By T.J. Buffenbarger
Knoxville, IA – (August 9, 2013) – Kyle Larson went from having doubt he would make it in time to Knoxville Raceway to winning Friday night’s feature event during the 53rd Annual FVP Knoxville Nationals. Larson had to wait out a rain delay in Watkins Glen, New York for his NASCAR Nationwide Race that was hindering his ability to get back to Knoxville. After taking six laps of practice at the Glenn he traveled via airplane to Knoxville, Iowa in time for the Friday night racing program, taking the lead on lap two of the feature event and driving to victory.
Chad Kemenah and Jac Haudenschild were on the front row for the 25-lap feature event. During the initial start James McFadden ran into the back of another car and triggered a pile up in turn one with Tim Shaffer, Rager Phillips, Robby Wolfgang, and Austin McCarl getting upside down. Only McFadden was able to restart.
After the second attempt to restart the race was called back the third attempt got the feature started with Kemenah in the lead and Haudenschild and Larson racing for second spot. Haudenschild crossed over Larson’s slide job to attempt to hold off, but Larson used his momentum at the other end to take the second spot. One lap later Larson used the top of the race track to take the lead off of turn two.
Nine laps into the feature Larson started to catch slower traffic. This allowed Haudenschild and Kemenah to close the gap with fourth place Dustin Selvage closing in on the lead trio. This allowed Kemenah to close in on Haudenschild and take second position using the bottom of the track on lap 14.
Behind them Cap Henry was making a charge through the field to challenge for the final transfer spot , passing selvage for that position on lap 15. One lap later Selvage spun and nearly collected McFadden to bring out the caution flag.
After the restart Larson pulled away while Henry continued to pick up positions. First Henry drove under Haudenschild on lap 18, then one lap later drove under Kemenah for second.
Up front it was all Larson winning the feature while the Ohio trio of Henry, Kemenah, and Haudenschild picked up the final positions to lock themselves into Saturday night’s A-Main event.
Chad Kemenah was the fastest qualifier over the 71 car field with a lap of 15.762 seconds. James McFadden, Jac Haudenschild, Davey Heskin, Randy Hannagan, Robby Wolfgang, and Jeff Swindell won heat race events. Rico Abreu won the C-Main event while Knoxville Raceway point leader Bronson Maeschen and Tim Shaffer won the twin B-Main events.
53rd Annual FVP Knoxville Nationals
Knoxville Raceway – Knoxville, IA
Friday August 9, 2013
Qualifications: 1. 63 – Chad Kemenah, 15.762; 2. 59 – Jac Haudenschild, 15.763; 3. 1 – Sammy Swindell, 15.895; 4. 1KL – Kyle Larson, 15.901; 5. 71J – R.J. Johnson, 15.958; 6. 48 – Danny Dietrich, 16.007; 7. 40 – Caleb Helms, 16.042; 8. 54 – Cap Henry, 16.052; 9. 7K – Dustin Selvage, 16.053; 10. 11N – Randy Hannagan, 16.055; 11. W20 – Greg Wilson, 16.063; 12. 41 – Jason Johnson, 16.073; 13. 2L – Ed Lynch, Jr., 16.085; 14. 9W – Brandon Wimmer, 16.087; 15. 56 – Davey Heskin, 16.115; 16. 17A – Austin McCarl, 16.120; 17. 1S – Logan Schuchart, 16.122; 18. 94 – Jeff Swindell, 16.132; 19. 55xm – James McFadden, 16.153; 20. 45 – Danny Holtgraver, 16.153; 21. 49 – Josh Schneiderman, 16.159; 22. 7TAZ – Tasker Phillips, 16.177; 23. 1B – Robby Wolfgang, 16.189; 24. 15H – Sam Hafertepe, Jr. , 16.190; 25. 27 – Lance Dewease, 16.204; 26. 24R – Rico Abreu, 16.211; 27. 55 – Brooke Tatnell, 16.220; 28. 20 – A.J. Moeller, 16.221; 29. 0 – Jonathan Allard, 16.225; 30. 17B – Bill Balog, 16.228; 31. 96 – Bronson Maeschen, 16.236; 32. 47 – Don Droud, Jr. , 16.241; 33. 11K – Kraig Kinser, 16.245; 34. 83 – Tim Shaffer, 16.271; 35. 17W – Cole Wood, 16.302; 36. 19M – Brent Marks, 16.308; 37. O5L – Brad Loyet, 16.353; 38. 6R – Ryan Bunton, 16.353; 39. 23K – Rob Kubli, 16.381; 40. 99 – Brady Bacon, 16.385; 41. 9P – Rager Phillilps, 16.387; 42. 1x – Tony Bruce, Jr. , 16.403; 43. 17 – Jack Dover, 16.437; 44. 14AJ – Wayne Johnson, 16.449; 45. 93H – Sheldon Haudenschild, 16.537; 46. 45x – Johnny Herrera, 16.575; 47. 4S – Danny Smith, 16.584; 48. 2B – Dale Blaney, 16.606; 49. 20K – Thomas Kennedy, 16.614; 50. 35 – Skylar Prochaska, 16.622; 51. 69 – Mike Moore, 16.635; 52. 1K – Chris Shirek, 16.637; 53. 44w – Austin Wheatley, 16.715; 54. 21x – Bryan Clauson, 16.742; 55. 23 – Jimmy Light, 16.784; 56. 93 – Dustin Morgan, 16.819; 57. 19 – Bob Weuve, 16.865; 58. 74x – Josh Hodges, 16.875; 59. 88 – Jerrod Schneiderman, 16.898; 60. 1A – Jacob Allen, 16.914; 61. 80 – Trey Gustin, 16.922; 62. 2S – Lee Sowell, 17.011; 63. 10V – Glen Saville, 17.263; 64. O1 – Paul Morris, 17.302; 65. 12P – T.J. Peterson, 17.394; 66. 20PK – Ron Krysl, 17.640; 67. 2K – Kevin Ingle, 17.907; 68. 7G – Kaley Gharst, NT; 69. 71 – Robert Bell, NT; 70. 6BR – Bill Rose, NT; 71. 28 – Brian Paulus, NT;
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps): 1. James McFadden, 2. Ed Lynch, 3. Chad Kemenah, 4. Brad Loyet, 5. Bronson Maeschen, 6. Caleb Helms, 7. Lance Dewease, 8. Dale Blaney, 9. Jack Dover, 10. Jacob Allen, 11. Bryan Clauson, 12. Ron Krysl. (First three finishers transfer to the A-Main)
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps): 1. Jac Haudenschild, 2. Brandon Wimmer, 3. Cap Henry, 4. Don Droud, 5. Thomas Kennedy, 6. Trey Gustin, 7. Jimmy Light, 8. Kevin Ingle, 9. Ryan Bunton, 10. Danny Holtgraver. DNS: Rico Abreu (First three finishers transfer to the A-Main)
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps): 1. Davey Heskin, 2. Josh Schneiderman, 3. Dustin Selvage, 4. Sammy Swindell, 5. Kraig Kinser, 6. Brooke Tatnell, 7. Bill Rose, 8. Kaley Gharst, 9. Skylar Prochaska, 10. Lee Sowell, 11. Rob Kubli, DNS: Dustin Morgan. (First three finishers transfer to the A-Main)
Heat Race #4 (8 Laps): 1. Randy Hannagan, 2. Kyle Larson, 3. Tasker Phillips, 4. Austin McCarl, 5. Brady Bacon, 6. Tim Shaffer, 7. Sheldon Haudenschild, 8. A.J. Moeller, 9. Mike Moore, 10. Bob Weuve, 11. Glenn Saville. DNS Brian Paulus. (First three finishers transfer to the A-Main)
Heat Race #5 (8Laps): 1. Robby Wolfgang, 2. Logan Schuchart, 3. Rager Phillips, 4. Jonathan Allard, 5. Johnny Herrera, 6. R.J. Johnson, 7. Josh Hodges, 8. Cole Wood, 9. Chris Shirek, 10. Paul Morris, 11. Greg Wilson. DNS: Robert Bell (First three finishers transfer to the A-Main)
Heat Race #6 (8 Laps): 1. Jeff Swindell, 2. Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 3. Jason Johnson, 4. Bill Balog, 5. Tony Bruce, Jr., 6. Danny Dietrich, 7. Brent Marks, 8. Austin Wheatley, 9. Danny Smith, 10. Jarrod Schneiderman, 11. T.J. Peterson. (First three finishers transfer to the A-Main)
C-Main (10 Laps): 1. Rico Abreu, 2. Trey Gustin, 3. Kaley Gharst, 4. Jacob Allen, 5. Kevin Ingle, 6. Paul Morris, 7. T.J. Peterson, 8. Lee Sowell, 9. Glen Saville, 10. Ron Krysl. DNS: Brian Paulus, Robert Bell. (First four finishers transferred to the A-Main)
B-Main #1 (12 Laps): 1. Bronson Maeschen, 2. Wayne Johnson, 3. Danny Dietrich, 4. Cole Wood, 5. Brad Loyet, 6. Danny Smith, 7. Kraig Kinser, 8. Jimmy Light, 9. Kaley Gharst, 10. Sheldon Haudenschild,11. Rob Kubli, 12. MikeMoore, 13. Rico Abreu, 14. Tony Bruce, Jr., 15. Brooke Tatnell, 16. Josh Hodges, 17. Austin Wheatley, 18. Jonathan Allard, 19. Greg Wilson, 20. Danny Holtgraver, 21. Thomas Kennedy. DQ: Sammy Swindell. (First three finishers transferred to the A-Main)
B-Main #2 (12 Laps): 1. Tim Shaffer, 2. Austin McCarl, 3. Don Droud, Jr., 4. R.J. Johnson, 5. Lance Dewase, 6. Johnny Herrera, 7. Skylar Prochaska, 8. Brent Marks, 9. Jack Dover, 10. Dale Blaney, 11. Caleb Helms, 12. Bill Rose, 13. Chris Shirek, 14. Jerrod Schneiderman, 15. Jacob Allen, 16. Bob Weuve, 17. Trey Gustin, 18. Bardy Bacon, 19. Bryan Clauson, 20. A.J. Moeler, 21. Ryan Bunton, 22. Billy Balog. (First three finishers transferred to the A-Main)
A-Main (25 Laps): 1. Kyle Larson, 2. Cap Henry, 3. Chad Kemenah, 4. Jac Haudenschild, 5. Brandon Wimmer, 6. Jason Johnson, 7.Wayne Johnson, 8. Randy Hannagan, 9. Sammy Swindell, 10. Davey Heskin, 11. Don Droud, Jr., 12. James McFaddden, 13. Bronson Maeschen, 14. Logan Schuchart, 15. Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 16. Josh Schneiderman, 17. Dustin Selvage, 18. Danny Dietrich, 19. Ed Lynch, Jr., 20. Robby Wolfgang, 21. Rager Phillips, 22. Tim Shaffer, 23. Austin McCarl, 24. Rager Phillips.