Welcome to FVP Hard Knox Night at the Knoxville Raceway! Four drivers will lock themselves in tomorrow night's finale of the 64th NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals Presented by Casey's.
My name is Bill Wright, and I'll have stories here throughout the night, and walk you through the format. If you're interested in lineups and results, visit the "Events" page on the website or the MyRacePass App. If you want to watch the PPV Broadcast, you can visit www.DirtVision.com.
69 of a possible 74 cars have entered tonight's event. We'll start with hot laps, scheduled for 7 p.m. CST.
Drivers gathered tonight had more hard luck or circumstances than the 26 locked into Saturday's A and B mains. David Gravel had a heat race crash a couple of years ago, and suffered the same fate this year. Anthony Macri has won everything in sight lately, but missed the cut as well. Local racers Kerry Madsen and Carson McCarl lead the Knoxville contingent into tonight's events. There's plenty of talent up and down the lineup, fighting for four prime spots...
The cars will be divided into two groups for qualifying. Group 1 will comprise heats 1-3, and Group 2 will go to heats 4-6.
Group one Qualifying
Ashton Torgerson (7th car out to time) registers quick time in teh first group at 15.510 seconds, followed by Daryn Pittman (29th car out), Brenham Crouch (5th), Lucas Wolfe (6th), Justin Henderson (22nd), Daison Pursley (28th), Kaleb Johnson (15th), Anthony Macri (16th), Carson McCarl (30th) and Donny Schatz (35th).
Group two Qualifying
Lynch pulls in before getting a qualifying lap...he will not get a time in...
Kerry Madsen (9th car out to time) was quickest in the second group at 15.701 seconds. David Gravel (2nd car out) was second quick, followed by Chase Dietz (4th), JJ Hickle (23rd), Tasker Phillips (21sts), Gage Pulkrabek (1st), Cole Macedo (22nd), Kelby Watt (13th), Chase Randall (15th) and Christopher Thram (14th).
Heats are next...8 laps, the qualifying invert is 4 and we'll take the top 3 to the feature....4th through 9th will go to the B's and the rest will go to the C...
Heat one
Schaatz lead K Johnson, Torgerson and Kofoid....Wolfe is 5th...K Johnson has the left rear tire fly off two laps in, and gets upside down hard...he is climbing out of the car...6 to go, Schatz leads Togerson, Kofoid, Wolfe, Schuerenberg, Light, Dover, Hahn, Ch Martin, Juhl, S Johnson...Light is in the work area...he goes pitside...Dover in the work area now...he restarts at the tail...Wolfe with a good restart and he's by Kofoid for 3rd and challenging Torgerson for 2nd...Schatz, Torgerson and Wolfe to the A....Kofoid just short!
Heat two
Macri leads PIttman, Kaeding and Henderson...Henderson reels in Kaeding...Henderson gets by Kaeding now for the final transfer spot...Macri, PIttman and Henderson to the A...
Heat three
C McCarl leads Wimmer, Pursley and Crouch....Wimmer by C McCarl on lap two to take the lead...Wimmer, C McCarl and Pursley to the A...
Heat four
Co Macedo leads Thram, Madsen and Hickle...Co Macedo, Thram and Masden to the A....
Heat five
Watt to the lead ahead of Swindell and Gravell...now Bubak is by Gravel for third briefly....Gravel now slides by Sammy for 2nd...Bubak trying to reel in Swindell for the final transfer...Gravel under Watt to lead with 4 to go...Gravel, Watt and Swindell to the A...
Heat six
Randall leads Sawyer, Dietz and Pulkrabek....Bacon is riding 5th...Randall, Sawyer and Eitz to teh A main...
C main is next...10 laps, top four to the two B's...
J Martin, K Johnson, Lynch and Crockett will not start...Dover leads Brown, Goldesberry, Gossel and Winters early...Winters is pressuring Gossel for the finatl transfer...Dover, Brown, Goldesberry and Gossel move on...
Two B mains are next, 12 laps, top 3 to the A main...
B main one
Thorson will not start...Kofoid leads ealry over Kaeding, Crouch and Schuerenberg...Schuerenberg challenging Crouch for the final transfer in a good battle...Schuerenberg over the cushion and loses ground....Ball to 4th...Kofoid is in traffic with 5 to go...caution for Schuerenberg who slows after slapping the wall...he is in the work area...4 to go, Kofoid leads Kaeding, Crouch, Ball, Gee, KTJ, Ch Martin, Goodno, Shaffer, Holmes, Hahn, Juhl, Gennetten, Dover, Morrell, S Johnson, Goldesberry, Garner...Schuerenberg is done with a right rear bent shock...Crouch and Kaeding make contact, sending Crouch spinning...Ball inherits third, ahead of Gee and KTJ...still 4 to go...Gee makes a move on the restart, picking off Ball and Kaeding for 2nd...Ball battles back, getting by both Kaeding and Gee...Kofoid, Ball and Gee move on to the main event...
B main two
Hickle leads Bubak, Whittall and Tasker...now a thre-way battle for 4th and give it to Cap Henry...Bubak is by Hickle for the lead with 8 to go...Bacon had a rough start and dropped back a few spots...Bubak hit the wall and he is slowing....caution with 6 to go, Hickle leads Whittall, Henry, Bacon, Tasker, Hampton, Sanders, Tatnell, Sams, Crawley, Doney, Hughes, Brown, Pulkrabek, Mincer, Julien, Spithaler, Schneiderman, Gossel...Bubak in the work area...Whittall takes the ead...Brown is off...Hickle challenging again for the lead...Whittall, Hickle and Henry to the A main...
A main next...25 laps, top 4 will advance to Saturday's championship race, starting 21st through 24th....5th place will start 11th in the B, and the rest of the drivers will line up behind them in the B, C, D and E mains...
A main
Macri slows to bring a caution before we get a lap in, he got over the back of Pursley...he'll restart at the rear...Madsen leads Torgerson, Pittman, Dietz and Gravel...Lap 2, Gravel shoots from 5th to 3rd...Dietz by Pittman for fourth on lap three...Watt blows a right rear tire...22 to go, Madsen leads Torgerson, Gravel, Dietz, Pittman, Co Macedo, Wolfe, Randall, PUrsley, Kofoid, Henderson, C McCarl, Schatz, Ball, Thram, Macri, Whittall, Wimmer, Swindell, Gee, Sawyer, Hickle, Henry...Watt in the work area...Co Macedo to 5th on the restart, lap 7, Co Macedo by Dietz for the fourth and final transfer to tomorrow's feature...9 down, Whittall is upside down in turn one...Whittall is being transported for observation...16 to go, Madsen leads Torgerson, Gravel, Co Macedo, Dietz, Randall, Pittman, Kofiod, Schatz, Henderson, C McCarl, Pursley, Macri, Ball, Wolfe, Wimmer, Sawyer, Thram, Hickle, Watt, Henry, Gee, Swindell...Gravel to 2nd and Co Macedo to 3rd on the restart...Pittman into 5th...Schatz is 6th on lap 11...Gravel by Madsen for the lead on lap 13...Kofoid by Schatz for 6th...10 to go, C McCarl tips over...he is ok...Gravel leads Madsen, Co Macedo, Torgerson, Pittman, Kofoid, Schatz, Dietz, Randall, macri, Pursley, Wolfe, Henderson, Sawyer, Wimmer, Thram, Henry, Ball, Gee, Watt, Hickle, Swindell...PIttman to 4th and Kofoid to 5th...Kofoid from 19th to fourth on lap 17...Wimmer and Hickle spin to avoid Watt, who hit the inside berm...Ball goes above the cushion to avoid and gets upside down...he is ok...6 to go, Gravel leads Madsen, Co Macedo, Kofoid, Pittman, Schatz, Torgerson, Macri, Dietz, Randall, Pursley, Wofe, Sawyer, Henry, Henderson, Watt, Gee, Thram, Swindell...Kofoid to 3rd...Three to go, Kofoid by Madsen for second...lap 24, Madsen slows to bring yellow...he blends in the 5th spot...Madsen slow again on the restart, bringing another yellow...green, white, checker, restart, Gravel leads Kofoid, Macedo and Pittman...Gravel wins it, and Kofoid, Macedo and PIttman, who holds off Schatz and Torgerson, gets the final transfer to Saturday!
- administrator on Aug 08, 2025
- Article Date: 8/8/2025