Super Kyle wins at KXV

Just when you thought the Kyle Larson story couldn’t get any better this week, it did! Larson, 20 years old, in his first Knoxville Nationals goes out and wins the opening night preliminary feature. No rookie at the Nationals has ever accomplished that feat, but this is no ordinary rookie driver. For as sweet of a win it was for Larson, there was plenty of heartbreak on the night.

Knoxville regular Davey Heskin led the first half of the race until a caution on lap 13 for Randy Hannagan slowing with mechanical problems, who was running second at the time. On the restart Jason Sides made a daring pass going into turn one to get by Heskin, slowing up Heskin enough to lose his momentum and Kyle Larson went by for second in the next corner. With six laps to go and the win in sight Jason Sides blew a left rear tire and tipped the car over in front of the entire field where luckily no one hit him. Larson inherited the lead and never looked back from there. With two laps to go Brian Paulus also slowed with mechanical problems and pulled in after he was running in second. Heskin and Donny Schatz had a fierce battle for second, exchanging the position a couple of times before Heskin won the position.

The night started with a two hour delay after a storm came through in the late afternoon. Once action was underway Joey Saldana set the pace with a lap of 14.715. The track was fast, heavy, and narrow making passing nearly impossible in the heat races. With the heat races inverted based on qualifying times only two cars in the top ten made it to the feature through their heat race. California driver Jonathan Allard surprised everyone with a third place qualifying run and then drove from eighth to second in his heat race. Allard has only qualified for the Nationals Saturday main event once previously, but will get in this year. Winning the heat races were Brooke Tatnell, AJ Moeller, Kerry Madsen, Ed Lynch Jr., and Lee Sowell. All five winners started on the front row of their heat.

The tough track conditions made for a stacked B-main as Joey Saldana won over Craig Dollansky, Shane Stewart, and Paul McMahan. Those four drivers would transfer to the tail of the A-main. The Nationals format is tough, but it sets up excitement and drama every year and the format delivered a good one again on Wednesday night in the feature with Dollansky racing up to fourth, Shane Stewart to seventh, and Joey Saldana to eighth. Notable drivers not advancing to the A-main were Steve Kinser, Fred Rahmer, and Chad Kemenah.

The Nationals is all about accumulating points and the top sixteen overall after Wednesday and Thursday are locked in for the Saturday night championship feature. So being in the top eight is the benchmark on night one.

With qualifying worth the same amount of points as the A-main, Joey Saldana earned the same amount of points as Larson for winning.

The highest finishing rookie at the Nationals was Stevie Smith finishing third in 1989. We will see if Larson can top that on Saturday night.

Night two of the Nationals on Thursday will feature former champions Kraig Kinser, Danny Lasoski, Tim Shaffer, and Sammy Swindell.

Knoxville Nationals Wednesday prelim feature results: 1. Kyle Larson, 2. Davey Heskin, 3. Donny Schatz, 4. Craig Dollansky, 5. Lucas Wolfe, 6. Brooke Tatnell, 7. Shane Stewart, 8. Joey Saldana, 9. Dustin Selvage, 10. Jonathan Allard, 11. Jeff Swindell, 12. Austin McCarl, 13. Don Droud Jr., 14. Paul McMahan, 15. Ed Lynch Jr., 16. Glenn Saville, 17. AJ Moeller, 18. Brian Paulus, 19. Lee Sowell, 20. Jason Sides, 21. Casey Mack, 22. Randy Hannagan, 23. Kerry Madsen, 24. Mike Reinke.

Nationals Point totals (tie breaker is feature finishing position): 1. Craig Dollansky 477, 2. Jonathan Allard 475, 3. Donny Schatz 471, 4. Joey Saldana 471, 5. Lucas Wolfe 477, 6. Kyle Larson 458, 7. Shane Stewart 458, 8. Paul McMahan 453, 9. Davey Heskin 449, 10. Brian Paulus 440.