KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Tyler Courtney passed Brady Bacon at the midway point and drove to a $3,000 win on night two of the 36th Annual Xtream Powered by Mediacom Knoxville 360 Nationals Presented by Great Southern Bank on Friday at Knoxville Raceway.
The win was an emotional one for the Clauson-Marshall No. 7BC team on the 10th anniversary of the passing of Bryan Clauson. Ryan Timms earned the pole for Saturday’s $20,000 to win championship, as he will start beside Aaron Reutzel in the 25-lapper.
Before a lap could be completed, a three-car incident saw Whit Gastineau get upside down. Joe Beaver and Matt Covington involved, and all three retired.
The 20-lapper went non-stop from there, with Bacon leading Courtney, Anthony Macri, Brian Brown and Timms early. The lead five separated themselves a bit before Timms used the high side of turn two on lap seven to pass Brown for fourth.
Bacon approached lapped traffic at the halfway point, and Courtney closed the gap. On lap 11, he used a diamond move entering turn four high and coming down on the low side to shoot by Bacon for the point.
At that point, a blanket could be thrown over the top four. Timms reeled in Macri and passed him for third with four to go. As lapped traffic got hairy, Timms began to gain on the lead pair. A move between lappers, however, saw Courtney extend his lead, and Bacon chase him through the gap.
Courtney’s win was his second here, and first since winning the 2024 360 Knoxville Nationals. Bacon finished second, ahead of Timms, Macri and Brown.
Sam Hafertepe Jr. set quick time over the 55- car field.
“This morning, I started looking on Facebook and everything and thinking about what a special person he was,” said Courtney of his friend, Bryan Clauson. “He was great mentor for me. I feel like if there was a night to win, it was tonight…especially here at Knoxville, and especially today. I just wish he was here to see it. You have nothing to lose when you’re running second. You can go search around, and see what works and what doesn’t work. I feel like I got to move around right before we got to lapped traffic. I found something that worked for me, and we just had a really good car tonight.”
“I knew we were good on the bottom,” said Bacon. “It was tough to know what to do when we got to traffic. You can only get so close to them and it slows you down. I got by some and then I saw (Courtney) on the screen running a higher line than me. I moved up to the middle and gave him an opportunity to get by me. I should have just stuck to my guns, and known I was going to get faster back in open traffic and made him drive around me. I made the mistake in one corner and let him get around me.”
“It was good to go home (last week) and reset,” said Timms, who was the high point man for the night and the event. “We did well. It was good, but I’m feeling good heading into tomorrow. I definitely wanted to win them tonight, but you can’t win them all. I feel like I gave it my best effort. I have to thank my team for giving me such a fast car. I’m really fortunate to be able to drive for them.”
The finish:
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 7BC, Tyler Courtney (2); 2. 31, Brady Bacon (1); 3. 10, Ryan Timms (7); 4. 39M, Anthony Macri (4); 5. 21, Brian Brown (6); 6. 1TZ, Tasker Phillips (18); 7. 2A, Austin Wood (3); 8. 24, Terry McCarl (9); 9. 63, JJ Hickle (10); 10. 26R, Levi Hillier (11); 11. 15H, Sam Hafertepe Jr (8); 12. 71P, Parker Price Miller (24); 13. 14TSR, Rico Abreu (21); 14. 55, Kerry Madsen (22); 15. 44X, Scott Bogucki (15); 16. 45X, Kyler Johnson (5); 17. 4, Cameron Martin (23); 18. 59, Evan Semerad (20); 19. 19, Joel Myers Jr (13); 20. 40, Clint Garner (19); 21. 7T, Tyler Lee (17); 22. 53, Joe Beaver (12); 23. 2, Whit Gastineau (14); 24. 95, Matt Covington (16).
