PETERSEN MEDIA
Following a frustrating 360 Knoxville Nationals, Jonathan Allard came into the 410 Nationals with a chip on his shoulder, as he started a career best, third, in the feature, and tallied a 13th place finish against the best drivers in the world.
Qualifying against a very tough field of cars on Wednesday night, Allard kicked off his Nationals by timing in third fastest against the 48 cars in the pit area, putting him in the third heat race.
Following an opening lap incident, JA made a quick stop to the work area, and proceeded to put on a display for everyone at the Knoxville Raceway as he diced his way from dead last and scored a second place finish, putting his Williams Motorsports entry into the feature event.
Starting in the eight spot due to the invert-eight format, JA was just a little off in the feature event as he held on to a motor that was slowly letting go.
Nursing it the best he could, JA would hold on to a tenth place preliminary night finish, and would find himself third in points when both qualifying nights were completed.
When the race went green, JA quickly jumped into the second spot as he chased down early leader, Stevie Smith.
On the seventh lap, Donny Schatz was able to get around JA and he fell back to the third spot.
As the first segment wore on, JA appeared to have issues with his front end, as he slipped back all the way outside the top-ten when the mandatory stoppage waved on lap 26.
Making repairs to a shock, JA would stay in the 13th spot as he tiptoed around the gnarly Knoxville cushion.
Allard would end his night in the 13th spot as he crossed under Doug Clark’s double-checkered flags.
“All in all, it was a great Knoxville Nationals for this Williams Motorsports team,” Allard said. “Starting third in this race is a true testament to everyone who is a apart of this, and though it’s not what we were hoping for at the end, its tough enough making this race.”
ON TAP: JA and the Williams Motorsports team will now rush back home to California as Allard looks to wrap up the 2012 King of the West title on August 18th at the Silver Dollar Spedway.
STAY CONNECTED: For more information on Jonathan, including upcoming events, pictures, and news please check out www.allardmotorsports.com, or follow JA on twitter @Allard0.