0
0
The 11-time Nationals winner locks into his 26th consecutive Championship Feature
Alex Nieten August 10th 2024
Trent Gower Photo
Hope is alive for Donny Schatz at the 63rd NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s.
Wednesday’s prelim night at Knoxville Raceway didn’t go according to plan for the 11-time Knoxville Nationals champion. He nearly missed the Heat Race invert with a 38th place Qualifying effort. And then in the Feature he could only move forward once spot from 19th to 18th. The night left Schatz well outside the lock-ins for Saturday’s 50-lap finale and forced him to Friday’s FVP Hard Knox Night.
And Hard Knox Night is just what Schatz needed. It’s all about a clean slate. It’s designed to give those with a forgettable prelim a chance to make up for it, and that’s exactly what Schatz did with the Tony Stewart/Curb Agajanian Racing team.
After setting Simpson Quick Time, Schatz had a little help in his Your Life Iowa Heat Race. He finished fourth, one spot outside a transfer to the Feature, but Jack Dover missing the scales and the resulting disqualification lifted Schatz into a transfer spot. With the main event lined up on Qualifying times, Schatz earned the pole. Logan Schuchart gave him a challenge in the first few laps, but Schatz went on to drive away and secure the checkered flag along with a starting spot in Saturday’s finale.
“You’ve got to get in the show first,” Schatz said. “I just think that’s something that’s getting harder and harder to do all the time. Obviously, I’m not getting any younger, but I’m not going anywhere either. I feel like experience sometimes kicks in, and we’ll see if we can’t put a little experience to the test tomorrow and get through there. We’ve done it before. We’re going to have to be a little bit better than we were right there. But I’ve got all the faith in the world in my guys that they’ll go to work and get us there.”
The victory put Schatz in his 26th consecutive Knoxville Nationals Championship Feature, equaling him with Danny Lasoski for the third most appearances. He’ll start 21st with his sights on a record tying 12th event title. Schatz started one other finale from 21st back in 2013. The result? He charged all the way to Victory Lane.
Schatz pulled out to an early advantage but narrowly led the first circuit over Logan Schuchart. On the second lap Schuchart snuck under Schatz in Turns 3 and 4 to take the top spot. Schatz refused to be rattled as he used a similar move in the same set of corners on Lap 3 to reclaim the lead.
“I needed to get off that bottom and wanted to go up there and try it,” Schatz explained. “I figured I better do it early in the race. So, when I did go to the top, I changed lanes and Logan went right by on the bottom. And then he went up there and I went back down, and I was like, ‘Well, we’re not going to do that again.’”
“I felt comfortable on the top,” Schuchart said of their early battle. “When he switched lanes on me, I went to the bottom of (Turns) 3 and 4. I felt good, felt like I ran a really good corner and obviously was able to come out in the lead. But I didn’t know what the bottom of (Turns) 1 and 2 was going to feel like, and I didn’t feel like the bottom of (Turns) 3 and 4 was going to last the whole time I felt comfortable running it. So, I went back to the top, and once Donny passed me I knew I was going to have trouble getting back by him.”
Getting back by Schuchart proved to be the winning move for Schatz as he went effectively unchallenged for the remainder of the 25 laps.
But behind him the battle for the other three tickets to Saturday’s finale was far from over. Schuchart held down the second spot while a mix of Austin McCarl, Justin Henderson, Emerson Axsom, and Lynton Jeffrey began to go at it for the final two transfer spots.
Henderson blasted into third on Lap 7, putting Austin McCarl on the bubble. Then on Lap 13 McCarl fell outside the lock-in spots as Axsom went by him for fourth. Shortly after losing the spot McCarl slowed to a stop due to rear end damage.
Up ahead Schatz pieced together a strong drive through traffic on his way to a Hard Knox checkered flag and a spot in the sport’s most prestigious race.
“It wasn’t the prettiest, but this is the Knoxville Nationals, and I guess sometimes you’ve got to be lucky too. I guess when it happens to you it’s great, and when it happens to doesn’t happen to you it’s not so great… We’re going to have to be a little bit better tomorrow if we’re going to come through the field. You’ve got to take it in steps. The first thing you’ve got to do is get it in the show.”
Schuchart held on for second and locked into his eighth consecutive Knoxville Nationals Championship Feature with Shark Racing. The Hanover, PA native is no stranger to charging toward the front in the finale, and he’ll look to do so again from 22nd this year.
“It’s definitely a relieving feeling,” Schuchart said. “This whole week is so stressful. What it means for a driver to want to run for a Knoxville Nationals championship. We were so close to it last year, 10 laps to go running second to Kyle (Larson), and a little 50-cent piece of plastic took us out of the race.”
Rounding out the podium and clinching a spot in his sixth finale of “The Granddaddy of ‘Em All” was Justin Henderson in the Forbrook No. 5X. The former podium finisher in the Championship Feature (2013) is eager for Saturday’s main event.
“Super happy to make the Feature,” Henderson said. “This is the Knoxville Nationals. It doesn’t get any bigger than this obviously. There’s more stress in this race right, I think, than in any other race.”
The final lock-in spot belonged to JETCO Rookie of the Year contender Emerson Axsom. The Indiana driver nearly won the 360 Nationals last weekend and now has secured a spot in the sport’s biggest race.
“We made the Knoxville Nationals,” Axsom said. “My stuff is really good. I feel like I was making really good laps there trailing Logan. I was surprised that Justin was able to sneak back by us. I feel like we were making solid laps, so it surprised me to see his nose down there. I’m really happy with it, but I guess it hasn’t really sunk in yet.”
Lynton Jeffrey completed the top five.
A 22nd to 12th run earned Parker Price-Miller the KSE Racing Hard Charger.
Donny Schatz earned the Simpson Quick Time in Sea Foam Qualifying.
Your Life Iowa Heats One, Three, Four, Five, and Six belonged to Tanner Holmes, Kaleb Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Cole Macedo, and Cale Thomas. Milton Hershey School Heat Two went to Austin McCarl.
Chris Windom and Ayrton Gennetten won the two Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdowns.
The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Austin McCarl.
UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars wrap up the 63rd running of the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s with Championship Night on Saturday, August 10 with $190,000 going to the winner.
If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.
FEATURE RESULTS:
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 15-Donny Schatz[1]; 2. 1S-Logan Schuchart[2]; 3. 5X-Justin Henderson[5]; 4. 27A-Emerson Axsom[6]; 5. 2X-Lynton Jeffrey[7]; 6. 21T-Cole Macedo[14]; 7. 5-Spencer Bayston[15]; 8. 58-Kaleb Johnson[13]; 9. 83JR-Michael Kofoid[17]; 10. 18T-Tanner Holmes[9]; 11. 99-Skylar Gee[4]; 12. 9P-Parker Price Miller[22]; 13. 19S-Hunter Schuerenberg[10]; 14. 9-Kasey Kahne[8]; 15. 48-Danny Dietrich[24]; 16. 1C-Brenham Crouch[11]; 17. 3G-Ayrton Gennetten[20]; 18. 55C-Chris Windom[19]; 19. 22X-JJ Hickle[23]; 20. 17GP-Cale Thomas[16]; 21. 24T-Christopher Thram[18]; 22. 42-Sye Lynch[21]; 23. 52-Blake Hahn[12]; 24. 88-Austin McCarl[3]
For complete results, CLICK HERE.
