It took awhile for Sam Hafertepe Jr’s car to wake up, but when it did, it was the class of the field on night one of the 31st Annual My Place Hotels 360 Nationals at Knoxville Raceway as heard live on KNIA. Hafertepe drew a high pill, which means he went out late in time trials, but was able to qualify 8th fastest and got through his heat to transfer into the A-Main. That was when he and his crew made changes and the car came alive in time for the feature. Hafertepe told KNIA/KRLS Sports after making wholesale changes, he was happy with how the car responded.

Hafertepe:
“We just had a really good motor, the car runs good. Normally at the beginning of the night we run really good and when Brown went out and put down a bad lap, I was really worried, but we made a decent lap even when i missed it in two, and we got through out heat, but I was just not happy with the car, made made some shock changes to it and it really came alive.”

Shane Golobic, who was quick time placed 2nd, and Lynton Jefferey crossed the line in 3rd. After night one Golobic leads the points with 489, Hafertepe is 2nd with 480, Justin Henderson is 3rd with 470, Jeffrey is 4th with 469 and Matt Juhl comes in 5th at 463.

Points After Night #1

1 17W Shane Golobic 489
2 15H Sam Hafertepe Jr. 480
3 83H Justin Henderson 470
4 83 Lynton Jeffrey 469
5 09 Matt Juhl 463
6 52 Blake Hahn 462
7 24W Garet Williamson 460
8 4W Jamie Ball 459
9 69 Brady Bacon 453
10 26 Cory Eliason 448
11 01 Sammy Swindell 448
12 17A Austin McCarl 446
13 22MM Kaleb Johnson 446
14 9 Ryan Giles 445
15 21 Brian Brown 436
16 11 Roger Crockett 435
17 63 JJ Hickle 433
18 53D Jack Dover 432
19 9JR Derek Hagar 428
20 2M Matt Moro 425
21 5H Michael Faccinto 411
22 22 Ryan Leavitt 410
23 36 Josh Baughman 408
24 70 Calvin Landis 407
25 9M Ricky Montgomery 405
26 91 Kyle Reinhardt 401
27 53 Joe Beaver 399
28 24N Nathan Mills 374
29 35L Cody Ledger 370
30 22X Riley Goodno 363
31 24T Christopher Thram 346
32 2F Casey Friedrichsen 345
33 2 Chase Porter 342
34 23K Rob Kubli 330
35 66 Chase Dunham 329
36 22S Slater Helt 328
37 86 Elliot Amdahl 321
38 8M Kade Morton 320
39 33 Alan Zoutte 320
40 7TAZ Tasker Phillips 319
41 23 Devon Dobie 315
42 18W Lorne Wofford 308
43 1K Kelby Watt 308