By T.J. Buffenbarger
KNOXVILLE, IA (August 15, 2026) – Donny Schatz returned to victory lane at Knoxville Raceway on Saturday afternoon winning the FVP Qualifying Night feature during the 65th NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s.
The victory was Schatz’s 31st win at Knoxville Raceway, but not the victory he was seeking as it placed him in the 11th starting position in the C-Main due to a format change due to the program being rained out on Friday. With impending weather closing in on Knoxville Raceway officials opted in the morning to revert to the previous format that locked the top 50 drivers into the A, B, and C features rathern than locking the top four finishers into the last for position of the A-Main.
Schatz was unhappy with the sudden change of format.
“Really disappointed in the change of formats,” said Schatz. “I guess it’s their baby. We’re playing in it, so it is what it is. We’ll try to do our best. Yesterday, if you come here we were racing for four locking spots (in the A-Main). Tonight, you win, and you’re racing for 11th in the C, so that’s a pretty big change up. But it is what it is, and this whole CJB crew will go back and work here for a couple hours and see what we come up with and try to make a charge.”
With the tricky daytime conditions, Schatz was quick to credit his CJB Motorsports team for getting the car setup properly to get him into the lead before the track locked down.
“We’re making huge strides here,” said Schatz os his race team. “The track kind of played our way. We were good early when the other guys weren’t, and then obviously it latched up halfway through there in the rubber, and I think everybody’s going to go around there good. Obviously, we’ve been battling weather, so we’re out in the sun. It’s going to happen, but I guess we come out on the right end of it tonight.”
Carson McCarl and Steven Snyder Jr. started on the front row for the 25-laps feature event. McCarl took the lead with Snyder and Giovanni Scelzi in tow. Scelzi was able to slide past Snyder in turn two after the second lap.
Just as Snyder took second the caution flag appeared for Will Armitage ended up sideways in turn four after breaking a rear end on his carand was unable to continue.
During the restart McCarl had Scelzi on his back bumper while Schatz was able to drive past Snyder for the third position.
The caution flag appeared again on the fourth circuit when Cap Henry spun in turn four and Derek Hagar stopped to avoid Henry’s spinning car. Both drivers were able to restart at the tail of the field.
During the restart Donny Schatz was able to slide past McCarl and Scelzi, but that pass was negated when Scelzi jumped the right rear tire of another car and flipped in turn two, collection Brenham Crouch with a hard impact.
Both drivers exited the cars under their own power, but Crouch was transported to a local area hospital to be checked out with his car suffering severe frame damage.
During the restart Schatz was able to drive past McCarl to take the lead. One lap later Snyder was able to drive past McCarl for the second position.
By lap 15 the track took rubber when the sun came out during the red flag period and the field moved down to the bottom of the racetrack.
Schatz’s lead had grown to 0.693 seconds when the caution came out for Ashton Torgerson slowing in turn three. Torgerson was unable to continue.
The restart was uneventful for Schatz as he pulled away in the lead to a 2.265 second advantage at the finish. Synder, McCarl, Windom, and Reese Moran rounded out the top five. Lynch Jeffrey won the B-Main event.
McCarl, Snyder Jr, Brock Zearfoss, and Rees Moran won heat race events.
65th NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s
FVP Preliminary Afternoon
Knoxville Raceway
Knoxville, Iowa
Saturday, August 15, 2026
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 27-Carson McCarl[1]
2. 77-Giovanni Scelzi[3]
3. 12X-Landon Crawley[4]
4. 87X-Ashton Torgerson[6]
5. 17A-Jack Anderson[5]
6. 23L-Jimmy Light[8]
7. 27B-Garrett Benson[9]
8. 4C-Cameron Martin[7]
9. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[2]
10. 56-Joe Simbro[10]
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 51-Steven Snyder Jr[1]
2. 7S-Chris Windom[4]
3. 11N-Darin Naida[2]
4. 09-Matt Juhl[3]
5. 1K-Kelby Watt[7]
6. 0-Lynton Jeffrey[5]
7. 15J-Kade Higday[8]
8. 44X-Scotty Johnson[9]
9. 28M-Conner Morrell[6]
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 17GP-Brock Zearfoss[1]
2. 15-Donny Schatz[2]
3. 5-Brenham Crouch[3]
4. 45D-Derek Hagar[4]
5. 33W-Cap Henry[5]
6. 2M-JJ Hickle[8]
7. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[9]
8. 15JR-Cole Mincer[7]
9. 121-RJ Johnson[6]
Heat Race #4 (8 Laps)
1. 45X-Rees Moran[1]
2. 6-Kasey Jedrzejek[2]
3. 95-Matt Covington[6]
4. 40-Clint Garner[3]
5. 26R-Levi Hillier[5]
6. 6DC-Will Armitage[7]
7. 14T-Brooke Tatnell[9]
8. 85J-Logan Julien[4]
9. 7B-Ben Brown[8]
B-Main (12 Laps)
1. 0-Lynton Jeffrey[2]
2. 23L-Jimmy Light[1]
3. 6DC-Will Armitage[4]
4. 2M-JJ Hickle[3]
5. 27B-Garrett Benson[5]
6. 15J-Kade Higday[6]
7. 4C-Cameron Martin[9]
8. 14T-Brooke Tatnell[8]
9. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[7]
10. 15JR-Cole Mincer[11]
11. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[13]
12. 44X-Scotty Johnson[10]
13. 121-RJ Johnson[15]
14. 7B-Ben Brown[16]
15. 85J-Logan Julien[12]
16. 28M-Conner Morrell[14]
17. 56-Joe Simbro[17]
A-Main (25 Laps)
1. 15-Donny Schatz[7]
2. 51-Steven Snyder Jr[2]
3. 27-Carson McCarl[1]
4. 7S-Chris Windom[6]
5. 45X-Rees Moran[4]
6. 12X-Landon Crawley[9]
7. 09-Matt Juhl[14]
8. 2M-JJ Hickle[24]
9. 1K-Kelby Watt[18]
10. 26R-Levi Hillier[20]
11. 11N-Darin Naida[10]
12. 33W-Cap Henry[19]
13. 17GP-Brock Zearfoss[3]
14. 40-Clint Garner[16]
15. 45D-Derek Hagar[15]
16. 6-Kasey Jedrzejek[8]
17. 0-Lynton Jeffrey[21]
18. 23L-Jimmy Light[22]
19. 87X-Ashton Torgerson[13]
20. 17A-Jack Anderson[17]
21. 95-Matt Covington[12]
22. 77-Giovanni Scelzi[5]
23. 5-Brenham Crouch[11]
24. 6DC-Will Armitage[23]