8/6/09
Knoxville Raceway
360 Nationals Night #1
52 cars
Billy Alley (9th car out to time) set the standard in time trials at 16.142. Tony Bruce Jr. (14th car out) was second quick, followed by Greg Wilson (27th), Matt Covington (4th), Johnny Anderson (20th), Jason Johnson (18th), Clint Garner (30th), Chad Corken (5th), Eric Baldaccini (29th) and Austen Wheatley (19th). It was crucial to draw a number in the first half of qualifying as the track dried out quickly. Dustin Selvage and Joe Miller failed to get times in.
Heat one (started): 1. Nate Van Haaften 3 (1) 2. Dale Blaney 6B (4) 3. Alley 22 (6) 4. Ryan Anderson 71R (2) / 5. J. Johnson 41 (5) 6. Randy Martin 14 (7) 7. Paul McMahan 3D (8) 8. RJ Johnson 71 (3) / 9. Brad Barickman 34B (9) 10. Darren Long 7L (10)
Arguably the stoutest heat of the night saw McMahan come to a stop after a lap could be completed. The hood had come loose and repairs were made before he rejoined the field. Van Haaften led the distance in the 8-lapper that sent the first four finishers to the A, the next four to the B, and the final two to the C. Alley worked the low side to gain spots while Blaney worked up top. J. Johnson was smoking after battling with Alley. He was sixth with two laps to go, but made a late surge for the final transfer. Ry. Anderson did all he could to hold him off and the difference was .018 of a second at the line.
Heat two (started): 1. Wayne Johnson 14AJ (4) 2. Austin McCarl 17 (1) 3. Jonathan Cornell 28 (2) 4. Bruce Jr. 18T (6) / 5. Tasker Phillips 7TAZ (8) 6. Chad Humston 1m (9) 7. Jon Corbin 4x (3) 8. JD Johnson 98 (7) / 9. Garner 40 (5) 10. Rod Richards 12 (10)
Garner and Phillips bumped at the start of the straight and Phillips came down to enter turn one, clipping Garner as the two made contact a second time. Garner was turned around, and collected Richards, who could not avoid him. Both drivers bent racecars and were done for the night. McCarl led lap one, but W. Johnson aced the bottom side to lead the rest of the way.
Heat three (started): 1. Kaley Gharst 7K (1) 2. Austin Alumbaugh 33A (4) 3. Lee Grosz 4J (7) 4. Danny Heskin 6 (2) / 5. Dave Hall 51 (3) 6. Ricky Montgomery 9m (8) 7. Corken 11 (5) 8. Jody Rosenboom 27 (9) / 9. Alan Zoutte 33 (6) DNS - Greg Wilson w20
Wilson, who was third quick, lost a driveline before the green could fall, ending his night. Gharst led the distance, with Grosz doing a nice job of moving up four spots to gain a transfer spot.
Heat four (started): 1. Shane Stewart 57 (4) 2. Justin Henderson 99JR (1) 3. Nate Mosher 22N (2) 4. Matt Moro 2m (7) / 5. Covington 95 (6) 6. Baldaccini 4 (5) 7. Tayler Malsam 26 (3) 8. Lee Sowell 51s (8) / 9. Kyle McCutcheon 5 (10) 10. Tim Newman 18v (9)
Henderson led lap one, but Stewart, who had a good qualifying effort, considering when he came out, dominated from lap two on out using a low line. Moro battled by Baldaccini and Covington for the final transfer. McCutcheon blew his only motor sky-high after the checkers.
Heat five (started): 1. Jon Agan 54 (1) 2. Ricky Logan 10a (2) 3. Chuck Swenson X (4) 4. Dustin Daggett 2mx (3) / 5. J. Anderson 2a (6) 6. Wheatley 44w (5) 7. Kyle Sager 20KS (8) 8. Thomas Kennedy 20K (7) / 9. Kevin Ingle 2K (10) 10. Brian Parker 9 (9)
Agan dusted the field in this one.
C main (started): 1. Barickman (2) 2. Zoutte (1) / 3. Ingle (6) 4. Newman (3) 5. Parker (4) 6. Long (5) DNS - Wilson, Garner, Richards, McCutcheon, Joe Miller 78, Dustin Selvage 7
Barickman led flag to flag in the 6-lapper (shortened from 10).
B main (started): 1. J. Anderson (2) 2. Covington (1) 3. J. Johnson (3) 4. Baldaccini (5) / 5. McMahan (14) 6. Wheatley (6) 7. Corbin (8) 8. D. Hall (9) 9. Malsam (10) 10. Humston (18) 11. Martin (11) 12. Barickman (21) 13. RJ Johnson (7) 14. Corken (4) 15. Phillips (15) 16. Sager (17) 17. JD Johnson (12) 18. Sowell (16) 19. Rosenboom (19) 20. Montgomery (20) 21. Kennedy (13) 22. Zoutte (22)
Covington led early before a lap five incident between Phillips and Sager, also collected Montgomery, Rosenboom and Kennedy. Only Phillips and Sager would continue. Covington led J. Anderson, J. Johnson, Baldaccini and Corken back to green flag racing in the 12-lapper. Sowell suffered a flat right rear on lap eight, slowing things again. The lead four remained the same. On lap nine, debris slowed things again, but little changed in the lead pack. McMahan moved forward with each restart, but needed another lap or two to gain the final transfer spot he needed.
A main (started): 1. W. Johnson (5) 2. Stewart (3) 3. Alley (6) 4. Bruce Jr. (7) 5. Daggett (1) 6. Gharst (14) 7. J. Johnson (23) 8. Swenson (2) 9. Logan (13) 10. J. Anderson (21) 11. Agan (16) 12. Mosher (10) 13. Ry. Anderson (9) 14. Grosz (19) 15. Heskin (11) 16. Alumbaugh (4) 17. McCarl (15) 18. Van Haaften (12) 19. Baldaccini (22) 20. Moro (18) 21. Henderson (17) 22. Cornell (10) 23. Covington (20) DNS - Blaney
Blaney's crew feverishly tried to fix a problem that resulted in the car not starting. They got some extra time after Covington climbed the rear of Moro's car and performed a series of flips. Moro continued minus his left rear shock. Stewart shot under the front row starters to lead early in the 20-lapper. Three laps were in the books when Moro came to a stop and went to the work area to make more repairs. Stewart led Daggett, Swenson, W. Johnson and Bruce Jr. back to green. Grosz spun six laps later with Stewart building on his lead ahead of W. Johnson, Daggett, Bruce Jr. and Alley. The last 12 laps went non-stop. W. Johnson moved under Stewart with 11 to go, and hugged the bottom of three and four, while entering low and exiting in the middle of turn two in cruising to the $3,000 win, his ninth career 360 tally at Knoxville. Alley shot under Bruce Jr. to complete the podium. Gharst put on a good charge to sixth, but J. Johnson was the hard-charger, driving from 23rd to 7th.