By T.J. Buffenbarger
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (August 4, 2018) – Racers often mention not being the leader at times during a feature event is an advantage. Terry McCarl created a textbook example of this in route to winning Saturday’s 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank finale at Knoxville Raceway.
McCarl bounced back from losing the lead earlier in the main event by finding a faster line over the final five laps of the main event, taking the lead back with two laps to go in route to the victory. The win was the Pleasantville, Iowa resident’s fifth 360 Nationals title, tying him with Shane Stewart for the most victories in the event.
“Sometimes it’s better to be leading and sometimes it isn’t, but right there I thought I had nothing to lose If you run fourth or fifth who cares, you come here to win,” said McCarl. “so I was able to move around. The guys out front are sitting ducks, they can’t move around like that. “
Joey Saldana drove to the lead in the early stages of the event with McCarl and Brian Brown in pursuit. After a red flag for a crash by Jamie Ball on lap five Friday’s preliminary feature winner Carson Macedo in the Jason Johnson Racing car joined the leaders up front in the fourth position.
Following a caution for Wayne Johnson slowing on track and a red flag for Cole Duncan getting upside down with Scott Bogucki involved, Macedo continued his march to the front. Macedo was able to pull along side Saldana for second and got a run driving from top to the bottom off turn four to take the position.
Macedo quickly closed on McCarl for the lead, taking the top spot on lap 17. One lap later Brown dropped McCarl back to third.
Macedo pulled away during the late stages of the event, but with about five laps to go McCarl found rubber in the low line of turns one and two. McCarl quickly bounced on Brown to take away second and used the run off turn two to pull along side of Macedo to take the lead through turns three and four with two laps to go.
After that all Macedo and Brown could do was watch McCarl pull away for the win. Macedo capped off a storybook weekend for the return of Jason Johnson Racing following Johnson’s passing in a racing accident in June with a runner up finish. Brown, Saldana, and Thursday winner Thomas Kennedy rounded out the top five.
Kelby Watt won the 305 sprint car feature that was highlighted with eight lead changes between himself and second place finisher Devin Kline.
360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank
Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour presented by sawblade.com
Knoxville Raceway
Knoxville, IA
Saturday August 4, 2018
D-Main (10 Laps): 1. 3P – Sawyer Phillips, 2. 75 – Tyler Blank, 3. 1 – Travis Rilat, 4. 35L – Cody Ledger, 5. 17 – Mitchel Faccinto, 6. 63 – Geoff Ensigh, 7. 52 – Blake Hahn, 8. 2X – Tucker Doughty, 9. 13JM – Jordan Martens, 10. 29 – Willie Croft, 11. 98 – Chris Masters, 12. 86 – Tony Bruce Jr, 13. 22M – Shawn Murray, 14. 49 – Scott Krueter, 15. 77X – Alex Hill, 16. 57 – Billy Butler, 17. 07 – Michael Bookout, 18. 2K – Kevin Ingle, 19. 1A – John Anderson, 20. 57B – Bobby Butler. (First eight finishers transferred to the C-Main)
C-Main (12 Laps): 1. 28C – Jonathan Cornell, 2. 44 – Chris Martin, 3. 70 – Calvin Landis, 4. 95 – Matt Covington, 5. 4 – Jon Agan, 6. 2M – Matt Moro, 7. 3P – Sawyer Phillips, 8. 13V – Seth Brahmer, 9. 23D – Devon Dobie, 10. 52 – Blake Hahn, 11. 25 – Dylan Peterson, 12. 47X – Dylan Westbrook, 13. 1 – Travis Rilat, 14. 17 – Mitchell Faccinto, 15. 63 – Geoff Ensign, 16. 40 – Clint Garner, 17. 35L – Cody Ledger, 18. 35 – Skylar Prochaska, 19. 2X – Tucker Doughty, 20. 76 – Brad Comgys, 21. 7M – Chance Morton, 22. 88 – Scottie McDonald, 23. 75 – Tyler Blank, 24. 8L – Tom Lenz. (First five finishers transferred to the B-Main)
B-Main (15 Laps): 1. 17WX – Shane Golobic, 2. 14T – Brooke Tatnell, 3. 9 – Ryan Giles, 4. 45X – Johnny Herrera, 5. 53D – Jack Dover, 6. 14 – Tony Stewart, 7. 7W – Tasker Phillips, 8. 23 – Seth Bergman, 9. 2 – Bill Balog, 10. 99 – Skylar Gee, 11. 15H – Sam Hafertepe Jr, 12. 70 – Calvin Landis, 14. 17W – Harli White, 14. 94 – Jeff Swindell, 15. 95 – Matt Covington, 16. 28C – Jonathan Cornell, 17. 4 – Jon Agan, 18. 18 – Ryan Roberts, 19. 20 – A.J. Moeller, 20 5H – Sammy Walsh, 21. 44 – Chris Martin, 22. 55 – McKenna Haase, 23. 4J – Lee Grosz, 24 7C – John Carney. (First four finishers transferred to the A-Main)
A-Main (25 Laps): 1. 24 – Terry McCarl, 2. 41 – Carson Macedo, 3. 21 – Brian Brown, 4. 26 – Joey Saladana, 5. 21K – Thomas Kennedy, 6. 27 – Greg Hodnett, 7. 71 – Giovanni Scelzi, 8. 83 – Cory Eliason, 9. 41S – Dominic Scelzi, 10. 3K – Tim Kaeding, 11. 14T – Brooke Tatnell, 12. 3S – Sammy Swindell, 13. 9 – Ryan Giles, 14. 17WX – Shane Golobic, 15. 3 – Nate VanHaaften, 16. 45X – Johnny Herrera, 17. 33M – Mason Daniel, 18. 7 – Carson McCarl, 19. 53 – Joe Beaver, 20. 44S – Trey Starks, 21. 2C – Wayne Johnson, 22. 28 – Scott Bogucki, 23. 12N – Cole Duncan, 24. 5J – Jamie Ball.
Winged 305 Sprint Cars
Qualifying: 1. 81E – Eric Bridger, 17.359; 2. 0 – Mike Mayberry, 17.417; 3. 99 – Matthew Stelzer, 17.524; 4. 5C – Devin Kline, 17.636; 5. 21 – Evan Epperson, 17.754; 6. 50 – Mike Ayers, 17.779; 7. 22 – Ryan Leavitt, 17.781; 8. 56 – Joe Simbro, 17.849; 9. 1K – Kelby Watt, 17.905; 10. 41 – Jeff Wilke, 18.112; 11. 33 – Jayce Jenkins, 18.166; 12. 67 – Jon Hughes, 18.177; 13. 26 – Chase Young, 18.181; 14. 71 – Brandon Worthington, 18.223; 15. 41D – Dan Henning, 18.454; 16. 64C – Casey Greubel, 18.51; 17. 12T – Tyler Glass, NT.
Heat Race #1 (6 Laps): 1. 33 – Jayce Jenkins, 2. 1K – Kelby Watt, 3. 21 – Evan Epperson, 4. 99 – Matthew Stelzer, 5. 81E – Eric Bridger, 6. 26 – Chase Young, 7. 41D – Dan Henning, 8. 22 – Ryan Leavitt.
Heat Race #2 (6 Laps): 1. 67 – Jonathan Hughes, 2. 0 – Mike Mayberry, 3. 41 – Jeff Wilke, 4. 5C – Devin Kline, 5. 50 – Mike Ayers, 6. 56 – Joe Simbro, 7. 71 – Brandon Worthington, 8. 64C – Casey Greubel.
A-Main (15 Laps): 1. 1K – Kelby Watt, 2. 5C – Devin Kline, 3. 33 – Jayce Jenkins, 4. 81E – Eric Bridger, 5. 22 – Ryan Leavitt, 6. 99 – Matthew Stelzer, 7. 50 – Mike Ayers, 8. 0 – Mike Mayberry, 9. 21 – Evan Epperson, 10. 71 – Brandon Worthington, 11. 41D – Dan Henning, 12. 64C – Casey Greubel, 13. 26 – Chase Young, 14. 41 – Jeff Wilke, 15. 56 – Joe Simbro, 16. 67 – Jonathan Hughes.