After 10x World of Outlaws Champion Donny Schatz crossed the line 4th in his heat race, he was staring down a B Feature starting spot and a possible C Main on Championship Saturday if he was unable to run up through the Friday Night A Main.
Enter Jack Dover in the #14J.
Dover missed the scales after finishing 2nd in the same heat race, gifting the third and final transfer spot to Schatz and thus [due to going fastest in qualifying], the pole position for the Hard Knox A Feature.
Schatz led the field to the green flag with former Knoxville Prelim Night winner and Eldora Million Champion Logan Schuchart in tow. Schuchart led lap 2 as the pair of World of Outlaws regulars battled hard for the lead in the opening laps. Schatz had just pulled a solid gap ahead of Schuchart before the first caution flag of the feature flew on lap 6 for a slowing Cale Thomas.
On the ensuing restart Austin McCarl in the Country Builders #88 briefly challenged Schuchart for 2nd before falling into the clutches of Justin Henderson in the Forbrook #5. Henderson took the 3rd spot from the Altoona, IA native with 10 laps complete before McCarl eventually fell back to 5th and subsequently, had his night go from bad to worse. McCarl drew the second caution of the race when a right-rear suspension component failed and the #88 was forced to retire from the event.
The final restart saw Schatz scamper away at the front while Henderson and youngster Emerson Axsom in the Klaasmeyer/Petry #27 battled for 3rd. With the top 4 cars putting distance between themselves and 5th place running Lynton Jeffrey, the final laps ran without incident and Schatz crossed the line to lay claim to a Championship Saturday A Main starting spot and a Hard Knox Feature win.
Schuchart, Henderson and Axsom rounded out the top 4 Saturday Feature lock in spots with Jeffrey completing the top 5 runners.
Schatz will start 21st in Saturday’s Feature, with Schuchart in 22nd, Henderson 23rd and Axsom 24th rounding out the 2024 NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals A Main.
The final 4 starting spots in Saturday’s A Main will be decided by tomorrow’s B Feature, with the top 4 advancing to starting positions 17th-20th.
Tomorrow the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals concludes with Championship Saturday. Features will run in order from E through the $190,000 to win 50 lap A Main. Tickets for Saturday are SOLD OUT. The night’s racing will be broadcast live on DIRTVision.
Ashley Zimmerman | HW Designs Photos
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