Chase Randall went into turn 1 at Knoxville Raceway with X laps to go in his Knoxville Nationals preliminary A-Main. Donny Schatz, an 11-time Knoxville Nationals winner and 10-time World of Outlaws champion, was right on his tail.
Randall, an 18-year old at the time, had taken over the reigns of the TKS Motorsports No. 2KS car that runs weekly at Knoxville Raceway, quickly becoming a contender in the track’s 410 weekly series.
If there was anything he had left to prove as an up-and-comer at sprint car racing’s most famous track going into August’s 62nd Knoxville Nationals, he did so that night.
Randall initially took the lead off of a restart with seven laps to go, getting by Blake Hahn on the inside of turns 3 and 4, before dueling it out with Schatz, swapping the lead multiple times, and returning to the pits with a respectable P2 finish.
The young gun took home the track’s 360 championship in 2023, and has his sights on a busy schedule this year following his Australian tour that begins this weekend.
“We’ve got a busy schedule for next year, actually,” Randall said. “We’re going to do a lot of racing before Knoxville, traveling. I think we’re going to hit most of the World of Outlaws shows starting in March in Texas. We’ll race those and then once Knoxville gets going, we’ll be up in Iowa and in that area for most of the rest of the year. We’re traveling around on Friday’s when we can and then maybe a few Sunday’s at Huset’s (Speedway), and then when we’re done at Knoxville, will do a bunch of traveling.”
Randall has raced in Australia – something that some 410 drivers will do during the off-season to stay comfortable in a sprint car while there isn’t any racing going on in the United States – in a number of recent Winters, and started in the A-Main of last season’s Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic, which is Australia’s own version of the Knoxville Nationals.
His car for the Australian tour is below:
At a time when the national scene on the sport is surrounding a pair of battling national tours, Randall is able to narrow his focus.
He’ll compete full-time at Knoxville Raceway in 2024 and will be considered a contender for the track’s 2024 championship, along with Aaron Reutzel and the rest of the familiar names, depending on if any attach their names to either the World of Outlaws or High Limit Sprint Car Series.
“Being committed to Knoxville already, I haven’t had to worry about it too much,” Randall said. “We’re obviously watching everything happen and however it works out, we’re going to do whatever is best for us. We’re going to be racing in events (sanctioned by) both series this year. As for what’s happening, I think it’s somewhat good for the sport, allowing the racers and teams to race for more money, and both series listening to teams and drivers for their input is really needed.”
A typical track’s local series normally wouldn’t generate the type of star power that Knoxville Raceway’s does.
There is a large contingent of drivers that compete week in and week out to try and gain an advantage on the national teams when dirt racing’s biggest event – the Knoxville Nationals – roll around.
And the Waco, Texas native is emerging as one of those stars.
“Looking back on it, there’s just a bunch of confidence I get from it,” Randall said. “We’ve raced there a lot in the past couple of year’s in a 360, and then getting in a 410 this year and having that race with Donny was really cool. To go back there for a full year and have the 410 be my main focus – I can put all of my focus in on just trying to perform well at that.”
Randall will return to the seat that he took over in 2023 with TKS Motorsports.
“It’s really cool to be with them and being able to look back on whenever I didn’t drive for them. When they asked me to drive for them, I did a lot of research on them and how they did in year’s past. To see them really excited to be able to work together for this next year is really cool and I’m glad I get to do it with them.
Randall’s full Australian schedule can be seen below and fans in the U.S. can tune into Clay-Per-View to see all of the action from down under over the upcoming weeks.
Chase Randall’s 2023-24 Australia schedule
Dec. 16 | Max’s Race @ Premier Speedway (Warnambool)
Dec. 26 | Speedweek Round 1 @ Murray Bridge (South Australia)
Dec. 27 | Speedweek Round 2 @ Murray Bridge (South Aus.)
Dec. 28 | Speedweek Round 3 @ Borderline Speedway (Mt. Gambier South Aus.)
Dec. 30 | Speedweek Round 4 @ Avalon Speedway (Victoria)
Jan. 01 | Speedweek Round 5 @ Premier Speedway (Warnambool)
Jan. 02 | 360 All-Stars @ Premier Speedway (Warnambool)
Jan. 5-7 | Red Hot Summer @ Toowoomba Speedway
Jan. 09 | Lismore Speedway
Jan. 12 | Sprintcar International @ Avalon Speedway (Victoria)
Jan. 13 | 360 All-Star Challenge @ Simpson Speedway (Victoria)
Jan. 17 | President’s Cup @ Avalon Speedway (Victoria)
Jan. 18 | King’s Challenge @ Borderline Speedway (Mt. Gambier South Aus.)
Jan. 19-21 | 51st Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic @ Premier Speedway
