Austin McCarl on pole, Knoxville locals punch dream tickets at Nationals

Every driver that sets foot on the grounds of Knoxville Raceway every Saturday dreams of one race. It doesn’t get bigger than the Knoxville Nationals.

For three racers primarily based at the famed, half-mile on Thursday night, those dreams got a little more real. None, maybe, more real than the feelings Austin McCarl felt getting out of his race car.

“I don’t know, it doesn’t feel real,” McCarl said, brushing away tears after finding out he would be the polesitter for the 61st Knoxville Nationals on Saturday. “I just went out there and raced, man. That’s all I can do. I knew we were pretty decent those first couple of laps – guys kept missing the bottom and I felt like we were stuck down there.”

McCarl’s fifth-place qualifying effort and top 5 finish in the preliminary night A-Main earned him the best possible starting spot for the race that pays $175,000 to its winner.

The race wouldn’t be run for another 48 hours. The results hardly even matter, at least on Thursday night.

Altoona, Iowa’s Austin McCarl was still overwhelmed. He’s the polesitter for one of the World’s biggest three races.

“I don’t know, I feel like I’ll believe it when I see the T-Shirt,” McCarl said. “It’s been an amazing day.”

McCarl wasn’t the only local racer to punch his ticket to the main event either, essentially earning them the $10,000 it pays to start the A-Main.

Tasker Phillips, a full-time farmer, qualified on the top of the charts, setting the fastest lap of any driver in the 50-car field to make a lap.

“Top of my list – that’s more important to me than winning a race. I might have to retire after this,” he joked.

Phillips joked that he and his brother, Sawyer Phillips, find speed in August because the farming season has passed.

“We’re finally done farming,” Phillips said. “We’re maybe cleaning out some bins and getting ready for harvest, but we finally half-ass focused on the race cars. The biggest thing is (having) no rainouts. We get into speedweek and we’re getting laps. I get worn out the first couple races of the year and that’s just nerves. It’s not physical ability, it’s just that you’re not used to going 140 miles per hour. When you’re used to it, you don’t get worn out anymore.”

Phillips will start 15th in the Knoxville Nationals, and a couple rows ahead of him will be the No. 25 car of J.J. Hickle, who moved to Iowa to chase a dream of finding success at Knoxville.

Hickle went 6th-to-1st in his heat race to secure the 100 points that put him into the starting lineup.

“I mean, honestly before this weekend, I told my girlfriend that I’d give away my last five years of my life just to lock into the show this weekend,” Hickle said. “It means everything to me. I moved out to Iowa, I left everybody I loved at home in Washington. We struggled all year, but basically it all comes down to this weekend. This race is my world right now. It means more to me than anything else there is.”