KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Emerson Axsom emerged at the top of the points after the first night of preliminary competition during the 34th annual 360 Knoxville Nationals at Knoxville Raceway.
Axsom as the night’s third quickest qualifier on the half-mile race track, won the third heat and raced from eighth to finish fifth in the 20-lap main event.
Axsom’s 488 points put him ahead of Austin McCarl, who finished fourth in the feature and wound up with 476 points on the night.
Jamie Ball (473), feature winner Kaleb Johnson (468) and five-time 360 Nationals winner Terry McCarl (468) rounded out the top five.
Another group of racers will hit the track on Friday night.
Who Has Won The 360 Knoxville Nationals?
Thursday Points
1.    Emerson Axsom 488
2.    Austin McCarl 476
3.    Jamie Ball 473
4.    Kaleb Johnson 468
5.    Terry McCarl 468
6.    Kade Higday 465
7.    Cole Macedo 462
8.    Justin Peck 461
9.    Matt Covington 460
10.   Aaron Reutzel 460
11.   Chase Randall 453
12.   Riley Goodno 451
13.   Seth Bergman 437
14.   Hunter Schuerenberg 432
15.   Matt Juhl 430
16.   Cole Garner 425
17.   Cam Martin 424
18.   Garet Williamson 422
19.   Brandon Anderson 420
20.   Calvin Landis 413
21.   Tanner Holmes 412
22.   Jacob Hughes 407
23.   Jason Martin 403
24.   Blake Hahn 397
25.   Chase Johnson 395
26.   Ryan Leavitt 393
27.   Shone Evans 382
28.   Timothy Smith 378
29.   Tony Rost 359
30.   JJ Hickle 358
31.   Ben Brown 352
32.   Kelly Miller 349
33.   Chris Martin 344
34.   Danny Dietrich 337
35.   Lance Moss 334
36.   John Carney II 326
37.   Landon Britt 323
38.   Alan Zoutte 321
39.   Brant O’Banion 315
40.   Chase Brown 313
41.   Zach Blurton 312
42.   Corey Timmerman 309
43.   Kurt Mueller 303
44.   Weston Olson 300
45.   Ryan Bickett 297
46.   Kyler Johnson 279
47.   Logan Alexander 272
48.   Bryan Gossel 272
49.   Micah Slendy 267
50.   Terry Easum 259
51.   Tyler Graves 258
52.   Nathan Anderson 232
53.   John Anderson 224
54.   Gage Pulkrabek 213
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