We made it. Knoxville Nationals Opening Day.
It’s been a long two years, but we’re here. I’m so damn ready to get down to Knoxville. I’ll be doing these articles each day of the Nationals and maybe an extra one on Sunday.
Hope y’all enjoy. Here’s the stuff I’ll be looking at the most.
A good qualifying night
The key to doing well in the Knoxville Nationals starts with drivers having a good (luck) qualifying night.
If you’re new to the Nationals, the first two nights of the event serve as qualifying nights. Half the field goes out Wednesday, the other on Thursday. Each night races like any other dirt race. Hot laps-time trials-heat races-C/B/A Mains.
Drivers can earn points for their results in Qualifying, the heat race, and the feature event. Being consistent, and passing cars is the name of the game to succeeding.
It’s mostly simple, but we’ve seen even Kyle Larson plagued by a bad first night.
If everything goes according to plan, though, it’s every driver’s best chance at getting into the main event.
What to make of the 10-time champ
You can’t count out Donny Schatz, right?
I don’t know about this. Schatz has came into the Nationals this year with just one World of Outlaws win to his name this season. It’s basically been the worst season of his career – and he’s FOURTH in the points standings.
Look, Donny is going to have a chance to win this race. Reverting back to say if he nails his qualifying night, he will be fine, but man – this year, it feels like Donny Schatz is as far away from a Nationals victory as he was before he won his first.
Ayrton Gennetten and Chad Morgan battle adversity
Gennetten wrecked out of Monday night’s race at Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, in his latest example of a bad break.
Him and new crew chief Chad Morgan will be trying to get acclimated with working with one another while trying to bounce back from this at the same time.
It’s certainly something that I’ll keep an eye on. It could be eye opening for both of them and their team, in a good way.
The Berm
The biggest thing that stuck out to me in Sunday’s Capitani Classic was how different the berm at Knoxville looked.
I could be reading too much into tweets or hearing voices that agree with a take that’s just an optical allusion at its core, but it seems like Knoxville has built the inside portion of each turn to being slightly taller and more aggressive.
A plethora of drivers went into it on Sunday, or sped off the corner and got offset from it. Not trying to say its good or bad in either case, but it could make things wild on Wednesday.
A young gun that keeps getting better
Gio Scelzi was going to be my Knoxville Nationals sleeper pick when I started planning things out a couple of weeks ago.
Then he went out and won the 360 Nationals.
The California native is the youngest driver to ever start a Knoxville Nationals feature and gets better every time he hits the track.
I truly believe he has a chance to win the whole thing this week.
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Hot laps for Night 1 of the Knoxville Nationals will push off at 6:45 p.m. CT. Fans can watch the race by purchasing the annual FastPass on DirtVision.com. If you have the monthly pricing option for DirtVision, contact them to upgrade to the annual pass in order to see all of the action from the week at Knoxville. Always Race Day will have full coverage, as well.
Knoxville Nationals Wednesday Night Entry List
0 – Brooke Tatnell, Sans Souci, NSW, AU
1M – Don Droud, Jr., Lincoln, NE
1s – Logan Schuchart, Hanover, PA
1X – Jake Bubak, Arvada, CO
2 – David Gravel, Watertown, CT
2C – Wayne Johnson, Tuttle, OK
2KS – Chad Kemenah, Alvada, OH
2M – Matt Moro, Polk City, IA
3 – Ayrton Gennetten, Gravois Mills, MO (R)
5W – Lucas Wolfe, Mechanicsburg, PA
5XX – Zeb Wise, Angola, IN (R)
07 – Skylar Gee, Leduc, ALB, CAN
7 – Justin Henderson, Tea, SD
7c – John Carney, Lubbock, TX
7s – Jason Sides, Bartlett, TN
7TAZ – Tasker Phillips, Pleasantville, IA
9 – James McFadden, Warrnambool,VIC,AU
9G – Ryan Giles, Grimes, IA (R)
9JR – Derek Hagar, Marion, AR
11 – Roger Crockett, Broken Arrow, OK
11M – Spencer Bayston, Lebanon, IN
13 – Mark Dobmeier, Grand Forks, ND
14K – Tori Knutson, Monticello, MN (R)
15 – Donny Schatz, Fargo, ND
17 – Sheldon Haudenschild, Wooster, OH
17X – Josh Baughman, Odessa, TX
18 – Gio Scelzi, Fresno, CA
18R – Ryan Roberts, Aurora, NE
20 – AJ Moeller, Rockwell City, IA
22x – Riley Goodno, Knoxville, IA (R)
24 – Terry McCarl, Altoona, IA
25 – Scott Bogucki, McLaren Vale, SA, AU
26 – Cory Eliason, Visalia, CA
27 – Carson McCarl, Altoona, IA
28 – Tim Shaffer, Aliquippa, PA
39M – Anthony Macri, Dillsburg, PA
40 – Clint Garner, Sioux Falls, SD
48 – Danny Dietrich, Gettysburg, PA
49J – Josh Schneiderman, Burlington, IA
55 – Hunter Schuerenberg, Sikeston, MO
55K – Robbie Kendall, Catonsville, MD (R)
55M – McKenna Haase, Des Moines, IA
56 – Joe Simbro, Swan, IA
56N – Davey Heskin, St. Michael, MN
65 – Jordan Goldesberry, Springfield, IL
73 – Justin Peck, Monrovia, IN
83A – Austin Miller, Lacona, IA (R)
83T – Tanner Carrick, Lincoln, CA (R)
91 – Kyle Reinhardt, Neptune City, NJ
