By T.J. Buffenbarger
(August 8, 2024) — Giovanni Scelzi has put himself in position to be in contention for winning one of the biggest sprint car races in the sport. It’s a place Scelzi has been in before sitting on the pole for the Knoxville Nationals in 2021 and leading the Jokers Jackpot earlier this year at Eldora Speedway before crashing out of the feature.
Wednesday on the podium Scelzi seemed prepared to use some of those negative experiences and lessons to focus on making a positive result this year at Knoxville. Despite not having quite as solid night from beginning to end on Wednesday compared to his pole winning year, Scelzi seemed at ease when addressing the media about his night after the races at the post-race press conference, thankfully to avoid some of the pitfalls contenders like Donny Schatz and David Gravel found Wednesday.
“I was high point guy in 2021 I believe and had a better night than I had tonight,” said Scelzi about his performance on Wednesday. “I was just telling the security guard walking up here that I thought the heat race here was the most stressful part of the whole week. You saw guys like Gravel, Buddy (Kofoid), Donny (Schatz) qualify bad, but (Schatz) won his heat race.”
“If you don’t make it through your heat race, your night’s pretty much over. I’ve done that twice and not made it through the heat on the prelim. I’ve had to truck forward, and you really run out of laps, because you are better than the cars in front of you, but it gets really hard to pass. You get overwhelmed, and you start pushing too hard, making mistakes, being too aggressive with moves. Then you set yourself back even more. On top of that, you got four good guys from the B-Main you’re racing against instead of trying to go forward. It’s not a fun place to be in a B-Main on a prelim night.”
Scelzi’s win on Wednesday potentially puts him in the best position for a Knoxville Nationals title since he sat on the pole position three years ago. Scelzi believes the maturity and experience he has gained along with his racing team could be the difference this time around when trying to handle the spotlight of being in contention for at Knoxville Nationals victory.
“Honestly, it was pretty overwhelming the first time. All the thoughts go up to your mind, you could be the youngest Knoxville Nationals winner ever. We were extremely fast back in 2021. It wasn’t typical for them to have track work before the feature, but they’ve kind of made that a normal thing now and we really didn’t prepare right. We had such a good package on Wednesday we didn’t really want a stray from that on Saturday. The track will be different tomorrow, will be different Friday and Saturday so you must stay on top of it. I feel like now I’m a little bit older and have been in position to win those races.”
This time around Scelzi is going to try and stay relaxed and focused at the task at hand, building upon the prior experiences they had at Knoxville earlier in the year to build up a notebook leading into this week.
“Obviously, I haven’t won a crown jewel yet, but it’s kind of like Jacob said, you know, you can’t, you can’t stress about it, because you’ll make yourself go crazy. And sometimes racing every weekend, you know, it makes you go crazy. This is the pinnacle of our year. I feel like our year obviously peaks at Nationals. After that you’re preparing for next year’s Nationals. The couple races you get to run here are very, very valuable. Obviously, April and May always get rained out. With the race here in June and getting to run a local show and build up to Nationals. Three races aren’t very many, but if you can get a package going into August it means a lot.”
Other notes:
• One year ago, Jacob Allen was not competing in the Knoxville Nationals after decided he needed a break from the wear and tear of racing night in and out with the World of Outlaws. In 2024 while chasing the High Limit Series, Allen seems much more at ease with his demeanor, which was on display during the post race press conference on Wednesday night.
“I didn’t even run this race last year and just took some time off. To come back and not race at Knoxville for a little bit of time, it felt really good to just put a night together like we did tonight. Just proud of our team. It’s just a bunch of dudes from Pennsylvania working hard. We had a great night going. It’s nothing to hang our heads about, but obviously wanted to win. I’m just proud of all of our efforts. To come back like this is sweet.”
Allen’s team accomplished this while having to do an engine change after time trials on Wednesday outside the racetrack at the team’s transporter with the car being pushed back into the infield just before opening ceremonies began.
“The motor change was unfortunate. We thought we had that motor figured out. At Eldora it kind of gave us the same issues as it did today, unfortunately,” said Allen. “Throughout all these years of racing you get motor changes down relatively good. Once you get that hot one out and get the one that’s in the trailer around it goes in pretty good. Just a great effort by my guys.
• Despite making it on the podium during Wednesday’s preliminary night, both Allen and Justin Peck find themselves on the bubble to lock into Saturday’s finale based on what happens during Thursday’s preliminary night. Both Peck and Allen will have to wait out the event to see which race they will be locked into Saturday.
I think being eighth and ninth is usually the most stressful part of it,” said Peck of being on the bubble. “Truthfully, we didn’t have all that great of a night. It’s cool to run third, but, we qualified 21st and went from fourth and third in the heat, which is lackluster. It’ll be one of those deals where you’re biting your nails see if you’re going to be in the back of the A or if you’re going to be in front of the B. Truthfully, being in the first two rows of the B-Main is not that bad of a place to be.”
Allen had a much more laid-back answer with his seemingly newfound Zen after not competing at the Nationals in 2023 while taking some time away from the sport.
“I don’t feel too stressed out at all,” said Allen. “There’s no reason to worry or think too hard about it. You watch the racing tomorrow, enjoy the fact that we get two nights off, and that you can’t control what happens tomorrow. It is what it is. You obviously want to be locked in. If you don’t, you got to keep on, keeping on.”
• While David Gravel and Corey Day did not end up where they hoped in the final points rundown after Wednesday’s preliminary night, both drivers experienced key moments that kept the dream of winning a Knoxville Nationals title alive.
While many of the top contenders struggled to transfer through their heat race, Day was starting to close in on a transfer spot when he jumped the cushion between turns three and four. Day managed to make a tremendous save to keep the car going but lost significant ground and seemed unlikely to make it up to challenge for the position before the end of the race.
Kalib Henry’s misfortune by flipping hard in turn one ended up giving fellow Californian Day the break he needed with a restart and secured a transfer position.
After not timing in as well as expected and missing the transfer in his heat race, David Gravel was able to use a final lap pass to take the final transfer spot in the B-Main. Gravel then survived a close call with Donny Schatz with the two making contact that sent Schatz completed sideways and somehow saving the car without crashing. While Gravel’s run to 15th from 24th starting position does not look great on paper, it is far better than the fate he would have faced had they not transferred through the B-Main.
• Gravel’s success came at the expense of Buddy Kofoid’s misfortune in the B-Main. Kofoid had just taken over third position coming to the white flag, which gave him a one position cushion on the final lap. Kofoid then dropped from third to fifth on the final lap, ending his three-year streak of locking into the Knoxville Nationals finale through is qualifying night.
Kofoid was obviously disappointed, which showed in this incredible image captured by Toby Bellbowen from SprintCarHub.com
• Donny Schatz is likely to compete in the “Hard Knox” program for the first time in his career since the new format was implemented for the Friday program. While Schatz’s qualifying efforts have been off lately, nobody expected a 38th position effort out of the Tony Stewart Racing team. Schatz won his heat race, but the tangle with Gravel pushed him to the back of the field where he could only rally to a 18th place finish and 25th in points overall.
• Sammy Swindell debuted a new coil over sprint car at the Wednesday program at Knoxville. Unfortunately, mechanical issues forced Swindell not to make a qualifying effort, followed by more issues during the C-Main.