KNOXVILLE, IA (August 12, 2026) – In what will be remembered as one of the most incredible finishes to a preliminary feature in 65th NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s history, Sheldon Haudenschild went from third position to the lead in the final two corners to win BRANDT Professional Agriculture Qualifying Night.
Jace Park and James McFadden had exchanged the lead during the closing stages of the feature and appeared to be coming down to a last lap showdown when Haudenschild blasted through turns three and four to drive around them to win the feature by 0.006 seconds over McFadden.
The caution flag midway through the feature helped to setup Haudenschlid’s march to the front of the field.
“I just told myself to be patient and let the race come to me. I followed the 23 around there for a long time, and just thought we’d go green to checkered, I’d probably run fourth or fifth and still be happy with the night,” said Haudenschild . Once that caution came out and I was able to get some speed going I railed the top of one and two pretty good and just got my momentum going.”
From there Hauenschild was able to make it up to third position and quickly gained on McFadden and Park as they traded the lead.
“James and Jace just started battling right there and kind of sent it through the middle one and two wide open. I feel like I’ve done that here a couple times and I didn’t know what was going to happen in three and four with those two sliding each other. Once I saw them both kind of sliding up the track, it was you know game on right there and just try and fit in the hole.”
Afterwards McFadden was disappointed about how he approached the final laps of the main event.
“-I did a terrible last lap, to be honest,” said McFadden after the main event. “I missed the exit of two and was watching a lapped car. He hit the bottom really well the three laps before that, and kind of missed it and I followed him, so I put myself in that position.”
“I’m Disappointed with my last lap, but happy with the night, honestly, to be as good as we are in points and set us up for Saturday night. But we came here to win the race, and I didn’t do that. I didn’t do my job right. But congrats to Sheldon. It’s always fun, and it would have been cool for the crowd, I guess.”
After the last restart, Park knew he was in for a fight when he saw McFadden was behind him.
“I looked up at the leaderboard and saw James behind me,” said Park. “I knew he’s been fast here, and he’s been really good all year. Honestly, Sheldon, man, he surprised me going into three on that last lap. He just there, and talking to him after the race, he said he just hung it wide open through the middle and found the grip and you know that’s what you need to do when you’re coming to these last laps of the race.”
“You got to try something, and I just really did all I could and even after (McFadden) got by me. I just stuck with it and kept my elbows tucked and got back after it and was learning where he was running what were some of his tendencies and just executed on that being able to get back by him, and it was a race from there.”
The victory also put Haudenschild on top of the event points for the Knoxville Nationals.
Kasey Kahne was the fastest qualifier over the 47-car field with a lap of 15.478 seconds.
James McFadden, Riley Goodno, Danny Sams III, Brock Zerfoss, and Ryan Timms won heat races. Rico Abreu won the B-Main event.
During the first heat race Sammy Swindell, who is celebrating his 50th entry into the Knoxville Nationals, went for a wild flip down the backstretch. Swindell was able to exit the car under his own power.
Defending Knoxville Nationals champion Ryan Timms had fuel system issues right before the feature event and barely made it on the race track for the start of the feature event, only to drop out after four laps with mechanical issues, forcing him into Friday night’s “Hard Knox” program to try and earn a spot in Saturday’s finale.
65th NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s
BRANDT Professional Agriculture Qualifying Night #1
World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series
Knoxville Raceway
Knoxville, Iowa
Wednesday, August 12, 2026
Qualifying
1. 4-Kasey Kahne, 15.478[1]
2. 14TSR-Rico Abreu, 15.489[15]
3. 27A-Emerson Axsom, 15.509[22]
4. 2-David Gravel, 15.544[6]
5. 14-Corey Day, 15.562[2]
6. 13-Tanner Holmes, 15.590[25]
7. 48-Danny Dietrich, 15.660[4]
8. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 15.677[16]
9. 18-Sheldon Haudenschild, 15.699[37]
10. 21H-Brady Bacon, 15.711[13]
11. 21T-James McFadden, 15.730[38]
12. 26-Justin Peck, 15.734[28]
13. 11-Justin Henderson, 15.751[39]
14. 23D-Chase Dietz, 15.763[47]
15. 2C-Cole Macedo, 15.776[9]
16. 6-Kasey Jedrzejek, 15.791[18]
17. 4W-Jamie Ball, 15.796[8]
18. 15-Donny Schatz, 15.809[7]
19. 85J-Logan Julien, 15.810[19]
20. 77-Giovanni Scelzi, 15.819[40]
21. 1-Sammy Swindell, 15.850[20]
22. 42-Sye Lynch, 15.861[35]
23. 28-Jace Park, 15.868[45]
24. 2KS-Hank Davis, 15.881[27]
25. 10-Ryan Timms, 15.899[29]
26. 6T-Zach Hampton, 15.908[41]
27. 25-Jy Corbet, 15.943[24]
28. 121-RJ Johnson, 15.949[3]
29. 7S-Chris Windom, 15.950[21]
30. 95-Matt Covington, 15.955[42]
31. 0-Lynton Jeffrey, 15.974[44]
32. 3P-Sawyer Phillips, 15.989[14]
33. 24D-Danny Sams III, 16.018[43]
34. 45X-Rees Moran, 16.022[23]
35. 11N-Darin Naida, 16.036[5]
36. 51-Steven Snyder Jr, 16.037[46]
37. 22-Riley Goodno, 16.041[11]
38. 24T-Christopher Thram, 16.059[17]
39. 17GP-Brock Zearfoss, 16.077[33]
40. 53-Jack Dover, 16.081[10]
41. 15JR-Cole Mincer, 16.096[30]
42. 19H-Joel Myers Jr, 16.124[32]
43. 1K-Kelby Watt, 16.270[36]
44. 15J-Kade Higday, 16.323[34]
45. 7B-Ben Brown, 16.327[12]
46. 44X-Scotty Johnson, 16.373[31]
47. 11R-Rodney Huband, 16.942[26]
Heat Race #1 (10 Laps)
1. 21T-James McFadden[6]
2. 6T-Zach Hampton[3]
3. 51-Steven Snyder Jr[1]
4. 4-Kasey Kahne[8]
5. 13-Tanner Holmes[7]
6. 6-Kasey Jedrzejek[5]
7. 0-Lynton Jeffrey[2]
8. 15JR-Cole Mincer[9]
9. 44X-Scotty Johnson[10]
10. 1-Sammy Swindell[4]
Heat Race #2 (10 Laps)
1. 22-Riley Goodno[1]
2. 42-Sye Lynch[4]
3. 3P-Sawyer Phillips[2]
4. 25-Jy Corbet[3]
5. 14TSR-Rico Abreu[8]
6. 26-Justin Peck[6]
7. 48-Danny Dietrich[7]
8. 19H-Joel Myers Jr[9]
9. 11R-Rodney Huband[10]
10. 4W-Jamie Ball[5]
Heat Race #3 (10 Laps)
1. 24D-Danny Sams III[2]
2. 11-Justin Henderson[6]
3. 24T-Christopher Thram[1]
4. 28-Jace Park[4]
5. 27A-Emerson Axsom[8]
6. 15-Donny Schatz[5]
7. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[7]
8. 1K-Kelby Watt[9]
9. 121-RJ Johnson[3]
Heat Race #4 (10 Laps)
1. 17GP-Brock Zearfoss[1]
2. 18-Sheldon Haudenschild[7]
3. 23D-Chase Dietz[6]
4. 45X-Rees Moran[2]
5. 2-David Gravel[8]
6. 7S-Chris Windom[3]
7. 2KS-Hank Davis[4]
8. 15J-Kade Higday[9]
9. 85J-Logan Julien[5]
Heat Race #5 (10 Laps)
1. 10-Ryan Timms[4]
2. 53-Jack Dover[1]
3. 11N-Darin Naida[2]
4. 2C-Cole Macedo[6]
5. 77-Giovanni Scelzi[5]
6. 14-Corey Day[8]
7. 21H-Brady Bacon[7]
8. 95-Matt Covington[3]
9. 7B-Ben Brown[9]
B-Main (12 Laps)
1. 14TSR-Rico Abreu[1]
2. 27A-Emerson Axsom[2]
3. 2-David Gravel[3]
4. 14-Corey Day[4]
5. 48-Danny Dietrich[6]
6. 26-Justin Peck[9]
7. 13-Tanner Holmes[5]
8. 21H-Brady Bacon[8]
9. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[7]
10. 7S-Chris Windom[14]
11. 15-Donny Schatz[11]
12. 77-Giovanni Scelzi[12]
13. 0-Lynton Jeffrey[16]
14. 6-Kasey Jedrzejek[10]
15. 1K-Kelby Watt[19]
16. 2KS-Hank Davis[13]
17. 15JR-Cole Mincer[17]
18. 15J-Kade Higday[20]
19. 85J-Logan Julien[21]
20. 7B-Ben Brown[22]
21. 11R-Rodney Huband[23]
22. 121-RJ Johnson[24]
23. 95-Matt Covington[15]
24. 19H-Joel Myers Jr[18]
A-Main (25 Laps)
1. 18-Sheldon Haudenschild[7]
2. 21T-James McFadden[6]
3. 28-Jace Park[1]
4. 2C-Cole Macedo[3]
5. 23D-Chase Dietz[4]
6. 11-Justin Henderson[5]
7. 42-Sye Lynch[2]
8. 4-Kasey Kahne[8]
9. 3P-Sawyer Phillips[12]
10. 25-Jy Corbet[11]
11. 14-Corey Day[24]
12. 2-David Gravel[23]
13. 53-Jack Dover[20]
14. 14TSR-Rico Abreu[21]
15. 22-Riley Goodno[17]
16. 24D-Danny Sams III[13]
17. 24T-Christopher Thram[18]
18. 6T-Zach Hampton[10]
19. 51-Steven Snyder Jr[16]
20. 17GP-Brock Zearfoss[19]
21. 45X-Rees Moran[14]
22. 11N-Darin Naida[15]
23. 27A-Emerson Axsom[22]
24. 10-Ryan Timms[9]