KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Brian Brown emerged victorious on 3M Night at Knoxville Raceway Saturday.
The Grain Valley, Missouri driver’s win was his fifth of the year at Knoxville, as his momentum is carrying toward some important August events at the “Sprint Car Capital of the World.”
The win was the 65th in his career at Knoxville (second all-time) and was worth $5,000.
Aaron Reutzel was equally as impressive in the 360 feature, winning his fourth of the season here in that class and for the eighth time in his career. Kade Higday picked up his seventh career victory in the Pro Sprints class.
The 20-lap 410 feature started awkwardly when both front row starter, Dusty Zomer (throttle linkage) and Ayrton Gennetten could not start the event. Then Justin Henderson spun before a lap could be completed, while Chris Martin hit the wall hard and had to replace a tire. Brandon Wimmer also had to make a tire change.
Brown inherited a front row starting spot, and wasted no time getting out front ahead of Garet Williamson, Scott Bogucki, Aaron Reutzel and Austin McCarl. On lap two, Reutzel snared third from Bogucki. McCarl followed him into fourth a lap later.
Brown entered lapped traffic on the seventh circuit and began building his advantage. Battles raged late in the going behind him. Reutzel passed Williamson in heavy lapped traffic with four to go, while McCarl did the same to move up to third a lap later. While Brown was gone, McCarl reeled in Reutzel and snared second on the low side of turn four coming for the white flag.
Following Brown, McCarl and Reutzel, were Williamson and Bogucki, in his first night in the Liebig No. 10.
“We struggled all night long honestly,” said Brown. “This is a different car than we’ve had all year here. This was a car we won the Outlaw show with last year and then I crashed at the Capitani Classic. I feel like it really wasn’t right at the Nationals. I chose to bring this one, and after the heat race (finishing sixth) I was thinking it wasn’t a bad decision. Our team never quits though. If you give my team enough opportunities, it’s going to be good.”
The finish:
Feature (20 Laps): 1. Brian Brown (2); 2. Austin McCarl (4); 3. Aaron Reutzel (3); 4. Garet Williamson (1); 5. Scott Bogucki (5); 6. Tasker Phillips (7); 7. Davey Heskin (8); 8. Buddy Kofoid (11); 9. Chase Randall (15); 10. Lynton Jeffrey (9); 11. Lachlan McHugh (6); 12. Ryan Timms (12); 13. Riley Goodno (13); 14. Terry McCarl (16); 15. Sawyer Phillips (10); 16. Brooke Tatnell (22); 17. Dustin Selvage (20); 18. Justin Henderson (21); 19. Jamie Ball (17); 20. Chris Martin (14); 21. Tanner Holmes (18); 22. Brandon Wimmer (19); 23. Joe Simbro (23, alt.) DNS – Dusty Zomer, Ayrton Gennetten, AJ Moeller.