were now chilling the crowd that until then felt like they had been sitting in a sauna all evening. Tim Kaeding had started fourth, moved to second and was now ready to challenge for the lead driving to the inside of Blaney on lap eight. Justin Henderson had been racing in third until he slowed on lap fourteen to bring out the caution and some nervous fans started to make their way to the exits.

On the restart Jason Johnson dropped Blaney back to third, but he could not concentrate on reeling in Kaeding since Terry McCarl was now tracking him down. With the winds really howling now McCarl threw a slider at Johnson with three laps remaining, but Johnson fought it off and would go on to finish second behind the winner Kaeding. McCarl finished third, Kerry Madsen came from eighth to fourth, Dale Blaney faded to fifth, Brent Marks was sixth, James McFadden finished seventh and Sweet made a big run up to eighth from the eleventh row. Mark Dobmeier and Cap Henry completed the top ten.

With the infield closed to fans so that the crews could try to get loaded up and out before the storm hit there was a major traffic jam getting out of the area.

The first eight rows of Saturday's Championship are set and they look like this

Row 1 - Daryn Pittman and Jason Johnson
Row 2 - Kerry Madsen and Jamie Veal
Row 3 - Donny Schatz and Chad Kemenah
Row 4 - Brad Sweet and Shane Stewart
Row 5 - Tim Kaeding and Terry McCarl
Row 6 - David Gravel and Sammy Swindell
Row 7 - James McFadden and Dusty Zomer
Row 8 - Craig Dollansky and Jeff Swindell

Friday night's program will see the top four finishers in the feature join the Championship field in rows nine and ten while the "Golden Ticket" will go to the winner of the World Challenge. Hopefully we don't get inundated with with rain overnight and in the morning as it should be a fantastic show.

Finally, infield announcer Wade Aunger had another memorable moment tonight as he interviewed the Junior Queen. When Aunger asked if she liked Sprint Cars her quick reply was an aloof "I don't know." Wade paused for the perfect amount of time and then said, "we need to try this again, when I ask if you like Sprint Cars, you say yes, I like Sprint Cars." So he then asked the question and she responded as prompted drawing a nice reaction from the crowd. Aunger then told the young lady that if she said that she LOVED Sprint Cars she would get an even bigger response. He asked, she again responded as prompted and the crowd cheered louder. Wade then leaned in and said, "let's see how they cheer for this, tell them that you love Donny Schatz," and she immediately said, "No!"

The crowd went nuts. If I didn't know better I would have sworn that they had rehearsed the routine.

Stewart Repels Schatz For Knoxville Nationals Opening Night Win

The champ was there, he was coming and Shane Stewart knew it, but for what seemed like the first time in the past eight years here at the Knoxville Nationals Donny Scahtz was not able to take control and score the win as the four night event now sponsored by 5 Hour Energy kicked off on a warm and sultry Wednesday evening.

Those of you who have followed the Back Stretch over the years know that I cover the Nationals a little differently than I do other events using more of a Notebook style approach since you can find actual "race stories" through so many other venues. I will continue to do that in 2016, so let's proceed!

Forty-seven cars signed in for qualifying that started about a half hour later than normal due to a late afternoon spit of rain that definitely made for a fast race track. Even though it was hot and humid the top four qualifiers were in the 14 second bracket led by Daryn Pittman's lap of 14.791. Pittman was the 20th car out to time and the second fastest qualifier, sixty-year-old Sammy Swindell was the 30th car to trip the clock. Biggest surprise? A.J. Moeller, the track regular who has shown a history of qualifying well, but still the tenth best in this field is very impressive. Biggest disappointment? Greg Hodnett who was the final driver to make the heat race inverts in 40th. If he would have been six one thousandths of a second slower his night would have went a completely different direction....stay tuned.

The start of the first heat of the night was a near disaster when Tasker Phillips and Scott Bogucki made contact racing down the straightway. Fortunately both drivers were able to make the save and the race stayed green dropping the second row starters to the back of the running order right away. The race for the lead soon got crazy as well when Matt Covington had a run on leader Daniel Harding as they came off of turn two. With Covington pulling even on the outside, Harding came up the track going down the back stretch and contact sent the two cars into a spin. Harding somehow straightened out and continued on while Covington did a wheelstand before slamming into the inside guardrail nose first. As Covington's car was towed to the pits, track officials ordered Harding to the work area for a safety check and after passing that exam he was allowed to return to the lead position for the restart. Harding first fought off a bid for the lead by Jeff Swindell who was bringing the Sonner #47 car back to life, but on the final lap Chad Kemenah passed the Australian driver to take the win. Without the caution that eliminated Covington it is likely that Daryn Pittman would have finished fifth in this one and would have been headed to the B-Main.

Danny Smith, who a week ago tweeted a photo of his "special" Knoxville paint scheme, slowed and pulled to the infield right after the green flag waved on heat two and the caution soon waved when Brian Brown stopped on the back stretch. Brown restarted at the rear but could only get back to eighth at the checkers. Danny Dietrich driving the throwback Weikert Livestock #29 passed Sheldon Haudenschild with two laps to go to take the fourth and final transfer in a race that was won by "Lady Lightning" Paige Polyak. During this race a bolt flew into the stands and struck a woman who was sitting in section H Row 20 in the cheek. She was checked out by medical personnel and later returned to her seat for the rest of the program.

Rico Abreu who was disappointed with his 33rd best qualifying effort started on the front row of the third heat and walked away from the field winning by more than a straightaway over fellow Californian Colby Copeland. Ian Madsen who was 3rd fast in qualifying started eighth and finished eighth in this one as he and Josh Schneiderman swapped positions twice, but they wished it were for something closer to the front.

Dusty Zomer slipped by Johnny Herrera on lap nine to win the fourth heat. Donny Schatz was mired in eighth place early in this one and based upon how tough it had been for the other fast qualifiers to get into the top four it looked like Schatz was fighting an uphill battle. This is Donny Schatz at the Knoxville Nationals though and he was soon challenging for fourth and he then took third from Jamie Veal with a couple of laps remaining. Give him a couple of more laps and he would have won the race. This effort here tells me that Schatz is on his game and will likely be up front again on Saturday night.

Greg Hodnett found the speed again and went flag-to-flag from the pole to dominate the fifth and final heat race of the night. Combined with his poor qualifying effort though he would later start 20th in the 25-lap main event.

Six cars started the C-Main with four of them set to advance to the B and it was Josh Baughman taking the easy win. Dean Jacobs finished in the third spot, but failed to report to the scales so that allowed Danny Smith to continue his night.

Only three of the top ten qualifiers, Pittman, Jamie Veal and Schatz were able to come from the fourth row and transfer from the heats so that meant that the other seven, Sammy Swindell, Ian Madsen, Danny Holtgraver, Lynton Jeffrey, Brian Brown, Craig Dollansky and A.J. Moeller would line up at the front of the B-Main where only four advance. After a spirited early battle with Madsen, Swindell pulled away and went on to win while the race for fourth was very entertaining. Craig Dollansky was holding the position, but Jason Sides had found something on the bottom and was closing quickly. With six laps remaining Sides pulled even going down the front stretch only to have Dollansky pinch him off at the entrance of turn one to maintain the final transfer. With his momentum altered momentarily Sides gave up the fifth position to Brian Brown over the final laps, but both of them would have to start making plans for Friday instead of running the A.

For Brown this is a huge turnaround over the past couple of Nationals when he was the primary challenger to Schatz and was ready to breakthrough, much the same as Schatz did after a couple of near misses here. With the new Friday night format, Brian has a chance to come back and get qualified for the Championship race by finishing in the top four of the Friday night feature, however the past has shown that if one of the qualifying nights gets rained out, the format goes back to the old method where the Friday, or "Non-Qualifier" feature winner earns the 11th starting spot in Saturday's C-Main. Brown, and many other drivers, are praying for no rain tonight (Thursday).

Right about now I was getting chills listening to Outlaws announcer Johnny Gibson giving his familiar call - Barry Johnson photo

Wednesday's feature was spectacular with plenty of action throughout the field plus an epic mid-race battle for the lead between the guy in the black hat and the handsome young hero. Jeff Swindell who is looking to make his first Nationals A-Main since 1999 was the early leader off the pole until Shane Stewart threw a slider at him in turns one and two on lap ten. Stewart literally cleared the front of Swindell's car by an inch or two and when the veteran driver tried to come back at him in turn three that allowed Schatz to push him back to third on the following lap.

The caution waved a lap later when the left rear wheel came off of Lynton Jeffrey's car and it was then punted by the right rear tire of Johnny Herrera's ride. The wheel took off like a rocket, but fortunately a catch fence that has just in the past year or two been heightened off turn two caught the flying wheel and kept it in "the ballpark".

The race for the lead took full attention following the restart as Stewart used both lines to try to ward off Schatz. Donny pulled even with him on the front stretch on lap twelve only to have Stewart slide back up in front of him in turn two. And then in turns three and four it was Schatz throwing the slider only to have Stewart turn back under him and the two again raced down the front stretch side-by-side. When Shane again slid up the track to shut the door it seemed to settle that battle until the caution waved on lap seventeen for Herrera who had slowed due to damage from his encounter with the loose wheel. (Insert bad Kenny Rogers joke here if you must)

I expected another run from Schatz on this final restart, but this time he could not get to Stewart to even consider trying a slider on the leader over the final eight laps and the crowd roared their approval as the guy in the white hat, Shane Stewart scored the win. Schatz was second, Chad Kemenah rounded out a solid night in third, Daryn Pittman's fourth place finish helped him to be to high point man on the night and Jamie Veal continued to impress in fifth. But perhaps the most impressive and barely noticed drive of the night was from Greg Hodnett who came from the tenth row to finish sixth. Even with that run though his qualifying time buried him in 19th for the points tally from night one so he too will be praying for no rain on Thursday. Jeff Swindell faded to seventh and his point total should at least lock him into the first five rows of Saturday night's B-Main or, if it rains out Thursday, perhaps that last row of the Championship feature under the old format. So there is at least one driver who wants it to rain tonight! Pole sitter Wayne Johnson finished eighth, Rico Abreu advanced five spots to ninth and Dusty Zomer filled out the top ten.


Okay, so he is wearing a black hat in victory lane, but you get the premise! - Barry Johnson photo

Showing that a good qualifying time is better than a top ten feature finish, Sammy Swindell is sixth in points after finishing 13th in the feature and Craig Dollansky is on the bubble spot, 8th in points after night one following an 11th-place feature run after starting 24th. Remember that under the new (no rain outs) format, the top sixteen in points after both nights are locked into the Championship race.

After the delayed start the show was run along in a nice fashion with the final checkered flag waving just past 10:30. However, with the area under a Flash Flood Watch for tonight and a squall line predicted to develop and march through later, track officials will have to be in hurry up mode just like they were one week ago under a similar weather threat. Will an 8:58 p.m. checkered flag be able to beat the rain?

Hopefully that won't be the test and I do hope to see you tonight, and the rest of the weekend in Knoxville!

Shane Stewart on his way to victory Wednesday night at the 5 Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals - Barry Johnson photo

Simpson and Hinrichs Wire-to-Wire on "Tornado Tuesday" at West Liberty

With building heat and humidity plus a lightning fast racing surface, it was a hard night on man and machine as the West Liberty Raceway and Coors Light presented its annual "Tornado Tuesday" featuring the Midwest Late Model Racing Association (MLRA) Late Models racing for a $10,000 top prize. IMCA sanctioned Late Models served as the support class with $1,000 going to the winner and despite the posted purse, the car counts in both divisions were smaller than expected.

Twenty-four MLRA Late Models signed in and from the first heat race it was pretty obvious who the man to beat would be. Chris Simpson had raced his way to a $10,000 win the night before in Farley and he stormed to the front in tonight's opening qualifier after starting fifth and drove away from last night's runner-up Ryan Gustin. Nick Marolf looked strong as well running away with heat number two and young Spencer Diercks made it an Iowa sweep as he walked away with a win in heat race number three.

The passing points system firmly planted Simpson on the pole for the 50-lap main event and he moved out to a quick lead at the drop of Doug Haack's green flag. Marolf was able to keep pace though, and what a fast pace it was as the two leaders were clicking off laps in the low 19 second range around the big half-mile. Lapped traffic came into play quickly on lap six and while exiting turn two on lap seven Simpson had to stand on the binders to keep from getting into Jay Johnson. This allowed Marolf to close the gap and when the leader went to the middle groove to split a pair of lapped cars coming out of turn four Marolf saw his chance. With a big run coming on the outside Marolf aimed for the cushion entering turn one, but when the lapped car of Matt Furman went for the same spot Marolf went over the cushion and slammed hard into the turn one wall.

The disappointed driver climbed out from the car uninjured and, after inspecting the damage, he turned away the wrecker and drove the car to the pit area.

On the restart series regular Brantlee Gotschall smacked the turn three wall and then limped to a stop just after the eighth lap was scored and on the ensuing restart defending MLRA champion Terry Phillips moved to second and tried to maintain the pace being set by Simpson. A caution for J.C. Wyman closed the gap again on lap sixteen, but again Simpson pulled away and then a pair of cautions for first Jason Utter and then Jesse Stovall on lap twenty-four again gave Phillips a chance to make a move, but there was no touching the leader.

Only twelve cars remained in action at mid-race and the attrition continued as two drivers who were in the top five for most of the event, Diercks and Gustin both pulled to the infield on lap 35 and 36 respectively. The top rookie on the series, Tad Pospisil slowed with a flat tire with four laps remaining and after a quick change he was back for the restart, but the story was the same as Chris Simpson pulled way for his second big paycheck in a row. Phillips was second, Jesse Stovall battled his way back up to third, Denny Eckrich found the bottom groove to his liking in the second half of the race and came from 17th to finish fourth just ahead of his older brother and MLRA regular Dave Eckrich. Tyler Bruening finished in sixth, Pospisil was seventh, Brent Larson passed Joel Callahan for eighth on the final lap and those were the nine cars that made it to the checkers.

Kevin Kile and Chad Holladay had both looked dominant in winning the IMCA Late Model heat races, but front row starters Kyle Hinrichs and Cayden Carter pulled away in the early stages of the 35-lap main event. As Carter kept Hinrichs in his sights, the race to watch was further back as Nick Marolf, Holladay and Jonathan Brauns raced three-wide at times for position. Kile was running third, but losing ground to the leaders when he pulled to the infield on lap 22 and just when it looked like Carter was closing in to challenge for the lead he jumped the cushion in turn one with ten laps to go and gave up a lot of ground.

As the laps ticked down in the non-stop event Carter had again closed to within five car-lengths, but there would be no catching Hinrichs on this night as he secured the win. Marolf, who was the only driver doing double-duty, finished in third while Holladay nursed home a sick sounding motor in fourth. Daulton Maassen was two laps down to the field in fifth. Brauns was sixth, Kile seventh, Ron Boyse eighth , Rob Moss ninth and Andy Eckrich was the first to retire from the event in tenth.

Tornado Tuesday Notes......Mike Fryer had a nice run going in third during the third MLRA heat race before a tire went flat......The black 33 of Nick Marolf was on the track a lot tonight as not only did Nick do double duty, Matt Furman also made a brief appearance in the second MLRA heat driving Marolf's IMCA car for a couple of laps before pulling in. Furman's tow vehicle was soon after spotted arriving late and he would then start his own car #51 in the feature......Maassen's car #8D got a work out as not only did he go 33 laps in the IMCA main, but J.C. Wyman also drove it in the MLRA feature after mechanical issues on his own car. I figured that it would be a start and park scenario, but Wyman actually passed a couple of cars with the spec engine and stayed on the track until his caution on lap sixteen.....Maassen who is from the southwest Iowa town of Avoca made a three-day swing out of it by racing at the weekly show in Dubuque on Sunday before going to Farley and West Liberty.......The final checkers waved at 9:05 and the MLRA now heads north to the Deer Creek Speedway in Minnesota for a Wednesday show before a Friday and Saturday doubleheader at the Junction Motor Speedway in Nebraska.

While the $10,000 winner's purse kept "national" drivers Mason Zeigler, Tyler Erb and Billy Moyer in the area after the USA Nationals for the Farley show, they all headed for home on Tuesday leaving West Liberty with a driver roster that would have likely been the same for a $3,000-to-win MLRA sanctioned show. Those 24 did provide some thrills, especially at the speeds that the smooth and tacky surface allowed on this night, so for this fan there were no regrets about where I spent my Tuesday night, but it will be interesting to see if promoter Keith Simmons makes any changes to this doubleheader in 2017. Perhaps peeling some money off of the top and bulking up the pay for positions 12 through 24 might increase the number of regional drivers since the National guys apparently don't want to stick around after three nights at Cedar Lake. Also, if you make 12th pay, for example, $25 more than 13th and 13th pays $25 more than 14th, and so on, it might keep a few more cars on the track for the entire distance rather than having the non-MLRA regulars drop out when they decide that 12th on back is the best that they can do on the night. And, in regard to the IMCA Late Models, perhaps they are not the division to run as support to this show. Bruening, Callahan, Jay Johnson and Justin Kay are all IMCA competitors who chose to race in the "open" class instead tonight which helps one, but hurts the other. Yes, the combination is a Late Model fan's dream, but that $1,000-to-win purse would have likely pulled in twice as many Modifieds or Sport Mods.

Either way, it is great to see the Open Late Models fly around one of my all-time favorite tracks and I thank Simmons Promotions for making that happen! I look forward to working with Keith, Kevin, Doug and the entire SPI crew next Tuesday night when the Deery Brothers Summer Series takes on the highbanks at the Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway on August 16th.

________________________________________________________________________

I was deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Bryan Clauson on Monday morning. He was an incredible talent with a humble personality and, while I never had the opportunity to get to know him personally, I did get a chance each August to see how he interacted with his friends and family. Bryan's fiance Lauren has sat in the same section as us at the Knoxville Nationals for many years now and of course after she started dating Bryan he would join her in the stands on the nights that he wasn't racing either there, or somewhere else on the road with USAC. He was a star who was just "one of the gang" there in the stands and it was obvious that he was someone that people just wanted to be around. Clauson won the ASCS National Series event at Badlands Motor Speedway on Sunday July 31st and he was the USAC Midget feature winner in Solomon, Kansas last Wednesday night. My last time to see him in competition was Thursday night in Knoxville at the 360 Nationals and he was leading the Belleville Midget Nationals at the time of his crash on Saturday night. Bryan will be missed greatly by all and the tribute video on the USAC Racing Facebook page still brings tears to my eyes as I watch it today.

The Sprint Car that he drove last Thursday paced the field at Monday's Front Row Challenge in Oskaloosa and you can bank on the fact that everybody will keep his memory close to their hearts as the Five Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals starts its four night run tonight.

Rest in Peace BC