A rough night with rough track conditions led to frustrated drivers during the heat races.
Logan Schuchart struggled in qualifying but also took advantage of the invert to pick up the opening night win. However across the board, drivers were disappointed in the surface during the heat races.
After the opening night of the 61st NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals, Donny Schatz, David Gravel and others were frustrated with the track conditions during heat race competition. The biggest race weekend of the year for the Sprint Cars led to disappointed drivers.
Despite cars moving forward, it was still a tough night to pass. Luckily for some the leaders, lap cars played a factor and aided the passing in the feature. It was the heat races that were the struggle throughout the night. Donny Schatz, who ran his way to second, sounded off on the sliminess of the track during the heats.
“The track was two lanes wide on the bottom,” Schatz said. “It was pure slop, wasn’t run in. You saw the tiller out and redo it and they had to go take the push trucks and it still wasn’t run in when we started our heat race. We got the whole race track. Either run in the whole race track and let us use the whole thing or don’t put us out there.
“I get it happens, I’m not a track guy. I’ve done the track, it’s the most thankless job in the world but this is the Knoxville Nationals. If it’s not right let’s get it right.”
Schatz wasn’t the only driver upset with the track conditions during the heat races and other prelim races. Ayrton Gennetten claimed to use over 15 tear offs during both the heat races and B-main events.
Track was a pile. Used 18 tear offs in the B, 16 in the heat
— Ayrton Steven Gennetten (@Gennetten_3) August 11, 2022
Schatz doesn’t feel that his point total with Gravel will hold for a top 3 row starting spot in Saturday’s A-Main. Gravel went into the press conference and also was frustrated with the points night. He stated that he was frustrated with 469 points that put him atop the point board with Schatz. Also, Gravel was just in shock with the surface throughout the night.
“Just an odd night. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that at the Knoxville Nationals – with all the fast guys not transferring through,” Gravel said.
Thursday qualifiers have seen what the track looked like on Wednesday. It should be interesting to see if they learned anything from the night. Also it will be interesting if the track looks different as well. Drivers on Wednesday know they will be mired back in the field on Saturday if there’s a more favorable track come Thursday night.
A tricky Wednesday night sets up for intrigue heading into Thursday.
