Aaron Reutzel begins 360 Nationals defense with prelim night win

KNOXVILLE, Iowa – For a night to start out with an uncharacteristic, fifth-place qualifying lap despite an early pill draw, Aaron Reutzel was almost as relieved as he was celebratory after winning the first 360 Nationals prelim night on Thursday.

Reutzel went out for qualifying early in the night and came back to his pit stall with a P5 result – one that would be considered a success if he had gone out later in the night, but ended as something the Ridge & Sons Racing group had to rebound from.

“I thought when I got the lead, I was setting a decent pace,” Reutzel said during the postrace press conference. “They sawed me off a little bit, but I felt like I was getting around good enough where I just needed to get by the lapped cars… qualifying sucked. I don’t know what we missed there going out (early). That was a missed opportunity there. We were just a little loose and had to make up ground all night.”

Reutzel drove away from Sam Hafertepe Jr., who he didn’t know got so close to him after his pass of Colby Copeland to take the lead in the A-Main.

Although, Hafertepe Jr. was never able to truly threaten the No. 8, and the defending champion sailed to victory lane once again at Knoxville.

Night 2 of the 360 Nationals will kick off with hot laps at 6:45 p.m. CT on Friday. All of the action can be seen below and full points are listed at the bottom of the article.

Knoxville 360 Nationals prelim night 1
Knoxville Raceway
Thurs. August 3, 2023
1. Aaron Reutzel
2. Sam Hafertepe Jr.
3. Scott Bogucki
4. Chase Randall
5. Colby Copeland
6. Jamie Ball
7. Jason Martin
8. Austin McCarl
9. Kelby Watt
10. Justin Peck
11. Ryan Timms
12. Tanner Holmes
13. Kaleb Johnson
14. Chris Martin
15. Tasker Phillips
16. Brenham Crouch
17. Ryan Leavitt
18. Rico Abreu
19. Justin Henderson
20. Tanner Carrick
21. Kade Higday
22. Tony Rost
23. Kade Morton
24. Timothy Smith