Sheppard Scores Friday Win At Quad Cities 150

Brandon Sheppard took command after a lap one restart and paced the field for all forty laps to win the second night of qualifying for the Quad Cities 150 presented by Hoker Trucking Friday night at the Davenport Speedway.

Sheppard would nip pole-sitter Jason Feger at the line to lead the opening lap before the only caution of the race waved when Richie Gustin and Dennis Erb Jr. tangled in turn one. On the restart Sheppard would go to the top line around the quarter-mile as did Bobby Pierce who moved from fifth to second on the restart and soon the entire twenty-four car field was riding the rim.

Thursday's winner Devin Moran started eighth on this night and he would throw a couple of sliders at Feger for third until one finally stuck around lap ten and that may have been the final pass of the race. Last night the low line was dominant, but tonight everybody went to the top and once the rubber was laid down not a single driver chose to even try another line. Sheppard would catch the back of the field on lap seventeen and he never made an attempt to pass a lapped car for fear of leaving the fast line.

The high side parade would end with Sheppard taking the win over Pierce, Moran and Feger with Chris Madden wrapping up the top five. For the second night in a row during the re-draw drivers wondered what they might do to the track during intermission only to have it go untouched making me wonder if the World of Outlaws might have been making that call. This is just not how we have seen the Davenport Speedway race over the past couple of years.

The twenty lap Modified feature would be up next and they would have a tough time getting started as four cars piled up in turn three as the green flag started to wave, and on the second try a five care melee would see Matt Werner's car put up onto its side in turn two. While waiting for a third start I realized that there were four former All Iowa Points Champions in the field. Details on that at the end

When the race was able to stay green pole-sitter Tom Berry Jr. would go to the top for the first lap before driving down low to chop off the challenge from Mike McKinney. The caution would wave again on lap five when Dustin Smith spun in turn and after the restart Berry would start to pull away while still working the bottom.

Then for some reason the defending IMCA Modified National Champion went back up to the top allowing McKinney to reel him back in, but before he could make the pass Berry would go back down to the bottom to block. On lap twelve the leader slipped a bit exiting turn four and McKinney was there to pounce and he would pace the final eight circuits to score the win. Normally a UMP racer, McKinney appears to be in Ryan Duhme's IMCA car for the weekend with a nice looking 96m (thanks to my Positively Racing colleague Ed Reichert for pointing that out) on it and perhaps we would have heard McKinney confirm that during his victory lane interview if not for the muffled sound system that seems to be a symptom of the DirtVision broadcast for the weekend. Translation, we have never had a problem hearing the sound system here during our other visits the past two seasons.

Denny Eckrich, who spent much of the event riding the high line, moved down low over the closing laps to pass Berry late for second. Chris Simpson used the high line throughout to finish fourth and Brad Dierks scored his second straight fifth place finish.

The fifteen lap Sport Mod feature struggled through four cautions in the first five laps and the fifth and final stoppage occurred when Aaron Hitt, Trey Grimm and Nathan Balensiefen were racing three wide for third as the Sport Mods were using all of the track. Grimm would go for a spin and apparently Hitt was pinned with the blame as he would also go to the rear of the field for the restart.

Ryan Reed would hug the bottom throughout to take the apparent win after starting on the pole, but a check of the results as I write this shows that he was disqualified handing the win over to Ben Chapman. This would put Brandon Jewell in second at the pay window, the driver who started the race from twenty-second while Thursday's winner Logan Veloz came from eleventh to third. Balensiefen would take the fourth spot and Todd Dykema would finish fifth. (Saturday morning update, Reed was disqualified for an illegal shock)

The Quad Cities 150 will wrap up on Saturday night with the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Models lined up for their heat races by the points accumulated on Thursday and Friday. Without 36 cars taking two laps each of qualifying perhaps it will allow for the type of surface that we are used to seeing here at Davenport as the seventy lap finale will pay a whopping $30,000 to the winner.

The four former All Iowa Points Champions who lined up for the Modified feature were:

2020 Modified Champion Tom Berry Jr.

2001 and 2002 Late Model Champion Denny Eckrich

1984 Sportsman Champion and 2003 Late Model Champion Jeff Aikey, and

2011 Stock Car Champion Timmy Current

The 1983 Stock Champion Bob Dominacki did not make a transfer out of his B-Main

Social commitments will keep me away from the tracks the remainder of this weekend and next, but I do hope to make the trip up to Farley next Wednesday September 1st for the Season Championship at the 300 Raceway.

The season is slipping away, get out and support the tracks of your choice!

Quad Cities 150 Opener To Moran

Upon arrival at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds on Thursday evening you could smell it in the air, this was a big show atmosphere all the way from a pit area full of big rigs, to the food trucks setup along side the stage where post-race concerts will be held, to Souvenir Row, something new that has not been configured in this manner here before. Yes, with the support of title sponsor Hoker Trucking and so many more supporters who wanted to help them take this step, K Promotions has made the Davenport Speedway a "destination facility" for big-time Late Model racing with the three-day Quad Cities 150 featuring the World of Outlaws.

The cool thing about this is that they didn't just do it overnight. I don't think that Ricky and Brenda Kay ever dreamed of being race promoters, but when the opportunity came up they took it and despite all of the normal challenges that race promoters must face, they also had to deal with Covid and the restrictions that came along with it. In a roundabout way though, the virus likely had something to do with where we are now as when the World of Outlaws rented the facility to hold a Pay Per View event with no fans in the stands on May 30th of 2020, a controversial photo finish between Brandon Sheppard and Ricky Thornton Jr. showed the entire Late Model nation what this wide quarter-mile was capable of. Throw in a huge grandstand and a central location with a large local fan base to start with and we started to see more Super Late Model events pop up on the schedule.

Race by race the track's reputation grew and when we were here in July for a Tuesday night MARS show two of the best in the sport made it well known that they were there that night because of all the great things that they had heard about the place, and you had a sense that they were lobbying to get "their series" on the schedule in the future. After all, they can't be here for this three-day extravaganza because "their series" is racing in Pennsylvania this weekend.

When you make your way to Davenport tonight and, or Saturday make sure to bring your appetite, your dancing shoes, a couple of extra twenties to grab a souvenir, and be ready for some great racing action because the Davenport Speedway has made it to the elite status.

So let's get to Thursday's racing where 38 Late Models, 30 IMCA Modifieds and 25 IMCA Sport Mods were in action with the same three classes racing through the tripleheader. One other thing that you can count on as a fan here at Davenport is that the show will be run off quickly as the track does operate under a curfew and likely because of that the forty lap Late Model feature was first on the schedule.

Chris Madden and Devin Moran would bring the twenty-four car field to green and in true Davenport Speedway fashion they would swap the lead back and forth over the first three laps. Moran would then settle in as the leader with Bobby Pierce soon dropping Madden to third and taking up the chase of the leader, Cautions for Ryan Gustin on lap six and for Jason Feger on lap twelve slowed the field, but on each restart Moran would maintain the advantage.

Photo courtesy of Dennis Krieger (DK Images)

Usually during intermission Ricky and the Dirt Doctor will make some kind of a tweak to the racing surface, but on this night they left it alone and by mid-race it was now evident that the low line was dominant. With Pierce still chasing, Moran closed in on the soon to be lapped car of Feger on lap twenty-seven and after a couple of laps of following him, Moran tried to squeeze under Feger in turn three.

Surprisingly Feger did not yield an inch, even slamming the door on the leader and that gave Pierce one opportunity to peak his nose under the leader going down the back stretch, but Moran fought it off and then held his line to the checkers. Pierce finished second, Frank Heckenasrt Jr. raced from seventh to third, Shannon Babb moved from eighth to fourth while Nick Hoffman in the Bloomquist Racing #0 finished where he started in fifth. Cade Dillard dropped from third to sixth, Brandon Sheppard was seventh after establishing a new track record of 13.588 seconds earlier in the evening, Jimmy Mars finished eighth, Boom Briggs came from the eleventh row to finish ninth and Chris Madden who stubbornly stayed on the top the entire race faded to tenth. 

The Sport Mods and Modifieds would then hustle in their features just past the ten o'clock hour. Decorah visitor Jimmy Broszeit had his hands full with challenges from both Logan Veloz and Brandon Jewell in the early going of the fifteen lap Sport Mod main event with Veloz nosing ahead for the lead on lap six just before the lone caution of the race waved for a spin in turn three. Once back to green Veloz was able to ease away to take the $750 victory over Broszeit and Jewell with Todd Dykema and Ben Chapman filling out the top five.

In the twenty lap Modified finale pole-sitter Jordan Hicks would lead the way with constant pressure from Timmy Current. On lap thirteen while trying to navigate around a lapped car entering turn one, Hicks went in a bit higher leaving the door open for Current. But when he also tried to squeeze under the lapper, Timmy would run out room in turn two clipping one track tire that marks the infield before smacking the tire that sits at the exit of the corner sending him into a spin.

Following the restart Tim Ward was now in second, but when he went to explore the high side he would lose a couple of positions before Kory Meyer spun in turn three with three laps remaining. On this restart the high line started to work for Ward as he battled his way back up to second and if the race would have been a lap or two longer he might been able to make a run at the winner Jordan Hicks. Mitch Morris was steady in the third spot, UMP star Mike McKinney, in what I believe to be one of his first IMCA starts in a sharp #96m sponsored by Hoker Trucking, raced his way up from eleventh to fourth while Brad Dierks took fifth.

The band sounded good belting out a Luke Combs hit as I walked to the car and perhaps I will stick around to have a long neck ice cold beer and listen to some music after tonight's races. I am really excited to return for tonight's show as I know that Dr. Al and Ricky will make sure that this surface has multiple grooves to choose from for tonight's headliner. 

You won't want to miss it!

Big Brother Eckrich Puts It In Victory Lane At CJ

It was an interesting night in Columbus Junction for the three racing Eckrich brothers. One earned the pole position for the thirty lap Late Model feature, another had a feature win in his grasp only to make an uncommon mistake near the end and the eldest, after losing the lead late in the race, fought back to take his first career win with the SLMR series.

The first feature to the track on this sweltering Thursday evening at the CJ Speedway was the twenty lap Modified headliner that saw Jarrett Brown race out to the early advantage. Just last week Brown wrapped up his second straight track title here and with a rare front row starting spot he had to be feeling pretty good about his chances. Denny Eckrich was on the charge though and just after seeing the crossed flags from starter Doug Haack indicating the halfway mark, Eckrich made a nifty move that started by pounding the cushion in turn one. He then aimed for the bottom to exit turn two and with a big run down the back straightaway Eckrich would dive under Brown entering turn three.

It looked like this was going to be a classic slide job to pinch off the high riding Brown, but Denny made it stick in the middle and he would take over the lead on lap eleven. From there it appeared that this one was all but over as Eckrich pulled away while Brown now had to contend with Cayden Carter in the race for second. After taking the two laps to go signal though, Eckrich would surprisingly spin in turn two and as he tried to keep the car moving to stay in the race both Brown and Carter would drive by.

The caution would then come out and with the former leader going to the back, the field would line up double file for the restart with Brown on the inside and Carter on the outside. Cayden would then take the lead through turns one and two and he would complete the victory stating in victory lane that sometimes it is just good to be lucky. Brown would come home in second with Derrick Stewart in third. Quincy visitor Jeff Waterman finished fourth and Kyle Madden filled out the top five.

The Stock Cars were up next for twenty laps and with Dallon Murty drawing the pole position this one figured to be a race for second. Johnny Spaw and David Brandies kept pace with the young phenom in the early stages, but the man on the move was the leader's father, Damon Murty who had started sixth and was steadily making his way to the front. By mid-race the father was stalking the son and Damon appeared to have a run going on the top of three and four just as the caution waved for Kirk Kinsley's spin in turn two.

The field was restarted with eight laps to go and again Damon would stick close to Dallon waiting for a mistake and that would come just after the white flag waved. Racing through turns one and two Dallon made one slight bobble on the cushion and since Damon had already aimed the car for the bottom he was able to drive under for the lead and the eventual win. Score one for the older generation! Dallon was soon there to join his dad in victory to celebrate while Spaw, Brandies and eleventh starting Corey Strothman filled out the top five.

The SLMR East Series headliner would be up next for thirty laps with the brothers Andy and Dave Eckrich earning the front row starting spots. Andy would pace the first couple of laps before older brother Dave went storming by and the night's quick qualifier Chad Holladay would soon move to second to take up the chase. Dave would maintain control until lap eighteen when he caught up with Ron Boyse at the back of the field and with the track taking rubber the racing groove had become quite narrow.

Eckrich appeared to be content to hold his line for a couple of laps, but when he looked low on Boyse entering turn one that left an opening for Holladay to go driving by and take the lead on on lap twenty-one. Chad was now faced with the same temptation of trying to clear the lapped car and the top two would now be joined by Chris Simpson to make it a three car tussle for the lead. When Holladay would take a peek to the outside of Boyse in turns one and two that allowed Eckrich to pull even and the top two would race door to door down the back stretch and through turns three and four.

It would be Eckrich who would nose ahead at the line on lap twenty-four to regain the lead and he would beat Holladay to the preferred line entering turn one. With two laps remining not only did the leader finally put Boyse a lap down, but Simpson also dropped Holladay to third and Chris would make one last charge to try to steal the win. Dave would not make a mistake though as he held his line and captured his first career win with the series while also strengthening his position in the points battle. Simpson and Holladay would make the podium, Charlie McKenna finished fourth and Andy Eckrich made it bookends of brothers in the top five.

The Hoker Trucking SLMR East Series moves to the West Liberty Raceway tonight and then on to Maquoketa on Saturday.

The Sport Mods would wrap up the evening for twenty laps in a well planned order of events by promoter Larry Richardson and it would be a pair of 17's leading the pack with Shane Paris setting the pace for the first four laps before yielding to Dylan Van Wyk. Lapped traffic was coming into play mid-race just before Dan Campbell spun in front of the leaders in turn four.

The field would stack up in turn four coming to the restart and it would be the 2021 track champion here, and the current All Iowa Points leader Logan Anderson who would get the short end of the stick as he slid sideways into the infield and then snap rolled one time to bring out the red. Once back to green three more laps would be scored before the last three cars in the running order gathered in three different directions in turn four and thankfully that would be the last stoppage of the night.

There would be no touching Van Wyk over the final seven laps as the young driver from Oskaloosa scored the $1,000 victory with Paris holding down the second spot. Colton Livezy came from tenth to finish third, Austen Becerra driving Logan Cumby's #8c charged from twenty-second to fourth while Trey Rock took fifth.

A big thanks to Richardson and his entire staff at the CJ Speedway for their hospitality and here's hoping that we get another kind weather day for the annual Turkey Dash here on Saturday November 6th!

The next two nights will find me at what we like to call "The Sprint Invader Nationals" weekend starting tonight at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and Saturday night at 34 Raceway west of Burlington. Hope to see you there!

I grew up going to the MVSC races in Columbus Junction and they would always have a sign out front at the entrance of the fairgrounds letting everybody know that there are "Races Tonight". Just seeing this one brings back a ton of memories and I hope that the track never loses this tradition.

Great Weekend To Be A Race Fan In Southeast Iowa

I am a lucky race fan.

Three of my favorite dirt tracks are within 35 miles of my front door in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, however most of the time two of those tracks race on the same night.

But not this weekend!

Tonight the CJ Speedway in Columbus Junction is in action featuring the Hoker Trucking SLMR Series. Along with the one and only appearance of the Late Models this season at CJ, several sponsors have worked together with promoter Larry Richardson to make it $1,000 to win in both the Stock Cars and Sport Mods and don't be surprised to see the $750 base payout for the Modifieds jump to four figures by race time as well. While a bit on the warm side, the weather is looking good for a great Thursday night of action at the CJ Speedway.

On Friday night the action moves down to the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and how about this for a doubleheader? It will be the Drive For Five finale for the IMCA Modifieds with 16 drivers eligible to earn $5,000 if they win the feature. And, even if a Mod driver has not met the attendance requirement to earn that payoff, the winning driver would still collect a hefty $2,000 check at the pay window. The Sprint Invaders will also be on hand and there should be a nice field of the Winged 360's. Add in the Stock Cars, Sport Mods and Sport Compacts and it will be a fun and fantastic Friday of racing at LCS.

On Saturday night the Sprint Invaders will headline the action at 34 Raceway and while some in the Sprint Car world take a breather after the Knoxville Nationals, the traditional Invader doubleheader seems to always attract some surprise entrants who will be on the hunt for the $2,000 top prize. Modifieds, Stock Cars, Sport Mods and Sport Compacts will be there to do battle on the highbanks of 34 as well so I hope that you will join us there on Saturday night!

Then on Sunday I will have to make a choice between three more of my favorites: Vinton, Dubuque and East Moline.

I am a lucky race fan!

  

Larson Wins The One That He Wanted To Win

Kyle Larson has always wanted to win the Knoxville Nationals. It wasn't the same last year when he won "The One and Only" here in August, the qualifying system wasn't the same and the atmosphere at the Knoxville Raceway, or in the city of Knoxville, couldn't match the buzz that a sold out crowd brings. It wasn't allowed to. So on this Saturday night, as he stood in victory lane with an oversized wreath of flowers holding him place, you could hear the emotion in his voice as the driver who is now referred to as "The GOAT" by his peers thanked one and all who were in attendance for helping him achieve his dream of winning the Knoxville Nationals.

Even NASCAR, that in the past has bristled when Larson made it clear that Knoxville was bigger to him than Daytona, took pride in the accomplishment tweeting out its congratulations to the driver that leads the current Cup points standings and who will now race this afternoon on the road course in Indianapolis looking for his sixth win of the season. But this win was for the Sprint Car fans who have watched this young talent knowing that it would have come earlier if not for his move to Stock Cars in 2012. Yes, he had come close to winning the Nationals before while bouncing back and forth between Knoxville and his NASCAR duties, but in this the 60th running of the granddaddy of them all, Larson was focused, locked in and the odds on favorite from night one. 

And he delivered.

2021 Knoxville Nationals Champion Kyle Larson - Barry Johnson photo

With track worked being done prior to the finale the fifty lap feature started out as a single file parade around a very quick bottom as pole-sitter Gio Scelzi set the pace and was already into traffic on lap six. Ten-time champion Donny Schatz had made the big move on the start coming from fifth to second and as Scelzi left the bottom in an effort to clear traffic, Schatz would drive under him exiting turn two to take the point on lap eleven. Larson would soon drop the nineteen-year-old Scelzi to third and this would now be a two car race heading to the scheduled mid-race pit stop.

Going to the cushion on lap twenty-five Larson would sail around Schatz to take the lead and after lap twenty-six was scored Schatz had a similar run off the top on Larson just before the caution waved so at "halftime" the running order would be Larson, Schatz, Scelzi, defending Nationals champion David Gravel and Brent Marks.

When the cars returned to the track for the restart though Marks, along with Brooke Tatnell were each penalized two positions for continuing to work on their cars after time had expired. One lap would be scored before Rico Abreu spun at the back of the field going down the front stretch and once back to green the top of the historic half-mile was now fast, but also treacherous in turn one and that became evident when both Brian Brown and Tyler Courtney took a tumble there on lap twenty-nine.

Two laps after the restart Gravel's race would go up in smoke while running third after fuel issues choked off his powerplant and when he drove to the infield the race would stay green. Larson was now leaving Schatz and the rest of the field in his wake as the lead grew to more than a straightaway, but as the lap counter dropped below ten Larson had settled in on the bottom and was now longer catching the final car on the lead lap Shane Stewart. 

Leaving a nice gap between he and Stewart, Kyle would later confirm that he was watching the big video board to monitor his advantage over Schatz and with the track now taking rubber on the bottom he did not want to make any mistakes. Both Schatz and the 2018 champ Brad Sweet closed quickly on Larson and with three laps to go Schatz gave the middle of turns three and four a try only to lose some ground on the leader. Donny would again close in quickly and on the final lap with the capacity crowd coming to its feet Schatz would pull nearly even with Larson in turn four, but with the bite that he knew that he would have off the bottom, Kyle would pull him down the front straightaway to the checkers and the win of his dreams.

The reception for Schatz had a few more cheers than jeers as he was interviewed as the runner-up while Sweet had to battle back to third after getting a slow start from the outside of row one. The youngest driver to ever earn the pole at the Nationals, Scelzi finished fourth and will be a contender for years to come while Logan Schuchart completed the top five after starting eighth. Marks was solid all week taking the sixth spot, James McFadden moved from thirteenth to seventh while his car owner Kasey Kahne followed him in for eighth driving the Roth Motorsports car for the week. Carson Macedo who charged from seventeenth to eighth in the first half of the race dropped one spot to ninth and Sheldon Haudenschild who made the move of the night earlier just to qualify came from twentieth to tenth.

The finish of the B-Main was spectacular as the final four qualifiers for the Championship race were determined. Macedo had already taken the checkered flag well ahead of the next four drivers who were all charging to the checkered flag along with the lapped car of Josh Baughman. Kerry Madsen and Cory Eliason were wheel-to-wheel for second and after giving up the fourth spot to Sheldon Haudenschild in turns one and two of the final lap, Spencer Bayston had a run off the top of turn four and was now ahead of Sheldon midway down the front stretch. With those two drivers in a drag race to the finish line that is positioned near the end of the straightaway they were closing quick on Madsen, Eliason and Baughman who were likely easing up a bit as they saw the checkers.

To avoid hitting the back of Eliason, Haudenshild turned hard left aiming for the push off road inside of the berm in turn one and with that move he would nip Bayston by 0.008 seconds for the fourth and final transfer position. Talk about an appetizer!

The C-Main also had some last lap drama as Sawyer Phillips charged around the outside of Carson McCarl to steal fourth joining Hunter Schuerenberg, Rookie of the Nationals Ayrton Gennetten and Harli White in the transfer to the B-Main.

Jack Dover prevailed in a back and forth battle with Dustin Selvage to win the D-Main and Jason Sides was dominant in his E-Main victory.

After a year off I know that I sure appreciated being back for the Nationals even more than usual and you had the sense that everybody in attendance felt the same as it was a festive atmosphere all four nights. A big thank you to Kendra Jacobs and the entire staff at the Knoxville Raceway who work their tails off all throughout the year to make this event the greatest there is in Sprint Car racing and, as always I have to thank my Positively Racing colleague Barry Johnson, his wife Stephanie and daughter Aidan for the hospitality they have given to my son Morgan and I for nearly three decades now.

That year off also made us realize just how much of a "racing family" reunion this is and we have the best in the Nachbors; Keith, Jeff, Sean, Sam and Ethan. Thank you so much for the food, fun and friendship, we can't wait to do it all again in 2022!

Next up will be the rescheduled Hoker Trucking SLMR East Series race at the CJ Speedway on Thursday night followed by what we call the "Sprint Invader Nationals" weekend with Friday night action at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and Saturday night thunder at 34 Raceway west of Burlington.

Hope to see you there!  

Abreu, Macri, Stewart and Zearfoss Lock In On Hard Knox Friday

Despite running fifth in Thursday night's qualifying feature, Rico Abreu's point total was one shy of putting him in to Saturday night's program so it was only fitting that the popular driver would come back on Friday to take the win and lock himself in to tonight's Championship feature.

Lining up on the front row next to one of his heroes, Jac Haudenschild who is driving a car that Rico has funded in 2021, it would be "The Wild Child" that would race out to the early lead in the night's twenty-five lap main event. With Jac running low in one and two and high in three and four, Rico would take the opposite line and on lap six Abreu would take the lead and immediately drive away.

The only caution of the race would wave on lap eleven when Ayrton Gennetten coasted to a halt in turn two and on the restart Rico would again pull away from his competition as the battle for the remaining three "transfer" spots heated up. Anthony Macri would take up the chase in second while Shane Stewart continued his charge from eleventh up to third. The enthusiastic crowd was doing their best to cheer on Haudenschild who was still in fourth, but with three laps remaining Brock Zearfoss was able to make the pass and earn the position as the top four will start in the final two rows of tonight's fifty lap finale. Scott Bogucki who had started thirteenth finished fifth and that will now land him on the sixth row for Saturday's B-Main that will determine the final four starters for the Championship.

Friday Notes.....The sixty-nine drivers were split into two groups with Group A qualifying and running heats one, two and three while Group B qualified and raced in heats four, five and six. Four cars were inverted in each heat race and the top three finishers advanced to the feature and then each group had a B-Main with three cars stating at the back of the field......Austin McCarl stopped on the track with nose wing issues at the start of the first heat and after making repairs he returned to action. A few laps in though McCarl's slider on Logan Wagner came up short sending both cars into a wild tumble off of turn two. Both drivers emerged uninjured.....Josh Schneiderman won his second heat race of the week dominating tonight's third qualifier. The West Burlington driver then moved from fifteenth to eleventh in the feature to put him into Saturday's B-Main......McKenna Haase fought off a side-by-side challenge from Hunter Schuerenberg and then drove away for an impressive win in the fourth heat.......It was heartbreak again for Jacob Allen fans on Friday night as the popular driver passed Sammy Swindell for third midway through heat five only to have Carson McCarl chase him down and pass Allen for the final transfer on the last lap. By the way, McCarl was the only driver on the night to come from outside of the invert to make the show from the heat races......Allen later proved that he is snake bitten this week as while leading the second B-Main his right rear tire blew apart with just two laps remaining allowing Sammy Swindell to take the win. Harli White made a big run in that one to finish second after starting eighth......In the first B-Main Roger Crockett finally prevailed making a late pass on Matt Juhl to take the third transfer spot. Crockett had challenged for third earlier in his heat race. On Wednesday night Crockett came up one spot shy of transferring out of his heat race and then was nipped by Don Droud Jr. for the final transfer from the B-Main.

The field is now set for Saturday's finale with the following coming from the Knoxville Raceway website. If you don't have tickets, the box office is sold out but you can likely still get a good seat from one of the many scalpers as you walk on to the fairgrounds!

60th NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals Presented by Casey's Saturday Championship Lineups

A MAIN

1. 18 Gio Scelzi (487) 49 Brad Sweet (481)

2. 57 Kyle Larson (480) 19 Brent Marks (479)

3. 15 Donny Schatz (477) 2 David Gravel (475)

4. 83 Kasey Kahne (475) 1S Logan Schuchart (472)

5. 21 Brian Brown (471) 49X Ian Madsen (463)

6. 0 Brooke Tatnell (460) 7BC Tyler Courtney (460)

7. 9 James McFadden (459) 7 Justin Henderson (458)

8. 73 Justin Peck (458) 48 Danny Dietrich (449)

9. B TRANSER 1 B TRANSFER 2

10. B TRANSFER 3 B TRANSFER 4

11. 24R Rico Abreu (St. Helena, CA) 39M Anthony Macri (Dillsburg, PA)

12. 71 Shane Stewart (Bixby, OK) 3Z Brock Zearfoss (Jonestown, PA)

B MAIN

1. 17X Josh Baughman (447) 41 Carson Macedo (441)

2. 42 Sye Lynch (436) 11M Spencer Bayston (435)

3. 26 Cory Eliason (433) 11K Kraig Kinser (432)

4. 5 Paul McMahan (430) 14 Kerry Madsen (430)

5. 17 Sheldon Haudenschild (428) 15H Sam Hafertepe Jr. (428)

6. 25 Scott Bogucki (McLaren Vale, SA, AU) 22 Jac Haudenschild (Wooster, OH)

7. 17W Shane Golobic (Fremont, CA) 17B Bill Balog (Hartland, WI)

8. 91 Kyle Reinhardt (Neptune City, NJ) 83J Lynton Jeffrey (Sydney, NSW, AU)

9. 49J Josh Schneiderman (West Burlington, IA) 56N Davey Heskin (St. Michael, MN)

10. 39 Daryn Pittman (Owasso, OK) 70 Sammy Swindell (Lakeland, TN)

C MAIN

1. 2C Wayne Johnson (Tuttle, OK) 55 Hunter Schuerenberg (Sikeston, MO)

2. 11N Harli White (Lindsay, OK) 28 Tim Shaffer (Aliquippa, PA)

3. 11 Roger Crockett (Broken Arrow, OK) 20 AJ Moeller (Rockwell City, IA)

4. 27 Carson McCarl (Altoona, IA) 55M McKenna Haase (Des Moines, IA)

5. 3 Ayrton Gennetten (Gravois Mills, MO) 40 Clint Garner (Sioux Falls, SD)

6. 09 Matt Juhl (Tea, SD) 3P Sawyer Phillips (Pleasantville, IA)

7. 5V Colby Copeland (Roseville, CA) 55W Mike Wagner (Harrisonville, PA)

8. 7TAZ Tasker Phillips (Pleasantville, IA) 11TK Tim Kaeding (San Jose, CA)

9. 24 Terry McCarl (Altoona, IA) 83T Tanner Carrick (Lincoln, CA)

10. N47 Marcus Dumesny (Sydney, NSW, Aust., ) 5XX Zeb Wise (Angola, IN)

D MAIN

1. 13 Mark Dobmeier (Grand Forks, ND) 53D Jack Dover (Springfield, NE)

2. 73A Scotty Thiel (Sheboygan, WI) 7W Dustin Selvage (Indianola, IA)

3. 2KS Chad Kemenah (Alvada, OH) 53 Jessie Attard (Landilo, NSW, Aust., )

4. 07 Skylar Gee (Leduc, ALB, Can., ) 44 Chris Martin (Ankeny, IA)

5. 5W Lucas Wolfe (Mechanicsburg, PA) 20G Noah Gass (Mounds, OK)

6. 55K Robbie Kendall (Catonsville, MD) 65 Jordan Goldesberry (Springfield, IL)

7. 9JR Derek Hagar (Marion, AR) 1X Jake Bubak (Arvada, CO)

8. 97 Greg Wilson (Benton Ridge, OH) 18R Ryan Roberts (Aurora, NE)

9. 1M Don Droud Jr. (Lincoln, NE) 10 Jeff Swindell (Memphis, TN)

10. 21W Riley Goodno (Knoxville, IA) 11T TJ Stutts (Liverpool, PA)

E MAIN

1. 7S Jason Sides (Bartlett, TN) 83A Austin Miller (Lacona, IA)

2. 7C John Carney II (El Paso, TX) 56 Joe Simbro (Pleasantville, IA)

3. 2DC Dylan Cisney (Port Royal, PA) 1A Jacob Allen (Hanover, PA)

4. 14K Tori Knutson (Monticello, MN) 15M Bobby Mincer (Burlington, IA)

5. 13S Tyler Esh (Lancaster, PA) 2K Kevin Ingle (Huron, SD)

6. 1Z Logan Wagner (Harrisonville, PA) 9G Ryan Giles (Grimes, IA)

7. 17A Austin McCarl (Altoona, IA) 35P Skylar Prochaska (Lakefield, MN)

8. 2M Matt Moro (Polk City, IA)

Brown Prevails On A Wild Second Night Of Qualifying At The Knoxville Nationals

Wednesday night was good, perhaps a little short of drama, intrigue and action, but Thursday night was off the charts on all three as the 60th edition of the Knoxville Nationals rolled on at the world famous Knoxville Raceway. And when all was said and done a large crowd was still abuzz and for the most part impervious that it was now 1:15 on a Friday morning, all of them ready to do it again in another eighteen hours.

One small thunderstorm around 4 p.m. was enough to delay the program by two hours and it seemed like the extra moisture added to the show, especially in qualifying. The drivers who drew the early opportunity to go on the clock did not have the advantage that has been quite obvious over the past several Nationals, including Wednesday night, and it was once again fun to hear the crowd react as drivers throughout the 48 car session put up times that would challenge the top of the list. On Wednesday night the top twenty-five qualifiers were within a half second of each other. On this night the top thirty-three were within that same half second and it would be Kasey Kahne at the top of the chart with a time of 15.142 as the sixteenth driver out to time. Kahne is behind the wheel of the Roth Motorsports #83 this week following the World of Outlaws suspension of Aaron Reutzel and while at first it would seem odd for Kahne to park his own ride for the week to take this one, the former NASCAR Cup star noted that it would allow his crew to put more focus on his drivers Brad Sweet and James McFadden.

The track crew bladed the top of both sets of turns after qualifying to make the track nice and wide for the five heat races where the top four would advance to the night's feature, never an easy feat for the top qualifiers in the eight car inverts.

The Swindell brothers, Jeff and Sammy were the first two cars out to qualify and Sammy was very disappointed with his lap that ended up 31st on the list. It did however land him on the front row of the first heat and the 65-year-old legend was a rocket leaving the field in his wake for an easy win. With scheduled pole-sitter Colby Copeland unable to start it would move the inside row up one, but not even that would allow any of the faster drivers to stay with Sammy. The battle for second was intense early between Shane Stewart, Sye Lynch and Brian Brown with Brown and Lynch making contact at one point and at the checkers it would be those four drivers making the A while Kahne could only move from eighth to sixth,

Second quick qualifier Tyler Courtney wasted no time getting to a transfer spot in the second heat as he was in fourth as the field went down the back stretch for the first time. One lap later though he was dropped to fifth by Carson Macedo and on lap five the first red flag of the week was needed when something broke on the front end of the car driven by Cole Thomas sending him hard into the inside guardrail on the front stretch. Jeff Swindell would bring the field back to green and the final lap would get wild when Swindell's car sputtered coming to the white flag. Sawyer Phillips and Parker Price-Miller would drag race to the checkers with Phillips taking the win by 0.002 seconds! And with Swindell dropping all the way to the back, this would allow both Macedo and Courtney to make the transfer.

It may have gone unnoticed, but Brent Marks had the best heat race charge of the night as after starting seventh he was up to fourth on lap one, third on lap two and second by lap three. Why was it unnoticed? Jac Haudenschild in his iconic Pennzoil #22 was running fifth and making his bid to transfer, but when he hopped the cushion in turn three mid-race that allowed Brad Sweet to take over fifth and a few laps later Sweet flew by Dylan Cisney to take the fourth spot. Marks could not catch the winner, Greg Wilson, but it was still the run of the night during heat race action.

All eyes were on Kyle Larson who would start eighth in the fourth heat, but when he couldn't pick off any spots on the start it became a tough chore for the superstar to pick up places one by one. Larson would pass Bill Balog for fifth on lap seven, but he could not chase down his good friend Rico Abreu over the final three laps so his fifth-place finish would send "Yung Money" to the B-Main and a best possible start in tonight's feature in 21st. Minnesota's Skyler Prochaska would take the win, again an accomplishment that did not get noticed as much as it would have without the star power behind him.

The fifth and final heat featured a race long battle for fourth between T.J. Stutts and Jacob Allen with much of the crowd trying to will Allen into a transfer spot. Stutts made his car quite wide switching lines often and Allen just never seemed comfortable enough to stand on it past his competitor so that is how they finished with Stutts advancing to the A-Main while Allen would have to make it happen in the B. Third generation drivers Marcus Dumesney and Austin McCarl went one, two while Paul McMahan finished third.

Jack Dover passed Colby Copeland to win the C-Main and next up was the twelve lap B that would determine the final four qualifiers for Thursday's feature. Scotty Thiel would bicycle his #73 in turn one, almost recover and then would tip it over onto its side on the first try at a start, then four laps would be scored before Matt Juhl coasted to a halt and then another lap would go into the books before Jack Dover had issues.

On this restart Jacob Allen had a big run going down the back stretch looking to move from sixth to fourth, but when he pitched the car sideways for a split second entering turn three he was tagged by Bill Balog sending Jacob for a spin and again the Shark Racing fans were thinking of what could have been. Once back to green Kyle Larson would dominate for the win while Kerry Madsen passed Kasey Kahne late for second and Ian Madsen was the final transfer.

The field was now set for twenty-five laps with Sam Hafertepe Jr, setting a very slow pace from the pole position. The first start was called back when it was determined that Austin McCarl had throttled up too soon from the outside of row nine and again Hafertepe crept the field to green. The entire field would not make it to turn one before the red flag waved though as Parker Price-Miller hopped the right rear of Stutts at the end of the straightway launching him hard into the turn one guardrail. PPM had started twelfth and thankfully the back half of the field was able to avoid direct contact although a couple of cars did go to the work area after clipping the pinwheeling car. Thankfully Price-Miller climbed from the car a bit shaken, but uninjured.

The third time was a charm at getting a start with Hafertepe leading lap one, but while racing into turn three on the second time around both Paul McMahan and Carson Macedo went for the same inside line. When Macedo hit the berm it would turn him hard right into McMahan and both cars backed up the track hard into the guardrail and then going upside down. This sent the rest of the field scrambling and as Sammy Swindell eased through the opening between the two Marcus Dumesney came in hot hitting the tail tank of McMahan and ricocheting into Swindell sending him upside down as well. And in the same sequence Kerry Madsen clipped Macedo's car down low putting him upside down as well.

The contact from Dumesney caused McMahan's fuel cell to burst into flames and Paul obviously knew that was likely as he was out of the car in record time even while one of the brave Knoxville Fire and Safety Team members ran up the track while cars were still moving to extinguish the flames in a matter of seconds. Thankfully all drivers escaped injury while five more cars were eliminated.

After the long clean up Hafertepe would again set a slow pace, this time single file for the restart, and he would be no match for Brian Brown who sailed past him for the lead. With the cars eliminated by the crash, or going to the back after making repairs, Kyle Larson would restart tenth and he would now gradually pick his way toward the front. On lap six when Tyler Courtney blocked Brad sweet's run off the bottom of turn four, contact would rip off the top of Courtney's rear bumper sending it bouncing up the track in turn one for a caution and three laps later Swindell's battered #70 would coast to a halt for another caution.

On this restart Courtney would lose two spots in turn two and four laps later he would slow and then retire for the event during the caution period rather than thrashing in the work area, perhaps knowing that his point total would be enough to lock him into the top sixteen for Saturday's finale.

Larson and Brown post-race - Barry Johnson photo

Once back to racing Brown would pull away while Larson continued his march to the front and when he dropped Brent Marks from second with ten laps to go, Larson started to close the gap making it to within striking distance over the final two laps. Brown was just too strong though and he would take the win on a wild night at the Nationals. Larson would finish second, Marks in third, Sweet finished fourth and Rico Abreu came from thirteenth to fifth.

Thursday Notes.......The National Champion Iowa Hawkeye Wrestling Team was in attendance and when they were introduced to the crowd during opening ceremonies obviously one of their biggest fans, Brad Sweet made sure that he was out there with them so that he could get a picture with the team.......Not that it wasn't impressive, but when you see a headline to the tune of "Larson goes from 21st to 2nd at Knoxville", keep in mind the circumstances. His impressive run would be more accurately described as tenth to second and I still have him as the prohibitive favorite to win the big money on Saturday.....and Sunday at Indy.....and when he climbs into the #6 Late Model again.....and in his next Sprint Car race after the Nationals......Brian Brown has described Larson as the GOAT on a few occasions this week and it would be hard to disagree with him at this point.....At least one driver was not happy with the slow paced starts early in the event with a very colorful quote directed at Sam Hafertepe Jr. distributed via Twitter. I will let you research that one yourself in order to keep this family friendly......Qualifying continues tonight (Friday) with the Hard Knox format where more than sixty cars will be in action looking to run in the top four of tonight's A-Main in order to claim positions 21 through 24 in Saturday's championship event.

Brian Brown on his way to victory early Friday morning at Knoxville - Barry Johnson photo

Final points courtesy of the Knoxville Raceway website:

Locked into Saturday’s A main

1 18 Gio Scelzi 487
2 49 Brad Sweet 481
3 57 Kyle Larson 480
4 19 Brent Marks 479
5 15 Donny Schatz 477
6 2 David Gravel 475
7 83 Kasey Kahne 475
8 1S Logan Schuchart 472
9 21 Brian Brown 471
10 49X Ian Madsen 463
11 0 Brooke Tatnell 460
12 7BC Tyler Courtney 460
13 9 James McFadden 459ac
14 7 Justin Henderson 458
15 73 Justin Peck 458
16 48 Danny Dietrich 449

Locked into Saturday’s B main

17 17X Josh Baughman 447
18 41 Carson Macedo 441
19 42 Sye Lynch 436
20 11M Spencer Bayston 435
21 26 Cory Eliason 433
22 11K Kraig Kinser 432
23 5 Paul McMahan 430
24 14 Kerry Madsen 430
25 17 Sheldon Haudenschild 428
26 15H Sam Hafertepe Jr. 428

Qualified for Friday’s “Hard Knox” Program

27 24R Rico Abreu 427
28 1M Don Droud Jr. 426
29 11 Roger Crockett 422
30 3P Sawyer Phillips 418
31 3 Ayrton Gennetten 418
32 17A Austin McCarl 417
33 11T TJ Stutts 415
34 40 Clint Garner 414
35 35P Skylar Prochaska 410
36 97 Greg Wilson 410
37 5XX Zeb Wise 409
38 17B Bill Balog 409
39 49J Josh Schneiderman 408
40 70 Sammy Swindell 406
41 56N Davey Heskin 405
42 5X Parker Price-Miller 401
43 71 Shane Stewart 401
44 91 Kyle Reinhardt 398
45 3Z Brock Zearfoss 398
46 07 Skylar Gee 394
47 2C Wayne Johnson 394
48 7S Jason Sides 393
49 83J Lynton Jeffrey 393
50 39M Anthony Macri 392
51 39 Daryn Pittman 392
52 55W Mike Wagner 391
53 55M McKenna Haase 387
54 1X Jake Bubak 386
55 24 Terry McCarl 386
56 1A Jacob Allen 386
57 N47 Marcus Dumesny 382
58 21W Riley Goodno 382
59 17W Shane Golobic 380
60 28 Tim Shaffer 379
61 5W Lucas Wolfe 379
62 83T Tanner Carrick 374
63 22 Jac Haudenschild 371
64 25 Scott Bogucki 370
65 27 Carson McCarl 365
66 1Z Logan Wagner 365
67 20 AJ Moeller 364
68 09 Matt Juhl 362
69 13 Mark Dobmeier 359
70 2KS Chad Kemenah 359
71 20G Noah Gass 356
72 44 Chris Martin 353
73 73A Scotty Thiel 347
74 101 Cale Thomas 342
75 5V Colby Copeland 327
76 11N Harli White 325
77 83A Austin Miller 323
78 7W Dustin Selvage 322
79 2DC Dylan Cisney 322
80 18R Ryan Roberts 320
81 10 Jeff Swindell 319
82 7TAZ Tasker Phillips 315
83 55K Robbie Kendall 315
84 15M Bobby Mincer 314
85 65 Jordan Goldesberry 310
86 53 Jessie Attard 306
87 9JR Derek Hagar 303
88 7C John Carney II 298
89 53D Jack Dover 296
90 2M Matt Moro 284
91 14K Tori Knutson 281
92 13S Tyler Esh 280
93 2K Kevin Ingle 271
94 9G Ryan Giles 270
95 56 Joe Simbro 267
96 11TK Tim Kaeding 267
97 55 Hunter Schuerenberg 261

Defending Champ Rocks Knoxville Nationals Opener

David Gravel won the 59th Annual Knoxville Nationals in convincing fashion and, after skipping a year due to that virus situation, one might have to be reminded that two years later the driver from Connecticut is the defending Knoxville Nationals Champion. On Wednesday Gravel started the evening by raising the champion's flag with the Jason Johnson Racing #41 on it, the car that he drove to that dominating win. Then he climbed aboard the Tod Quiring owned #2 and went about the business of defending his title.

Justin Henderson who up until the past week had been the track point leader here at Knoxville looked like he was going to run away from the field after starting from the front row of the twenty-five lap qualifying night feature. Pole-sitter Zeb Wise actually led lap one by a hair before Henderson took over and behind them Gravel was coming quickly to the front after starting sixth. 

Henderson had things well in hand even after Gravel moved to second, but when Wise slowed on the back stretch that would slow the field. It was a tough break for the young driver from Indiana who appeared to have lost a rear end while running fourth in the second CJB Motorports ride that Buddy Kofoid had been slated to drive before injuries put him on the sidelines.

On the restart Henderson drove away from Gravel pushing his lead back out to almost a full straightaway, but when traffic started to come into play that lead would gradually shrink. With five laps to go Henderson still looked good riding the cushion while Gravel was finding a bite down low and just after Henderson put lap twenty-one in the books Gravel dove to his inside in turn one.

Driving up the track and closing the door, the move may have been a surprise to Henderson who could not counter with a crossover and after Gravel took the lead he would drive away over the final laps to score the win. His momentum broken, Henderson lost the second spot to Gio Scelzi and then was nipped at the checkers by Donny Schatz for third. Justin Peck, driving a pink #73 throwback paint scheme honoring Kramer Williamson filled out the top five.

Wednesday Notes......For the first time ever at the Nationals two drivers were on the clock at the same time in the all important qualifying session and it would be Brooke Tatnell who was in the second group of two that would set quick time. Gio Scelzi who was the first car to take time was second quick while the most impressive lap of the night came from ten-time champion Donny Schatz who was sixth quick despite being the 41st car out to qualify......It was a tough chore for the top qualifiers to crack the top four transfer spots in the heats that were lined up with the top eight inverted. In the first heat one of our favorites Josh Schneiderman went the distance to take the win over Jason Sides and Justin Henderson. Schatz had to pass A.J. Moeller mid-race to take fourth after starting seventh......Scelzi went from eighth to fifth on the opening lap of the second heat and looked like he would quickly take fourth only to find that Clint Garner knows how to defend his ground here at Knoxville. Garner held off Scelzi throughout the entire race, but they both passed Austin Miller with four to go to take third and fourth behind Kyle Reinhardt and Zeb Wise......Crowd favorite and the runner-up to Gravel two years ago, Logan Schuchart was the driver to watch in the third heat, but when Mark Dobmeier pinched him off early he dropped to seventh and had to fight his way back up to fifth. Schuchart then ran out of laps as he could not reel in Josh Baughman for fourth. Young Riley Goodno drove a throw back look honoring Jimmy Boyd to take the win followed by Spencer Bayston and Skylar Gee......Gravel started seventh in the fourth heat and quickly moved to fourth to set the stage for his feature win. Jake Bubak impressed with the win over Davey Heskin and Sheldon Haudenschild.......Ayrton Gennetten would be the only heat race winner that didn't start from the front row tonight as he rocketed from third to first on the opening circuit. Cory Eliason and Justin Peck finished second and third while James McFadden slipped by Jordan Goldsberry mid-race to finish fourth......Young Californian Tanner Carrick won the C-Main and the race to watch in the B was for the fourth and final transfer spot. Don Droud Jr. took it from Roger Crockett early only to have Crockett come back with just two laps to go. But when Scott Bogucki spun in turn three the caution would wave before Crockett could get a lap scored and that would put Droud back into fourth for the restart. Crockett would make a big run off of turn four coming up just short at the checkers as Schuchart, Tatnell and Danny Dietrich would also advance.

With the points tallied up for the night it would be Gio Scelzi on top followed by Schatz, Gravel and Schuchart. The full points courtesy of the Knoxville Raceway website follow and we will see how they stack up to what looks like a very talented field that will compete on Thursday.

1 18 Gio Scelzi 487
2 15 Donny Schatz 477
3 2 David Gravel 475
4 1S Logan Schuchart 472
5 0 Brooke Tatnell 460
6 9 James McFadden 459
7 7 Justin Henderson 458
8 73 Justin Peck 458
9 48 Danny Dietrich 449
10 17X Josh Baughman 447
11 11M Spencer Bayston 435
12 26 Cory Eliason 433
13 17 Sheldon Haudenschild 428
14 1M Don Droud Jr. 426
15 11 Roger Crockett 422
16 3 Ayrton Gennetten 418
17 40 Clint Garner 414
18 5XX Zeb Wise 409
19 49J Josh Schneiderman 408
20 56N Davey Heskin 405
21 91 Kyle Reinhardt 398
22 07 Skylar Gee 394
23 2C Wayne Johnson 394
24 7S Jason Sides 393
25 39M Anthony Macri 392
26 55M McKenna Haase 387
27 1X Jake Bubak 386
28 24 Terry McCarl 386
29 21W Riley Goodno 382
30 28 Tim Shaffer 379
31 5W Lucas Wolfe 379
32 83T Tanner Carrick 374
33 25 Scott Bogucki 370
34 27 Carson McCarl 365
35 20 AJ Moeller 364
36 13 Mark Dobmeier 359
37 2KS Chad Kemenah 359
38 83A Austin Miller 323
39 18R Ryan Roberts 320
40 7TAZ Tasker Phillips 315
41 55K Robbie Kendall 315
42 65 Jordan Goldesberry 310
43 9JR Derek Hagar 303
44 7C John Carney II 298
45 2M Matt Moro 284
46 14K Tori Knutson 281
47 9G Ryan Giles 270
48 56 Joe Simbro 267
49 55 Hunter Schuerenberg 261