By T.J. Buffenbarger
(August 8, 2024) — After a action packed night of racing on Thursday at Knoxville Raceway, here are my three takeaways from second preliminary night of the 2024 Knoxville Nationals.
• Everything I’ve learned over the years about getting races in, having “outlaw speed” and how difficult it is for drivers to race part time all went out the window with Daryn Pittman’s qualifying and heat race performances Thursday night at Knoxville Raceway.
During Pittman’s qualifying run on Thursday night, I said verbally “quick time” before he had reached turn two. Pittman cut such a perfect corner in in the Kreitz Racing 69K my jaw had almost hit the counter in the press box. It was one of the most impressive things I’ve seen at Knoxville in recent years.
Pittman then backed it up by coming from the fourth row of his heat race to win, which prompted Knoxville Raceway employee Eric Arnold to dig up the list of drivers that have put up a perfect score on their preliminary night. Brad Sweet, who is very good at Knoxville Raceway, was passed so quickly by Pittman that he appeared to be tied to a pole.
Pittman did not make as much progress through the field during the A-Main, making it to sixth position from eight, but now has Kretiz Racing in position to contend for a Knoxville Nationals championship on Saturday.
While Pittman does lower the median age of the Kreitz Racing crew significantly by being part of the team, Pittman’s part time status goes against everything I’ve come to learn about having “Outlaw Speed” and having reps against that level of competition is what makes a driver better.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of Pittman’s performance on Thursday was after the heat race during the interview on the p.a. system when you could just hear in his voice how good his car was up until that point in the night. At one point in his career Pittman would admit that this was not his best track, but in part time status Pittman may pull off what he wasn’t able to do when racing full time, win a Knoxville Nationals title.
• Kyle Larson is very much Kyle Larson and did Kyle Larson things again on Thursday moving up from sixth starting spot to pass Rico Abreu coming to the white flag to win the preliminary feature event. There was no evidence of any of the struggles Larson and the Paul Silva Racing team have worked through this year.
Larson is in the stage of his career that Donny Schatz was in the late 2000’s and early 2010’s where no matter what happens leading into the Knoxville Nationals Larson will be contending for the title.
The other aspect Larson has found coming into the Nationals is a little bit of racers luck. Brad Doty spoke during his fan forum earlier in the week celebrating the 25th anniversary of his autobiography and spoke about how when you combine extraordinary racing talent with a couple breaks here and there, that combination can be almost unstoppable.
Larson isn’t reaching the Steve Kinser level of talent mixed with the occasionally unbelievable circumstance, but there are signs of it happening this year at Knoxville. With Larson and Silva being a little off in qualifying this year, the team pulled the one pill for qualifying on Thursday night. Larson pointed out in the post-race press conference how important that was to set up his night.
Then while running second with Rico Abreu doing a masterful job in lapped traffic, Abreu ended up having to take evasive action with slower cars. Once he was clear up on the berm in turns one and two, shot across the track, and still can’t believe Abreu maintained the lead. The other was the final blow to Abreu’s winning hopes when a wondering lapped car slid up the track in turn two and killed Abreu’s counter to Larson’s challenge for the win.
I have run out of superlatives to describe Larson’s performance on track in a sprint car, especially around the Marion County Fairgrounds, but it’s fun to watch a generational driver work his craft so well.
• Thursday night the Knoxville Raceway half-mile oval produced the type of racing that makes the Knoxville Nationals such a legendary event. Drivers had full use of the racing surface top to bottom most of the night, and even the middle lane came into play at certain points during the evening.
The drivers on Thursday clearly had an advantage obtaining the top starting spots with seven of the top 10 drivers locking into Saturday’s A-Main participated in the Thursday night’s program.
While the top spots are dominated by Thursday participants, the entire field is split evenly at eight a piece from Wednesday and Thursday, which is almost unthinkable when you compare how both nights played out.
I’m not saying there are some further tweaks that could make the Knoxville Nationals program better. I’m a strong believer that the A-Main should start 28 cars so that the top 20 in points still get locked in through the preliminary nights with four transferring to the feature on Friday and another four from the B-Main on Saturday.
The reality is with a dirt track you are never going to get the track the same for two nights in a row, and there is always a risk of having the surface off with the highest stakes in sprint car racing on the line. With the purse that Knoxville Raceway puts up every year it shouldn’t be easy to navigate your way through the event as a competitor.