Logan Schuchart won Night #1 of the Knoxville Nationals Wednesday (Paul Arch Photo)
Donny Schatz and David Gravel Share Highest Point Totals
by Bill Wright
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (August 10, 2022) – In almost a replay of Sunday’s Capitani Classic at the Knoxville Raceway, Logan Schuchart outlasted Donny Schatz to win Night #1 of the 61st NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals Presented by Casey’s on BRANDT Professional Agriculture Qualifying Night. The win was worth $12,000 to the Hanover, Pennsylvania, and came aboard the Shark Racing #1s.
Before a lap could be completed, Brandon Wimmer came to a stop and retired. Schuchart led at the outset of the 25-lap main event from the pole position, ahead of Gio Scelzi, James McFadden, Cole Macedo and Justin Peck. Peck hit the low side of four to get by Macedo for fourth.
Davey Heskin slowed six laps in to bring the second cushion. On the restart, McFadden gained second from Scelzi, while Macedo retook fourth from McFadden. Donny Schatz also entered the top five at that point. Macedo’s momentum continued when he gained third from Scelzi on lap eight. Aaron Reutzel went by Schatz for fifth at that point.
Ian Madsen slowed to a stop to bring the final caution on lap nine. Schuchart led McFadden, Macedo, Scelzi, Reutzel and Schatz back to green. The track really got racy at that point, with Scelzi regaining third, and then moving by McFadden for second on lap 11. Schatz was regaining momentum as well and was up to fourth.
On lap 13, Schatz worked by McFadden for third. He took second from Scelzi four laps later, and set his sights on the leader. They hit lapped traffic with seven to go, and Schatz gained ground. On lap 22, he appeared to be gaining on Schuchart, but a lapper on the bottom of turn three, slowed his progress.
In the end, Schuchart beat Schatz, a late charging David Gravel, Scelzi and McFadden to the line. Reutzel, Peck, Macedo, Corey Day and Roger Crockett rounded out the top ten. Parker Price-Miller set quick time over the 51-car field and won the B main. Carson Short, Day, Brandon Wimmer, Scotty Thiel and Mark Dobmeier won the heats. Brock Zearfoss claimed the C main.
“I think we’re good when we get the racetrack like this and get to racing around,” said Schuchart in Victory Lane. “We still have to work on qualifying. The last restart, I really stuttered before it took off. It was really racy for a Wednesday night. I couldn’t get the quite the run I wanted to, especially when I ran the top. It pulled on the left side really hard. I wanted to diamond the corner. The middle had so much meat, but I didn’t feel like I could do it. I kind of felt like a sitting duck. I thought I’d see Donny there at the end, but we were able to hold on for the win.”
“I didn’t know if that was a lapped car or if he was stopping there,” said Schatz of his late momentum killer. “It kind of killed our momentum. I needed to get there, and the only way was in three and four, just driving across the bottom. We got there. It wasn’t easy by any means, but it gave us an opportunity from Sunday night to try a little something and we were a little freer there. We should be sitting good. We passed some cars and finished second. Points are important on a night like tonight.”
“I was fourth going into one and I don’t know what happened,” said Gravel. “I lost my map for a few laps and went back to eighth. I struggled and then the last ten laps I kind of got my stuff together there. The last lap was probably the best lap of my race. I was able to get by Gio. We just battled. The car just wasn’t quite there in the A. Tonight was a stressful night after seeing everyone else not make it out of the fourth row in the heat. If I hadn’t have done that, we would be in the A main tonight.”
The 61st NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals Presented by Casey’s continues Thursday, August 8 with Qualifying Night #2! For more information, visit or check Knoxville Raceway’s website at www.KnoxvilleRaceway.com or on Facebook and Twitter.
(Points Below Results)
61st NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals Presented by Casey’s – BRANDT Professional Agriculture Qualifying Night #1
Time Trials (Qualifying Order), 2 laps: 1. 11M, Parker Price-Miller, Kokomo, IN (10), 15.362; 2. 19, Brent Marks, Myerstown, PA (3), 15.543; 3. 39, Justin Sanders, Aromas, CA (17), 15.544; 4. 2KS, Ian Madsen, St. Mary’s, NSW, Aust. (6), 15.577; 5. 49J, Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (9), 15.584; 6. 3, Ayrton Gennetten, Gravois Mills, MO (24), 15.606; 7. 3P, Sawyer Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (2), 15.628; 8. 17, Sheldon Haudenschild, Wooster, OH (12), 15.632; 9. 17W, Shane Golobic, Fremont, CA (11), 15.664; 10. 2, David Gravel, Watertown, CT (20), 15.664; 11. 15, Donny Schatz, Fargo, ND (32), 15.691; 12. 55T, McKenna Haase, Des Moines, IA (30), 15.700; 13. 21H, Brady Bacon, Broken Arrow, OK (7), 15.700; 14. 7S, Robbie Price, Cobble Hill, BC, Can. (13), 15.717; 15. 7, Justin Henderson, Tea, SD (29), 15.751; 16. 71, Cory Eliason, Visalia, CA (46), 15.764; 17. 24, Terry McCarl, Altoona, IA (16), 15.780; 18. 7W, Dustin Selvage, Indianola, IA (5), 15.791; 19. 40, Clint Garner, Sioux Falls, SD (1), 15.792; 20. 1AU, Marcus Dumesny, Sydney, NSW, Aust. (31), 15.798; 21. 8, Aaron Reutzel, Clute, TX (49), 15.802; 22. 14J, Cole Macedo, Lemoore, CA (14), 15.803; 23. 13, Justin Peck, Monrovia, IN (34), 15.807; 24. 18, Gio Scelzi, Fresno, CA (47), 15.831; 25. 83, James McFadden, Warrnambool, VIC, Aust. (36), 15.869; 26. 1S, Logan Schuchart, Hanover, PA (33), 15.871; 27. 16A, Colby Copeland, Roseville, CA (28), 15.896; 28. 101, Lachlan McHugh, Gold Coast, QLD, Aust. (51), 15.909; 29. 11, Roger Crockett, Broken Arrow, OK (22), 15.917; 30. 84, Scott Bogucki, McLaren Vale, SA, Aust. (25), 15.923; 31. 20, AJ Moeller, Rockwell City, IA (40), 15.937; 32. 14, Corey Day, Clovis, CA (42), 15.944; 33. 55, Hunter Schuerenberg, Sikeston, MO (27), 15.958; 34. 2M, Davey Heskin, St. Michael, MN (48), 15.963; 35. 55W, Mike Wagner, Harrisonville, PA (18), 15.966; 36. 17C, Carson Short, Marion, IL (15), 15.979; 37. 91, Kyle Reinhardt, Neptune City, NJ (44), 15.983; 38. 6B, Brandon Wimmer, Fairmount, IN (41), 16.003; 39. 73, Scotty Thiel, Sheboygan, WI (38), 16.006; 40. 13JT, Mark Dobmeier, Grand Forks, ND (37), 16.029; 41. 3Z, Brock Zearfoss, Jonestown, PA (35), 16.032; 42. 47X, Dylan Westbrook, Scotland, ONT, Can. (26), 16.138; 43. 65, Jordan Goldesberry, Springfield, IL (19), 16.151; 44. 2KK, Kevin Ingle, Huron, SD (4), 16.174; 45. 10, Skylar Prochaska, Lakefield, MN (21), 16.225; 46. 1X, Jake Bubak, Arvada, CO (45), 16.283; 47. 1M, Don Droud Jr., Lincoln, NE (50), 16.286; 48. 22, Riley Goodno, Knoxville, IA (39), 16.314; 49. 9JR, Derek Hagar, Marion, AR (43), 16.388; 50. 45, Rusty Hickman, Bendigo, VIC, Aust. (8), 16.612; 51. 52, Blake Hahn, Sapulpa, OK (23), NT
Heat one (started), 10 Laps, 2:43.0: 1. Carson Short (1); 2. Aaron Reutzel (4); 3. Logan Schuchart (3); 4. Donny Schatz (6) / 5. AJ Moeller (2); 6. Cory Eliason (5); 7. Ayrton Gennetten (7); 8. Parker Price-Miller (8) / 9. Brock Zearfoss (9); 10. Jake Bubak (10)
Heat two (started), 10 Laps, 2:42.3: 1. Corey Day (2); 2. Kyle Reinhardt (1); 3. Colby Copeland (3); 4. Cole Macedo (4) / 5. Brent Marks (8); 6. Terry McCarl (5); 7. McKenna Haase (6); 8. Sawyer Phillips (7) / 9. Dylan Westbrook (9) DNS - 10. Don Droud Jr.
Heat three (started), 10 Laps, NT: 1. Brandon Wimmer (1); 2. Justin Peck (4); 3. Hunter Schuerenberg (2); 4. Lachlan McHugh (3) / 5. Justin Sanders (8); 6. Brady Bacon (6); 7. Dustin Selvage (5); 8. Sheldon Haudenschild (7) / 9. Jordan Goldesberry (9); 10. Riley Goodno (10)
Heat four (started), 10 Laps, 2:44.6: 1. Scotty Thiel (1); 2. Gio Scelzi (4); 3. Davey Heskin (2); 4. Roger Crockett (3) / 5. Robbie Price (6); 6. Shane Golobic (7); 7. Ian Madsen (8); 8. Kevin Ingle (9) / 9. Derek Hagar (10); 10. Clint Garner (5)
Heat five (started), 10 Laps, 2:44.0: 1. Mark Dobmeier (1); 2. James McFadden (4); 3. Mike Wagner (2); 4. David Gravel (7) / 5. Justin Henderson (6); 6. Scott Bogucki (3); 7. Marcus Dumesny (5); 8. Josh Schneiderman (8) / 9. Skylar Prochaska (9) DNS - 10. Rusty Hickman
C main (started), 10 Laps, 2:42.4: 1. Brock Zearfoss (2); 2. Dylan Westbrook (3); 3. Riley Goodno (8); 4. Jordan Goldesberry (4) / 5. Derek Hagar (7); 6. Skylar Prochaska (5); 7. Jake Bubak (6); 8. Clint Garner (1) DNS - 9. Don Droud Jr., 10. Rusty Hickman 11. Blake Hahn
B main (started), 12 Laps, 3:23.6: 1. Parker Price-Miller (1); 2. Brent Marks (2); 3. Ian Madsen (4); 4. Justin Sanders (3) / 5. Ayrton Gennetten (6); 6. Sheldon Haudenschild (8); 7. Shane Golobic (9); 8. Justin Henderson (13); 9. Brady Bacon (11); 10. McKenna Haase (10); 11. Josh Schneiderman (5); 12. Dustin Selvage (16); 13. Cory Eliason (14); 14. Robbie Price (12); 15. Brock Zearfoss (19); 16. Terry McCarl (15); 17. Sawyer Phillips (7); 18. Marcus Dumesny (17); 19. Riley Goodno (21); 20. Dylan Westbrook (22); 21. Jordan Goldesberry (23); 22. Kevin Ingle (20); 23. Scott Bogucki (18) DNS - 24. AJ Moeller
A main (started), 25 Laps, NT: 1. Logan Schuchart (1); 2. Donny Schatz (7); 3. David Gravel (8); 4. Gio Scelzi (3); 5. James McFadden (2); 6. Aaron Reutzel (6); 7. Justin Peck (4); 8. Cole Macedo (5); 9. Corey Day (12); 10. Roger Crockett (11); 11. Hunter Schuerenberg (13); 12. Parker Price-Miller (21); 13. Brent Marks (22); 14. Colby Copeland (9); 15. Justin Sanders (24); 16. Kyle Reinhardt (17); 17. Carson Short (16); 18. Scotty Thiel (19); 19. Mike Wagner (15); 20. Lachlan McHugh (10); 21. Mark Dobmeier (20); 22. Ian Madsen (23); 23. Davey Heskin (14); 24. Brandon Wimmer (18). Lap Leader: Schuchart 1-25. Hard-charger: Price-Miller.
Wednesday Points
1
15
Donny Schatz
469
2
2
David Gravel
469
3
19
Brent Marks
462
4
11M
Parker Price-Miller
457
5
39
Justin Sanders
456
6
8
Aaron Reutzel
447
7
18
Gio Scelzi
445
8
1S
Logan Schuchart
444
9
83
James McFadden
441
10
13
Justin Peck
441
11
14J
Cole Macedo
435
12
2KS
Ian Madsen
434
13
14
Corey Day
422
14
11
Roger Crockett
417
15
16A
Colby Copeland
416
16
3
Ayrton Gennetten
414
17
55
Hunter Schuerenberg
410
18
17W
Shane Golobic
407
19
17
Sheldon Haudenschild
405
20
49J
Josh Schneiderman
401
21
101
Lachlan McHugh
399
22
17C
Carson Short
398
23
7
Justin Henderson
396
24
91
Kyle Reinhardt
395
25
21H
Brady Bacon
395
26
55T
McKenna Haase
392
27
73
Scotty Thiel
390
28
55W
Mike Wagner
390
29
7S
Robbie Price
386
30
3P
Sawyer Phillips
385
31
2M
Davey Heskin
384
32
13JT
Mark Dobmeier
382
33
71
Cory Eliason
381
34
6B
Brandon Wimmer
380
35
7W
Dustin Selvage
376
36
24
Terry McCarl
373
37
1AU
Marcus Dumesny
360
38
84
Scott Bogucki
333
39
20
AJ Moeller
332
40
40
Clint Garner
323
41
3Z
Brock Zearfoss
318
42
47X
Dylan Westbrook
306
43
65
Jordan Goldesberry
302
44
2KK
Kevin Ingle
301
45
22
Riley Goodno
293
46
10
Skylar Prochaska
278
47
9JR
Derek Hagar
272
48
1X
Jake Bubak
271
49
1M
Don Droud Jr.
265
50
45
Rusty Hickman
257
51
52
Blake Hahn
230