Auto racing: Defending champ Schatz wins first prelim night at Knoxville

Aug. 9—KNOXVILLE — Donny Schatz allowed himself a few fleeting moments to soak in the accomplishment of last summer.

The native of Fargo, North Dakota was back at the Knoxville Raceway on Wednesday for the re-unveiling of his banner placed on the Hall of Champions below the grandstands. Schatz got a few brief chills as he saw the curtain come down on his banner with '2022' added to the number of years that Schatz has claimed the grandest race in sprint car racing moving within one win of catching Steve Kinser for the most all-time victories at Knoxville.

Schatz, however, didn't waste anytime turning his focus on chasing down potential history this weekend. Now that the banner has been placed, Schatz is ready to put the 2022 victory in his rearview mirror.

"You've got to let it go whether it's a win or a loss," Schatz said. "You can't really celebrate it anymore. It's quite an honor to have done it. All we can do is try to do it again."

Schatz began his quest for a recording-tying 12th Knoxville Nationals title on Wednesday advancing into the A-Main on the first qualifying night. After posting the 10th-fastest time in qualifying, Schatz raced up from seventh to second in the fifth and final heat race going past Tanner Carrick and Riley Goodno over the final laps before moving into the top four with eight laps left in the feature race, Schatz roared past Kerry Madsen and Blake Hahn off a restart before ultimately winning a back-and-forth battle with Chase Randall winning his first preliminary race in 20 years.

"You just have to go where they're not," Schatz said. "I was behind (Madsen) and I fully expected him to go to the bottom because I'm sure he knew I'd be there. If the caution hadn't come out, it might have been a different story."

Schatz also sits atop the point standings with 479 after Wednesday, 17 ahead of Hunter Schuerenberg giving the 11-time champion pole position with nearly half the field having gone through the first preliminary night. Thursday will bring 54 more drivers out to the track, including 2021 champion Kyle Larson, with a chance to unseat Schatz from the pole position.

"I just wanted to get locked in the show. That's kind of the goal. Once you get qualified, you can kind of start to move those goal posts," Schatz said. "I don't even know if being on the front (row) is where anyone wants to be anymore. I think we'll be solidly in one of the first three rows. There's a lot of quality cars that didn't make it through those heat races."

Among the cars that ran into trouble on Wednesday included Aaron Reutzel, who came within 0.02 seconds of winning a second straight 360 Nationals title on Saturday. Reutzel ultimately finished Wednesday 40th overall in points with 333 after spinning out in the second of five heat races, ultimately leading to a C-Main scratch for the Texas native and a spot in Friday's 'hard knocks' qualifier.

David Gravel, who battled Schatz in the closing laps last year for the 61st Knoxville Nationals title, seemed to get off to a good start on Wednesday posting the fastest lap during time trails posting a 15.468-second lap. That's where the luck ran out on Wednesday for Gravel as a crash in the final turn of the opening lap of the opening heat race and crash in the B-Main left the championship hopeful in 21st place with 403 points after Wednesday's action.

"There were a lot of good cars that qualified in the top 10 (in time trials) that didn't even make the final race," Schatz said. "That's going to change up the dynamic quite a bit."

Randall held on for second in the A-Main, collecting 449 points sitting in sixth place after the first of the two preliminary nights. After shooting past Blake Hahn off the restart with eight laps left, Randall exchanged the lead three times with Schatz before the 11-time champion took the lead for good with two laps remaining ultimately crossing the finish line with a 1.467-second margin of victory.

"I didn't really have any rhythm when I got to him and got past him," Schatz said. "I kind of thought he'd look at me like a senior citizen and give me a pass. He didn't. He want right on by. That was cool to see. That's why we're here. It's the Knoxville Nationals. This is where the best come. Chase obviously has a bright future ahead of him. I just had to settle myself down and go wherever I needed to on the race track.

"It's hard to be mad about it after being so close, but I'm really proud of how we did and how the team made the right decisions throughout the night to set us up in the right positions to be that close," Randall added. "It kind of shows how much hard work they've been putting in to get better each and every week. Running here, we've had some really good speed this whole year. To be running up front on our prelim night at the Knoxville Nationals in my first try is pretty cool. I'm excited to see what we can do on Saturday and where we end up."

Schatz is back in position to win at the Knoxville Nationals, something that wasn't a given considering the season that the reigning champion feels he's been having as he began his title defense.

"We just haven't had the consistency we need this season," Schatz said on Wednesday before taking the track. "I wish we were in better position, but we're in the position we're in. We'll make the best of it. We're just focused on a good solid night to get ourselves in the best position for Saturday."

Several hours later, Schatz in the current pole sitter for Saturday's 50-lap championship feature race forcing drivers on Thursday to catch him. It's a position that Schatz is familiar with, even if getting to this point this season made Wednesday's results a somewhat pleasant surprise.

"We tried this combination here earlier this year and it just wasn't very good," Schatz said. "Here we are. It's the middle of summer when the race track seems to slow down a little bit and we seem to be a little bit better.

"Am I surprised? No. Maybe a little bit. It's just good that we don't have to dig out of bad spots. Things happen. It's hard to do with as many good cars as there are."

— Scott Jackson can be reached at sjackson@ottumwacourier.com. Follow him on Twitter@CourierScott.