DIRT: Clauson Wins Night Three at Knoxville, Will Join Four Others in Saturday Finale

Noblesville, Indiana’s Bryan Clauson has been one of the busiest drivers in the United States over the past seven plus months of the 2015 calendar year. He has been a full-time runner in each of the top three divisions of the United States Auto Club, whlist also running regularly in the winged National Sprint Car League championship. In May, the former NASCAR stock car prospect qualified for his second Indianapolis 500, and he has already stated earlier this week that he hopes to compete in at least 200 races in 2016.

Friday at Knoxville Raceway however, could have been his most productive effort of the current year, as he held off 79 other drivers to win night three of the 55^th FVP Knoxville Nationals, securing a place in Saturday’s 50-lap finale, in which $150,000 will go to the winner. Starting third in the 25-lap feature on Friday, the “Bullet” surged past Pennsylvania’s Danny Dietrich to claim second and then used a brave slider move in turn three on lap eight to clear early pacesetter Billy Alley.

Once in front, the No. 17w machine cruised home to the win, building a near five second lead on the pack at one point, a lead that would be lost when Ian Madsen spun, bringing out the only caution of the race. With three other spots in the Saturday finale up for grabs, those directly behind the two-time USAC Driver of the Year did not make a serious charge for the top spot, allowing Clauson to take the triumph, his first career victory at Knoxville Raceway. Saturday will mark Clauson’s second start in the final race of the Knoxville Nationals, after making the cut for the event one year ago.

Behind the winner, Danny Dietrich hung on to place second, with fellow Pennsylvania native Brent Marks coming home third, and Knoxville weekly regular Alley hanging on to claim fourth and the final locked position in the Saturday finale that was in play. While the reward to make the big show was out there, the pain of missing the cut was excruciating for Mark Dobmeier and Chad Kemenah, who finished the Friday feature in fifth and sixth. Instead of making the main event, the two multi-time finale starters will instead lineup in mid pack for the B-Main, the last chance to make the grid.

The Friday night drama was far from over though after Clauson took the checkered flag from Doug Clark. Twenty drivers would battle for one final berth in the Saturday finale during the 20-lap SPEED SPORT Magazine World Challenge special event, as several of America’s best sprint car drivers, faced off against the best from Australia. With the first eight drivers on the starting grid not yet locked into the 50-lap Saturday main event, the action was nonstop from the start.

Eventually, the fight for the last spot on Saturday’s final starting order would come down to two Australians; Knoxville Raceway track regular Lynton Jeffrey and semi-World of Outlaws regular James McFadden. After controlling the majority of the race, Jeffrey saw a hard charging McFadden pull off a perfect sliding pass around the inside to take the lead three laps from the finish, and what seemed at the time to be a main event spot-clinching win. Things reversed again just one lap later, when McFadden’s motor expired in a big plume of smoke, allowing Jeffrey to reclaim the lead and the win.

With the field set, the attention jumps to championship Saturday meeting, where Donny Schatz will look to claim his ninth win at Knoxville in the past ten years. The North Dakota native will start from the pole position for the second year in a row, with Australian veteran Kerry Madsen starting on the outside of the front row. A driver outside the U.S. has never won the Knoxville Nationals main event. While the dream is still alive for 20 drivers (plus four more from Saturday’s B-Main) entering the 50 lap battle, one driver who secured his spot in the field on Wednesday night will be unable to take his place on the grid. That driver is Rico Abreu, who unfortunately will have to miss the race, due to a prior commitment in the NASCAR K&N East Series on Saturday night. A crew member from the No. 24R team will start and park the car in the finale tomorrow.

While Abreu’s dream is over, the road to recovery for driver Kevin Swindell is underway. According to father and fellow racer Sammy Swindell, Kevin successfully completed a surgical treatment on Friday and has been released from the hospital in Des Moines, Iowa. The elder Swindell mentioned on Twitter that his son will have a second treatment coming closer to their Tennessee home on Monday. The injuries suffered in Kevin Swindell’s bad accident on Thursday are still unknown, however his father said on Twitter that “they are significant.”