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Brian Brown in victory lane at Knoxville Raceway. (Knoxville Raceway photo)

Brown Fights Off Reutzel At Knoxville

KNOXVILLE, Iowa — It was an electric evening on Hy-Vee Night at Knoxville Raceway as Brian Brown and Aaron Reutzel went toe to toe in the 410 feature. Brown won his 58th career feature here, earning $5,000 aboard the Brian Brown Racing No. 21.  

Reutzel led from the pole of the 410 main event early ahead of Jeffrey, Austin McCarl, Brown and Justin Henderson. Brown found the bottom to his liking and took Henderson with him by McCarl for third on lap two. Henderson and McCarl would trade fourth on two occasions. 

Up front, Reutzel encountered lapped traffic on the seventh circuit. Jeffrey found a groove in the middle of turn two and took the lead on lap nine. Sawyer Phillips was running seventh when he came to a stop along the turn two wall with eight laps to go in the 20-lap event. 

The restart saw Jeffrey leading Reutzel, Brown, Henderson and McCarl back to green.  Brown put a slider on Reutzel after the restart to take second.  The pair made some contact, but kept rolling.  On the next lap, Ryan Giles contacted something and spun down the frontstretch. 

Reutzel and Brown disposed of Jeffrey on that restart with Reutzel sliding in front to lead a lap.  Contact was again made between the pair, but Brown would battle back and take the lead on lap 15.  Jeffrey recovered to pass Reutzel for second on the white flag lap, but Henderson would come to a stop, surrendering his fourth-place run. 

The caution added an extra 21st lap to the feature with the green, white, checker finish.  Appropriately, Brown would take advantage in the No. 21. Jeffrey would lose power on the restart, and Brown took off to the checkers. 

Reutzel took second, ahead of Austin McCarl, Davey Heskin and Carson McCarl.  

Brown set quick time over the 34-car field. 

“I didn’t feel like we were really great that whole feature,” said Brown. “I got working with my wing. We had a motto this week, ‘Whatever it takes.’  Lynton and Aaron did a phenomenal job.  I had to slide them there and just try to block the line. They’re probably upset with me, but we’re here to win. It’s an honor to drive this car.” 

Clint Garner, Terry McCarl and Aaron Reutzel duked it out in the 360 feature, with Garner taking a win for the second week in a row. Reutzel rode roughshod over the make-up 360 feature field from April 23. Garner and Reutzel’s wins were worth $2,000 apiece.  

Scotty Johnson kept his roll going in the Pro Sprints presented by Pace Performance, taking a win back to Melcher-Dallas for the second week in a row. 

The finish:

Feature (21 laps): 1. Brian Brown (4); 2. Aaron Reutzel (1); 3. Austin McCarl (3); 4. Davey Heskin (10); 5. Carson McCarl (13); 6. Tasker Phillips (8); 7. Don Droud Jr. (17); 8. Matt Juhl (15); 9. Riley Goodno (11); 10. JJ Hickle (14); 11. Josh Schneiderman (9); 12. Ayrton Gennetten (16); 13. Dustin Selvage (19); 14. Sawyer Phillips (6); 15. Josh Higday (7); 16. Chris Martin (21); 17. Zach Hampton (18); 18. Tyler Drueke (23); 19. Mike Wagner (20); 20. AJ Moeller (24); 21. Lynton Jeffrey (2); 22. Justin Henderson (5); 23. Ryan Giles (12); 24. Jordan Goldesberry (22).Lap Leaders: Reutzel 1-8, Jeffrey 9-13, Reutzel 14, Brown 15-21. Hard-charger: Droud.