Kevin Swindell was transported to an area hospital for evaluation following a crash at the start of his heat race
KNOXVILLE, Iowa - Aug. 13, 2015 - Night two of the FVP Knoxville Nationals was dominated by two of the track's most prolific drivers, Danny Lasoski and Terry McCarl, who mixed it up throughout Thursday's 25-lap A main.
McCarl, who has one World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series victory this season, charged forward from a ninth place starting position and took advantage of a mid-race restart and a slip-up by Lasoski to take the lead and ultimately the win for his No. 24 Country Builders/TheSnowPlow.com team.
"Danny was checking out there and I was slowly reeling in Jason there - I kind of didn't want the caution because it took a couple of laps to get going," McCarl said. "I had not been on the top once but I knew Danny and Jason were running there good. I kind of saw where Danny ran the restart before and I felt really good but I didn't nail it perfect and he got away from us there and then the yellow came out and that gave me another opportunity there.
"We really nailed it on that second one. Danny got a little bit loose coming off of two and I just got a good run on him."
McCarl comes into Saturday's Knoxville Nationals final after claiming his fourth 360 Nationals title last Saturday. He has seven 410 Knoxville track championships and 56 410 feature wins at the track.
Earlier in the night, Kevin Swindell was transported to a Des Moines hospital for evaluation following a crash at the start of his heat race. In a statement released late Thursday night, Swindell's parents, Sammy and Amy Swindell, thanked the Knoxville Raceway track safety crew for their response and the many well-wishers.
Lasoski and Jason Johnson started the night on the feature pole and Lasoski very quickly established a commanding lead. As Lasoski pulled away, Johnson had his hands full with Lucas Wolfe, Sammy Swindell, Joey Saldana and eventually McCarl. The battle for second, third and fourth was intense as each driver looked for an opening to advance.
The opportunity for McCarl happened on lap six as the first caution of the night occurred after Brooke Tatnell slowed to a stop on track. On the restart McCarl made up four positions, getting around Dale Blaney, Swindell, Saldana and Lucas Wolfe.
He set his sights on Jason Johnson then running in second. On lap 12, McCarl slid Johnson coming into turns three and four as he took the lead before the two drivers hit the front straight. Next up for McCarl was Lasoski, in the lead.
On the final restart of the night, Lasoski gave McCarl an opening as he bobbled heading into the corner.
"I slipped off of two one time and that's all it takes here," Lasoski said. "When you've got the experience of the guys here, you can't mess up one lap. You've got to make every lap count. I had a driver error and it cost me.
"Out front you never know quite where to be. You're a sitting duck. I thought we were putting a pretty good pace on the restart here but it's a do or die. You're going to get slid in one and two or you're going to get slide in three and four if you miss and that's what happened. We got beat and we ran second. But it wasn't for a lack of trying."
Lasoski said despite that he and his No. 2 GoMuddy.com team with Guy Forbrook at the helm feel good about their chances going into Saturday. Like McCarl, Lasoski, the 2001 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion, has a long history at Knoxville. In addition to four Knoxville Nationals titles, he has an unmatched nine 410 track championships and 106 410 feature wins.
Johnson, who closed out the night with a podium finish in third with his No. 41 Priority Aviation team, said he just got beat by experience Thursday night.
"Those guys know where to go and hit their marks," Johnson said. "I just couldn't make consistent laps one after another. I had shot at Danny there on a restart and I just never perfected the slide job in turns three and four and he drove back by. Once Terry got by me that really threw me for a loop because he was running where I didn't think anybody could be… I learned some good lessons and we'll come back on Saturday."
Another Knoxville regular, Brian Brown, put together one of the more impressive performances of the night, advancing out of the Last Chance Showdown only to charge through the field from a 23rd place starting position to finish in fifth. Brown took home the hard charger award.
"We've had a lot of luck on these nights, we've won these A-mains," Brown said. "Sometimes these are just as special as winning those. We had some good luck being able to drive up there. Being able to run the B-main helped me to know what not to do. We've always been the hunted, now we can be the hunter. If we can get our car like this on Saturday night I think we'll have something for them."
Going into Thursday's FVP Knoxville Nationals final, Donny Schatz and Kerry Madsen are tied on top of the points standings with 492 points each. Schatz will start on the pole with Madsen on his outside. David Gravel, Joey Saldana and Brad Sweet round out the top five in Saturday's feature lineup.
The 55th FVP Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's General Stores continues tomorrow night with the SPEED SPORT Knoxville World Challenge and non-qualifier event. To find out more information and to learn how to buy tickets, visit http://www.woosprint.com/knoxville-nationals.
Follow the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series on Twitter at www.twitter.com/WorldofOutlaws, like it on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WorldofOutlaws, or check out the latest videos on YouTube at www.youtube.com/WorldofOutlaws.
2015 FVP Knoxville Nationals Notebook
RACE NOTES: Following night two of the FVP Knoxville Nationals Donny Schatz and Kerry Madsen are tied for the lead in the week's points standings with 492 points. They will start on the front row on Saturday… Brian Brown was the night's Hard Charger, advancing from 23rd to seventh… Earlier in the night, Kevin Swindell was transported to a Des Moines hospital for evaluation following a crash at the start of his heat race.
World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; Knoxville Raceway; Knoxville, Iowa; Aug. 13, 2015
A-Main - (25 Laps) - 1. Terry McCarl (9); 2. Danny Lasoski (1); 3. Jason Johnson (2); 4. Kerry Madsen (7); 5. Brian Brown (23); 6. Joey Saldana (5); 7. James McFadden (13); 8. Lucas Wolfe (3); 9. Stevie Smith (11); 10. Brad Sweet (8); 11. Dusty Zomer (16); 12. Danny Dietrich (12); 13. Dean Jacobs (17); 14. Steve Kinser (20); 15. Dale Blaney (6); 16. Greg Wilson (22); 17. Clint Garner (21); 18. Billy Alley (15); 19. Randy Hannagan (19); 20. Ed Lynch Jr. (14); 21. RJ Johnson (18); 22. Brooke Tatnell (10); 23. Sammy Swindell (4); 24. Tim Shaffer (24). Lap Leaders: Danny Lasoski 1-14, Terry McCarl 15-25. Hard Charger - Brian Brown.
Qualifying - 1. 49, Brad Sweet, Grass Valley, CA (12), 15.086; 2. 29, Kerry Madsen, St. Mary's, NSW, Aust. (11), 15.175; 3. 1B, Dale Blaney, Hartford, OH (5), 15.201; 4. 71M, Joey Saldana, Brownsburg, IN (8), 15.358; 5. 1, Sammy Swindell, Germantown, TN (24), 15.409; 6. W20, Greg Wilson, Benton Ridge, OH (16), 15.415; 7. 40, Clint Garner, Sioux Falls, SD (14), 15.443; 8. 19M, Brent Marks, Myerstown, PA (19), 15.452; 9. 21, Brian Brown, Grain Valley, MO (29), 15.485; 10. 1Z, Lucas Wolfe, Mechanicsburg, PA (25), 15.513; 11. 1ST, Gary Taylor, Snohomish, WA (17), 15.540; 12. 9K, Kevin Thomas Jr., Cullman, AL (3), 15.577; 13. 41, Jason Johnson, Eunice, LA (34), 15.618; 14. 2, Danny Lasoski, Dover, MO (38), 15.627; 15. 24, Terry McCarl, Altoona, IA (36), 15.645; 16. 55, Brooke Tatnell, Sans Souci, NSW, Aust. (7), 15.648; 17. 19S, Stevie Smith, Broken Arrow, OK (37), 15.664; 18. 28, Jonathan Cornell, Sedalia, MO (9), 15.665; 19. 45, Tim Shaffer, Aliquippa, PA (31), 15.676; 20. 9P, Parker Price-Miller, Kokomo, IN (21), 15.685; 21. 10, Matt Moro, Polk City, IA (13), 15.688; 22. 29W, Danny Dietrich, Gettysburg, PA (30), 15.693; 23. 67H, Sam Hafertepe Jr., Sunnyvale, TX (10), 15.752; 24. 3G, James McFadden, Ormeau, QLD, Aust. (20), 15.752; 25. 17B, Bill Balog, Brookfield, WI (44), 15.752; 26. 2LX, Ed Lynch Jr., Apollo, PA (15), 15.785; 27. 3A, Billy Alley, Bennet, NE (50), 15.811; 28. 23M, Lance Moss, Cherryville, NC (2), 15.820; 29. 3, Tim Kaeding, San Jose, CA (26), 15.836; 30. 93, Glenndon Forsythe, York, PA (18), 15.839; 31. 25, Dylan Peterson, Hartford, SD (4), 15.861; 32. 10H, Chad Kemenah, Alvada, OH (52), 15.873; 33. 82, Dusty Zomer, Sioux Falls, SD (51), 15.882; 34. 70, Dean Jacobs, Wooster, OH (42), 15.896; 35. 7R, Roger Crockett, Medford, OR (27), 15.921; 36. 71A, RJ Johnson, Tampa, FL (32), 15.934; 37. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (57), 15.964; 38. 11N, Randy Hannagan, Pittsboro, IN (35), 16.000; 39. 1X, Don Droud Jr., Lincoln, NE (23), 16.008; 40. 11, Steve Kinser, Bloomington, IN (46), '16.009; 41. 71, Kevin Swindell, Bartlett, TN (49), 16.044; 42. O1, Christopher Bell, Norman, OK (28), 16.048; 43. 35, Skylar Prochaska, Lakefield, MN (33), 16.104; 44. 13, Mark Dobmeier, Grand Forks, ND (54), 16.128; 45. 17J, Joey Moughan, Springfield, IL (47), 16.149; 46. 88N, DJ Netto, Hanford, CA (43), 16.165; 47. 20N, Hunter Schuerenberg, Sikeston, MO (39), 16.178; 48. 1S, Logan Schuchart, Hanover, PA (53), 16.193; 49. 31B, Shane Golobic, Fremont, CA (45), 16.224; 50. 44W, Austen Wheatley, Lake Stevens, WA (55), 16.308; 51. 47, Jeff Swindell, Bartlett, TN (6), 16.331; 52. 15M, Bobby Mincer, Burlington, IA (40), 16.417; 53. 55XM, Brandon Wimmer, Fairmount, IN (22), 16.506; 54. 56B, Ryan Bernal, Hollister, CA (41), 16.511; 55. 2K, Kevin Ingle, Huron, SD (1), 16.581; 56. 1P, Curtis Evans, Norborne, MO (48), 16.909; 57. 23B, Seth Bergman, Snohomish, WA (56), NT.
Heat 1 - (10 Laps - Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature) - 1. RJ Johnson (1); 2. Ed Lynch Jr. (3); 3. Brad Sweet (8); 4. Brooke Tatnell (5) / 5. Gary Taylor (6); 6. Dylan Peterson (2); 7. DJ Netto (10); 8. Greg Wilson (7) / 9. Matt Moro (4); 10. Kevin Swindell (9)
Heat 2 - (10 Laps - Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature) - 1. Kerry Madsen (8); 2. Billy Alley (3); 3. Danny Dietrich (4); 4. Stevie Smith (5) / 5. Clint Garner (7); 6. Chris Martin (1); 7. Christopher Bell (9); 8. Hunter Schuerenberg (10) / 9. Kevin Thomas Jr. (6); 10. Chad Kemenah (2)
Heat 3 - (10 Laps - Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature) - 1. Dusty Zomer (2); 2. Jason Johnson (4); 3. Dale Blaney (6); 4. Randy Hannagan (1) / 5. Logan Schuchart (8); 6. Brent Marks (7); 7. Jonathan Cornell (5); 8. Skylar Prochaska (9) / 9. Lance Moss (3); DNS - Sam Hafertepe Jr.
Heat 4 - (10 Laps - Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature) - 1. Danny Lasoski (6); 2. James McFadden (4); 3. Joey Saldana (8); 4. Dean Jacobs (2) / 5. Tim Kaeding (3); 6. Tim Shaffer (5); 7. Brian Brown (7); 8. Mark Dobmeier (9) / 9. Don Droud Jr. (1); 10. Shane Golobic (10)
Heat 5 - (10 Laps - Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature) - 1. Sammy Swindell (6); 2. Terry McCarl (4); 3. Steve Kinser (1); 4. Lucas Wolfe (7) / 5. Roger Crockett (2); 6. Parker Price-Miller (5); 7. Austen Wheatley (8); 8. Joey Moughan (9) / 9. Glenndon Forsythe (3); DNS - Bill Balog
C Main - (10 Laps - Top 4 finishers transfer to the Last Chance Showdown) - 1. Bill Balog (2); 2. Jeff Swindell (7); 3. Ryan Bernal (9); 4. Bobby Mincer (8); 5. Shane Golobic (6); 6. Curtis Evans (10); 7. Lance Moss (3); 8. Kevin Thomas Jr. (1); 9. Don Droud Jr. (5); 10. Glenndon Forsythe (4); DNS - Matt Moro, Sam Hafertepe Jr., Chad Kemenah, Kevin Swindell, Brandon Wimmer, Kevin Ingle, Seth Bergman
Last Chance Showdown - (12 Laps - Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature) - 1. Clint Garner (2); 2. Greg Wilson (1); 3. Brian Brown (4); 4. Tim Shaffer (7); 5. Brent Marks (3); 6. Roger Crockett (11); 7. Mark Dobmeier (15); 8. Christopher Bell (13); 9. Jonathan Cornell (6); 10. Logan Schuchart (19); 11. Parker Price-Miller (8); 12. Bill Balog (21); 13. Dylan Peterson (10); 14. Jeff Swindell (22); 15. DJ Netto (17); 16. Ryan Bernal (23); 17. Chris Martin (12); 18. Bobby Mincer (24); 19. Austen Wheatley (20); 20. Gary Taylor (5); 21. Hunter Schuerenberg (18); 22. Skylar Prochaska (14); 23. Tim Kaeding (9); 24. Joey Moughan (16)
2015 FVP Knoxville Nationals Points Standings
1 15 Donny Schatz 492
2 29 Kerry Madsen 492
3 7 David Gravel 485
4 71M Joey Saldana 478
5 49 Brad Sweet 476
6 2 Danny Lasoski 472
7 51 Paul McMahan 471
8 24 Terry McCarl 469
9 41 Jason Johnson 469
10 93H Sheldon Haudenschild 465
11 1B Dale Blaney 462
12 16 Shane Stewart 460
13 1Z Lucas Wolfe 459
14 21 Brian Brown 458
15 9 Daryn Pittman 457
16 24R Rico Abreu 456
17 12X Wayne Johnson 455
18 89 Cody Darrah 450
19 1 Sammy Swindell 448
20 1D Justin Henderson 445
21 7TAZ Tasker Phillips 445
22 40 Clint Garner 444
23 19S Stevie Smith 443
24 3G James McFadden 439
25 27 Greg Hodnett 439
26 W20 Greg Wilson 439
27 17W Bryan Clauson 435
28 18 Ian Madsen 431
29 29W Danny Dietrich 430
30 56 Davey Heskin 429
31 55 Brooke Tatnell 419
32 82 Dusty Zomer 416
33 19M Brent Marks 413
34 3A Billy Alley 411
35 95 Matt Covington 410
36 2LX Ed Lynch Jr. 409
37 35AU Jamie Veal 408
38 22 Tony Shilling 404
39 45 Tim Shaffer 403
40 7S Jason Sides 403
41 71X Tyler Courtney 402
42 70 Dean Jacobs 401
43 29C Willie Croft 398
44 11K Kraig Kinser 394
45 O Bud Kaeding 393
46 11 Steve Kinser 390
47 81X Lee Jacobs 390
48 71A RJ Johnson 390
49 19 Bob Weuve 389
50 12 Lynton Jeffrey 385
51 4 Dakota Hendrickson 384
52 83 Aaron Reutzel 384
53 31C Justyn Cox 384
54 28 Jonathan Cornell 382
55 11N Randy Hannagan 381
56 1ST Gary Taylor 380
57 84 Scott Bogucki 377
58 9P Parker Price-Miller 377
59 21AU Jordyn Brazier 376
60 19P Paige Polyak 370
61 69 Mike Moore 369
62 17A Austin McCarl 365
63 49J Josh Schneiderman 362
64 7R Roger Crockett 360
65 17 Josh Baughman 356
66 17B Bill Balog 353
67 25 Dylan Peterson 351
68 7D Dustin Selvage 348
69 4R Jon Agan 340
70 9K Kevin Thomas Jr. 340
71 3 Tim Kaeding 338
72 O1 Christopher Bell 336
73 13 Mark Dobmeier 331
74 44 Chris Martin 331
75 1A Jacob Allen 331
76 13X Jac Haudenschild 330
77 1S Logan Schuchart 326
78 10 Matt Moro 316
79 88N DJ Netto 314
80 5V Colby Copeland 312
81 23M Lance Moss 310
82 67H Sam Hafertepe Jr. 307
83 2KS Craig Dollansky 304
84 35 Skylar Prochaska 303
85 55W Logan Wagner 301
86 93 Glenndon Forsythe 300
87 44W Austen Wheatley 298
88 20N Hunter Schuerenberg 297
89 17J Joey Moughan 295
90 2L Logan Forler 293
91 10H Chad Kemenah 287
92 1X Don Droud Jr. 284
93 99 Brady Bacon 281
94 75 Glen Saville 275
95 47 Jeff Swindell 274
96 81 Austin Johnson 272
97 23 Jimmy Light 270
98 31B Shane Golobic 269
99 71 Kevin Swindell 267
100 20 AJ Moeller 263
101 15M Bobby Mincer 261
102 56B Ryan Bernal 255
103 7X Kaley Gharst 253
104 4S Danny Smith 236
105 O5 Brad Loyet 219
106 96AU Bruce White 217
107 1P Curtis Evans 215
108 96 Bronson Maeschen 212
109 55XM Brandon Wimmer 212
110 17M Todd Mickelson 210
111 2K Kevin Ingle 200
112 23B Seth Bergman 188