KNOXVILLE, I.A.- With prelim nights complete, Friday night’s Hard Knox Night at Knoxville Raceway presented drivers with one final shot to lock-in to the Knoxville Nationals before Saturday.
Fans in attendance saw a familiar face out front.
For the 30th time in his career, Donny Schatz found his way to Knoxville Raceway victory lane.
Schatz set the overall fast time of the two separate flights of time trials, guaranteeing him the pole position for the feature as long as he transferred out of his heat race.
The veteran started fourth in his heat after a four-car invert, but was unable to move forward into a transfer spot. Thankfully for Schatz, he caught a break. After Jack Dover failed to report to the weigh station, he was disqualified and Schatz was awarded a transfer spot.
In the feature, Schatz went virtually unchallenged, losing the lead for just one lap -lap 2 – before quickly retaking the lead from Logan Schuchart. It was smooth sailing from there as Schatz locked into the Nationals for the 26th time in his career.
“The racetrack is so good,” Schatz said after climbing out of the Tony Stewart Racing No. 15. “Like you can run around the bottom there. When I got to lap traffic I think I went up on the top once and kind of struggled so. You know we’re going to have to be a little bit better tomorrow night if we’re going to come through the field.
“The first thing you’ve got to do is get in the show. This is my first Friday performance. I wish we were watching but hey, sometimes you’ve got to use it to your advantage and get more laps. When you’re not good, you’ve got to get out and race.”
Joining Schatz on the podium were Schuchart and Justin Henderson, who took third spot on the last lap of the 25-lap Friday feature. Schuchart keeps a streak of eight-consecutive Nationals starts alive with the second place result.
Emerson Axsom took the final lock-in spot in fourth and will make his first Nationals start in his debut.
The four transfers from Hard Knox night will make up rows 11 and 12 in the 50-lap main event for Saturday, meaning 11-time Nationals winner Schatz will roll off from the 21st position on the day of his 47th birthday.
The only other time Schatz has started 21st in the Nationals was on his 36th birthday back in 2013, when Schatz went on to the win in the A-main.
As for everyone else, they’ll fill out the lineups for the E, D, C and B mains when…
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