Putting A Wrap On The 65th Knoxville Nationals

I have had a few people ask me why I have not yet written a story on the final two events of the 65th Knoxville Nationals, so here you go.

The rain also changed my plans for the weekend, in what turned out to be in a good way, as this was also my 45th class reunion and when Friday's show rained out just before 7 p.m., I hustled back to Mount Pleasant and was able to take part in the final hour or two of the Friday night activities. I would then miss the rescheduled Friday show, instead walking around a rain soaked golf course with good friends and my original plan of attending the Saturday evening reunion for an hour before racing back to Knoxville to catch the Championship feature was then altered with the rain as well.

It was great to spend more time with my classmates and as the party was starting to wind down, I started the drive to Knoxville just before 9 p.m. in a heavy thunderstorm. I arrived at Knoxville just before cars hit the track for hot laps and due to the rain I was able to watch the entire Saturday night program. While it was an unexpected blessing for me, I was definitely not the only one who took advantage of the rain delay.

By now you all know the story as Kyle Larson was able to finish sixth in the Richmond NASCAR race and then fly back to Knoxville to win his fourth Knoxville Nationals title. There is a reason that Bill W's story on the Knoxville Raceway website was Kyle Larson "Jets" To Fourth Knoxville Nationals Win In Six Years! as his flight from Richmond to Pella was the most newsworthy aspect of the fifty-lap main event. Larson started from the pole and immediately left the field in his wake. The first half of the 50-lap feature ran non-stop with Larson lapping cars all the way up to thirteenth, something that we will discuss in more detail later on, and on the restart for the second twenty-five, plus following each of the two cautions in the race, he would block the slider line into one and then drive away with ease.

The domination came as no surprise as we could see it on his qualifying night where he got off to a slow start in his heat race and then passed four cars in ten laps without any help from a caution, or drivers falling out in front of him. Then, in the feature, Kyle started from eighth and picked his way through the field to take the win. Nobody else even came close to this performance during the week. I have seen some claims that this Richmond to Knoxville "double" solidifies him as the best race car driver ever. Really? I guess that he had already proven that to me in the past, so no need for any additional proof, although it would been much cooler if he had won Richmond and then blown off the post race commitments to high tail it back to Knoxville. 

That would have been awesome!

The NASCAR race is scheduled on top of the Saturday night of the Nationals in 2027 as well and hopefully the one argument that can be put to rest is, "why is he even racing on a qualifying night when he can't be there on Saturday?? All he is doing is taking away a spot in the feature for somebody else!" Just goes to show that you never know what might happen and yes, he did take away a second start in the Knoxville Nationals by Trevor Canales, so maybe he will get that chance again next year.

Some other notes from the Championship feature.....

Sheldon Haudenschild made some of the most noise of the week with his exciting third-to-first charge to win Wednesday's qualifier, but do you realize that it was own mistake that played a role in getting him to his runner-up finish? Read the Notes portion of my story from Wednesday for the details and ask young Logan Julien how much different his Nationals might have been.

I was most impressed with Kasey Kahne who had to be the surprise of the week joining the championship podium in third. It is always fun to look back at the little things that take place to either make or break a driver's Knoxville Nationals effort and drawing the #1 pill for qualifying is always a big plus. Kasey then took advantage of the Lynton Jeffrey and Sammy Swindell incident on the opening lap of his heat race to move up a row where, to his credit, he raced his way up fourth. As the high point driver come feature time he lined up eighth and, unlike Larson on Thursday, he was not able to move forward, but he did hold his own to finish eight and start the championship race from row two. He would slip back to fourth late in the race, but then rallied back to finish third, an impressive showing for the driver who was an eighteen-year-old rookie when I announced here in 1998.

I became more of a fan of James McFadden with his personality shining through at Wednesday's post-race press conference. He would start from third making it a clean sweep of the top four by the first two rows.

Logan Schuchart came from twelfth to sixth in the first half of the race and then gained one more spot to complete the top five. David Gravel gained two positions in the first half, and two in the second half to finish in sixth. Buddy Kofoid and Parker Price-Miller were next in line while Brent Marks made another impressive run coming from eighteenth to finish ninth. To do that he had to stay ahead of Larson as the final car on the lead lap just as the caution waved for the mid-race break. Chase Dietz would post his best Nationals finish in tenth. Tanner Holmes caught a lot of attention coming from 24h to 11th at the break, but he would stall out right there for eleventh at the checkers.

Kudos to everybody at Knoxville for battling the weather that was a threat all week getting all four shows in before many have no choice, but to hit the road on Sunday. It is easy to second guess, but I have to think that even the team knows that they perhaps threw in the towel a little too early on Friday night as the persistent sprinkles stopped within an hour after making the call. Nobody likes a day race and the Friday "Hard Knox" format is so solid now that it deserves more of a chance even if it takes us into the wee hours of the morning to get it in. Donny Schatz would likely agree.

With another flag-to-flag run in the championship feature and the fact that just five of the top twenty qualifiers on Wednesday and Thursday were able to beat the invert and transfer from their heat races, "changing the format" is once again a big topic of discussion. Some argue that the A-Main should go back to thirty or thirty-five laps to eliminate the mid-race break, and while I am in that camp I will say that it would not have made a difference this year. Kyle Larson would have won no matter how many laps were run, but it is a good point that the mid-race break takes the leader out of traffic and gives him the opportunity to fine tune an already fast car.

I'm fine with keeping it at fifty laps, but with a couple of things to consider. First involves the drivers that get lapped in the first half of the race. Larson seemed to be on a mission to put as many cars as he could a lap down before the break and he did so with eleven drivers no longer having a legitimate chance to win, or even advance into the top ten without attrition following the break. These included such hard chargers as Rico Abreu, Tyler Courtney and Corey Day. The restart following the break is in the order of racing position so the fourteenth place car at the time, who I believe was Rico, is now starting right behind Brent Marks who had been just ahead of him on the track when the caution waved, but now Rico would have to pass Marks, and anybody else ahead of him on the restart TWICE to gain a position.

Perhaps one "format change" would be to give those drivers their lap back for the start of the second half of the race?

One other tweak to he fifty lap format could be this. Larson was obviously running a fast pace in the first half lapping cars left and right, I do not believe that he changed a tire at the break so again just acknowledging that no format change would have made a difference in the winner this year, but in order to make it more of a tire conservation race how about a new rule that if you change a tire at the break you go to the back of the line of the drivers on your lap. Talk about spicing up the action during the break as drivers and crews would be watching the front runners to see if they were going to give up track position or not before they themselves decide what to do. Add in my change with the lappers mentioned above and now you would have drivers such as Tanner Holmes and Brent Marks making a tire change since they would not be giving up track position and could now have an advantage on the drivers in front of them who did not change a tire. 

I for one am still in favor of the eight car inverts on the qualifying nights as I feel that it does offset some of the advantage that drivers have when they draw a low number for qualifying. Take Carson Macedo as an example as he comes out 37th in the qualifying order on Thursday night and is only able to muster the 32nd best qualifying lap. If you change the invert to six it takes him off the front row of his heat that he wins and then goes on to start 15th and finish seventh in the feature, to a fourth row starting spot in the heat where chances are that he doesn't transfer and he has to hope for the Friday format that gets wiped away by the rain. As it plays out Macedo lands in the B-Main on Saturday  where he finishes second to start 22nd in the finale and he is tenth at the break before popping a motor late. 

Keep the eight car inverts, take a look at that Saturday feature field and tell me who didn't belong there. The format works from the standpoint of delivering action for the fans while still allowing for the cream to rise to the top.

As always the highlight of the Nationals for us is the reunion of friends and family that we sometime only see once a year here in Knoxville. To Jack and Suzanne, thank you for feeding us not only with your great food, but also with your fantastic stories. And to the Nachbor family, Knoxville would not be the same without you from the camper, to the grill and in the stands. Keith, Sam, Jeff and Ethan we will look forward to the same time, same place in 2027 and hopefully Sean will be back as well. And finally, the friendship and hospitality of Barry, Stephanie and Aidan Johnson who allow Johnny V and I to have a great place to stay nearby the action is such a blessing. Is there a one hundred dollar bill now hidden somewhere in the house? Thank you so much!

Thanks for another round of memories with the 65th Nationals Knoxville Raceway, we will see you again soon!