KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Ryan Timms turned in a stellar performance Wednesday night and all but guaranteed him a starting spot near the front of Saturday night’s A-main for the 64th NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals at Knoxville Raceway.
Timms won the feature and accumulated 487 points on the night to easily outdistance the second-best points earner, Sheldon Haudenschild, who finished third and had 469 points on the night.
The top 16 drivers after the first two nights of qualifying are locked into Saturday night’s feature.
The key to Timms’ night was that he raced from eighth to transfer through his heat on a night when eighth of the 10 top qualifiers did not do that.
The 18-year-old Oklahoma driver races weekly at the historic half-mile track aboard the Liebig Motorsports No. 10.
Haudenschild enjoyed one of his best nights at the Nationals bringing the Clauson Marshall Racing machine home third and giving himself a solid points position.
Behind Haudenschild, Corey Day and Rico Abreu are tied for third with 468 points, while Emerson Axsom enjoyed a good night in the KCP Racing No. 18 and racked up 468 points.
Justin Peck, Garet Williamson, Austin McCarl, Chris Windom and Knoxville Raceway rookie Jack Anderson completed the top 10.
Multi-time Nationals winner Donny Schatz continued his season of struggle and found himself in 34th in points among the 51 drivers on night one.
David Gravel, the 2019 Nationals winner, flipped in his heat race and wound up 20th in points.
Schatz and Gravel are likely to be among those starting over in Friday night’s Hard Knox qualifying program.
Qualifying Night Points
1. 10 Ryan Timms 487
2. 17 Sheldon Haudenschild 469
3. 14BC Corey Day 468
4. 24R Rico Abreu 468
5. 18 Emerson Axsom 467
6. 26 Justin Peck 460
7. 23 Garet Williamson 460
8. 88 Austin McCarl 455
9. 7S Chris Windom 445
10. 17A Jack Anderson 444
11. 21T James McFadden 443
12. 15h Sam Hafertepe 439
13. 48 Danny Dietrich 431
14. 18T Tanner Holmes 418
15. 5W Lucas Wolfe 418
16. 42 Sye Lynch 417
17. 13 Daison Pursley 415
18. 27 Carson McCarl 414
19. 52 Blake Hahn 410
20. 2 David Gravel 403
21. 1K Kelby Watt 401
22. 1a Ashton Torgerson 400
23. 45X Landon Crawley 398
24. 24D Danny Sams 395
25. 3 Ayrton Gennetten 393
26. 6K Kaleb Johnson 392
27. 87 Justin Sanders 391
28. 44 Chris Martin 390
29. 39m Anthony Macri 388
30. 32B Brandon Spithaler 384
31. 22 Riley Goodno 378
32. 36 Jason Martin 374
33. 55 Hunter Schuerenberg 372
34. 15 Donny Schatz 362
35. 17GP Tim Shaffer 359
36. 09 Matt Juhl 347
37. 6 Zach Hampton 340
38. 74 Xavier Doney 330
39. 15JR Cole Mincer 321
40. 2KS Brooke Tatnell 316
41. 25 Tim Kaeding 311
42. 9R Chase Randall 308
43. 12X Hank Davis 305
44. 67 Justin Whittall 301
45. 44X Scotty Johnson 278
46. 121 R.J. Johnson 275
47. 10V Ben Brown 268
48. 71 Brandon Worthington 267
49. 4W Jamie Ball 267
50. 11N Kasey Jedrzejek 259
51. 65 Jordan Goldesberry 234
