KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Aaron Reutzel cruised to the 410 sprint car victory on Mid-Season Championship Night and the Nolan Wren Memorial Saturday night at Knoxville Raceway.
Terry McCarl held off Reutzel to win in the 360s and Tyler Groenendyk went wire to wire with the Pro Sprints.
Reutzel shot out from his pole position in the non-stop 25-lap 410 main event with Cory Eliason, Austin McCarl, Brian Brown and Matt Juhl in tow. Tyler Courtney would get by Juhl to round out the top five by lap three.
Reutzel advanced into lapped traffic on lap seven and never missed a beat despite some smoke emanating from the Ridge & Sons Racing No. 8. By lap 13, his margin was up to 3.8 seconds over Eliason.
With five laps to go, his lead had shrunk to under three seconds, but the Clute, Texas native would lap up to tenth place, taking his third 410 feature this season and the fifth in his career. Reutzel received a $1,000 bonus for being the highest finisher in the point standings bringing his winning total to $6,000.
Eliason was second, followed by Austin McCarl, Brown and Courtney.
“I may be the only drive in the field to have known Nolan Wren, so it’s really cool to win this race,” said Reutzel. “I think I won the first three they had, and I’m really happy to win it. We’ve known the Wrens for a long time. He’s still greatly missed today. This one’s for him. The car was phenomenal. We put a different one together, and I think it made all the difference.”
The finish:
Feature (25 laps): 1. Aaron Reutzel (1) ($1,000 bonus); 2. Cory Eliason (2); 3. Austin McCarl (4) ($500 bonus); 4. Brian Brown (5) ($250 bonus); 5. Tyler Courtney (10); 6. Davey Heskin (11); 7. Buddy Kofoid (9); 8. Ayrton Gennetten (3); 9. JJ Hickle (20); 10. Matt Juhl (7); 11. Parker Price-Miller (6); 12. Justin Henderson (13); 13. Carson McCarl (14); 14. Sawyer Phillips (12); 15. Tasker Phillips (16); 16. Chris Martin (23); 17. Ian Madsen (17); 18. AJ Moeller (15); 19. Riley Goodno (21); 20. Dustin Selvage (19); 21. McKenna Haase (22); 22. Carson Short (18); 23. Tyler Drueke (24); 24. Lynton Jeffrey (8).