by Bill Wright
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (August 12, 2021) – Brian Brown survived 60th NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals Presented by Casey’s Wolfe Eye Clinic Qualifying Night, garnering his 55th career win at the Knoxville Raceway. The win aboard the Brian Brown Racing #21 paid the Grain Valley, Missouri driver $12,000. The main event saw a number of cars eliminated early, but Brown persevered for his third career preliminary night win at the Nationals.
Before a lap could be completed, two cars were eliminated. First, Shane Stewart exited with mechanical problems, and on the second try, Parker Price-Miller jumped the right rear tire of TJ Stutts and took a wild ride off the turn one fence. He was not seriously injured. Stutts replaced his tire, and Ian Madsen, who also caught the incident, changed a top wing.
Sam Hafertepe Jr. led lap one from the pole, ahead of Brown, Brent Marks, Sye Lynch and Paul McMahan. Carnage ensued on the second circuit, when Carson Macedo clipped the inside berm in turn three, washed up the track, and collected Paul McMahan. Both cars flipped, with McMahan’s bursting into flames. The driver was quickly out and the safety crew on the scene in good time. McMahan was taken in for observation. The incident also collected Kerry Madsen, Sawyer Phillips, Sammy Swindell and Marcus Dumesny. Only Phillips and Swindell would continue.
Brown shot to the lead on the restart, while Tyler Courtney and Rico Abreu moved into fourth and fifth. Marks shot by Hafertepe for second on lap three. Abreu and Courtney battled for the fourth spot, and Brad Sweet entered the fray as well. Contact between Sweet and Courtney resulted in the latter’s rear bumper being knocked off and causing a caution for debris seven laps in.
Brown led Marks, Hafertepe, Abreu and Courtney back to green. Courtney shot by Abreu on lap eight to reclaim fourth, while Sweet and Larson moved into fifth and sixth. Larson jumped up to fifth on lap 11, before Swindell stopped top bring a caution.
Larson used the restart to move into fourth, and Sweet followed him into fifth. The pair clamed third and fourth on lap 13, when Courtney slowed and exited.
The last twelve laps went smoothly for Brown, who entered lapped traffic with seven to go. Larson was able to get by Marks on lap 15 for second, but never seriously mounted a challenge to the leader.
Following Brown and Larson were Marks, Sweet and Abreu. Kasey Kahne, Austin McCarl, Ian Madsen, Kraig Kinser and Sye Lynch rounded out the top ten. After a rain delay of almost and hour and a half, Brown set quick time over the 48-car field. Swindell, Sawyer Phillips, Greg Wilson, Skylar Prochaska and Dumesny won heat races. Jack Dover won the C main and Larson claimed the B. Cale Thomas had a mechanical break that caused him to crash in his heat. He was unhurt.
Gio Scelzi and Sweet (high point driver on Thursday) will share the front row for Saturday’s championship event (full combined points below).
“The ‘GOAT’ was lurking,” said Brown of Larson’s pursuit. “On the first melee, when I heard he was eleventh, I thought that was a lot of cars in one lap. Then I saw, fifth, third and then second. I was going to run the wheels off this thing. It’s been so long since I’ve been in contention for Saturday night. I wanted to get that race going. I couldn’t get going very well, but I didn’t have to work too hard in traffic.”
“We’ll call it tenth to second,” said Larson, who started 21st, but was aided by some competitors being eliminated in incidents. “I was lucky enough to have some holes to idle through it. The night obviously turned out a lot better than I thought it would. I thought I had the bottom of three and four going well. I made too many mistakes to really challenge Brown. He did a good job and didn’t make any mistakes out there. We salvaged a great point night and I think we’ll be starting in the second row for Saturday.”
“I generally struggle here,” said Marks of his previous Knoxville runs. “I seem to race o.k., but we always seem to start deep in the field. We put a whole night together, and the car was really good. We came here with something totally different than what I usually do, and made a lot of changes after the Cappy on Sunday. I’m proud of what we were able to accomplish.”
The 60th NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals Presented by Casey’s continues Friday, August 12 with FVP “Hard Knox” Night. For more information, visit or check Knoxville Raceway’s Facebook and Twitter.
60th NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals Presented by Casey’s Wolfe Eye Clinic Qualifying Night Results
Time Trials (Qualifying Order), 2 laps: 1. 83, Kasey Kahne, Enumclaw, WA (16), 15.142; 2. 7BC, Tyler Courtney, Indianapolis, IN (31), 15.144; 3. 49, Brad Sweet, Grass Valley, CA (23), 15.166; 4. 57, Kyle Larson, Elk Grove, CA (8), 15.167; 5. 49X, Ian Madsen, St. Marys, NSW, Aust. (19), 15.186; 6. 14, Kerry Madsen, St. Mary’s, NSW, Aust (45), 15.187; 7. 41, Carson Macedo, Lemoore, CA (25), 15.193; 8. 19, Brent Marks, Myerstown, PA (46), 15.194; 9. 17B, Bill Balog, Hartland, WI (3), 15.242; 10. 1A, Jacob Allen, Hanover, PA (4), 15.247; 11. 21, Brian Brown, Grain Valley, MO (26), 15.264; 12. 101, Cale Thomas, Fairland, IN (11), 15.285; 13. 83J, Lynton Jeffrey, Sydney, NSW, Aust. (21), 15.303; 14. 3Z, Brock Zearfoss, Jonestown, PA (41), 15.308; 15. 5, Paul McMahan, Nashville, TN (32), 15.335; 16. 39, Daryn Pittman, Owasso, OK (36), 15.354; 17. 09, Matt Juhl, Tea, SD (7), 15.360; 18. 22, Jac Haudenschild, Wooster, OH (12), 15.362; 19. 1Z, Logan Wagner, Harrisonville, PA (39), 15.367; 20. 17W, Shane Golobic, Fremont, CA (34), 15.377; 21. 42, Sye Lynch, Apollo, PA (29), 15.404; 22. 73A, Scotty Thiel, Sheboygan, WI (10), 15.409; 23. 15H, Sam Hafertepe Jr., Sunnyvale, TX (28), 15.427; 24. 11K, Kraig Kinser, Bloomington, IN (27), 15.448; 25. 11T, TJ Stutts, Liverpool, PA (44), 15.481; 26. 71, Shane Stewart, Bixby, OK (42), 15.494; 27. 5X, Parker Price-Miller, Kokomo, IN (37), 15.496; 28. 20G, Noah Gass, Mounds, OK (5), 15.506; 29. 24R, Rico Abreu, St. Helena, CA (14), 15.527; 30. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (9), 15.561; 31. 70, Sammy Swindell, Lakeland, TN (2), 15.575; 32. 3P, Sawyer Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (40), 15.626; 33. 97, Greg Wilson, Benton Ridge, OH (35), 15.633; 34. 35P, Skylar Prochaska, Lakefield, MN (20), 15.667; 35. 17A, Austin McCarl, Altoona, IA (6), 15.679; 36. 5V, Colby Copeland, Roseville, CA (18), 15.683; 37. 10, Jeff Swindell, Memphis, TN (1), 15.695; 38. 2DC, Dylan Cisney, Port Royal, PA (30), 15.709; 39. 55W, Mike Wagner, Harrisonville, PA (43), 15.717; 40. N47, Marcus Dumesny, Sydney, NSW, Aust. (47), 15.755; 41. 11N, Harli White, Lindsay, OK (15), 15.863; 42. 15M, Bobby Mincer, Burlington, IA (48), 15.962; 43. 7W, Dustin Selvage, Indianola, IA (13), 15.969; 44. 13S, Tyler Esh, Lancaster, PA (17), 15.974; 45. 53, Jessie Attard, Landilo, NSW, Aust. (38), 16.022; 46. 53D, Jack Dover, Springfield, NE (24), 16.037; 47. 11TK, Tim Kaeding, San Jose, CA (33), 27.854; 48. 2K, Kevin Ingle, Huron, SD (22), NT
Heat one (started), 10 Laps, 2:36.1: 1. Sammy Swindell (2); 2. Shane Stewart (1); 3. Sye Lynch (4); 4. Brian Brown (6) / 5. Daryn Pittman (3); 6. Kasey Kahne (8); 7. Kerry Madsen (5); 8. Harli White (7) / 9. Jack Dover (9) DNS – 10. Colby Copeland
Heat two (started), 10 Laps, NT: 1. Sawyer Phillips (2); 2. Parker Price-Miller (3); 3. Tyler Courtney (8); 4. Carson Macedo (7) / 5. Matt Juhl (5); 6. Scotty Thiel (4); 7. Bobby Mincer (9); 8. Jeff Swindell (1) / 9. Cale Thomas (6) DNS – 10. Tim Kaeding
Heat three (started), 10 Laps, 2:40.6: 1. Greg Wilson (2); 2. Brent Marks (7); 3. Sam Hafertepe Jr. (4); 4. Brad Sweet (8) / 5. Dylan Cisney (1); 6. Jac Haudenschild (5); 7. Noah Gass (3); 8. Lynton Jeffrey (6) / 9. Dustin Selvage (9); 10. Kevin Ingle (10)
Heat four (started), 10 Laps, 2:38.7: 1. Skylar Prochaska (2); 2. Mike Wagner (1); 3. Kraig Kinser (4); 4. Rico Abreu (3) / 5. Kyle Larson (8); 6. Bill Balog (7); 7. Brock Zearfoss (6); 8. Logan Wagner (5) / 9. Tyler Esh (9)
Heat five (started), 10 Laps, 2:40.4: 1. Marcus Dumesny (1); 2. Austin McCarl (2); 3. Paul McMahan (6); 4. TJ Stutts (4) / 5. Jacob Allen (7); 6. Ian Madsen (8); 7. Shane Golobic (5); 8. Chris Martin (3) / 9. Jessie Attard (9)
C main (started), 8 Laps, NT: 1. Jack Dover (5); 2. Colby Copeland (2); 3. Dustin Selvage (1); 4. Jessie Attard (3) / 5. Kevin Ingle (6); 6. Tyler Esh (4) DNS – 7. Cale Thomas; 8. Tim Kaeding
B main (started), 12 Laps, NT: 1. Kyle Larson (2); 2. Kerry Madsen (4); 3. Kasey Kahne (1); 4. Ian Madsen (3) / 5. Brock Zearfoss (8); 6. Bill Balog (5); 7. Lynton Jeffrey (7); 8. Shane Golobic (13); 9. Daryn Pittman (9); 10. Chris Martin (16); 11. Dustin Selvage (23); 12. Noah Gass (15); 13. Harli White (19); 14. Colby Copeland (22); 15. Logan Wagner (12); 16. Jac Haudenschild (11); 17. Jessie Attard (24); 18. Jacob Allen (6); 19. Bobby Mincer (20); 20. Jeff Swindell (17); 21. Jack Dover (21); 22. Dylan Cisney (18); 23. Matt Juhl (10); 24. Scotty Thiel (14)
A main (started), 25 Laps, NT: 1. Brian Brown (4); 2. Kyle Larson (21); 3. Brent Marks (5); 4. Brad Sweet (7); 5. Rico Abreu (13); 6. Kasey Kahne (23); 7. Austin McCarl (18); 8. Ian Madsen (24); 9. Kraig Kinser (9); 10. Sye Lynch (2); 11. Sawyer Phillips (15); 12. Sam Hafertepe Jr. (1); 13. Skylar Prochaska (17); 14. Greg Wilson (16); 15. TJ Stutts (10); 16. Mike Wagner (19); 17. Tyler Courtney (8); 18. Sammy Swindell (14); 19. Paul McMahan (3); 20. Carson Macedo (6); 21. Marcus Dumesny (20); 22. Kerry Madsen (22); 23. Parker Price-Miller (12); 24. Shane Stewart (11). Lap Leaders: Hafertepe 1, Brown 2-25. Hard-charger: Larson.
Locked into Saturday’s A main
1 18 Gio Scelzi 487
2 49 Brad Sweet 481
3 57 Kyle Larson 480
4 19 Brent Marks 479
5 15 Donny Schatz 477
6 2 David Gravel 475
7 83 Kasey Kahne 475
8 1S Logan Schuchart 472
9 21 Brian Brown 471
10 49X Ian Madsen 463
11 0 Brooke Tatnell 460
12 7BC Tyler Courtney 460
13 9 James McFadden 459ac
14 7 Justin Henderson 458
15 73 Justin Peck 458
16 48 Danny Dietrich 449
Locked into Saturday’s B main
17 17X Josh Baughman 447
18 41 Carson Macedo 441
19 42 Sye Lynch 436
20 11M Spencer Bayston 435
21 26 Cory Eliason 433
22 11K Kraig Kinser 432
23 5 Paul McMahan 430
24 14 Kerry Madsen 430
25 17 Sheldon Haudenschild 428
26 15H Sam Hafertepe Jr. 428
Qualified for Friday’s “Hard Knox” Program
27 24R Rico Abreu 427
28 1M Don Droud Jr. 426
29 11 Roger Crockett 422
30 3P Sawyer Phillips 418
31 3 Ayrton Gennetten 418
32 17A Austin McCarl 417
33 11T TJ Stutts 415
34 40 Clint Garner 414
35 35P Skylar Prochaska 410
36 97 Greg Wilson 410
37 5XX Zeb Wise 409
38 17B Bill Balog 409
39 49J Josh Schneiderman 408
40 70 Sammy Swindell 406
41 56N Davey Heskin 405
42 5X Parker Price-Miller 401
43 71 Shane Stewart 401
44 91 Kyle Reinhardt 398
45 3Z Brock Zearfoss 398
46 07 Skylar Gee 394
47 2C Wayne Johnson 394
48 7S Jason Sides 393
49 83J Lynton Jeffrey 393
50 39M Anthony Macri 392
51 39 Daryn Pittman 392
52 55W Mike Wagner 391
53 55M McKenna Haase 387
54 1X Jake Bubak 386
55 24 Terry McCarl 386
56 1A Jacob Allen 386
57 N47 Marcus Dumesny 382
58 21W Riley Goodno 382
59 17W Shane Golobic 380
60 28 Tim Shaffer 379
61 5W Lucas Wolfe 379
62 83T Tanner Carrick 374
63 22 Jac Haudenschild 371
64 25 Scott Bogucki 370
65 27 Carson McCarl 365
66 1Z Logan Wagner 365
67 20 AJ Moeller 364
68 09 Matt Juhl 362
69 13 Mark Dobmeier 359
70 2KS Chad Kemenah 359
71 20G Noah Gass 356
72 44 Chris Martin 353
73 73A Scotty Thiel 347
74 101 Cale Thomas 342
75 5V Colby Copeland 327
76 11N Harli White 325
77 83A Austin Miller 323
78 7W Dustin Selvage 322
79 2DC Dylan Cisney 322
80 18R Ryan Roberts 320
81 10 Jeff Swindell 319
82 7TAZ Tasker Phillips 315
83 55K Robbie Kendall 315
84 15M Bobby Mincer 314
85 65 Jordan Goldesberry 310
86 53 Jessie Attard 306
87 9JR Derek Hagar 303
88 7C John Carney II 298
89 53D Jack Dover 296
90 2M Matt Moro 284
91 14K Tori Knutson 281
92 13S Tyler Esh 280
93 2K Kevin Ingle 271
94 9G Ryan Giles 270
95 56 Joe Simbro 267
96 11TK Tim Kaeding 267
97 55 Hunter Schuerenberg 261