Knoxville Thoughts...

The Knoxville Raceway sprint car season is winding down already with only three weekly shows left, but in the middle of all that is the 360 Nationals, the Capatani Classic, and the 410 Nationals.

Davey Heskin has a solid lead in the 410 points race. I wouldn’t count out Terry McCarl just yet though as he is only 53 points back. Heskin has earned somewhere around 100 more points in qualifying this year than TMac and that’s been the difference. But Heskin did break a rear end while leading and finished nineteenth in one race this year or his lead could be more.

Dusty Zomer is running well the past four races at Knoxville finishing 2nd, 3rd, 2nd, and 2nd again this week.

The Ingalls 92 is still struggling in qualifying a bit, but they have a fast car in feature trim. Zomer was my pre-season pick to win the track championship this year. Hope they have a fresh bullet ready for the Nationals.

I was so happy for Bronson Maeschen to finally get his first win at Knoxville this past week. Known as a good time trial shoe, he is maturing into a good driver as well the past few seasons.

I would say he has a good chance to make the Nationals A-Main.

Another driver that has been running better in recent weeks is Don Droud Jr. in the Sonner 47 car. Droud was averaging a fourteenth finish in the first five races this year, but the last four races he hasn’t missed the top ten and his average is seventh. Late surge coming?

Ian Madsen is a much improved driver from a few years ago when I first saw him race. Maybe the most improved driver this season. He picked up a win on twin features night and is the only driver to set quick time twice this year in the 410 class.

Dustin Selvage is also quietly having a good season. He has driven into the top ten every race this year he has finished, which is seven out of nine. The 20th and 19th place finishes he had earlier this year really hurt him in points but he is solidly in seventh this week.

The 360 class is all Clint Garner with a 330 point lead. No one will catch him. Matt Moro and Nate Van Haafton are battling for second and the race for fourth is down to Russ Hall, Joe Beaver, and Jon Agan.

The 305 class is a close one with Matthew Stelzer holding a two point lead over Mike Van Haafton.

Thursday night at Knoxville is the Harris Clash! And there is a two day show at Oskaloosa this week on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Nationals is coming…. I will have my 360 and 410 Nationals previews later this week. I have been listing my power rankings the past few weeks on twitter if you follow me there. My pick to win is Sammy Swindell.