Last year‘s winner Brad Sweet timed 15th, then won his heat race to lock into the night‘s prelim feature.
Shaffer, Pittman, Bogucki and Allen finished as the top four of the B-main to transfer to the A-main.
In the feature, Brock Zearfoss led from the pole early with Sweet and Gravel in tow. Gravel passed Sweet, then took the lead from Zearfoss before Brock retook the point one lap later.
Following a caution for a blown right rear tire on Sye Lynch‘s mount on lap 10, Zearfoss‘ ignition went sour on the restart. Gravel took over the point and held off Sweet for the win.
Carson Macedo charged from 13th to third, while Cory Eliason took fourth. Rico Abreu timed a disappointing 22nd, but ran second in his heat before finishing fifth in the night‘s feature.
Saldana took sixth, Shaffer charged from 21st to seventh, Parker Price-Miller took eighth, Matt Juhl was ninth, and Pittman came from 22nd to 10th.
When the night‘s point tallies were totaled, Aaron Reutzel still sat atop the standings, securing the pole, with Gravel six points behind to sit alongside on the front row for Saturday‘s main event.
With the top-16 locked into the A and the next 10 in points locked into the first five rows of the B, Donny Schatz was on the outside looking in, slated to start fourth in Saturday‘s B-main.
When asked if he felt some of the week‘s pressure was alleviated by locking into a front row starting position for the big show, Gravel solemnly responded, “No, not really.”
KNOXVILLE NATIONALS
(50 laps)
1 – David Gravel
2 – Logan Schuchart
3 – Daryn Pittman
4 – Tim Kaeding
5 – Aaron Reutzel
6 – Brad Sweet
7 – Sheldon Haudenschild
8 – James McFadden
9 – Donny Schatz
10 – Gio Scelzi
11 – Kerry Madsen
12 – Shane Stewart
13 – Cory Eliason
14 – Joey Saldana
15 – Ian Madsen
16 – Parker Price-Miller
17 – Brent Marks
18 – Matt Juhl
19 – Trey Starks
20 – Paul McMahan
21 – Tim Shaffer
22 – Rico Abreu
23 – Lance Dewease
24 – Dominic Scelzi
Coming into this year‘s running of the Nationals, a slight change in format regarding the Friday “Hard Knox” night top-four had been announced. Competition Director John McCoy felt strongly that those who race their way into the A-Main through Saturday night‘s B-Main should start ahead of those who qualify through Friday night‘s feature — starting 21st through 24th, while the B-Main qualifiers start 17th through 20th.
With the high car count for Friday night, two qualifying groups took time and ran heats. Sye Lynch took quick time for Friday night‘s first group with a time of 16.151, while Kerry Madsen took quick time in group two with a time of 16.292.
In the feature, Kerry Madsen took the checkers, with Logan Schuchart earning second, Shane Stewart third and Dominic Scelzi fourth to lock into Saturday‘s main event.
Austin McCarl, Spencer Bayston, Josh Baughman, Sammy Swindell, Kraig Kinser and Bill Balog rounded out the top 10 and would start 11th through 16th in Saturday‘s B-Main.
Logan Schuchart had participated in the Wednesday night prelim, and had timed a disappointing 17th, then missed out on a heat transfer by one spot. A 12th-place finish in the B ended his night with a poor point total of just 384.
On Friday, he timed fourth in his qualifying group, then ran second in his heat before coming from eighth to earn his runner-up finish for the night. This marked the third consecutive year that Schuchart qualified through the Friday night program.
When asked to comment on his experience on Friday nights, he quickly replied, “I hate the Friday program,” before explaining that his feelings stemmed from his disappointment in not having been able to qualify through his regular preliminary night.
On Saturday afternoon, Gordon addressed the A-Main starters during the driver‘s meeting under a tent on the midway, recalling his experiences as a participant at past Knoxville Nationals.
Fans experienced a rare chance to see two of the “Big Three” — career-long rivals Steve Kinser and Sammy Swindell — sit down side-by-side and discuss their careers and each other on the Hercules Tires Entertainment Stage during the live videoing of The Ralph Sheheen Show. An hour later, Winged Nation took the stage for their pre-race show.
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