KNOXVILLE, Iowa – The World of Outlaws’ 63rd Knoxville Nationals kicked off on Wednesday (Aug. 7) at Knoxville Raceway with 52-car prelim night featuring half of the Nationals field.
It was Giovanni Scelzi who took the Wednesday night win, leaving he and many others like Anthony Macri and Corey Day in excellent points positions ahead of Thursday’s action.
However, one driver who didn’t have the night they were hoping for was David Gravel.
Gravel went out early in time trials, clocking in eighth on a quickly drying race track. With an eight-car invert for heat races, this left Gravel starting seventh in heat three.
All night long, the track conditions had passing at a premium, and Gravel was only able to climb to sixth at the end of his 10-lap heat, leaving Gravel destined for a B-main start rather than an A-main transfer.
Gravel once again rolled from the seventh spot in the B-main and seemed to be dead in the water, running fifth with just a few laps to go as hard-charging Buddy Kofoid worked his way around the Big Game Motorsports No. 2.
However, Gravel found life in the final moments, making a divebomb move into turn 3 on the final lap. As Kofoid went to the top, Gravel threw a slider from the bottom of the track, slid up and cleared Kofoid for the final transfer spot to the A-main.
In the A-main, Gravel could only drive from 24th to 15th, not the performance Gravel was hoping for in the 25-lap feature event.
“Yeah we fought and clawed,” Gravel told Frontstretch post-race. “Man the track just wasn’t conducive to passing in the heats, nobody started seventh or eighth and made it through. Yeah that’s just a killer, and then starting 24th the track was just hooked.
“We’re really good when the track gets slick starting that far back. I wish I could take about three laps back, I probably would’ve finished about four spots better and probably banked me in the show, but we’ll probably be in a B-main Saturday.”
The racing surface was a hot topic at the end of the night and Gravel was one who was bit by the track conditions, sharing his thoughts on the state of the racetrack.
“Yeah, they just had the bottom way too wet,” Gravel said. “Once that finally came in, it was top dominant early and once the bottom came it that was the pretty dominant lane.”
Early on, Gravel was able to charge to 16th but was only able…
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