By T.J. Buffenbarger
KNOXVILLE, IA (August 7, 2026) – Tyler Courtney scored an emotionally charged feature victory during Friday’s preliminary feature during the 36th Xtream powered by Mediacom 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank at Knoxville Raceway.
Courtney, from Indianapolis, Indiana and now living in nearby Newton, Iowa, took the lead from Brady Bacon on 12, but had to keep Bacon at bay while navigating through thick slower traffic for the feature win, holding a 0.770 margin of victory at the finish line.
The victory was emotional for Courtney and his Clauson/Marshall Racing team coming on the 10-year anniversary of losing Bryan Clauson, son of CMR car owner Tim Clauson, in a crash at the Belleville High Banks in Kansas.
For Courtney, who has been close to the Clauson’s more than half his life, the victory capped off an emotional day where reminders of his friend and colleague were ever present.
“This morning you started looking on Facebook and just remembering what a special and great person that he was,” said Courtney about Clauson. “He was just a great mentor for me. I feel like there was a night to win tonight was it, especially here at Knoxville. It’s just special, but even more special today. I just wish he was here to see it.”
After a crash on the first attempt to start the feature involved Matt Covington, Joe Beaver, and Whit Gastineau, Bacon took the lead after the second attempt to start the main event and led the first 11 circuits before Courtney was able to slip by. Afterwards Courtney felt he had a little advantage not leading early in the main event.
“I don’t want to say easier, but you just you have nothing to lose when you’re running second,” said Courtney. “So you can go search around and see what works and what doesn’t work. I felt like I got to move around right before we got the lab traffic and found something that worked for me.”
Bacon agreed with Courtney’s assessment, feeling one mistake trying to defend his position is what cost him the race.
“We were good on the bottom, and you know, tough to get to lap cars and know what to do when you’re the leader, because you can only get so close to them, and it really slows you down,” said Bacon after the feature. “Then I saw him on the screen running a higher line than me, and I thought maybe the middle was coming in, so I moved up and just gave him the opportunity to get by me. I should have just stuck to my guns and knowing I was going to get faster back in open track and made him drive around me, and I didn’t do that. Made one mistake in one corner, and that’s what won him the race. We almost got him back in traffic. I felt like we were really good, maybe a little bit better than him actually in traffic, and just couldn’t quite get back around him.”
Behind Courtney and Bacon, Ryan Timms was able to charge from seventh starting position to pass Anthony Macri for the third position with five laps to go. That move combined with his outstanding qualifying and heat race performance secured him first position in preliminary points and the pole position for Saturday’s A-Main.
Macri and Brian Brown rounded out the top five.
36th Xtream powered by Mediacom 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank – Night #2
ASCS National Tour
Knoxville Raceway
Knoxville, Iowa
Friday, August 7, 2026
Qualifying
1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 16.352[2]
2. 10-Ryan Timms, 16.359[30]
3. 21-Brian Brown, 16.361[5]
4. 55-Kerry Madsen, 16.511[12]
5. 49-Josh Schneiderman, 16.529[1]
6. 4-Cameron Martin, 16.564[13]
7. 45X-Kyler Johnson, 16.591[10]
8. 14TSR-Rico Abreu, 16.619[24]
9. 39M-Anthony Macri, 16.628[27]
10. 2A-Austin Wood, 16.675[33]
11. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 16.677[53]
12. 1S-Sammy Swindell, 16.711[15]
13. 31-Brady Bacon, 16.746[32]
14. 24-Terry McCarl, 16.750[4]
15. 7G-Jackson Gray, 16.756[3]
16. 63-JJ Hickle, 16.764[20]
17. 26R-Levi Hillier, 16.777[41]
18. 71P-Parker Price Miller, 16.795[52]
19. 1M-Sean McClelland, 16.813[8]
20. 53-Joe Beaver, 16.826[48]
21. 15K-Creed Kemenah, 16.853[9]
22. 19-Joel Myers Jr, 16.881[38]
23. 2-Whit Gastineau, 16.887[55]
24. 44X-Scott Bogucki, 16.893[34]
25. 95-Matt Covington, 16.894[42]
26. 7T-Tyler Lee, 16.904[23]
27. 83-Kurt Mueller, 16.906[36]
28. 1TZ-Tasker Phillips, 16.933[19]
29. 40-Clint Garner, 16.957[50]
30. 59-Evan Semerad, 16.970[26]
31. 4K-Kasey Kahne, 16.971[49]
32. 2M-Davey Heskin, 16.978[21]
33. 3-Cole Schroeder, 16.981[6]
34. 52-Blake Hahn, 16.987[29]
35. 45-Derek Hagar, 16.994[7]
36. 77X-Alex Hill, 17.007[43]
37. 11T-Trey Meredith, 17.021[11]
38. 9B-Jake Bubak, 17.041[37]
39. 71-Brandon Worthington, 17.041[14]
40. 3Z-Cole Vanderheiden, 17.082[17]
41. 27B-Garrett Benson, 17.103[47]
42. 88-Terry Easum, 17.111[51]
43. 26Y-Chase Young, 17.113[46]
44. 25-Jy Corbet, 17.128[45]
45. 5A-Alex Vande Voort, 17.133[44]
46. 0D-DJ Christie, 17.151[54]
47. 16G-Austyn Gossel, 17.230[22]
48. 88R-Ryder Laplante, 17.246[28]
49. 0-Lynton Jeffrey, 17.300[40]
50. 8-Jacob Hughes, 17.308[39]
51. 52D-Skyler Daly, 17.348[31]
52. 14-Aidan Zoutte, 17.441[25]
53. 14T-Brooke Tatnell, 17.455[18]
54. (DQ) 157-Cam Sorrels, 16.920[16]
55. (DQ) 14J-Jason Wilson, 17.580[35]
Last Chance Points
1. 52D-Skyler Daly[1]
2. 14-Aidan Zoutte[2]
3. 14T-Brooke Tatnell[3]
4. 157-Cam Sorrels[4]
5. 14J-Jason Wilson[5]
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[4]
2. 7T-Tyler Lee[1]
3. 63-JJ Hickle[3]
4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[6]
5. 77X-Alex Hill[8]
6. 4-Cameron Martin[5]
7. 0D-DJ Christie[10]
8. 15K-Creed Kemenah[2]
9. 4K-Kasey Kahne[7]
10. 27B-Garrett Benson[9]
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 10-Ryan Timms[6]
2. 19-Joel Myers Jr[2]
3. 26R-Levi Hillier[3]
4. 45X-Kyler Johnson[5]
5. 1S-Sammy Swindell[4]
6. 83-Kurt Mueller[1]
7. 2M-Davey Heskin[7]
8. 11T-Trey Meredith[8]
9. 16G-Austyn Gossel[10]
10. 88-Terry Easum[9]
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 1TZ-Tasker Phillips[1]
2. 31-Brady Bacon[4]
3. 21-Brian Brown[6]
4. 2-Whit Gastineau[2]
5. 71P-Parker Price Miller[3]
6. 14TSR-Rico Abreu[5]
7. 9B-Jake Bubak[8]
8. 26Y-Chase Young[9]
9. 88R-Ryder Laplante[10]
10. 3-Cole Schroeder[7]
Heat Race #4 (8 Laps)
1. 40-Clint Garner[1]
2. 24-Terry McCarl[4]
3. 39M-Anthony Macri[5]
4. 44X-Scott Bogucki[2]
5. 55-Kerry Madsen[6]
6. 1M-Sean McClelland[3]
7. 25-Jy Corbet[9]
8. 52-Blake Hahn[7]
9. 0-Lynton Jeffrey[10]
10. 71-Brandon Worthington[8]
Heat Race #5 (8 Laps)
1. 59-Evan Semerad[1]
2. 95-Matt Covington[2]
3. 2A-Austin Wood[5]
4. 53-Joe Beaver[3]
5. 5A-Alex Vande Voort[9]
6. 45-Derek Hagar[7]
7. 49-Josh Schneiderman[6]
8. 7G-Jackson Gray[4]
9. 8-Jacob Hughes[10]
10. 3Z-Cole Vanderheiden[8]
C-Main (10 Laps)
1. 4K-Kasey Kahne[1]
2. 27B-Garrett Benson[5]
3. 3-Cole Schroeder[2]
4. 88R-Ryder Laplante[8]
5. 88-Terry Easum[6]
6. 0-Lynton Jeffrey[9]
7. 71-Brandon Worthington[3]
8. 14T-Brooke Tatnell[14]
9. 8-Jacob Hughes[10]
10. 16G-Austyn Gossel[7]
11. 14-Aidan Zoutte[12]
12. 52D-Skyler Daly[11]
13. 14J-Jason Wilson[15]
14. 3Z-Cole Vanderheiden[4]
15. 157-Cam Sorrels[13]
B-Main (12 Laps)
1. 14TSR-Rico Abreu[4]
2. 55-Kerry Madsen[1]
3. 4-Cameron Martin[3]
4. 71P-Parker Price Miller[7]
5. 49-Josh Schneiderman[2]
6. 15K-Creed Kemenah[9]
7. 4K-Kasey Kahne[21]
8. 2M-Davey Heskin[11]
9. 25-Jy Corbet[18]
10. 52-Blake Hahn[12]
11. 7G-Jackson Gray[6]
12. 1M-Sean McClelland[8]
13. 9B-Jake Bubak[16]
14. 5A-Alex Vande Voort[19]
15. 77X-Alex Hill[14]
16. 0D-DJ Christie[20]
17. 26Y-Chase Young[17]
18. 3-Cole Schroeder[23]
19. 45-Derek Hagar[13]
20. 88R-Ryder Laplante[24]
21. 83-Kurt Mueller[10]
22. 1S-Sammy Swindell[5]
23. 11T-Trey Meredith[15]
24. 27B-Garrett Benson[22]
A-Main (20 Laps)
1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[2]
2. 31-Brady Bacon[1]
3. 10-Ryan Timms[7]
4. 39M-Anthony Macri[4]
5. 21-Brian Brown[6]
6. 1TZ-Tasker Phillips[18]
7. 2A-Austin Wood[3]
8. 24-Terry McCarl[9]
9. 63-JJ Hickle[10]
10. 26R-Levi Hillier[11]
11. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[8]
12. 71P-Parker Price Miller[24]
13. 14TSR-Rico Abreu[21]
14. 55-Kerry Madsen[22]
15. 44X-Scott Bogucki[15]
16. 45X-Kyler Johnson[5]
17. 4-Cameron Martin[23]
18. 59-Evan Semerad[20]
19. 19-Joel Myers Jr[13]
20. 40-Clint Garner[19]
21. 7T-Tyler Lee[17]
22. 53-Joe Beaver[12]
23. 2-Whit Gastineau[14]
24. 95-Matt Covington[16]