By T.J. Buffenbarger
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (August 9, 2018) – Brad Sweet made a statement on Thursday with another dominating performance at Knoxville Raceway. Sweet backed up his standout run at the Capitani Classic by winning Thursday’s Toyota Qualifying Night during the 58th Annual 5-Hour ENERGY Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s General Stores. Sweet from Grass Valley, California charged from sixth starting spot on the opening lap to capture the lead before lapping up to 12th place in the A-Main in his Kasey Kahne Racing car.
Sweet used a pair of tune up races before Knoxville to fine tune their setup, which seems to be paying off at the Nationals.
“We come here to run the those races just to get prepared for these races,” said Sweet. “I thought the Capitani (Classic) obviously gave us a lot of confidence coming into tonight. We tried a few things at Oskaloosa. Honestly where we hit on it the best was in that pole shuffle. The car felt like that pole shuffle all night tonight. Its kind of right where we need to be.”
Mark Dobmeier took the lead at the green flag with Sweet splitting the cars of Rico Abreu and Terry McCarl to drive into second place by turn two. Coming off turn four on the opening lap Sweet drove by Dobmeier to take a lead he would never relinquish.
After a pair of cautions for Josh Schneiderman’s wall contact that also sent Jamie Veal to the work area and Sammy Swindell’s spin in turn four Sweet pulled away from the field with Abreu trying to keep pace in second spot. While racing with Dobmeier for position McCarl got up in the cushion in turn four, making a big save, but dropped several positions.
David Gravel made his presence known at that point with eight laps in from 13th starting spot to challenge for the third position.
Gravel was able to pull up to Abreu to challenge for second once after lap 10, but hooked the inside berm in turns one and two and allowed Abreu to drive away. Gravel took one more shot at taking second away from Abreu in slower traffic with five laps to go, but lapped traffic blocked Gravel’s lane and allowed Abreu to scoot away again.
Up front though it was all Sweet lapping through 13th place on the way to victory. Abreu, Gravel, Tim Kaeding, and Chad Kemenah rounded out the top five.
58th Annual 5-Hour ENERGY Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s General Stores
Toyota Qualifying Night
World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series
Knoxville Raceway
Knoxville, IA
Thursday August 9, 2018
Qualifying: 1. 41 – Carson Macedo, 15.520 2. 10H – Chad Kemenah, 15.608 3. 1A – Jacob Allen, 15.627 4. 49 – Brad Sweet, 15.634 5. 71P – Parker Price-Miller, 15.643 6. 28 – Scott Bogucki, 15.691 7. 44 – Trey Starks, 15.748 8. 19P – Paige Polyak, 15.767 9. 2 – Shane Stewart, 15.783 10. 7 – Carson McCarl, 15.810 11. 91T – Cale Thomas, 15.838 12. 1X – Don Droud Jr, 15.857 13. 3 – Tim Kaeding, 15.861 14. 17X – Josh Baughman, 15.862 15. 24 – Terry McCarl, 15.894 16. 7C – John Carney, 15.902 17. 24R – Rico Abreu, 15.925 18. 99G – Skylar Gee, 15.942 19. 48 – Danny Dietrich, 15.948 20. 35 – Jamie Veal, 15.970 21. 13 – Mark Dobmeier, 15.977 22. 39 – Spencer Bayston, 15.980 23. 21AU – Jordyn Brazier, 15.982 24. 55 – Brooke Tatnell, 15.985 25. 83 – Cory Eliason, 15.989 26. 11K – Kraig Kinser, 15.993 27. 26 – Joey Saldana, 16.001 28. 17W – Harli White, 16.005 29. 5 – David Gravel, 16.020 30. 49J – Josh Schneiderman, 16.026 31. 15H – Sam Hafertepe Jr., 16.032 32. 9R – Rager Phillips, 16.059 33. 70 – Dave Blaney, 16.076 34. 1 – Sammy Swindell, 16.084 35. 2C – Wayne Johnson, 16.121 36. 95 – Matt Covington, 16.123 37. 44M – Chris Martin, 16.125 38. 21 – Brian Brown, 16.137 39. G1 – Gary Taylor, 16.150 40. 25 – Bobby McMahan, 16.204 41. 21K – Thomas Kennedy, 16.214 42. 35P – Skylar Prochaska, 16.244 43. W20 – Greg Wilson, 16.258 44. 71A – R.J. Johnson, 16.259 45. 28AU – Allan Woods, 16.274 46. 81 – Lee Jacobs, 16.308 47. 3x – Jac Haudenschild, 16.308 48. 91 – Kyle Reinhardt, 16.332 49. 18J – Jenna Frazier, 17.756 50. 84 – Tom Harris, 18.088 51. 2MM – Matt Moro, NT.
Heat Race #1 (10 Laps): 1. 15H – Sam Hafertepe Jr, 2. 13 – Mark Dobmeier, 3. 11K – Kraig Kinser, 4. 7C – John Carney, 5. 28 – Scott Bogucki, 6. 41 – Carson Macedo, 7. 95 – Matt Covington, 8. 91T – Cale Thomas, 9. 81 – Lee Jacobs, 10. 21K – Thomas Kennedy. (First four finishers transferred to the A-Main)
Heat Race #2 (10 Laps): 1. 44 – Chris Martin, 2. 24R – Rico Abreu, 3. 39 – Spencer Bayston, 4. 10H – Chad Kemenah, 5. 9R – Rager Phillips, 6. 3X – Jac Haudenschild, 7. 26 – Jac Haudenschild, 8. 44 – Trey Starks, 9. 35P – Skylar Prochaska, 10. 1X – Don Droud Jr. (First four finishers transferred to the A-Main)
Heat Race #3 (10 Laps): 1. 70 – Dave Blaney, 2. 3 – Tim Kaeding, 3. 17W – Harli White, 4. 1A – Jacob Allen, 5. 99G – Skylar Gee, 6. W20 – Greg Wilson, 7. 21AU – Jordyn Brazier, 8. 19P – Paige Polyak, 9. 91 – Kyle Reinhardt. DNS: 21 – Brian Brown. (First four finishers transferred to the A-Main)
Heat Race #4 (10 Laps): 1. 1 – Sammy Swindell, 2. 49 – Brad Sweet, 3. G1 – Gary Taylor, 4. 5 – David Gravel, 5. 2 – Shane Stewart, 6. 55 – Brooke Tatnell, 7. 17X – Josh Baughman, 8. 48 – Danny Dietrich, 9. 71A – R.J. Johnson. DNS: 18J – Jenna Frazier. (First four finishers transferred to the A-Main)
Heat Race #5 (10 Laps): 1. 83 – Cory Eliason, 2. 2C – Wayne Johnson, 3. 49J – Josh Schneiderman, 4. 24 – Terry McCarl, 5. 71P – Parker Price-Miller, 6. 35 – Jamie Veal, 7. 7 – Carson McCarl, 8. 28AU – Alan Woods, 9. 25 – Bobby McMahan, 10. 84 – Tom Harris. (First four finishers transferred to the A-Main)
C-Main (8 Laps): 1. 1X – Don Droud Jr, 2. 71A – R.J. Johnson, 3. 25 – Bobby McMahan, 4. 81 – Lee Jacobs, 5. 35P – Skylar Prochaska, 6. 84 – Tom Harris. DNS: 21K – Thomas Kennedy, 91 – Kyle Reinhardt,18J – Jenna Frazier, 21 – Brian Brown, 2MM – Matt Motor. (First four finishers transfer to the B-Main)
B-Main (12 Laps): 1. 41 – Carson McCarl, 2. 71P – Parker Price-Miller, 3. 2 – Shane Stewart, 4. 35 – Jamie Veal, 5. 28 – Scott Bogucki, 6. 48 – Danny Dietrich, 7. 1X – Don Droud Jr, 8. 91T – Cale Thomas, 9. 17X – Josh Baughman, 10. W20 – Greg Wilson, 11. 99G – Skylar Gee, 12. 55 – Brooke Tatnell, 13. 9R – Rager Phillips, 14. 81 – Lee Jacobs, 15. 28AU – Allan Woods, 16. 17A – R.J. Johnson, 17. 19P – Paige Polyak, 18. 44 – Trey Starks, 19. 26 – Joey Saldana, 20. 7 – Carson McCarl, 21. 21AU – Jordyn Brazier, 22. 3X – Jac Haudenschild, 23. 25 – Bobby McMahan, 24. 95 – Matt Covington. (First four finishers transferred to the A-Main)
A-Main (25-Laps): 1. 49 – Brad Sweet, 2. 24R – Rico Abreu, 3. 5 – David Gravel, 4. 3 – Tim Kaeding, 5. 10H – Chad Kemenah, 6. 10H – Chad Kemenah, 7. 83 – Cory Eliason, 8. 2 – Shane Stewart, 9. 41 – Carson Macedo, 10. 11K – Kraig Kinser, 11. 13 – Mark Dobmeier, 12. 1A – Jacob Allen, 13. 15H – Sam Hafertepe Jr, 14. 71P – Parker Price-Miller, 15. 39 – Spencer Bayston, 16. 2C – Wayne Johnson, 17. 35 – Jamie Veal, 18. 1 – Sammy Swindell, 19. 7C – John Carney, 20, 44M – Chris Martin, 21. G1 – Gary Taylor, 22. 70 – Dave Blaney, 23. 17W – Harli White, 24. 49J – Josh Schneiderman.