KNOXVILLE, Iowa (August 1, 2024) – Kaleb Johnson picked up his first career Knoxville Raceway victory in dominating fashion to open the Xtream powered by Mediacom 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank.
Johnson, from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, started on the pole position and was never seriously challenged during the 20-lap affair, building up enough of an advantage to fend off the charge by Chase Randall from 12th starting position by a 4.113 second advantage at the finish.
For Johnson, the triumph at Knoxville came after several years of trying to secure a victory at the Marion County Fairgrounds oval and was quick to credit the car owner that picked him to drive the car earlier in the season.
“It’s been a long five years. First of all, thank you to Dennis Gainey talking about taking a chance on a young kid from South Dakota,” said Johnson of his car owner in victory lane. “It means the world to me you know he really took a chance on letting this maintain and work on this thing each and every week and my guys did just that.”
Johnson noticed the track conditions changing just before feature time, and made sure to take advantage of his front row starting position by driving a nearly flawless race.
“I saw the track was the moisture kind of coming up from the humidity,” said Johnso. “I’m kind of tired but I was going to make sure I didn’t lose that one. I feel like I’ve had so many damn chances not only here but other places and just never been able to really do it. It was good to finally put a full night together.”
Randall, Kade Higday, Austin McCarl, and Emerson Axsom rounded out the top five.
34th 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank
Knoxville Raceway
Knoxville, Iowa
Thursday, August 1, 2024
Qualifying
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 16.405[7]
2. 21T-Cole Macedo, 16.509[1]
3. 27A-Emerson Axsom, 16.577[44]
4. 4-Cameron Martin, 16.627[2]
5. 23-Seth Bergman, 16.705[8]
6. 4W-Jamie Ball, 16.775[18]
7. 88-Austin McCarl, 16.821[31]
8. 01-Terry McCarl, 16.858[19]
9. 4G-Cole Garner, 16.877[6]
10. 95-Matt Covington, 16.903[26]
11. 27H-Justin Peck, 16.911[17]
12. 24-Kade Higday, 16.915[25]
13. 87X-Shone Evans, 16.949[3]
14. 6-Kaleb Johnson, 16.968[40]
15. 22X-Riley Goodno, 16.976[36]
16. 22-Ryan Leavitt, 16.999[28]
17. 99-Tony Rost, 17.008[34]
18. 47-Brant O’Banion, 17.040[16]
19. 70-Calvin Landis, 17.045[33]
20. 86-Timothy Smith, 17.051[24]
21. 55B-Brandon Anderson, 17.093[4]
22. 2KS-Chase Randall, 17.109[49]
23. 63-JJ Hickle, 17.117[52]
24. 64-Hunter Schuerenberg, 17.129[43]
25. 8H-Jacob Hughes, 17.136[15]
26. 09-Matt Juhl, 17.185[46]
27. 23W-Garet Williamson, 17.185[48]
28. 52-Blake Hahn, 17.207[22]
29. 36-Jason Martin, 17.221[37]
30. 18T-Tanner Holmes, 17.235[54]
31. 2JR-Kelly Miller, 17.247[39]
32. 83-Kurt Mueller, 17.252[10]
33. 4J-Chase Johnson, 17.262[38]
34. 7B-Ben Brown, 17.276[41]
35. 45X-Kyler Johnson, 17.283[11]
36. 23M-Lance Moss, 17.285[23]
37. 44-Chris Martin, 17.299[47]
38. 33-Alan Zoutte, 17.299[9]
39. 10B-Landon Britt, 17.329[35]
40. 20T-Corey Timmerman, 17.372[32]
41. 17B-Ryan Bickett, 17.399[29]
42. 48-Danny Dietrich, 17.448[42]
43. 55X-Chase Brown, 17.455[50]
44. 27W-Weston Olson, 17.510[20]
45. 2J-Zach Blurton, 17.513[27]
46. 6G-Bryan Gossel, 17.537[14]
47. 38-Logan Alexander, 17.537[13]
48. J2-John Carney II, 17.539[53]
49. 8X-Micah Slendy, 18.017[45]
50. T4-Tyler Graves, 18.023[5]
51. 17N-Nathan Anderson, 18.036[21]
52. 88E-Terry Easum, 18.082[51]
53. 1A-John Anderson, 18.333[12]
54. G5-Gage Pulkrabek, 18.534[30]
360 Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 09-Matt Juhl[1]
2. 4W-Jamie Ball[5]
3. 55B-Brandon Anderson[2]
4. 27H-Justin Peck[4]
5. 87-Aaron Reutzel[6]
6. 22-Ryan Leavitt[3]
7. 23M-Lance Moss[8]
8. 2JR-Kelly Miller[7]
9. 6G-Bryan Gossel[10]
10. 17B-Ryan Bickett[9]
360 Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 23W-Garet Williamson[1]
2. 2KS-Chase Randall[2]
3. 88-Austin McCarl[5]
4. 24-Kade Higday[4]
5. 21T-Cole Macedo[6]
6. 99-Tony Rost[3]
7. 44-Chris Martin[8]
8. 48-Danny Dietrich[9]
9. 38-Logan Alexander[10]
10. 83-Kurt Mueller[7]
360 Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 27A-Emerson Axsom[6]
2. 52-Blake Hahn[1]
3. 01-Terry McCarl[5]
4. 4J-Chase Johnson[7]
5. J2-John Carney II[10]
6. 55X-Chase Brown[9]
7. 87X-Shone Evans[4]
8. 33-Alan Zoutte[8]
9. 63-JJ Hickle[2]
10. 47-Brant O’Banion[3]
360 Heat Race #4 (8 Laps)
1. 64-Hunter Schuerenberg[2]
2. 36-Jason Martin[1]
3. 6-Kaleb Johnson[4]
4. 70-Calvin Landis[3]
5. 4-Cameron Martin[6]
6. 4G-Cole Garner[5]
7. 7B-Ben Brown[7]
8. 10B-Landon Britt[8]
9. 27W-Weston Olson[9]
10. 8X-Micah Slendy[10]
360 Heat Race #5 (8 Laps)
1. 18T-Tanner Holmes[1]
2. 22X-Riley Goodno[4]
3. 95-Matt Covington[5]
4. 8H-Jacob Hughes[2]
5. 86-Timothy Smith[3]
6. 23-Seth Bergman[6]
7. 2J-Zach Blurton[9]
8. 20T-Corey Timmerman[8]
9. T4-Tyler Graves[10]
10. 45X-Kyler Johnson[7]
Last Chance Heat Race #- Points Only
1. 17N-Nathan Anderson[1]
2. 88E-Terry Easum[2]
3. 1A-John Anderson[3]
4. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[4]
360 C-Main (10 Laps)
1. 63-JJ Hickle[2]
2. 17B-Ryan Bickett[5]
3. 27W-Weston Olson[6]
4. 88E-Terry Easum[12]
5. 83-Kurt Mueller[3]
6. 8X-Micah Slendy[9]
7. 38-Logan Alexander[8]
8. 6G-Bryan Gossel[7]
9. 1A-John Anderson[13]
10. 17N-Nathan Anderson[11]
11. T4-Tyler Graves[10]
12. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[14]
DNS: 47-Brant O’Banion
DNS: 45X-Kyler Johnson
360 B-Main (12 Laps)
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel[1]
2. 21T-Cole Macedo[2]
3. 4G-Cole Garner[5]
4. 23-Seth Bergman[4]
5. 4-Cameron Martin[3]
6. 48-Danny Dietrich[17]
7. 22-Ryan Leavitt[7]
8. 7B-Ben Brown[11]
9. 44-Chris Martin[13]
10. J2-John Carney II[20]
11. 2JR-Kelly Miller[10]
12. 86-Timothy Smith[9]
13. 63-JJ Hickle[21]
14. 87X-Shone Evans[6]
15. 23M-Lance Moss[12]
16. 10B-Landon Britt[15]
17. 2J-Zach Blurton[19]
18. 33-Alan Zoutte[14]
19. 88E-Terry Easum[24]
20. 55X-Chase Brown[18]
21. 27W-Weston Olson[23]
22. 20T-Corey Timmerman[16]
23. 99-Tony Rost[8]
24. 17B-Ryan Bickett[22]
360 A-Main (20 Laps)
1. 6-Kaleb Johnson[1]
2. 2KS-Chase Randall[12]
3. 24-Kade Higday[2]
4. 88-Austin McCarl[6]
5. 27A-Emerson Axsom[8]
6. 27H-Justin Peck[3]
7. 01-Terry McCarl[5]
8. 4W-Jamie Ball[7]
9. 95-Matt Covington[4]
10. 22X-Riley Goodno[9]
11. 09-Matt Juhl[15]
12. 64-Hunter Schuerenberg[13]
13. 21T-Cole Macedo[22]
14. 23W-Garet Williamson[16]
15. 87-Aaron Reutzel[21]
16. 18T-Tanner Holmes[19]
17. 4J-Chase Johnson[20]
18. 55B-Brandon Anderson[11]
19. 8H-Jacob Hughes[14]
20. 36-Jason Martin[18]
21. 23-Seth Bergman[24]
22. 70-Calvin Landis[10]
23. 4G-Cole Garner[23]
24. 52-Blake Hahn[17]