By T.J. Buffenbarger
(August 5, 2026) — When racing begins for the 36th Xtream powered by Mediacom 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank on Thursday Great Lakes Super Sprints fans will see several familiar faces in competition.
Wapakoneta, Ohio resident Devon Dobie, currently seventh in points with the series, is one of the GLSS drivers slated to take part in Thursday’s program.
The trip west to Knoxville is familiar for Dobie, who competed at Knoxville earlier this season on May 9th with a 23rd place finish in the feature event, but this will be Dobie’s first trip back to Knoxville for the 360 Nationals since 2022 due to having GLSS competing at Eldora for Family Fun Night the past three seasons.
“The main thing is the schedule worked out this year where the 360 Nationals was pushed back a week, and we weren’t sure how many how many more times that would happen in the in the next few years where those don’t overlap. So, we wanted to take the opportunity to go while it presented itself.”
This year Dobie and the other GLSS teams had more time to prepare due to the GLSS program at Eldora being rained out last Saturday, giving the team time to unmount the American Racer tires used in GLSS competition to mount up the required Hoosier Tires for the 360 Nationals along with other preparation without having to worry about fixing anything from racing the week before.
While Dobie’s best finish in the 360 Nationals is a 22nd place run in the B-Main on his first attempt at the event, he has consistently been a B to C-Main car. Dobie hopes this year they can improve to make Saturday’s finale, but keeps realistic expectations based on the high competition level.
Some of the first few times we tried running there we were fortunate enough to make the -Main on our prelim night,” Dobie said. “I think that to have a successful week we need to be there and then kind of see where the points shake out going into Saturday to see if we’re going to be in a B or C Main.”
“Depending on how the points score that’s kind of where we’ve kind of peaked at. Just catching the 30-car invert, around 20th, quick is kind of where we seem to max out at. If that happens. Hopefully, we start on the front row of a heat race, make the prelim A, and just kind of see where the points stack up on Saturday, and at least be in the B-Main. I think that would be you know another successful weekend out there”
The trip to Iowa also gives Dobie a chance to visit with some of supporters of his racing endeavors.
“We have got some friends and sponsors out in Iowa, so we try to get out there a couple times a year to race anyway,” Dobie said. “It just makes for a good reason to go out there and Nationals week, starting with the 360s and obviously ramps up for the 410s. It’s just quite an experience. Just the atmosphere is like nothing else, so I’m looking forward to getting back out there.”
With the High Limit Racing series off and other drivers traveling in for the event to join an already stout cast of teams that compete on a weekly basis, Dobie knows there is a tall task ahead of his family-owned team at Knoxville.
There’s a lot of good cars. I think 114 entries or so last I looked,” said Dobie. “You need to have perspective on who you’re racing against. High Limit drivers, the local drivers that are good out there, you must know what you’re going up against and know not to expect to go out there and not necessarily set the world on fire but have a good clean weekend. Hopefully, make the prelim night A-Main and see where you stack up on Saturday.
Other notes
Some of the drivers competing in Friday’s Knoxville 360 Nationals preliminary that will be familiar to area fans include GLSS feature winner at Circle City Raceway, Parker Price-Miller, and Ohio 410 sprint car driver Creed Kemenah.
The 360 Knoxville Nationals will be streamed on DIRTVision for full year subscribers or available as an event pay per view.
• If you cannot make it to Knoxville there is still plenty of sprint car racing to watch in person Friday and Saturday.
GLSS has a two-night stint in the Mitten venturing to I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Michigan on Friday paired with the American Late Model Iron-Main Series and IMCA Modifieds.
Saturday the GLSS teams will head 157 miles northeast to the thumb for competition at the Silver Bullet Speedway in Owendale, Michigan for their only appearance at that facility during the 2026 season.
• The Tri-State sprints have two nights of racing scheduled in Michigan starting Friday at Birch Run Raceway in Birch, Run, Michigan before traveling 78 miles north to Whittemore Speedway in Whittemore, Michigan, a facility that has rarely been circled by sprint cars.
• Butler Motor Speedway in Quincy, Michigan weekly 410 sprint cars have the week off with the American Late Model Iron-Man Series headlining the program on Saturday, but the following week sprint car fans get a double dose of action with the Winged 410 Sprint Cars and Great Lakes Super Sprints on the program.