KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Donny Schatz did something he hadn’t done in 20 years on night one of the 62nd annual NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals at Knoxville Raceway.
He won a preliminary feature during the most prestigious event in sprint car racing.
The 11-time Nationals winner, who can tie Steve Kinser as the winningest driver in the history of the event with a victory on Saturday night, charged from seventh on the grid to claim his first prelim triumph since 2003.
It was the 29th Knoxville Raceway triumph for the driver of the Tony Stewart Racing No. 15, who was the high point man on Wednesday with 479 markers.
Blake Hahn led the first 18 laps from the pole and was engaged in a battle for the point with rookie sprint car racer Chase Randall when Justin Peck and Sheldon Haudenschild made contact battling for fifth and Peck flipped wildly on the frontstretch.
Peck climbed from his car uninjured but the crash set up a drag race to the checkered flag.
Randall got around Hahn exiting turn four following the restart, while Schatz moved past Kerry Madsen for third.
Schatz quickly reeled in Hahn and was all over Randall. Schatz and Randall traded the point twice in two laps with Schatz taking control exiting turn four on lap 22.
“I didn’t have any rhythm going when I got to him and I kind of thought he’d look at me like a senior citizen and let me go by, but he didn’t,” Schatz said tongue-in cheek. “He came back at me and got around me, and I was able to settle myself down and go back at him.”
Once in the lead, Schatz was gone and Randall cruised home in second in Troy Renfro’s No. 2ks machine.
“I feel like it is hard to be mad about it after being so close,” Randall said. “I am proud of how we made the right decisions to be where we are tonight and to get this close. To be up here at my first Knoxville Nationals on prelim night, we’re happy with that. Excited to see where we will be on Saturday night.”
Haudenschild qualified 32nd, won his heat and fought his way to a third-place finish in the Stenhouse Jr. Marshall Racing No. 17.
“I feel pretty good,” Haudenschild said. “It was the best I felt in my car here in a very long time. We’ll take it. We knew we had to finish on the podium to make up for qualifying.”
Contenders David Gravel, who was the night’s fast qualifier, and Aaron Reutzel were each involved in crashes during their heat races and will be forced to run Friday night’s Hard Knox qualifying program in an effort to lock into Saturday night’s A-Main.
Hunter Schuerenberg finished seventh and was second in points with 462 digits, while Madsen ranked third at 459. Gio Scelzi and Corey Day tied for fourth with 458 points, while Randall tied with Peck for sixth at 449.
Schatz feels confident with his place after night one of the Nationals.
“I wanted to get locked in the show. That is the goal,” said Schatz, who earned $12,000 for the victory. “Once you are in a position to be qualified you can move those goal posts. That’s probably not good enough to be on the pole. I’m not sure being on the front row is the place to be any more. Second row third row, we are going to be somewhere in there and that’s a good place to be.”
The Boxscore
Fast Time: David Gravel, 15.468 (52 cars)
First Heat (10 laps): Brady Bacon, Jake Bubak, Hunter Schuerenberg, Chase Randall, Justin Sanders, James McFadden, Terry McCarl, Kyle Reinhardt, McKenna Hasse, David Gravel.
Second Heat (10 laps): Sheldon Haudenschild, Justin Peck, Robbie Price, Dustin Selvage, Scott Bogucki, J.J. Hickle, Chase Dietz, Kraig Kinser, Chris Martin, Aaron Reutzel.
Third Heat (10 laps): Justin Henderson, Cole Macedo, Kasey Kahne, Blake Hahn, Corey Day, Lynton Jeffrey, Brooke Tatnell, Zeb Wise, Kade Higday, Davey Heskin.
Fourth Heat (10 laps): Sye Lynch, Brandon Wimmer, Dustin Selvage, Kerry Madsen, Brent Marks, Parker Price-Miller, Giovanni Scelzi, Matt Covington, Christopher Thram, Cole Mincer.
Fifth Heat (10 laps): Carson McCarl, Donny Schatz, Tanner Carrick, Riley Goodno, Brenham Crouch, Tasker Phillips, Jamie Ball, Tim Shaffer, Mark Dobmeier, Kevin Ingle.
C Main (10 laps): David Gravel, Christopher Thram, Kade Higday, McKenna Haase, Kevin Ingle, Landon Hansen, Ayden Gatewood, Chris Martin, Mark Dobmeier.
B Main (12 laps): Giovanni Scelzi, Corey Day, James McFadden, Tasker Phillips, Jamie Ball, Brent Marks, Scott Bogucki, Zeb Wise, Justin Sanders, Brooke Tatnell, David Gravel, Kyle Reinhardt, J.J. Hickle, Parker Price-Miller, Matt Covington, Christopher Thram, Kraig Kinser, Tim Shaffer, McKenna Haase, Kade Higday, Chase Dietz, Terry McCarl, Lynton Jeffrey, Brenham Crouch.
Feature (25 laps): Donny Schatz, Chase Randall, Sheldon Haudenschild, Kerry Madsen, Blake Hahn, Sye Lynch, Hunter Schuerenberg, Dustin Selvage, Brandon Wimmer, Gio Scelzi, Tasker Phillips, Brady Bacon, Kasey Kahne, Corey Day, James McFadden, Cole Macedo, Justin Henderson, Riley Goodno, Jake Bubak, Don Droud Jr, Robbie Price, Carson McCarl, Tanner Carrick, Justin Peck.