By T.J. Buffenbarger
KNOXVILLE, IA (August 7, 2024) – Giovanni Scelzi used a daring move with four laps to go to win the feature during Brandt Professional Agriculture Qualifying Night during the 63rd NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s Wednesday night at Knoxville Raceway.
Scelzi from Fresno, California, was able to split then leader Jacob Allen and a lapped car to take the lead going into turn one on lap 22, then drove away to a 1.168 second advantage at the finish.
“Once I got by Justin (Peck), I could see Jacob and he was moving around and trying to get by lappers,” said Scelzi. “There was a brick wall lap cars in front of him. At that point, you kind of start thinking of what to do? Do I need to force the issue here? I felt like I had a decent point night going and when I got to fourth opportunities presented themselves and I kind of took it.”
Allen took the lead at the start with Peck and Chase Randall in tow. Further back in the pack Brent Marks used a daring three wide move to take the fourth position away from Scott Bogucki on lap two.
Further back in the field, Scelzi made his presence felt early moving up to fifth position on lap three. Scelzi was just about to pass Marks for fourth when the caution appeared when Jamie Ball slowed in turn three.
Allen pulled away during the restart while Peck had to deal with a charging Chase Randall, who had moved into the third spot and took over second after the restart in turn two. Peck was able to counter and slid back by Randall in turn three.
Soon Scelzi disposed of Randall and began pressuring Peck for the second position taking the spot off turn four on lap 17. Scelzi then quickly chipped Allen’s lead down to 0.791 seconds. One lap later Scelzi was able to use a three wide move, driving between Allen and a lapped car to take the lead going into turn one.
From there Scelzi held on for the victory over Allen, Peck, Randall, and Marks.
Matt Juhl was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 15.431 seconds. Sam Hafertepe Jr, Jamie Ball, Donny Schatz, Aaron Reutzel, and Chase Randall won heat race events. Cale Thomas won the C-Main event while Anthony Macri won the B-Main event.
Two of the favorites going into the Knoxville Nationals, David Gravel and Donny Schatz, had to transfer through the B-Main to make Wednesday’s main event. Gravel and Schatz made contact on the opening lap going into turn three, forcing Schatz to make an impressive save but shuffled him back through the field. Gravel ended up 11th in points with Schatz in 25th.
63rd NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s
Brandt Professional Agriculture Qualifying Night #1
World of Outlaw NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series
Knoxville Raceway
Knoxville, Iowa
Wednesday, August 7, 2024
Sea Foam Qualifying
1. 09-Matt Juhl, 15.431[1]
2. 39M-Anthony Macri, 15.654[11]
3. 55-Kerry Madsen, 15.669[5]
4. 23-Garet Williamson, 15.707[9]
5. 18T-Tanner Holmes, 15.737[3]
6. 14J-Jack Dover, 15.738[2]
7. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 15.783[35]
8. 2-David Gravel, 15.785[21]
9. 14-Corey Day, 15.809[28]
10. 22-Riley Goodno, 15.823[4]
11. 18-Giovanni Scelzi, 15.825[31]
12. 2X-Lynton Jeffrey, 15.828[36]
13. 10-Scott Bogucki, 15.828[24]
14. 101-Kalib Henry, 15.834[10]
15. 19-Brent Marks, 15.839[29]
16. 83JR-Michael Kofoid, 15.876[30]
17. 21T-Cole Macedo, 15.878[14]
18. 3P-Sawyer Phillips, 15.898[7]
19. 1M-Don Droud Jr, 15.909[12]
20. 2KS-Chase Randall, 15.953[42]
21. 13-Justin Peck, 15.962[37]
22. 1A-Jacob Allen, 15.973[38]
23. 55T-McKenna Haase, 15.974[40]
24. 9-Kasey Kahne, 15.983[41]
25. 27-Carson McCarl, 15.986[33]
26. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 16.006[45]
27. 24T-Christopher Thram, 16.019[25]
28. 48-Danny Dietrich, 16.023[19]
29. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 16.050[23]
30. 23L-Jimmy Light, 16.060[13]
31. 70-Kraig Kinser, 16.062[47]
32. 52-Blake Hahn, 16.075[15]
33. 9P-Parker Price Miller, 16.094[18]
34. 49X-Tim Shaffer, 16.107[22]
35. 6B-Brandon Wimmer, 16.144[50]
36. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 16.148[51]
37. 4W-Jamie Ball, 16.168[52]
38. 15-Donny Schatz, 16.181[43]
39. J2-John Carney II, 16.185[44]
40. 23M-Lance Moss, 16.205[8]
41. 17GP-Cale Thomas, 16.207[17]
42. 99-Skylar Gee, 16.226[48]
43. 44-Chris Martin, 16.259[20]
44. 6W-Dustin Selvage, 16.263[27]
45. 45X-Jace Park, 16.279[34]
46. 15JR-Cole Mincer, 16.424[49]
47. 19H-Joel Myers, 16.439[26]
48. G5-Gage Pulkrabek, 16.459[16]
49. 11N-Kasey Jedrzejek, 16.856[46]
50. 10V-Brian Paulus, 16.888[39]
51. 2K-Kevin Ingle, 17.296[32]
DNS: 1-Sammy Swindell
Heat Race #1 (10 Laps)
1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[1]
2. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[3]
3. 13-Justin Peck[4]
4. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[6]
5. 83JR-Michael Kofoid[5]
6. 70-Kraig Kinser[2]
7. 09-Matt Juhl[8]
8. 14J-Jack Dover[7]
9. 15JR-Cole Mincer[10]
10. 17GP-Cale Thomas[9]
(First four finishers transferred to the A-Main)
Milton Hershey School Heat Race #2 (10 Laps)
1. 4W-Jamie Ball[1]
2. 1A-Jacob Allen[4]
3. 52-Blake Hahn[2]
4. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[7]
5. 24T-Christopher Thram[3]
6. 39M-Anthony Macri[8]
7. 21T-Cole Macedo[5]
8. 2X-Lynton Jeffrey[6]
9. 19H-Joel Myers[10]
10. 99-Skylar Gee[9]
(First four finishers transferred to the A-Main)
Heat Race #3 (10 Laps)
1. 15-Donny Schatz[1]
2. 9P-Parker Price Miller[2]
3. 10-Scott Bogucki[6]
4. 48-Danny Dietrich[3]
5. 55-Kerry Madsen[8]
6. 2-David Gravel[7]
7. 3P-Sawyer Phillips[5]
8. 55T-McKenna Haase[4]
9. 44-Chris Martin[9]
10. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[10]
(First four finishers transferred to the A-Main)
Heat Race #4 (10 Laps)
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel[3]
2. J2-John Carney II[1]
3. 9-Kasey Kahne[4]
4. 14-Corey Day[7]
5. 49X-Tim Shaffer[2]
6. 23-Garet Williamson[8]
7. 1M-Don Droud Jr[5]
8. 6W-Dustin Selvage[9]
9. 101-Kalib Henry[6]
DNS: 11N-Kasey Jedrzejek
(First four finishers transferred to the A-Main)
Heat Race #5 (10 Laps)
1. 2KS-Chase Randall[5]
2. 6B-Brandon Wimmer[2]
3. 19-Brent Marks[6]
4. 27-Carson McCarl[4]
5. 18T-Tanner Holmes[8]
6. 45X-Jace Park[9]
7. 23L-Jimmy Light[3]
8. 22-Riley Goodno[7]
9. 10V-Brian Paulus[10]
10. 23M-Lance Moss[1]
(First four finishers transferred to the A-Main)
C-Main (10 Laps)
1. 17GP-Cale Thomas[3]
2. 99-Skylar Gee[4]
3. 44-Chris Martin[5]
4. 19H-Joel Myers[7]
5. 15JR-Cole Mincer[6]
6. 10V-Brian Paulus[10]
7. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[8]
8. 2K-Kevin Ingle[11]
9. 1-Sammy Swindell[12]
DNS: 101-Kalib Henry
(First four finishers transferred to the B-Main)
B Main (12 Laps)
1. 39M-Anthony Macri[2]
2. 09-Matt Juhl[1]
3. 23-Garet Williamson[4]
4. 2-David Gravel[7]
5. 83JR-Michael Kofoid[10]
6. 55-Kerry Madsen[3]
7. 18T-Tanner Holmes[5]
8. 22-Riley Goodno[8]
9. 3P-Sawyer Phillips[12]
10. 14J-Jack Dover[6]
11. 1M-Don Droud Jr[13]
12. 2X-Lynton Jeffrey[9]
13. 21T-Cole Macedo[11]
14. 49X-Tim Shaffer[18]
15. 24T-Christopher Thram[15]
16. 23L-Jimmy Light[16]
17. 44-Chris Martin[23]
18. 45X-Jace Park[20]
19. 6W-Dustin Selvage[19]
20. 70-Kraig Kinser[17]
21. 99-Skylar Gee[22]
22. 55T-McKenna Haase[14]
23. 19H-Joel Myers[24]
24. 17GP-Cale Thomas[21]
(First four finishers transferred to the B-Main)
A-Main (25 Laps)
1. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[6]
2. 1A-Jacob Allen[1]
3. 13-Justin Peck[2]
4. 2KS-Chase Randall[3]
5. 19-Brent Marks[4]
6. 10-Scott Bogucki[5]
7. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[11]
8. 87-Aaron Reutzel[13]
9. 14-Corey Day[7]
10. 39M-Anthony Macri[21]
11. 9P-Parker Price Miller[15]
12. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[8]
13. 9-Kasey Kahne[9]
14. 27-Carson McCarl[10]
15. 2-David Gravel[24]
16. 48-Danny Dietrich[12]
17. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[17]
18. 15-Donny Schatz[19]
19. 23-Garet Williamson[23]
20. 09-Matt Juhl[22]
21. 4W-Jamie Ball[18]
22. 52-Blake Hahn[14]
23. J2-John Carney II[20]
24. 6B-Brandon Wimmer[16]