By T.J. Buffenbarger
(August 10, 2026) – Before I depart west towards Knoxville, Iowa later today there is one last order of business to be taken care of on the website, the 2026 Knoxville Nationals seeds.
For those that are not familiar with how the seeding process works, it was inspired several years ago by the Athletic writer Chris Vannini who ranks all 134 college football teams every week of the season. In 2023 I applied the concept to the Eldora Million for sprint cars and carried it into the Knoxville Nationals every year since.
Right after the Kings Royal I start a process ranking all the entries going into the Knoxville Nationals on how I feel they will fare during the four nights of racing. After the Nationals I go back through and compare how accurate it was in a follow up story. If you are curious on how this went in past seasons you can check out past editions via the these links: 2023 (seeds/results), 2024 (seeds/results, and 2025 (seeds/results).
This seeding was completed based on the entry list as of Sunday evening, meaning any entries modified or added will not be included and will be shown as “N/A” for their seeding in the final results.
With that, here are my seeds for the 65th edition of the Knoxville Nationals.
1-10
| 1 | 10 – Ryan Timms |
| 2 | 2 – David Gravel |
| 3 | 14TSR-Rico Abreu |
| 4 | 18 – Sheldon Haudenschild |
| 5 | 87 – Aaron Reutzel |
| 6 | 14 – Corey Day |
| 7 | 41 – Carson Macedo |
| 8 | 77 – Giovanni Scelzi |
| 9 | 1s – Logan Schuchart |
| 10 | 7BC – Tyler Courtney |
If you had asked me the week of the Kings Royal if I would rank defending Knoxville Nationals champion Ryan Timms as the #1 seeds, my answer would have been no. Timms has gained enough momentum over the past several weeks to earn this position. Timms and car owner Shane Leibig have something special chemistry wise, but it’s not accidental. They have put the work on and off track to put themselves in prime position for success again on Saturday night. Even with their mechanical issues at the Capitani Classic, I felt compelled to keep Timms at the top of the seeding.
David Gravel typically is in the top three seeds in recent years and was the #1 seed back in 2024, but preliminary nights have been a struggle recently and have made life more difficult for Gravel to win his second Nationals title and score car owner Tod Quiring’s elusive first Nationals championship. Gravel has been strong all season though and lands as the two seed.
Rico Abreu proved last year that he can shine in sport’s biggest moments with solid finishes during the finals of those events. Abreu and Tony Stewart Racing are carrying a lot of momentum coming into the Nationals. The same could be said about Sheldon Haudenschild as he thrives in the new surroundings of KCP Racing, but not bright enough to pass Abreu at the three seed.
Corey Day is very good at Knoxville but typically ends up around 4-6 by the end of the week. Based on that history and the momentum some of the other teams have, I put him at the six seed.
11-25
| 11 | 19 – Brent Marks |
| 12 | 83 – Michael Kofoid |
| 13 | 15 – Donny Schatz |
| 14 | 23 – Garet Williamson |
| 15 | 88W – Austin McCarl |
| 16 | 39m – Anthony Macri |
| 17 | 69K-Daryn Pittman |
| 18 | 27A – Emerson Axsom |
| 19 | 71 – Parker Price Miller |
| 20 | 11 – Justin Henderson |
| 21 | 21 – Brian Brown |
| 22 | 23D – Chase Dietz |
| 23 | 26-Justin Peck |
| 24 | 57 – Kyle Larson/Trevor Canales |
| 25 | 2M – J.J. Hickle |
Carson Macedo, Giovanni Scelzi, Logan Schuchart, and Tyler Courtney were difficult to place. All have started running better of late, run well at Knoxville, but just couldn’t put them above Day in the rankings. All their positions have been shuffled considerably during the past several weeks.
Buddy Kofoid might seem low at the 12 seed, but over the past two years Kofoid has under performed where I placed him by -16.5 positions. In contrast Garret Williamson has run well at Knoxville and has shown tremendous growth this year, which is why I placed him at the 14 seed.
Austin McCarl might seem like a reach at 15 but seems to come through during the biggest moments at Knoxville. McCarl and Justin Henderson, who has been solid all year at Knoxville, I feel will both make the A-Main on Saturday.
Parker Price-Miller is scrappy and just finds a way into the feature every year. I expect the same in 2026 from Price-Miller and car owner Bernie Stuebgen.
J.J. Hickle was tricky to seed. Hickle is not afraid to be aggressive and race in tight quarters, which comes in handy during the intense preliminary nights at Knoxville. Qualifying draw could be huge for him, but I’m thinking he’s on the tail end of the A-Main/front end of the B-Main.
One might ask why Kyle Larson is seeded 24th? I feel Larson will perform well enough in his preliminary night to make the final, setting up the most unlikely two-time Knoxville Nationals A-Main starter in Trevor Canales, who started Saturday’s A-Main at the Nationals for Rico Abreu in 2015. The weather looks good in Richmond for the NASCAR Cup Race on Saturday, and it’s going to take some adverse weather in Iowa for Larson (or Canales) to outperform this seeding.
The success of Chase Dietz this season has not surprised me, as I’ve touted him since he was running on his own cars in winged 410 sprint cars and the USAC Silver Crown division. I also believe he makes the A-Main at the Nationals this year.
26-50
| 26 | 21H – Brady Bacon |
| 27 | 21T – James McFadden |
| 28 | 55 – Kerry Madsen |
| 29 | 17 – Spencer Bayston |
| 30 | 2C – Cole Macedo |
| 31 | 13 – Tanner Holmes |
| 32 | 9 – Daison Pursley |
| 33 | 28 – Jace Park |
| 34 | 17B – Bill Balog |
| 35 | 44 – Chris Martin |
| 36 | 15h – Sam Hafetepe |
| 37 | 4C – Cameron Martin |
| 38 | 9R – Chase Randall |
| 39 | 1TZ – Tasker Phillips |
| 40 | 33w – Cap Henry |
| 41 | 0 – Lynton Jeffrey |
| 42 | 2KS – Hank Davis |
| 43 | 7S – Chris Windom |
| 44 | 27 – Carson McCarl |
| 45 | 87x – Ashton Torgerson |
| 46 | 16C – Skylar Gee |
| 47 | 12x – Landon Crawley |
| 48 | 17A – Jack Anderson |
| 49 | 45X – Rees Moran |
| 50 | 48 – Danny Dietrich |
This is where most of the mistakes take place in my seedings. The Knoxville Nationals format naturally creates situations that are unpredictable, and most of the drivers ranked in this range benefit from the chaos.
It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Brady Bacon, Kerry Madsen, Spencer Bayston, Tanner Holmes, or James McFadden made the show.
Cole Macedo is aggressive and runs well at Knoxville, and his assessment is similar to Hickle’s where the draw could play a factor. I could have Cole a little too high in the seeds, but after a lot of debate this is where I landed him.
Daison Pursley was another tough driver to seed in this group. Kasey Kahne Racing typically has speed at Knoxville and Pursley is a very talented young driver, but this goes back to momentum coming into the Nationals and my feelings that the light switch doesn’t just come on the moment one pulls into the Knoxville city limits.
While Bill Balog has been solidly in the A-Main on Saturday a couple of times, luck has not been in his favor as well coming into Knoxville.
Danny Dietrich on the edge of this list would typically be higher as well, but again luck has not been on his side.
I am staunch on Sam Hafertpee Jr, Cap Henry, Reese Moran, Cam and/or Chris Martin, and Jace Park possibly outperforming their seeds. James McFadden as 27 seed also has risen based on some recent performances.
51-75
| 51 | 88T – Tanner Thorson |
| 52 | 26R – Levi Hillier |
| 53 | 1X – Scott Bogucki |
| 54 | 1 – Sammy Swindell |
| 55 | 25 – Jy Corbet |
| 56 | 31 – Cale Thomas |
| 57 | 24 – Terry McCarl |
| 58 | 45D – Derek Hagar |
| 59 | 1K – Kelby Watt |
| 60 | 17GP – Brock Zearfoss |
| 61 | 24D – Danny Sams III |
| 62 | 4 – Kasey Kahne |
| 63 | 42 – Sye Lynch |
| 64 | 5 – Brenham Crouch |
| 65 | 15J – Kade Higday |
| 66 | 19HM- Kaleb Johnson |
| 67 | 24T – Christopher Thram |
| 68 | 3P – Sawyer Phillips |
| 69 | 22 – Riley Goodno |
| 70 | 14T – Brooke Tatnell |
| 71 | 74 – Xavier Doney |
| 72 | 44x – Scotty Johnson |
| 73 | 09 – Matt Juhl |
| 74 | 4W – Jamie Ball |
| 75 | 3 – Ayrton Gennetten |
Tanner Thorson has not had the best of history at the Knoxville Nationals, but with new car owners I’m ready to at least give him a mid-field ranking. Levi Hilliar has risen in the rankings over the past week gaining comfort on the high-speed half mile at Knoxville and starting to show the talent that has been touted on the west coast.
There are a lot of youth and extreme levels of experience (aka older drivers) in this section, which means they could outperform their seeds. From drivers like Kasey Kahne, Terry McCarl, and Sammy Swindell to Stewart Snyder Jr, Brenham Crouch, and Xavier Doney.
76-101
| 76 | 51-Steven Snyder Jr. |
| 77 | 19H – Joel Myers Jr. |
| 78 | 40 – Clint Garner |
| 79 | 49 – Josh Schneiderman |
| 80 | 6 – Kasey Jedrzejek |
| 81 | 85J – Logan Julien |
| 82 | 95 – Matt Covington |
| 83 | 1M – Sean McClelland |
| 84 | 111 – Roger Crockett |
| 85 | 6DC – Will Armitage |
| 86 | 11N – Darin Naida |
| 87 | 53 – Jack Dover |
| 88 | 15JR – Cole Mincer |
| 89 | 6Z – Zach Hampton |
| 90 | 28M – Connor Morrell |
| 91 | 15K – Creed Kemenah |
| 92 | 23L- Jimmy Light |
| 93 | 7B – Ben Brown |
| 94 | 27B – Garrett Benson |
| 95 | G5 – Gage Pulkrabek |
| 96 | 8 – John Carney |
| 97 | 11R – Rodney Huband |
| 98 | 10V – Joe Beaver |
| 99 | 16g – Austyn Gossel |
| 100 | 121 – RJ Johnson |
| 101 | 56 – Joe Simbro |
This is where life starts to become difficult in this process. Anyone can rank the top 10 drivers going into Nationals but ranking someone that doesn’t run 410 sprint cars regularly and might be checking off a bucket list item, found an opportunity to run Knoxville, or are looking to build their experience level which makes this group difficult to predict.
Drivers like Matt Covington and Sean McClelland have a lot of 360 experience, but very little 410 sprint car racing of late.
Young drivers like Darin Naida have a lot of talent, but the Nationals often spit drivers out like that in the process of giving them valuable experience. Kasey Jedrzejek experienced that last year in the same entry Naida is competing with at the Nationals.
The Monday after the Knoxville Nationals I will post a breakdown of how these seedings performed against the actual results from the final night of competition.