Shane Stewart Wins Fourth 360 Nationals

Shane Stewart has been dominant at the Arnold Motor Supply 360 Knoxville Nationals in recent years and Saturday at Knoxville he led every one of the 25 laps and won by nearly five seconds. Stewart becomes the first driver to win three 360 Nationals in a row and the first to win four total. (2007, 2010, 2011, 2012). All four victories have come with his crew chief and car owner Paul Silva. “That car was just flawless,” said Stewart. “We had a brand new A.R.T. car and a new Wesmar engine. I can’t thank Paul enough for all he does to give me good cars.” After setting quick time and finishing seventh in his Friday qualifying night feature, Stewart accumulated enough points to start outside the front row and he took the lead from the drop of the green flag and pulled away making it look easy and driving through traffic like the veteran he is. The win netted Stewart $10,000. The last two years Stewart was able to carry the 360 Nationals momentum to top five finishes in the 410 Nationals as well. Look for Shane Stewart to be there again next week.

Finishing second was Kevin Swindell who has only raced a sprint car a handful of times this season as the 23 year old Tennessee native chases a NASCAR career, so an impressive run for him and a testament to how much talent he has. Third was 22 year old Oklahoma driver Brady Bacon who was the 410 Nationals rookie of the year in 2011 and also won the USAC non-wing race at Knoxville last year. Bacon has the big half-mile oval figured out and has a chance to make the main event next week as well.

Brian Brown was without a doubt the most entertaining to watch on Saturday night. After a bad qualifying night timing in 35th he only accumulated enough points to start 13th in the Saturday B-Main. Brown made some daring passes the last few laps of the B main to finish fourth and take the last transfer spot to the A main where he started 24th and with no yellow flags was able to drive up to 8th place. If Brown had one or two yellow flags he would have made the top five. Brown was the only car making a lot of passes. The cars up front all drove the high line of the track and stayed separated for the majority of the race.

Winning the Saturday B main was Justin Henderson. Sam Hafertepe Jr. won the C main, Matt Covington won the D main, and Trey Starks won the E main. The start of the C main saw a six car crash on the front straightaway as Austin Johnson and Daryn Pittman made contact and began flipping. Nate Van Haafton, Ryan Roberts, Dylan Peterson, and Koby Barksdale all wrecked trying to avoid Johnson and Pittman. It was a scary crash, especially for Pittman who flipped end over end several times. All six drivers walked away. Another scary crash occurred at the start of the B main involving Gary Taylor of Washington who wrecked on the back stretch in the middle of the field. Luckily the cars behind him were all able to avoid him and Taylor walked away.

Brad Sweet performed double duty on Saturday night as he competed in Newton at the NASCAR Nationwide race finishing 12th and then found a way to Knoxville in time for the 360 Nationals A-Main where he started 17th and finished 17th. Sweet has one World of Outlaws feature win this year and started on the pole of the 410 Nationals in 2011 while subbing for a injured Joey Saldana.

Shane Stewart started eight in the Friday prelim feature and fell back to eleventh at one time, but drove back up to seventh. After that race Stewart was disappointed, but Paul Silva had the set up perfect for Saturday when the title was on the line.
Sunday night is the Capitani Classic 410 tune-up race for the 52nd annual Goodyear Knoxville Nationals that starts Wednesday night and ends on Saturday, August 11.

22nd 360 Knoxville Nationals results: 1. Shane Stewart, 2. Kevin Swindell, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Jack Dover, 5. Roger Crockett, 6. Dusty Zomer, 7. Danny Lasoski, 8. Brian Brown, 9. Wayne Johnson, 10. Tim Kaeding, 11. Jason Johnson, 12. Brooke Tatnell, 13. Clint Garner, 14. Tim Shaffer 15. Justin Henderson 16. Paul McMahan, 17. Brad Sweet, 18. Randy Hannagan, 19. Kaley Gharst, 20. Ryan Anderson, 21.Rager Phillips, 22.Danny Wood, 23. Seth Brahmer, 24. Jonathan Cornell