From T.J. Buffenbarger
The 2025 Knoxville Nationals are in the books with Ryan Timms and his crew likely still celebrating around the Marion County Fairgrounds. While Timms and crew were basking in their glory, I constructed these takeaways about Saturday night at Knoxville.
• Commanding
Dominating
Supremacy
These are all words that could describe several victories by multiple drivers over the years at the Knoxville Nationals. From Steve Kinser to Donny Schatz, all of them have at some point shredded the field for a Knoxville Nationals title.
In my lifetime I never thought an 18-year-old would have such a performance on sprint car racing’s biggest stage.
I attended my first Knoxville Nationals when I was 18 years of age, just to watch the race. There was no part of me that would have been mature enough to go out there and dominate a 50-lap sprint car racing. I’m still wrapping my head around this happening.
When we think of people winning the Knoxville Nationals Donny Schatz’s near missed before finally winning a string of Nationals titles comes to mind. Veterans like Danny Lasoski tried for years to win this race.
The first time Timms made the final, he destroyed the field. Every time Timms circled Knoxville Raceway I found myself wanting to catch the timing and scoring to see what his lead opened up to (It was sizeable).
I was convinced the other, more experienced drivers were pacing themselves the first half of the race and would be a more formidable challenger to Timms during the second half of the race.
Instead Timms continued to motor away from the field looking like he had raced at Knoxville for 10 or 15 years.
I was reminded of a tweet back in 2022 it was obvious if one was paying attention that Ryan Timms was a top sprint car prospect. Too young to race a sprint car, they took this photo and tweeted it out that season.
They don’t want the smoke💨🥶 pic.twitter.com/GhnJEzaugp
— Ryan Timms (@RyanTimms_5T) June 20, 2022
This was my reply to that tweet.
I'm trying to recall a birthday to become national series eligible anticipated as much as Ryan Timms. The only one I can think of to compare it to is when Bryan Clauson became USAC eligible before the Buckeye Nationals event at Limaland. https://t.co/X7eyQAMqOt
— tjslideways.com (@tjslideways) June 20, 2022
I expected Timms to eventually become a very talented sprint car driver. When he went Midget racing with Keith Kunz Motorsports I thought his talent would lead him elsewhere. After some time out of the seat for an injury and things not going as well as expected with his family-owned sprint car, I wondered for a moment if Timms potential would be realized.
As I said in a takeaways column earlier in the week, teaming up with Liebig Motorsports will be considered a key moment in Timms career. Liebig was fast last season with Scott Bogucki and finished 8th in the finale last season. The team deserves some credit as well for providing an incredible race car for Timms to drive, which David Gravel referred to as a Cadillac.
In a year where World of Outlaws and High Limit dominated the conversation going in the Kings Royal was won by a PA Posse driver with Anthony Macri and the Knoxville Nationals winner spent a considerable amount of time racing at Knoxville every week in Timms.
The most awesome part was seeing so many of the top drivers in our sport like Kyle Larson and David Gravel greet Timms in victory lane to congratulate them. There are certain people that would not draw those folks to victory lane had they won, but Timms might be the most popular winner I can recall since Jason Johnson or Kyle Larson after winning his first Nationals title.
• Gravel and the Big Game Motorsports team will leave the Knoxville Nationals for the second year wondering what would happen if things went better on their preliminary night.
Gravel and the Big Game team rebounded tremendously on Saturday moving up from 21st starting position to finish second, which improved upon their run from 19th to 12th in 2023.
Thoughts on Gravel’s attitude I made in yesterday’s column turned out to be accurate as he sliced through the field on Saturday. I’m not sure if Gravel would have anything for Timms, but without having to waste time and energy battling through the field, it would have been interesting to watch.
• After the 2025 edition of the Knoxville Nationals, I am strongly in favor of starting the final night at 6:00 P.M. going forward.
Rain ended up pushing the program on Saturday at the Knoxville Nationals earlier in the day at 5:00 P.M. and pushed back to 6:00 with the D, C, and B-Mains taking place when the sun was still out.
Originally scheduled for a 7:15 P.M. start before the rain, often the Saturday program at Knoxville doesn’t quite start on time or drags a bit. The 6:00 P.M. start time was a huge improvement along with the program having a bit more pace to it.
There were still plenty of breaks for crash cleanup and waiting for the next main to go onto the racetrack. I was able to go to the concession stand after the Kelby Watt crash and still get something to eat.
With the race ending at 9:20 P.M. I was able to get all the post-race activities done at the track, go back to the house and visit with my roommates over pizza while writing this, my race recap, and photo gallery and still get to bed at a decent hour.
It was the first time I can remember leaving the track at Knoxville after the Saturday finale that refreshed. I’m sure the Dingus Lounge enjoyed the extra hours of race fans pouring in, but even driving through downtown Knoxville to pick up pizza for the house it was the first time after the Saturday race I went through there when businesses were still open.
The 6:00 start still gives plenty of time for pre-race activities around the grounds. If hot, sunny, or windy weather become a concern for the track prep there is still wiggle room to push the time back if needed. It also gives the track more wiggle room if things get off the rails for a major crash cleanup or any other delays.
I realize that Knoxville Raceway officials often like to savor the moment at the track and don’t push at that pace typically unless rain is involved, but I enjoyed the fast-paced program that still included driver introductions, the public drivers meeting, and other activities.
Hopefully we have just as an efficient Saturday night program in 2026 as we did this year.