There was no denying the big question heading into Saturday night. What about Donny? Schatz rolled into Knoxville having not finished worse than second in the Nationals since 2004.
In 2013, Schatz started the night in the B-Main, then charged from 21st to first to take the point with 10 laps to spare, claiming the win. Could he do it again in 2019?
Schatz finished second in the B-Main behind Gio Scelzi, while James McFadden and Rico Abreu rounded out the top four to transfer to the big show.
Earlier in the season, Hall of Fame flagman Doug Clark announced his retirement from the flagstand following the culmination of this year‘s Knoxville Raceway season, meaning this was his final Knoxville Nationals. His son Justin has been serving as his assistant and will take over in his place.
Australian Wade Aunger made the announcement that money has been raised to fly Doug to Australia, where he will flag a race down under as a finale to his career.
When Doug Clark waved his giant green flag on the Saturday night A-Main, Aaron Reutzel took the point as third-place starter Joey Saldana jumped into second.
Exiting turn four, Reutzel climbed the inside berm with his front wheels, allowing Saldana to get a run on the outside and take the lead as they entered turn one.
Reutzel stuck to the bottom, making up ground and retaking the lead from the “Brownsburg Bullet” with a slide to the cushion in three and four two laps later. Gravel, Tim Kaeding and Tim Shaffer sat third through fifth, respectively.
Meanwhile, Schatz was attempting to launch a charge from the back. But on lap seven, he slowed to a stop on the frontstretch. Some hard clay had bent a side panel in against his throttle pedal. As Schatz came to a stop in the work area, crews from several teams converged to help with the repair and allow him to push off and rejoin the race.
Three laps after the restart on lap 10, Gravel slid past Saldana to take second. Meanwhile, Daryn Pittman was moving forward, passing Shaffer to take fifth, then Kaeding for fourth on lap 13.
A lap later, Gravel made a pass on Reutzel on the high side of turn four to take the lead.
On lap 19, Kaeding slid Saldana to take over third. A lap later, Pittman passed Saldana for fourth.
Doug Clark threw the caution for the fuel stop at the halfway point, with Gravel leading, Reutzel second, Pittman third, Kaeding fourth and Sweet fifth. Saldana, Shaffer and Sheldon Haudenschild sat sixth through eighth, respectively.
Logan Schuchart had been on the charge, moving forward from his 22nd place starting position to ninth. Parker Price-Miller sat 10th.
During the open red, second place-runner Pittman‘s crew chief, Brent Ventura, re-attached the ignition box to the dashboard of the No. 83. One of the two Dzus buttons that holds the ignition box in place had come off.
Pittman explained that he was unable to tell what he was feeling on his hands until the break in the racing.
“I did feel it and then, when the yellow came out, I looked down and saw what was going on,” Pittman noted. “It really wasn‘t performance inhibiting at all, but if it would have fell off the other Dzus it probably would have shut off.”
Meanwhile, Gravel‘s crew tightened up the car, as he felt the car felt a little free.
Tim Kaeding made a gear change, and two laps after the restart Kaeding moved past Reutzel to take third, while Pittman moved into second and Sweet overtook Reutzel to move into fourth.
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