Photo Credit: World Of Outlaws
For the second straight year at the Knoxville Nationals, Donny Schatz was unable to win his preliminary night main event. However, it was the same man who defeated him in the early session last year who topped him this time around as well. Fresh off a win at Knoxville Raceway on Sunday evening, Shane Stewart bounced back three days later to hold off the eight-time Nationals champion on night one of the 2015 edition of winged sprint car racing’s marquee event.
Stewart entered Wednesday’s action on a roll, in addition to the triumph at the same track three weeks ago, the driver of the No. 16 Jeff Gordon retro scheme entry claimed victory in the most recent major World of Outlaws series race, taking the throne after winning the Kings Royal at Eldora Speedway in Ohio. The question now however, is will Stewart be able to back up the result when it matters most in the 50-lap main event on Saturday night? After winning his 2014 prelim feature, Stewart ran in the top five throughout the Saturday finale, but never posed a major threat to Schatz’s No. 15 Tony Stewart Motorsports machine at any point.
Despite the loss, the chances of Schatz securing the pole position and the role as the pre-race favorite for this year’s Saturday night finale look equally good. Out of a possible 500 points he could claim on Wednesday, the Fargo, North Dakota native bagged 492, the same number he compiled last year. He started the 2015 Knoxville Nationals off fast by claiming fast qualifier honors, becoming the only driver in the 55-car field to post a time on the one-half mile Knoxville Raceway layout under 15 seconds. He then backed up the run by charging to second in his heat race, and after starting eighth in the 25-lap finale, he once again powered through the field to the runner-up position, but was unable to chase down Stewart prior to the checkered flag.
Behind the top two, there were other strong showings on Knoxville Nationals opening night. Connecticut’s David Gravel had his strongest showing ever at the Iowa-based track on Wednesday, posting the second fastest time in qualifying, and then charging from seventh to third at the finish of the feature, putting him in position to possibly claim a spot in the first two rows of the 50-lap feature on Saturday night.
Rounding the top five in the Wednesday feature was Paul McMahan and Justin Henderson, with the biggest mover in the A-Main being Rico Abreu, who started last in the 24-car field and made his way up to eighth at the conclusion. Among local Knoxville weekly regulars, hometown favorite Wayne Johnson was the most successful on Wednesday, starting fourth in the main event and holding on to finish sixth, putting him in position to possibly secure a spot in the Saturday A-main grid, pending on what happens in the other half of the preliminaries on Thursday.
In terms of total points gained after night one, Schatz leads Gravel, with McMahan, Sheldon Haudenschild, Stewart, Daryn Pittman, Abreu, Johnson, Cody Darrah, and Henderson rounding out the first ten. As mentioned in the previews earlier this week, the top twenty point earners overall from both Wednesday and Thursday will be locked into the starting field for the 50-lap main event on Saturday night.
Stay tuned to OnPitRoad.com for a full recap of the second half of the Knoxville Nationals preliminaries on Thursday.
