McCarl Wins 4th 360 Nationals

Studio 92 Photo

Terry McCarl won his fourth career 360 Nationals Saturday night at the Knoxville Raceway. The Saturday A-Main T-Mac drove away and the longer the race went the better his car seemed to be compared to his competition. He pulled away and was out to a four second lead in traffic, which is encouraging for Terry going into next week. Congrats to his team. I know those guys work hard. I’m really happy for crew chief Doug Rankin who has so much passion for the sport, Austin and Carson pitch in as well, a Jayme Moyle engine under the hood, it was a good combination. They had everything go their way with drawing number one in the qualifying order and made it through their heat race. Hopefully next week goes as well for them.

Big thanks to Arnold Motor Supply and Great Southern Bank for their help in putting this show on this year! 


The race itself saw all the leaders riding around the top side of the track which apparently was the fastest way around as no one stuck to the bottom after the opening laps. T-Mac could go anywhere in traffic however. For the fifth consecutive 360 Nationals, the leader led all 25 laps, and sixth out of seven years. The cars all seem so equal. Sammy, Dude, Wayne, Brown, no one could make a run and move forward it seemed like. Zomer looked strong on Friday night on the bottom but he couldn’t make it work to get past McCarl on this night. Lasoski looked dominant on Thursday night but couldn’t get to the front on Saturday.

Aaron Reutzel is the real deal. He made a bonsai pass for third early on Wayne Johnson and held on the rest of the way to finish on the podium.

Bronson Maeschen came from the B-Main to tenth for hard charger honors. Rookie Ryan Giles was best of his class to take top finishing rookie honors beating out Bryan Clauson and Tyler Thomas.

A Main Finish (started): 1. Terry McCarl (1); 2. Dusty Zomer (2); 3. Aaron Reutzel (6); 4. Wayne Johnson (4); 5. Sammy Swindell (5); 6. Clint Garner (3); 7. Brian Brown (11); 8. Danny Lasoski (8); 9. Kevin Swindell (15); 10. Bronson Maeschen (24); 11. Calvin Landis (9); 12. Tony Shilling (23); 13. Tony Bruce Jr. (12); 14. Jon Agan (17); 15. Jamie Ball (18); 16. Ryan Giles (10); 17. Billy Alley (22); 18. Casey Friedrichsen (14); 19. Bryan Clauson (13); 20. Tyler Thomas (20); 21. Jac Haudenschild (16); 22. Justin Henderson (19); 23. Tim Shaffer (7); 24. Ryan Roberts (21). 

Stats
McCarl's four wins now only trails Shane Stewart with five wins at the 360 Nationals. T-Mac now has led 92 laps in the championship feature, second behind Shane's 112.

Wayne Johnson gets his seventh career top five, tied for most all time, He also gets his tenth top ten.

Official Car Count was 102.  We had 103 in 2014 and 2013, 108 in 2012.

Notes
Unfortunately with the Saturday weather forecast the 305 class was cancelled to make sure we could get the 360 Nationals in before 9:00pm. It’s a bummer for the 305 teams to miss out on a chance to race in front of a big crowd, but it was the right call. Multiple weather forecasters were giving the track a window of 9pm to finish racing before rain and hail approached. The weather slowed up a bit and didn’t reach Knoxville until the 11pm hour. Hard to predict what Mother Nature will do.

Disappointing 360 Nationals for Justin Henderson. He had the most dominant car all season in the 360 class at Knoxville but they struggled on qualifying night to make the transfer through their heat finishing fifth and finished 16th in the A-Main after running the B Main. They just didn't have the car through traffic, unlike them all season. I'm still scratching my head. Same could be said for Billy Alley who finished 17th after starting 22nd in the A-Main.

I met a lot of good people this week, I'm sure I will meet some more this next week. Racing people are so great.

I talked with Thomas Kennedy from Winnepeg on Saturday afternoon. Great guy, and its great to have some Canadian flavor to the event. They work hard to get to Knoxville and they were ecstatic to make the A-Main on Friday night, his first time making an A at Knoxville. They finished seventh in the B on Saturday.

Make sure you check out the Tribute to Doug Wolfgang display in the NSCHoF&M. Wolfie is the reason I fell in love with sprint car racing as a three year-old kid in 1977 when he won ten features in a row. Great driver, mechanic, great character in racing history, and even better family man. I have a lot of respect for what he accomplished.

NASCAR Trucks at Knoxville? Big rumor this week through the media, but not likely in my opinion. First Knoxville would need to construct a four foot tall concrete wall around the outside of the track. Those trucks weigh way, way, WAY more than a sprint car or late model. The current wood and aluminum guard rail wouldn't hold them. Then there is a matter of having a infield care center and a infield media center. This would be a costly investment from the Marion County Fair Board. It would also put sprint car drivers in more harms way with a concrete wall I feel. I won't say it will never happen, but these are the things to consider facility wise to get there.

Another 360 Nationals in the record books. Capitani Classic is tonight!