Marshalltown Speedway Season Recap

Marshalltown Speedway rarely disappoints putting on a good race. The short track and high banking produces close side by side racing that you don’t see at Oskaloosa, the State Fairgrounds, and it rivals Boone for sure. I’ll take a 1/4 mile bull ring over any 3/8 or 1/2 mile track. But it seemed this season the racing was better than usual on the six nights I was there in person. After talking to promoter Toby Kruse mid season about it he revealed that they found something while working with some tire companies and using some of their suggestions. For some reason the bottom held up later in the night than in past years staying tacky and that trick made the racing better. The one thing I can’t figure out is the attendance at Marshalltown. Most nights I don’t think you can count 500 people in the stands. For such a great show, there should be more fans. Is it location? The night of the week? There are plenty of cars to see, especially with the fairgrounds racing 60 miles away. The tickets are cheap, concessions are reasonable, I don’t understand and maybe someone can explain.
Breaking down each class….

Modified: Jimmy Gustin won his fifth track championship and grabbed five wins. He lapped up to sixth place in the season championship feature when he started on the pole and drove away. I think Jimmy has a shot at the Super Nationals. Luke Wanninger also won five races and I look for him to be toward the front this week in Boone. Jon Snyder won two features, and those winning one feature were Richie Gustin, Ronn Lauritzen, Adam Larson, and Chris Abelson. Kyle Brown did a nice job this year finishing fourth in points in his rookie campaign in this class. Modifieds put on a great show here and it’s nice to see 16-20 cars in this class each week.

SportMod: Racer Hulin won the championship thanks to three wins and a consistent top three finish a lot of weeks. Joel Rust was also very consistent all season and ended second in points, yet didn’t win a feature. Jenae Gustin won five features including three in a row at the end of the season. Gatlin Leytham and Jake Strayer both won two features, and Strayer is moving to 305 sprint cars next season it sounds like. Other drivers winning features were Brad Iverson, Clint Luellen, Sam Wieben, and Scott Davis. It seemed like SportMod car counts were down a bit this season. I think with this class quickly becoming very expensive to compete in, it’s easy to justify moving up to Modifieds where you can race for a little more money and there are typically less cars.

Stock Car: Steve Meyer won one feature on the season with only one feature win. What a good season for Meyer who was able to be up front every week. Trent Murphy won four features. Brian Irvine, Damon Murty, Jay Schmidt, and Tracy Greinger all won two features this season. Derek Reimer, Michael Murphy, and Sean Johnson won one feature. This class was very competitive and usually put on the best show every week (I said the same for Osky).

Hobby Stock: Scott Pippert dominated this class winning eight features (8 of last 9) on his way to winning the track championship. I don’t what Pippert figured out this year but he was on another level compared to everyone else. Kevin Fee and Eric Larson were the only other drivers to win multiple features with two each. Larson was second in points. Other winners were Don Nunnikhoven, Brandon Brinton, Eric Stanton, Eric Knutson, Austin Luellen. Gary Pfantz was third in points with Josh Saunders fourth.

Mod Lites: Mike Morrill and Josh May combined won 15 of the 16 features with Andy Hennigar upsetting the field with a win on season championship night. Morrill won the championship with eight wins and May was second with seven wins. I love this little cars, they put on a good show and are fast. Good car counts as well.

Sport Compact: Merv Chandler won 13 features and the championship. I won’t repeat what I said in my Osky season review on my thoughts for this class.

I think Marshalltown lost some momentum this year somehow. Car counts were a little smaller, crowds seemed smaller, Toby Kruse is promoting a good program it seems. Something just isn’t adding up for me. The racing on the track was the best I’ve seen there in the six years I have been covering races there. Shoot me an e-mail at arniebhg@yahoo.com if you want to share your thoughts.

Oskaloosa 2012 Season in Review

2012 was some of the better racing I have seen at Osky since I started covering weekly races there five years ago. With a change in promoters, Mike Van Genderen is turning things around for the fans, teams, the facility, and the fairboard. Car counts were up, racing was great, there was some fun entertainment at intermission, the races were over at 10:00 most nights, and the deal that Van Genderen had by working on a percentage of the gate, it allowed the fairboard to make a little more money than in past seasons. I just hope it was worth the blood and sweat Van Genderen put into it. Mike has signed a contract for 2013 and that is a good thing for everyone.

Breaking down the racing class by class…

Modifieds: Car counts were six or less most nights the prior years and this year they started around 10-12 and ended with 7-8 cars at the end of the season. The big half mile is hard on Modifieds under the hood, drive lines, we just won’t ever see 18-20 cars in this class on a weekly basis without some rule changes and higher purses. I’m still thankful to have the cars we did though. Cayden Carter moved up from SportMod to Modifieds this season and his four feature wins were enough to give him the rookie of the year and track championship. Jacob Murray won five features. Other winners in this class were Richie Gustin with two, Scott Dickey, Bill Davis Jr., Michael Long, Kyle Strickler, Todd Shute, Andrew Schroeder, and Dakota Hayden.

SportMods: Car counts in this class stayed in the 16-22 range all season. Jess Sobbing dominated winning 10 of 19 features and captured the point title. Curtis Van Der Wal was able to hold the point lead through mid season and stay close after Sobbing had a DNF in May, but Sobbing was just too good. He is a talented racer and has the best equipment. I hope he can win the Super Nationals to cap off a good year with over 50 wins over all across Iowa and Nebraska. But hope the guy moves up to Modifieds next year. Van Der Wal was able to get two wins on the season and seemed to get faster as the season went. Other drivers winning features were Jason McDaniel with two, Bryan Weyer won two, Bill Gibson, Bryan Lariviere won the Frostbuster. Carter VanDenBerg was third in points.

Stock Cars: This class by far stood out as the most competitive and best racing all season. Zack VanderBeek won five features but missed a few nights due to his USMTS schedule. It was good to see Zack, Colt Mather, and Brad Pinkerton compete in the Stock Car class most of the season since none of them had an IMCA Modified to race. (Maybe next year?) Matt Greiner took his two wins and consistent performance to the track championship. Nathan Wood also had two wins and finished second in points. Corey Stout was third in points. Other drivers getting wins were John Heinz, Damon Murty with four, Kyle Harwood, Brad Pinkerton, and Todd Reitzler.

Hobby Stock: Shannon Anderson dominated this class winning the track championship easily with eight wins. This class also had some good races and as long as Anderson started in the fifth or sixth or row it was a good show. Kevin Fee was second in points with one win, Donavan Nunnikhoven third with one win, Distin Griffiths was fourth with five wins. Other drivers winning features were Bobby Greene, Jamie Songer, and Mike Hughes. Hughes may have had the faster car at the end of the season but didn’t compete the first half at all as Ryan Humphrey didn’t get the car ready until mid season.

Sport Compact: This class only had 5-8 cars all season and it wasn’t really that much fun to watch for me. They might be faster than the eye gives you credit for when you look at lap times, but there just isn’t enough cars to make it interesting for me. We will see if this class grows next year. Merv Chandler won nine features and the track championship. There were a few good races with some side by side racing. The jury is still out on this class, but if it doesn’t grow in year two, I hope it’s gone and replaced with maybe a rotating schedule of 305 sprint cars, Mod Lites, Sportman Series, Compacts, Trucks… something anyway.

One of the nice tricks this year was the painting of the front stretch catch fence black. I can’t believe how much of a difference that made in how well you could see the cars. Hopefully they finish the job and paint it all the way down into turn four next year. Also on my wish list is a new sound system. That would be a huge upgrade to the facility. Tony Paris does a good job announcing, but it’s hard to hear most of the time. It’s loud enough, too loud, but not clear and sharp and I think that would be a huge upgrade so that the track can communicate better with the fans. I love how there is a points sheet available when you walk through the gate. That really helps fans be able to identify names with car numbers, and it’s cheap. I also like there is a spot right there available to the fans to donate money to a driver for pit passes. It allows the fans to give back, and it helps the driver. Great idea and I wish more tracks would do that.

It was a great season and I’m pumped for season number two of the Van Genderen era. Congratulations to all the track champions, Mike Van Genderern and his staff of officials, and the Southern Iowa Fair on a great season.

Season Winding Down, Drag Racing

Well after ten straight days of racing a couple of weeks ago I’m rested up and ready for a new column. I’m excited to read so many positive reviews of the new Friday Knoxville Nationals format in Speed Sport, Area Auto Racing News, and even Jeff Broeg’s Back Stretch. The only complaints I heard was that it ran a little late that night. When you start hot laps at 7:45pm, the track is heavy, builds up a ledge on the cushion, and it needs some work in the middle of the show that happens.

I made it to Marshalltown Speedway last Friday night and saw a good show as usual. It was nice to see the Mississippi Valley vintage cars there. I learned that Lenard McCarl built his own chassis back in the day. Not sure how I didn’t know that until last week, and that Terry McCarl won his first race in a McCarl chassis.

Jimmy Gustin won his eighth Modified race of the year at Marshalltown, but it was in a new 2013 Harris chassis. Nice looking car. The SportMod race was awesome with Janae Gustin getting the win, but it wasn’t easy as she raced up through the field. Nice to see Curtis Van Der Wal venture up to Mtown and run fourth. Tracy Geinger of Newton won the stock car feature holding off Damon Murty at the end. It’s been a long time since I saw my home town guy Geinger win a feature, so was happy for him. I just really enjoy the shows at Marshalltown and the whole experience there.

The Marshalltown point races are looking like Jimmy Gustin has the field covered in Modifieds, Scott Pippert has Hobby Stocks in hand, Steve Meyer has a good handle on the Stock Cars as well. The SportMod race is heated and will go to the end with Joel Rust and Racer Hulin tied for the lead and Jake Strayer is only four points behind them. Season Championship is August 31 so only two weeks to go.

Saturday I went to Eddyville Raceway Park to the Altered Fuel Nationals. I’ve only been to Eddyville once before when I was a kid so I haven’t been exposed to drag racing much at all. To me it’s not a lot of fun to watch from the stands, but I sure do appreciate this type of racing. To me drag racing is “racing” in its purest form. Let’s build a car and see how fast it can go… period. I had a great experience there all day and I have to say it’s something I look forward to do again next year, but I will remember my ear plugs for sure! I have a video on my YouTube channel if you want to see. www.youtube.com/arniebhg

This week at Knoxville is Season Championship and Terry McCarl has a slim eight point lead over Davey Heskin in the 410 class. Clint Garner has the 360 title clinched. Matthew Stelzer has a 52 point lead over Mike Van Haafton in the 305 class. With 165 points up for grabs in all classes it will come down to the features. TMac is going for his seventh track championship (aka the Lucas Oil Knoxville Championship Cup Series) while Heskin is trying for his first. Heskin has been the point leader most of the season, but the Sunday night Capitani Classic event was run as a full points race and his cushion was erased when he didn’t make the feature and McCarl did. Tough break, but he still has a good chance to win it.

Hoping to make it to the Boone Super Nationals finale on Sep 8th. I wish it wasn’t the same day as the Iowa-ISU football game though. Never understood the timing of that event in football season, but you have to have it after most tracks have their season in the books to build the car count.

I’ll be covering Oskaloosa tonight and next week for season championship. It’s looking like Cayden Carter has the Modified title wrapped up, same for Shannon Anderson in Hobby Stock. Stock Car leader is Matt Greiner but Nathan Wood is lurking 13 points behind. One bad night for Greiner and it could get close. Jesse Sobbing will likely win the SportMod title unless he has a DNF. Curtis Van Der Wal is six points behind and waiting to take advantage if the opportunity is there.

Schatz Completes the Six Pack

On paper Donny Schatz made it look easy winning his sixth Knoxville Nationals crown, until you see the margin of victory of 0.117 seconds over runner-up Brian Brown. Schatz started fifth in the main event Saturday night of the 52nd annual Goodyear Knoxville Nationals and took the lead from pole sitter Stevie Smith on the 14th circuit and led the distance until Brown reeled him in at the end.

After 26 laps were complete the competition fuel stop was called and teams pitted for fuel and tires. With 24 laps remaining Schatz was leading Craig Dollansky, Brown, Stevie Smith, Kraig Kinser, Shane Stewart, and Jason Meyers to the restart. Schatz pulled away by half a straightaway in a matter of three laps, but the only unscheduled caution of the 50 lap event came out with 16 laps remaining when rookie of the Nationals Kyle Larson cut a left rear tire and rolled to a stop.

On the restart Brown made his move to second passing Dollansky, and stayed within a few car lengths of Schatz for several laps. Both Brown and Schatz were running the high groove on the cushion which was rough all night, and both drivers bobbled getting into the ledge building up on the cushion off of turn two in the waning laps. Coming to the white flag Brown was knocking on the door and with lapped cars of Paul McMahan and Cody Darrah in front of the leaders, Schatz slowed a bit and Brown made the corners of his life in three and four and pulled up along-side Schatz off the last corner and they drag raced to the line with Schatz winning by a nose wing in the closest finish in nationals history.

Finishing third was front row starter Craig Dollansky. Dollanksy has had an impressive Nationals career but the disappointment on his face afterword was obvious. This was his seventh top five, and 13th top ten finish. Pole sitter Stevie Smith finished a disappointing seventh, and it was his 14th career top ten. Smith and Dollansky are arguably the most successful drivers not to win a Nationals title.

Over shadowing the feature event was who didn’t race their way into Nationals Championship feature. 12 time champion Steve Kinser ended a 34 year consecutive run by ending his night tenth in the B-Main. Kinser hasn’t had good showings the previous past three years with finishes of 12th, 22nd, and 16th and that trend worsened. Kinser drew last in the Wednesday qualifying order and immediately his attitude was colorful in a negative manner to say the least. Although the King has three World of Outlaws wins this season and is in second place, only 17 points behind the leader Dollansky, it seems the King has lost his mojo at Knoxville.

Also not qualifying for the championship was four time champion Danny Lasoski who finished second in the C-Main, transferred to the B-Main, but only managed a 17th finish there, ending his night. Lasoski has failed to reach the championship race three years in a row. 2010 champion Tim Shaffer finished sixth in the B-Main two spots away from transferring. And one of the favorites to win the Nationals this year Sammy Swindell fell one spot short finishing fifth in the B-Main to end his night.

This night will be remembered as a night the torch was passed to a new generation of sprint car drivers.

The only Kinser in the championship race was 2005 champ Kraig Kinser, the son of Steve. Kraig had some fierce battles with Shane Stewart throughout most of the race and clawed his way to fourth, earning his second career top five Nationals finish. Shane Stewart started 13th and raced up to sixth at the halfway break, but couldn’t manage to go any further in the second half of the race.

The two time Outlaws champion Jason Meyers stepped back from racing full time in March this year and climbed in the Tarlton 21m car, who happened to purchase some of his old cars. Meyers stepped in his car and it fit like an old pair of shoes and was able to drive from seventh to fifth.

Winning the 22 lap B-Main was Mark Dobmeier and grabbing the other transfer positions was Davey Heskin second, Brian Paulus third, and Jason Sides fourth. Paulus had taken a three year hiatus from sprint car racing and last made the Nationals A-Main in 2006. Heskin who has been the point leader at Knoxville most of the season raced from 22nd to tenth earning hard charger honors and getting his second career top ten Nationals finish. Dobmeier raced up to 12th.

Joey Saldana started sixth in the championship, but Saldana pulled his car in after two laps in hot laps and his team had to change engines before the race started. Saldana ended in a disappointing eleventh place. Joey just seems snake bitten at Knoxville.

Rookie Kyle Larson, who won the Wednesday night preliminary feature,started 12th and seemingly had something wrong with his car from the start. After the blown tire he was able to finish 16th in his first career Nationals.

Closing thoughts…

The race track started out narrow and fast as most race nights do. But the Saturday night of the Nationals track endures more laps than any night all year with 2,466 laps completed under race conditions. A normal 410-360 weekly race is 1,544 laps and with the 305 cars some weeks the total goes up to 1,855 if there is a full field of cars. So track conditions change rapidly and drastically. The last 7-8 laps the A-Main saw rubber down on the top and middle grooves of turns one and two, and the bottom groove was never really there all night. The bottom held up great in three and four. Next year I would be in favor of spending 30 minutes to rework the track surface with the aerator and sprinkle a little water on it before the A-Main to ensure it holds up for all 50 laps. If the track would have had a bottom groove and more grip in general, I think we would have seen a better race the second half. I applaud John McCoy for changing the number of transfer positions from two to four in all races this week. That opens it up to more opportunity for someone to race the alphabet. But I wouldn't mind seeing 16 cars locked into all B, C, D, and E features instead of 20. And if we have to add a F and G main, so be it. Thinning out the heard wouldn't be a bad thing.

Winning the C-Main was Jac Haudenschild, his third career C-Main Nationals win. Jac had mechanical problems in the B-Main and finished 23rd. Tyler Walker won the D-Main, and Bill Rose won the E-Main.

52nd Annual Knoxville Nationals Championship: 1. Donny Schatz, 2. Brian Brown, 3. Craig Dollansky, 4. Kraig Kinser, 5. Jason Meyers, 6. Shane Stewart, 7. Stevie Smith, 8. Lance Dewease, 9. Tim Kaeding, 10. Davey Heskin, 11. Joey Saldana, 12. Mark Dobmeier, 13. Jonathan Allard, 14. Justin Henderson, 15. Daryn Pittman, 16. Kyle Larson, 17. Dale Blaney, 18. Ian Madsen, 19. Lucas Wolfe, 20. Jason Sides, 21. Cody Darrah, 22. David Gravel, 23. Paul McMahan, 24. Brian Paulus.

B-Main finish: 1. Dobmeier, 2. Heskin, 3. Brian Paulus, 4. Jason Sides, 5. Sammy Swindell, 6. Tim Shaffer, 7. Jason Johnson, 8. Kevin Swindell, 9. Kerry Madsen, 10. Steve Kinser, 11. Bronson Maeschen, 12. Brooke Tatnell, 13. Chad Kemenah, 14. Terry McCarl, 15. Wayne Johnson, 16. James McFadden 17. Danny Lasoski, 18. Scott Winters, 19. Danny Holtgraver, 20. Greg Hodnett, 21. Brad Sweet, 22. Dustin Selvage, 23. Jac Haudenschild, 24. Dusty Zomer.

C-Main finish: Jac Haudenschild, 2. Danny Lasoski, 3. Brad Sweet, 4. James McFadden, 5. Jamie Veal, 6. Jack Dover, 7. Cap Henry, 8. Randy Hannagan, 9. Greg Wilson, 10. Jeff Swindell,

Friday Hard Knox

Friday night of the Nationals worked out AWESOME!!! Being the mad scientist behind the general idea I would like to thank John McCoy for hearing out my thoughts. I told you it would work.

Dubbed Friday “Hard Knox” or “Mulligan Night”, the Friday format gave a second chance for anyone not in the top 16 in over-all points to come back and race on Friday for a shot to make it into the Nationals A-Main on Saturday. The top four would start in the Saturday finale in positions 17-20.

The A-Main was a fierce battle in the opening laps with Cody Darrah and David Gravel exchanging the lead while the crowd also kept an eye on Kerry Madsen and Steve Kinser in the middle of the field racing toward the front. Kinser started 15th and raced his way up to sixth or seventh at one time but faded to ninth in the end. After halfway Gravel built a solid lead but Justin Henderson’s car came to him the last half of the race. Henderson started sixth and on the 20th circuit he made the pass to get around Gravel and lead the remaining five laps to pick up the win.

A fierce battle for third sixth ensued most of the race as everyone was vying for one of the four transfer spots in the Saturday A-Main, after all fifth place would end up starting eleventh in the B-Main. It came down to Dale Blaney and Darrah beating a charging Madsen and Chad Kemenah the last few laps. Dale Blaney lost an engine on his qualifying night in hot laps and didn’t get it changed in time for his time trial spot, so his team elected to take the mulligan and park the car instead of starting at the back of a heat race or C-Main. That decision paid off.

Danny Lasoski gave up a guaranteed tenth starting position in the Saturday A-Main to requalify on Friday to have a better shot to win. That roll of the dice didn’t pay off as he timed 21st in qualifying which put him on the front row of his heat race, which he won. The Dude started tenth in the A-Main but had mechanical problems and finished 15th, putting him on the front row of the Saturday C-Main.

The heat races and B-Main’s were intense with only the top two finishers of all races earning spots in the A-Main. Heat two featured KKR teammates Brad Sweet and Cody Darrah, and Darrah cut off Sweet a couple of times to hold him off for a second place heat finish. Steve Kinser ended up in the toughest of the seven heats starting fourth with Blaney, Hafertepe, Gharst, and Hannagan. The King finished third to Blaney and Hafertepe.

Kinser won the first B-Main while Kevin Swindell drove from seventh to second to transfer. In the second B-Main Chad Kemenah led the distance but Cap Henry scrambled from seventh to second just like Kevin.

Friday heat winners: David Gravel, Wayne Johnson, Dale Blaney, Jac Haudenschild, Terry McCarl, Jeff Swindell, Danny Lasoski. Winning the three B-Main’s were Steve Kinser, Chad Kemenah, and Bronson Maeschen.

Friday A-Main results: 1. Justin Henderson, 2. David Gravel, 3. Dale Blaney, 4. Cody Darrah, 5. Kerry Madsen, 6. Chad Kemenah, 7. Terry McCarl, 8. Dusty Zomer, 9. Steve Kinser, 10. Danny Holtgraver, 11. Bronson Maeschen, 12. Kevin Swindell, 13. Wayne Johnson, 14. Scott Winters, 15. Danny Lasoski, 16. Jamie Veal, 17. Rager Phillips, 18. Jac Haudenschild, 19. Cap Henry, 20. James McFadden, 21. Greg Wilson, 22. Jeff Swindell, 23. Sam Hafertepe Jr., 24. Joey Moughan.

Jason Meyers wins KXV Nats Thursday Prelim

Jason Meyers may have disappeared into semi retirement from sprint car racing in March of this year, but the two time World of Outlaws champion showed no signs of losing his mojo after winning the Thursday preliminary feature. Meyers started the night by timing thirteenth, finishing third in his heat race. In the feature he chased down leader MarkDobmeir and took the lead on lap eight and then held off a late charge from Tim Shaffer to get the win. Meyers accumulated enough points to start seventh in the championship Saturday night.

Setting quick time on the evening was Australian native and Knoxville regular Ian Madsen with a lap of 15.491. Ian then finished third in his heat race but in the feature spun in turn two and had to restart at the tail, but still managed a sixteenth finish to earn enough points to be locked into the top 16 starting positions for Saturday night.

During the Madsen spin, four time champion Danny Lasoski tried to avoid Madsen by taking the inside lane, but ran out of room and tagged Madsen’s car sending Lasoski upside down and done for the night. Lasoski will have to race on Friday night to try to earn one of the four remaining spots in the Saturday championship.

Sammy Swindell wowed the crowd in the heat races recovering from contact with Wayne Johnson while racing for second and nearly stuffing the car into the fence. Swindell was able to regroup and beat Johnson for second on the last lap. Swindell however had mechanical issues with his drive line in the feature and had to pull in after five laps which will force him to start sixth in the Saturday B-main.

It was a good night for the Knoxville regular competitors with Madsen, Mark Dobmeier finishing sixth, Brian Brown ninth, Josh Schneiderman 17th, Dusty Zomer 21st. Zomer had to race in the B-main and was able to advance from fourth to second in the closing laps, but he had a left rear tire go down in the A-main ending his night.

California driver Tim Kaeding won the B-main and worked his way up to eighth in the A, which gave him enough to earn the eighth starting position on Saturday. Winning heat races were Tony Brice Jr., Tyler Walker, Josh Schneiderman, Johnny Herrera, and Joey Moughan.

Friday night is shaping up to be an exciting one with former National champions Steve Kinser and Danny Lasoski in the lineup. The top four in the Friday race will earn starting positions 17-20 in the championship race on Saturday, while fifth place starts eleventh in the B-main. Other notable names racing Friday are Tyler Walker, Johnny Herrera, Kerry Madsen, Justin Henderson, Wayne Johnson, Dusty Zomer, Fred Rahmer, Chad Kemenah, Terry McCarl, Cody Darrah, Brad Sweet, Brady Bacon, Kevin Swindell, and Jac Haudenschild.

Knoxville Nationals Thursday preliminary feature finish: 1. Jason Meyers, 2. 83 Tim Shaffer, 3. Kraig Kinser, 4. Stevie Smith, 5. Lance DeWease, 6. Mark Dobmeier, 7. Jason Johnson, 8. Tim Kaeding, 9. Brian Brown, 10. Johnny Herrera, 11. Greg Hodnett, 12. Daryn Pittman, 13. Tim McFadden, 14. Tyler Walker, 15. Jamie Veal, 16. Ian Madsen, 17. Josh Schneiderman, 18. Tony Bruce Jr. 19. Wayne Johnson, 20. Joey Moughan, 21. Dusty Zomer, 22. Danny Lasoski, 23. Sammy Swindell, 24. Josh Hodges.

Top 16 in overall points: 1. Stevie Smith, 2. Craig Dollanksy, 3. Jonathan Allard, 4. Brian Brown, 5. Donny Schatz, 6. Joey Saldana, 7. Jason Meyers, 8. Tim Kaeding, 9. Kraig Kinser, 10. Lucas Wolfe, 11. Ian Madsen, 12. Kyle Larson, 13. Shane Stewart, 14. Daryn Pittman, 15. Lance DeWease, 16. Paul McMahan.

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.