Logan Schuchart on the winning track at Knoxville Raceway on Wednesday. (Photo by Paul Arch)
KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Logan Schuchart won for the second time in the last two races at Knoxville Raceway and clinched the win Wednesday on opening night of the 61st annual NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals.
Schuchart, who won Sunday night’s Capitani Classic, held off ten-time Nationals Champion Donny Schatz for the second straight race in a very unusual qualifying night at the legendary half-mile track.
Schuchart won the feature but only qualified 26th earlier in the night and had a poor points night, hurting his position on Saturday night’s program.
Despite this, he led all 25 laps from pole, holding off Schatz to win the $12,000 grand prize.
“It definitely feels good to get two wins in Knoxville,” said Schuchart after putting the No. 1 Shark Racing on winning ways for the second time in four nights. “I would definitely like to do a little better in qualifying. We drive well.
“I felt like a sitting duck there at the end,” added Schuchart. “I thought I might see Donny there at the end of the night but we held on to the win. We have a good chance if we can put ourselves in a position to run for it.”
But the story of the night was the fact that Schatz and David Gravel, who finished third, were the only riders to qualify in the top 20 and also progress to the main event. That turned the points upside down.
Logan Schuchart (photo by Paul Arch)
With a possible 500 points, Schatz and Gravel led by 469 points each on opening night, generally pretty low for a qualifier night. Schuchart meanwhile finished eighth overall with 444 points.
Gio Scelzi finished fourth in the feature and was fourth on 445 points, while James McFadden finished fifth and was ninth on points.
Schatz almost ran over Shuchart on the last five laps but changed his strategy after nearly tangling with a slower car.
“A few cars in front of us made mistakes,” said Schatz about his ability to run over Schuart. “I was pretty good at turning corners and I did that with a couple of guys. I was aggressively trying to get there and then I got Big Picture Racing. I didn’t want to put myself in a bad position. I ran into a car that basically stopped in the middle of turn four and that really surprised me. I just wanted to see what I need with the car and what we might be able to change.”
Gravel passed Scelzi on the last straight, was third and ended up level on points with Schatz.
“Happy to do my last lap well and get on the podium,” said Gravel, who won the 2018 Nationals.
After the points are muddled, many Wednesday program drivers will face a lot of work during Friday’s Hard Knox program.
The end:
Feature (25 laps): Logan Schuchart, Donny Schatz, David Gravel, Gio Scelzi, James McFadden, Aaron Reutzel, Justin Peck, Cole Macedo, Corey Day, Roger Crockett, Hunter Schuerenberg, Parker Price-Miller, Brent Marks, Colby Copeland, Justin Sanders, Kyle Reinhardt, Carson Short, Scotty Thiel, Mike Wagner, Lachlan McHugh, Mark Dobmeier, Ian Madsen, Davey Heskin, Brandon Wimmer.
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