Macedo would start to the outside of Cole Duncan on the front row for the twenty lap main event and after going side by side through turns one and two it would be Duncan who would take the lead on lap one. Macedo would make a run at Duncan for the lead in turn three on the second lap that came up short and he was poised to take another shot just before the caution waved on lap three when A.J. Moeller spun in turn two.
Terry McCarl had just swept past Joey Saldana for the third spot, but going back to the last scored lap Saldana would line up ahead of McCarl for the restart. With Macedo again on the challenge, he and Duncan both slid high in turn two and Saldana took advantage driving under both of them down the back stretch to take the lead.
Joey would put some distance on Macedo who had moved to second only to have that gap close up as the leader reeled in the back of the field. As Saldana competed lap ten he found himself trapped behind Skylar Prochaska and Tom Lenz who were racing wheel to wheel into turn one. This broke Saldana's momentum and Macedo flew by him coming off turn two much to the delight of the crowd that you could hear cheering over the motors.
Lapped traffic would give Saldana a chance to return the favor with a few laps remaining, but Macedo made the moves that he needed to stay out front and take the win. Saldana was disappointed with losing the race and noted that the winner had co-pilot tonight in Jason. Terry McCarl tried several lines on the wide and racy surface, but had to settle for third. Tim Kaeding was close behind in fourth and young Gio Scelzi earned enough points to put him on the front row with Saldana for Saturday's finale by finishing fifth. Duncan faded to sixth, Brooke Tatnell moved from the seventh row to finish seventh, Harli White had a solid showing in eighth, Wayne Johnson finished ninth and Johnny Herrera was tenth.
Friday Notes........Going out early in qualifying was necessary to be at the top again tonight as the third driver out Nate Van Haaften set quick time. The local favorite then had a nice run in his heat race coming from sixth to third, but later dropped to eighteenth in the feature. His point total for the night though was still good enough to start him thirteenth in Saturday A-Main.......With only the top thirty in qualifying making the invert for the five heat races, several top contenders buried themselves early including defending champion Clint Garner who posted the 34th best time despite going out 28th in the 48 car field. Garner started seventh and was chasing down Duncan for the fourth and final transfer in the forth heat to come up just short......Chris Martin pinched off Macedo into turn three on the opening lap of the second heat and then drove away for the win......Davey Heskin, Roger Crockett and Mark Dobmeier were three of the four drivers starting behind the six car invert in heat three with Dobmeier finishing the best of those three in sixth as Jack Dover took the win. That race started off well for veteran driver Tom Lenz who initially dropped from second to fourth at the drop of the green only to sweep around the outside in turns one and two to take the lead. If not for a bobble exiting turn four mid-race Lenz would have been the surprise win of the night, but he held on to take third......Speaking of veteran drivers, Johnny Herrera and Jeff Swindell battled for the lead through the first half of the fourth heat with Terry McCarl looking for racing room. Herrera, a two-time Knoxville track champion would take the win.......Chad Kemenah's motor sounded a bit sour as he faded out of the top four in his heat race and even though it still wasn't up to full son Kemenah came up just short of making the A when he couldn't catch Seth Bergman for the final transfer from the B-Main.
A Thursday observation or two......For the second year in a row I had to miss the 360 Nationals opener due to business travel on the east coast. While it is disappointing I always remember that the job is what allows me to get to as many races as I do, so it will always come first! My flight left Lynchburg, Virginia, less than an hour before the storms arrived that dumped more than six inches of rain and caused flooding that made it the lead story on Friday's Good Morning America......While waiting out the delays in Charlotte I was able to follow Thursday's action on the Knoxville Raceway App and after Tony Stewart posted the fast time early the track quickly feel off......It was noteworthy that Thomas Kennedy was the final car out to qualify and for him to post the 13th best time showed that he was strong......I wish that I could have been there to watch Sammy Swindell's charge through the field from eleventh as he was there to challenge Kennedy on the final lap, but the Canadian slammed the door shut on Sammy to take the win. Coincidentally Sammy will start Saturday night's A-Main from eleventh. Can he do it again?
From the Knoxville Raceway website the Saturday night lineups follow. Come on out for what should be an excellent night of action!
Saturday’s 28th Annual Knoxville 360 Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank Lineups
A main
 |
| Joey Saldana - All photos by Barry Johnson |
2 71 Gio Scelzi 485
3 24 Terry McCarl 484
4 21 Brian Brown 484
5 27 Greg Hodnett 482
6 3K Tim Kaeding 480
7 41 Carson Macedo 475
8 21K Thomas Kennedy 473
9 5J Jamie Ball 467
10 33M Mason Daniel 464
11 3S Sammy Swindell 463
12 2C Wayne Johnson 463
13 3 Nate Van Haaften 460
14 53 Joe Beaver 459
15 28 Scott Bogucki 456
16 7 Carson McCarl 456
17 12N Cole Duncan 455
 |
| Terry McCarl |
19 41S Dominic Scelzi 454
20 44S Trey Starks 454
B main
1 17WX Shane Golobic 451
2 9 Ryan Giles 450
3 14T Brooke Tatnell 450
4 17W Harli White 449
5 45X Johnny Herrera 446
6 7C John Carney II 445
7 14 Tony Stewart 444
8 53D Jack Dover 440
9 23 Seth Bergman 440
 |
| Greg Hodnett |
11 7W Tasker Phillips 435
12 09 Matt Juhl 431
13 20 AJ Moeller 429
14 99 Skylar Gee 427
15 4J Lee Grosz 426
16 5H Sammy Walsh 423
17 55 McKenna Haase 418
18 94 Jeff Swindell 417
19 18 Ryan Roberts 417
20 15H Sam Hafertepe Jr. 416
C main
1 28C Jonathan Cornell 412
 |
| Jamie Ball |
3 88 Scottie McDonald 408
4 95 Matt Covington 406
5 13V Seth Brahmer 406
6 2M Matt Moro 405
7 8L Tom Lenz 404
8 23D Devon Dobie 403
9 4 Jon Agan 395
10 22H Randy Hannagan 394
11 35 Skylar Prochaska 393
12 10H Chad Kemenah 385
13 70 Calvin Landis 385
14 76 Brad Comegys 376
15 25 Dylan Peterson 376
 |
| Mason Daniel |
17 02 Don Droud Jr. 366
18 40 Clint Garner 360
19 47X Dylan Westbrook 360
20 7M Chance Morton 354
D main
1 3P Sawyer Phillips 352
2 35L Cody Ledger 352
3 56N Davey Heskin 351
4 75 Tyler Blank 348
5 17H Jared Horstman 346
6 15 Christian Bowman 345
7 11 Roger Crockett 340
8 21AU Jordyn Brazier 336
9 63 Geoff Ensign 335
10 24N Nathan Mills 335
11 98 Chris Masters 332
12 2X Tucker Doughty 331
13 13JM Jordan Martens 331
14 57 Billy Butler 327
15 22M Shawn Murray 325
16 29 Willie Croft 325
17 13 Mark Dobmeier 323
18 17 Mitch Faccinto 320
19 1 Travis Rilat 318
20 2K Kevin Ingle 316
E main
1 86 Tony Bruce Jr. 316
2 13M Josh Higday 316
3 52 Blake Hahn 313
4 57B Bobby Butler 312
5 77X Alex Hill 311
6 07 Michael Bookout 302
7 17X Josh Baughman 298
8 17B Ryan Bickett 297
9 26S Dalton Steed 279
10 1A John Anderson 273
11 49 Scott Kruetter 27
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