It is not the Knoxville 500, but David Gravel thinks 500 is the perfect score to have at the end of the night. Gravel became the first driver since Steve Kinser in 1992 completed the feat of scoring a perfect night at the Knoxville Nationals which means quick time…winning your heat, and winning the A-Main. Gravel was faster than any car in the field on Thursday night. Mark Dobmeier started on the pole and led the first 18 laps, and seemed to have all the momentum after a restart on lap 19, but Gravel, who roared from eighth to first in three laps in his heat race, blasted past Dobmeier and never looked back. Gravel said afterwards, clean air a big advantage, but lapped traffic was the deciding factor. With his 500-point night, Gravel will start on the pole of the Saturday championship A-Main with Donny Schatz in the front row, Brad Sweet and Kerry Madsen occupy row two and Brian Brown and Terry McCarl will start from row three. A complete list of the first 16 starters along with the top ten starters in Saturday’s B-Main is on kniakrls.com. Tonight drivers ranked in points 27 and on down will requalify and the top four in the A-Main lock in to Saturday’s A in positions 17-through-20. The Speed Sports News World Challenge will also be run.

A main
1. David Gravel
2. Brian Brown
3. Mark Dobmeier
4. Ian Madsen
5. Daryn Pittman
6. Wayne Johnson
7. Terry McCarl
8. Danny Dietrich
9. Spencer Bayston
10. Rico Abreu
11. Tim Kaeding
12. Josh Baughman
13. Trey Starks
14. Dominic Scelzi
15. Jason Sides
16. Justin Henderson
17. Jack Dover
18. Kyle Reinhardt
19. Thomas Kennedy
20. Kraig Kinser
21. Chris Martin
22. Dale Blaney
23. Brooke Tatnell
24. Jason Johnson
Lap Leaders: Dobmeier 1-18, Gravel 19-25; Hard Charger: Abreu

Combined Event Points for the 57th annual 5-hour ENERGY Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s General Store

A-Main Lock-ins:

1. 5, David Gravel, 500
2. 15, Donny Schatz, 492
3. 49, Brad Sweet, 489
4. 2M, Kerry Madsen, 487
5. 21, Brian Brown, 486
6. 24, Terry McCarl, 478
7. 9, Daryn Pittman, 474
8. 27, Greg Hodnett, 472
9. 57, Kyle Larson, 469
10. 2, Shane Stewart, 469
11. 2KS, Austin McCarl, 466
12. 4, Paul McMahan, 463
13. 13JT, Mark Dobmeier, 462
14. 24R, Rico Abreu, 462
15. 18, Ian Madsen, 458
16. 2C, Wayne Johnson, 457

B-Main Lock-ins:

17. 83, Justin Henderson, 453
18. 44S, Trey Starks, 448
19. 7X, Jason Sides, 443
20. 82, Dusty Zomer, 438
21. 24W, Lucas Wolfe, 438
22. 14B, Christopher Bell, 437
23. 29, Danny Dietrich, 435
24. 49X, Tim Shaffer, 435
25. 09, Matt Juhl, 429
26. 41S, Dominic Scelzi, 429

Drivers not listed will qualify on Friday.