KNOXVILLE, Iowa — David Gravel was up against it after a crash on his qualifying night on Wednesday, and while his Hard Knox Friday night was a bit of a roller-coaster ride, the 2019 Knoxville Nationals was able to breathe a sigh of relief at the end of the night.
Gravel drove the Big Game Motorsports No. 2 machine from seventh starting spot to finish second and earn one of four transfer spots into Saturday night’s $185,000-to-win main event.
“If you run fifth tonight, you are 11th in the B tomorrow,” Gravel said. “From there it is going to be a really tall task, so there was a lot of pressure going into tonight. I didn’t understand the format 100 percent going into tonight. I knew you wanted to qualify good, but I didn’t realize that literally qualifying was everything tonight. If you did not qualify good, there was no making up for it no matter what you did in the heat race.
“I just can’t get a good pill draw so there was pressure going out late in my group,” Gravel continued. “Fourth quick, I was almost disappointed with that, but happy to be happy to be in the second row and able to win the heat. I was definitely upset when I found out I was starting seventh in the feature after winning my heat. I was like, ‘Man, I hope this isn’t my Nationals, a tough night every single night,’ but fortunately, the first couple of laps went nice and smooth and then you could kind of breathe from there.
“It’s a big relief. This is a different car and a different motor and I’m happy to be in the ball game.”
• Australian racer Scott Bogucki has had quite a journey to his first Knoxville Nationals feature, starting as a crew member, leaving his homeland and working his way up the ladder.
“I came in ’12, ’13 and ’14 as a crew guy for (Johnny) Herrera and he took me on the road for three months at a time,” Bogucki explained. “I bought a race car at home and raced a little bit. I realized if I was going to make a name for myself, I had to come here, so I sold off everything to come over here.
“There are a lot of people here who really helped me out. Troy Renfro took me in, and I lived in the basement and they treated me like their kid. I raced here weekly.
“It’s been a roller coaster. This is something that I’ve always wanted to do, and I finally got it done.”
• Brent Marks struggled through much of Friday’s Hard Knox program, but came on strong in the feature, running from 19th to finish sixth. Still, Marks has his work cut out for him on Saturday night as he’ll start 12th in the B main.
• Hunter Schuerenberg, who qualified Kevin Swindell’s No. 39 sprint car in the sixth starting spot for Saturday’s Knoxville Nationals main event, has a new ride.
Schuerenberg, who has driven multiple cars this season after losing his longtime ride with Vermeer Motorsports, will drive the famed Zemco No. 1 in the remaining events at Pennsylvania’s Port Royal Speedway, including the Tuscarora 50.
He replaces Logan Wagner, who recently left the team to drive Don Kreitz Jr.’s No. 69k sprint car.
• After flipping Guy Forbrook’s No. 5 during Thursday’s preliminary night feature, Daryn Pittman did not return for competition on Friday.
• Aaron Reutzel (15.425 seconds) and Scott Bogucki (15.508) were the fast qualifiers for Friday’s two time trail groups.
• Hall of Fame drag racer Darrell Gwynn attended the Knoxville Nationals on Friday.
• There were three different crashes during Friday night’s hot laps, with Gage Pulkrabek, Justin Sanders and Sam Hafertepe Jr. each getting upside down.