KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Rico Abreu made a late pass of Ryan Timms to claim the feature on Friday’s night two of the 35th Annual Xtream Powered by Mediacom 360 Knoxville Nationals Presented by Great Southern Bank.
The $3,000 win garnered the driver of the Rico Abreu Racing No. 24r enough points to start on the pole of Saturday’s $20,000-to-win finale beside Parker Price-Miller, who finished third in Friday’s feature.
Carson McCarl and Kyle Larson, Thursday’s high point getter will make up row two, and Timms and Justin Peck will comprise row three.
Cam Martin led the 20-lap main event early over Terry McCarl, Ryan Timms, Clint Garner and Abreu. Timms used the low side of turn three to pass McCarl for second, and Abreu followed him into third a lap later.
Timms used the high side of turn four to pass Martin for the point on lap five. Abreu shot by Martin on the backstretch on lap 8 to take second, before Blake Hahn slowed to bring out a caution. Timms led Abreu, Martin, McCarl and Garner back to green.
Abreu used the middle of turns one and two to make a pass for the lead on the restart. Parker Price-Miller moved into the top five on lap 10.
Up front, Timms reeled Abreu back in and passed him to retake the point on lap 11. Price-Miller also passed McCarl for fourth.
Timms was in lapped traffic on lap 16. Abreu slid across Timm’s nose on lap 17, with Timms reeling after contact with Abreu’s right rear. He kept the car righted and maintained second before Tim Kaeding spun in turn four to bring the final caution with three to go.
Abreu went on to his first career 360 feature here, ahead of Timms, Price-Miller, Cam Martin and Carson McCarl, who gained fifth from Terry on the white-flag lap.
Carson McCarl set quick time over the 44-car field.
“The hat tip to my team,” said Abreu. “They just worked really hard on this thing. They do an amazing job. These cars (360’s) are momentum based, and you really have to keep these engines up on the pipe. I kept telling (crew chief) Ricky, I need a little bit more ‘stick.’ They got the car unbelievable for me.”
“I kind of figured it was going to be me and Rico up there at the front,” said Timms. “The first few laps I got my speed built around the top. I was able to get underneath Terry and by Martin there. The caution came out, and I saw Rico behind me. The car didn’t take off great, and I had a bad restart. Rico got underneath me, and I was able to get back by him. I don’t know what he was doing to catch me, but he showed me a nose in three and four. I tried to get down under him as soon as possible, but just did it too soon. I got into his right rear and got myself all jacked up after that. It was a great night overall, and I’m super-happy with the speed.”
“The heat race (in which he was penalized on the start) definitely lit a fire,” said Price-Miller. “I was really happy with our car. I think we tied Rico in points, so we’ll be starting beside him tomorrow. I can’t thank the (Indy Race Parts No. 71p) team enough. I was super-happy with our car. Hopefully, we can build it up for tomorrow.”
The finish:
Feature (20 laps): 1. 24R-Rico Abreu[5]; 2. 10-Ryan Timms[4]; 3. 71P-Parker Price Miller[7]; 4. 4-Cameron Martin[1]; 5. 27-Carson McCarl[8]; 6. 24-Terry McCarl[2]; 7. 21-Brian Brown[9]; 8. 40G-Clint Garner[6]; 9. 7BC-Giovanni Scelzi[21]; 10. 27B-Jake Bubak[13]; 11. 1TZ-Tasker Phillips[24]; 12. 01-Colby Copeland[16]; 13. 03-Jack Dover[17]; 14. 9-Kasey Kahne[14]; 15. 3P-Sawyer Phillips[23]; 16. 2JR-Kelly Miller[3]; 17. 36-Jason Martin[10]; 18. 25-Tim Kaeding[11]; 19. 7-Tyler Lee[19]; 20. 14T-Brooke Tatnell[15]; 21. 23-Chase Dietz[20]; 22. 157-Cam Sorrels[18]; 23. 22-Riley Goodno[22]; 24. 52-Blake Hahn[12].
