The 62nd NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals will be run Aug. 9-12 at Iowa’s famed Knoxville Raceway.
The four days of racing at the half-mile dirt track offers a $1,159,005 purse, with $866,625 of that to be distributed on Saturday night. The winner of the 50-lap championship feature will bank $185,000.
Four Knoxville Nationals victors, including 11-time and defending winner Donny Schatz, were among the early entries for sprint car racing’s marquee event. Brad Sweet, David Gravel and Kyle Larson were the others.
Those drivers are among eight racers SPEED SPORT has identified as the favorites to win this year’s Knoxville Nationals based on their current season’s success and past experience at The Sprint Car Capital of the World.
The Favorites (8)
David Gravel
Entering the final weekend of July, David Gravel, driving the Big Game Motorsports No. 2 car owned by Tod Quiring, was tied atop the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series standings and had won a series-best nine features.
Among Gravel’s victories was a $250,000 triumph in the High Bank Nationals at South Dakota’s Huset’s Speedway. The 2019 Knoxville Nationals winner also topped one of the two World of Outlaws features at Knoxville Raceway this season and was last year’s Nationals runner-up.
Tuned by Cody Jacobs, the No. 2 car has been among the most consistent on the national trail this season.
Donny Schatz
Donny Schatz ran down Gravel with four laps remaining to win the 61st edition of the Knoxville Nationals.
Schatz, who turns 46 years old on the second night of the Nationals, has 11 victories in the sport’s biggest race and has finished second seven times. The Fargo, N.D., resident has 22 top-10 finishes in 24 Nationals A mains.
While he has not had a dominant season this year, the Tony Stewart Racing driver was on his game in winning a sixth Kings Royal at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway, and banking that $175,000 prize.
Schatz has won 13 races that have paid him $100,000 or more.
Logan Schuchart
Logan Schuchart knows his way around the big half-mile tracks and Knoxville Raceway is certainly no exception. Schuchart, who became the first sprint car driver to earn $1 million in a race when he topped the July 13 Eldora Million at Eldora Speedway, finished third in the Nationals last season and picked up a preliminary night triumph aboard his grandfather Bobby Allen’s No. 1s Shark Racing machine.
Rico Abreu
With respected crew chief Ricky Warner preparing his Abreu Racing No. 24 car, Rico Abreu is enjoying the best season of his career. Abreu, who has always been fast at Knoxville, has won six features this season, including four with the World of Outlaws. Abreu topped the Hard Knox feature during last year’s Nationals.
Brian Brown
Brian Brown has won five features at Knoxville this year, including one with the World of Outlaws in mid-June. He has 65 career victories at the track where he was raised. Brown has been oh so close on Saturday night during the Nationals before, finishing second to Schatz three consecutive years (2012-’14).
The Missouri native, who drives his own Brian Brown Racing No. 21 car, has 12 Knoxville Nationals A-main starts.
Kyle Larson
The 2021 Knoxville Nationals winner, Kyle Larson has raced winged sprint cars sparingly this season, but has still picked up seven victories, including wins with the World of Outlaws, High Limit Racing Series and the All Star Circuit of Champions.
In addition to the Nationals in 2021, Larson drove Paul Silva’s No. 57 machine to victory at Knoxville in 2020 when the Nationals was not run because of the pandemic. He finished sixth last year.
Brad Sweet
The four-time and reigning World of Outlaws champion has enjoyed a consistent season that includes six victories aboard the Kasey Kahne Racing No. 49 car. Sweet, the 2018 Knoxville Nationals winner, has five consecutive top-10 finishes in the Knoxville Nationals.
Carson Macedo
Driving the Jason Johnson Racing No. 41 sprint car, which has won the Nationals twice (Jason Johnson and Gravel), Carson Macedo is also among the favorites. A winner at Knoxville Raceway in the past, the California hot shoe has guided his Phil Dietz-prepared machine to six victories this season and ranks third in the World of Outlaws points entering the sport’s premier event.
Contenders (8)
Brent Marks
While not enjoying the spectacular season he had in 2022, Brent Marks is still a contender every time he pulls into a pit area with the Murray-Marks Motorsports No. 19m sprint car. A six-time feature winner through July 25, Marks ran seventh in last year’s Knoxville Nationals.
Aaron Reutzel
A weekly competitor at Knoxville Raceway for the second consecutive year aboard the Ridge & Sons No. 8 car, Aaron Reutzel has as many laps around Knoxville as any driver out there. He’s won a 410 feature and four 360 main events there this season. Reutzel was also among the contenders in the Eldora Million after starting from the pole.
Sheldon Haudenschild
Sheldon Haudenschild has won only twice this season, but few doubt his talents or the speed of his Stenhouse Jr. Marshall Racing No. 17 car. Haudenschild was eighth in last year’s Knoxville Nationals.
Gio Scelzi
Gio Scelzi picked up a $50,000 victory with the High Limit Racing Series at Lakeside Speedway this spring and has a single World of Outlaws victory this season.
Buddy Kofoid
Driving a collection of different sprint cars, Buddy Kofoid made 52 winged 410 starts through July 25. Aboard the Roth Motorsports 83jr for the balance of the season, Kofoid hopes to find consistency to go with the pure speed he’s shown at Huset’s Speedway, Eldora and other stops along the way.
James McFadden
Kofoid’s teammate, James McFadden, wheels the primary Roth Motorsports Toyota-powered entry. The Australian hot shoe has won four World of Outlaws races this season.
Zeb Wise
After missing a few races in May due to a concussion suffered in a crash at Eldora Speedway, Zeb Wise has been on a tear. Driving the Rudeen Racing No. 26 sprint car, Wise has won four All Star features and leads the standings in that series.
Shane Stewart
Despite not racing regularly in nearly two years, Shane Stewart hasn’t missed a beat since returning to Bernie Stuebgen’s Indy Race Parts No. 71 car. Stewart was a contender during the Eldora Million and Kings Royal at Eldora and should be strong at Knoxville, where he’s had success through the years. He has 11 top-10 finishes in 20 A-main starts.
If All Goes Right (8)
Kerry Madsen
After racing at Knoxville Raceway early in the year and winning a feature driving for Guy Forbrook, Kerry Madsen has settled into his new, old ride in the Vermeer Motorsports No. 55 and has run near the front in recent All Star events. The 51-year-old Australian has finished third twice and second once in 15 Knoxville Nationals main events.
Justin Peck
Justin Peck has only won one feature this season, but the Tom Buch Motorsports No. 13 entry has been one of the most consistent cars in the country with Peck running among the contenders nearly every weekend.
Spencer Bayston
Spencer Bayston has gained speed and consistency while racing with the World of Outlaws aboard the CJB Motorsports No. 5 machine. But he’s winless with 27 top-10 finishes in 42 events this year.
Anthony Macri
With Tyler Courtney out of action due a back injury, Anthony Macri has taken over the seat of the Clauson Marshall Racing No. 7bc entry. Macri was the leading winner in the country last season.
Austin McCarl
Last year’s Knoxville Nationals polesitter Austin McCarl leads the weekly standings at the half-mile oval, wheeling the No. 88 machine that’s prepared at his family’s race shop in nearby Altoona, Iowa.
Corey Day
California teenager Corey Day has won eight features this season and will drive the No. 14 Jason Meyers Racing entry during the Knoxville Nationals.
Justin Sanders
California gasser Justin Sanders is scheduled to wheel the Macri Motorsports No. 39m during the Nationals. Sanders made his first Nationals appearance last year driving for Kevin Swindell.
Parker Price-Miller
Parker Price-Miller made last year’s Nationals feature but suffered a substantial injury that forced him to miss several weeks of racing. He’ll run his own PPM No. 9 car and has shown speed in his limited outings this summer.
Dark Horses (8)
Hunter Schuerenberg
A two-time winner in the Vermeer Motorsports machine earlier in the year, Missouri veteran Hunter Schuerenberg settles into Kevin Swindell’s No. 39 entry for the Knoxville Nationals and other big races during the second half of the campaign.
Daryn Pittman
A veteran of 18 Knoxville Nationals feature starts, Daryn Pittman will be aboard Guy Forbrook’s No. 5x sprint car during the Nationals. This pairing is certainly long on experience.
Jacob Allen
Jacob Allen was a speedster during last year’s Nationals, winning a preliminary feature and finishing fifth in the Saturday night finale. However, he’s currently taking a break from racing and his plans for the Nationals remain in doubt.
Mark Dobmeier
Fully healed from injury, Mark Dobmeier has returned to form this summer, winning seven features through July 25. The Grand Forks, N.D., racer has made four Nationals A-main starts.
Sam Hafertepe Jr.
Sam Hafertepe Jr. has three Knoxville Nationals starts to his credit, and has been fast almost everywhere he’s raced this season.
Brady Bacon
Four-time USAC sprint car champion Brady Bacon has never qualified for the Nationals finale, but he’s having an excellent season both in winged and non-winged sprint car competition.
Tim Kaeding
California’s Tim Kaeding has nine Nationals feature starts to his credit, and he knows his way around the black-dirt track.
Justin Henderson
Justin Henderson is winless at Knoxville Raceway this season, but ranks seventh in the weekly standings. He’s made five A-main starts at the Nationals with a best finish of fifth.
Chase Randall
Chase Randall is a candidate to claim rookie-of-the-honors during the Nationals. The Texas teenager leads the 360 standings at Knoxville with three victories and has also raced regularly in the 410 class. He’ll drive Troy Renfro’s No. 2ks machine during sprint car racing’s biggest weekend.
The Best Of The Rest
As of July 26, Knoxville Nationals winners Kraig Kinser, Tim Shaffer and Sammy Swindell had yet to file entries for this year’s event. They would most certainly lead the Best of the Rest category in this year’s Nationals field.
Seven-time Knoxville Raceway champion Terry McCarl returns in an attempt to qualify for his 23rd Knoxville Nationals finale.
Joining McCarl in this category are traveling regulars Brock Zearfoss, Ian Madsen, Kyle Reinhardt, Kasey Kahne and Cole Macedo.
Also keep an eye on Garet Williamson, an up-and-coming Knoxville regular. He headlines a group of hard-charges that includes Australian Lachlan McHugh, Brenham Couch, Shane Golobic, Carson McCarl and Sye Lynch.
This story appeared in the August 2, 2023 edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
