The Knoxville Nationals are supposed to be hard to win. Ryan Timms made it look easy on Saturday as he led all 50 laps and became the 2nd youngest winner of the Nationals at 18 years and 11 months in a win that was so dominant no one was within three seconds of Timms for most of the race. Timms started on the pole and roared out to at times a four second lead before the fuel stop on lap 26. After the restart Timms blasted out to a large lead and did it again after a yellow with four laps remaining. Timms was near speechless after the win.
Timms: “I never thought I would be standing here after a Knoxville Nationals win. I want to thank all of the fans, this is what makes it awesome.”
Rico Abreu made a late charge to 2nd from his 7th starting position and said his crew made the right changes during the break.
Abreu: “Thankful for my team. Ricky Warner made the right changes to the car. This really allows us to taste the blood in the water when we finish 2nd like that.”
David Gravel went from 21st to 3rd and was likely besides Timms the fast car at the end of the race. Gravel said what could have been with a better starting position.
Gravel: “What a run for us. Super proud of our team, and that proves you can pass race cars here. We were one of the best cars at the end.”
Defending Champion Kyle Larson blew a tire late and was eliminated from competition in 19th. Donny Schatz kept his string of now 27 straight A-Main coming from the B-Main to finish 11th. Timms was also named Mr. Sprint Car while Cam Martin was Rookie of the Year.
A Main (50 Laps): 1. 10-Ryan Timms[1]; 2. 24R-Rico Abreu[7]; 3. 2-David Gravel[21]; 4. 41-Carson Macedo[2]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart[3]; 6. 14BC-Corey Day[6]; 7. 7BC-Giovanni Scelzi[14]; 8. 23-Garet Williamson[11]; 9. 88-Austin McCarl[12]; 10. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[5]; 11. 15-Donny Schatz[20]; 12. 19-Brent Marks[17]; 13. 4C-Cameron Martin[15]; 14. 26-Justin Peck[10]; 15. 18-Emerson Axsom[8]; 16. 71P-Parker Price Miller[19]; 17. 21T-James McFadden[18]; 18. 2C-Cole Macedo[23]; 19. (DNF) 57-Kyle Larson[9]; 20. (DNF) 49-Brad Sweet[4]; 21. (DNF) 83-Michael Kofoid[22]; 22. (DNF) 14-Spencer Bayston[16]; 23. (DNF) 3L-Daryn Pittman[24]; 24. (DNF) 17B-Bill Balog[13]
B Main (22 Laps): 1. 19-Brent Marks[2]; 2. 21T-James McFadden[4]; 3. 71P-Parker Price Miller[6]; 4. 15-Donny Schatz[11]; 5. 39-Lynton Jeffrey[5]; 6. 39M-Anthony Macri[14]; 7. 7S-Chris Windom[1]; 8. 48-Danny Dietrich[9]; 9. 1A-Ashton Torgerson[12]; 10. 55V-Kerry Madsen[21]; 11. 33W-Cap Henry[18]; 12. 13-Daison Pursley[13]; 13. 45C-Derek Hagar[10]; 14. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[7]; 15. 99-Skylar Gee[20]; 16. 83H-Justin Henderson[19]; 17. 9R-Chase Randall[17]; 18. 1-Sammy Swindell[22]; 19. 3P-Sawyer Phillips[23]; 20. 23D-Chase Dietz[16]; 21. 17A-Jack Anderson[3]; 22. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[8]; 23. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[24]; 24. 1K-Kelby Watt[15]
C Main (15 Laps): 1. 55V-Kerry Madsen[5]; 2. 1-Sammy Swindell[4]; 3. 3P-Sawyer Phillips[2]; 4. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[1]; 5. 87-Justin Sanders[10]; 6. 22-Riley Goodno[9]; 7. 27-Carson McCarl[8]; 8. 24T-Christopher Thram[3]; 9. 1TZ-Tasker Phillips[12]; 10. 21H-Brady Bacon[14]; 11. 2M-JJ Hickle[7]; 12. 44-Chris Martin[15]; 13. 17GP-Tim Shaffer[13]; 14. 6B-Brandon Wimmer[6]; 15. 27B-Jake Bubak[24]; 16. 2KS-Brooke Tatnell[16]; 17. 18T-Tanner Holmes[19]; 18. 25-Tim Kaeding[11]; 19. 74-Xavier Doney[18]; 20. 45X-Landon Crawley[21]; 21. 24D-Danny Sams III[20]; 22. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[22]; 23. 53-Jack Dover[23]; 24. 19H-Kevin Thomas Jr[17]
D Main (12 Laps): 1. 18T-Tanner Holmes[1]; 2. 24D-Danny Sams III[4]; 3. 45X-Landon Crawley[6]; 4. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[3]; 5. 53-Jack Dover[5]; 6. 27B-Jake Bubak[20]; 7. 49J-Josh Schneiderman[12]; 8. 85J-Logan Julien[10]; 9. 32B-Brandon Spithaler[14]; 10. 40-Clint Garner[13]; 11. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[18]; 12. 28M-Conner Morrell[11]; 13. 15JR-Cole Mincer[16]; 14. 44X-Scotty Johnson[9]; 15. 23L-Jimmy Light[21]; 16. 4-Matt Wasmund[23]; 17. 15J-Jack Potter[24]; 18. 09-Matt Juhl[7]; 19. 10W-Matt VanderVere[22]; 20. 8-Jacob Hughes[8]; 21. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[19]; 22. 5-Brenham Crouch[17]; 23. 6-Zach Hampton[2]; 24. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[15]