8/3/2014
Sprint Source
Brian Brown Wins the 360 Knoxville Nationals
KNOXVILLE, Iowa - August 1, 2014
A loud scream of satisfaction echoed across the grounds of the Knoxville Raceway as Brian Brown finally marked the Arnold Motor Supply 360 Knoxville Nationals off his bucket list in his fifteenth attempt at the $10,000 to win event.
Brown's fifteenth 360cid Sprint Car victory at the Knoxville Raceway, the FVP No. 21 led start-to-finish in the 25 lap championship event.
"Man this feels good. I'm just thankful for everybody on this team," said Brown. "I'm almost out of breath, but this one's pretty cool."
Asked about having to change his line through traffic, Brown replied, "The car felt good up there the whole feature. Believe or not, I didn't want to lap anybody. I just didn't want to get off it. That Impact Signs, Awnings, and Wraps Scoreboard was pretty handy. I saw where Sam [Hafertepe] got by Sammy [Swindell] but didn't know where he was running once he got up there but here we are."
Leading by over two seconds at the first caution on Lap 7 for Kevin Swindell, Brown opened up his advantage again as Joe Beaver and Sammy Swindell swapped the runner-up spot.
Slow again on Lap 9 for the spun No. 82 Bronson Maeschen, the restart saw Sam Hafertepe, Jr. taking third and going to work on Swindell for second. Taking the spot on Lap 11, Hafertepe was never able to make up the two second disadvantage and Brown streaked through lapped traffic for the win.
Bettering his 2011 finish of eleventh, Hafertepe felt good about his performance in the 360 Nationals, "We had an awesome car there but I really, would have liked a caution there at the end just to see if we could have done anything with him," said Hafertepe. "I don't think many people knew we were running the bottom of three and four and that's where we were really making up a lot of time. I just felt like if I could have had a shot at him....not sure I could have passed him....but would have liked the opportunity."
Sammy Swindell posted his second podium of the weekend with a third place finish; holding off Davey Heskin in the closing laps, who ended up losing an engine.
"Our car was just too tight for that curb out there," commented Swindell. "I messed up a couple times. One time I got the right-front wheel up over it and that really slowed me down so I ended up letting Sam get through there, and let Davey catch up so I just backed it down to where I could make consistent laps."
Mark Dobmeier came from tenth to grab fourth with Tim Shaffer taking fifth after starting fourteenth.
Jason Johnson ran up as high as fourth but ended up crossing sixth. Joe Beaver slipped from the front row to finish seventh. Terry McCarl stormed from twentieth to eighth to earn the title of Hard Charger with Jonathan Cornell ninth. Danny Lasoski clawed from twenty-first to finish tenth.
The night's E-Feature was won by Tyler Drueke. D-Feature honors went to Johnny Herrera with Dustin Selvage taking the C-Feature win. Danny Lasoski took the win in the B-Feature. Jac Haudenschild moved through the most features in the Alphabet, coming from the E-Main to the C-Main where he finished fifteenth.
The highest finishing Rookie was Bill Balog who placed eleventh in the B-Feature.
Kline Grabs Second 305 Feature!
Rookie Devin Kline grabbed his second 305 feature of his career and the year here at the Knoxville Raceway. Corey Kautz got the feature off to a bumpy start after flipping in turn one when the green flag fell. He was uninjured.
Matthew Stelzer led Kevin Hetrick and Mike Mayberry early on in the 15-lap event. Stacey Alexander was on the move, however, moving into third on lap two and into the runner-up spot a circuit later.
By lap five, Alexander had ridden the cushion by Stelzer to take the lead. When Steve Breazeale spun on lap ten, Alexander led Stelzer, J Kinder, Kline and Kevin Hetrick.
Kline used the restart to his advantage, disposing of both Kinder and Stelzer to move into second. He would take the lead on lap twelve, and hold off Alexander on a lap 12 restart to win. The caution came for Stelzer, who went up in smoke.
Alexander followed Kline to the line. Kinder held the show position, ahead of Hetrick and Michael Philben. McKenna Haase, Breazeale, Jeff Wilke, Keoni Texeira and Kade Higday rounded out the top ten. Kline set quick time on the night, while Kinder, Mayberry and Texeira claimed heat races.
"These last two weeks, after winning the first one...it's been a dream," said Kline in Victory Lane. "It's just awesome. This win is for my uncle Todd, who passed away a couple months ago. Tonight is his birthday. I was just going to go where they weren't. The car was perfect. The guys did great with it. I have the easy job."
Following the first four features of the ten-race 2014 Cox Design & Metal Fabrication Iowa Speed Week, Brian Brown and Sammy Swindell lead the point standings which will crown this year's Jesse Hockett "Mr. Sprint Car" titlist.
The unofficial top fifteen in the 2014 Cox Design Iowa Speed Week points after three nights is as follows: 1., Brian Brown, Sammy Swindell, 98 points (tied); 3., Mark Dobmeier, 96 points; 4., Jason Johnson, 94 points; 5., Joe Beaver, 91 points; 6., Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 90 points; 7., Tony Bruce, Jr., Terry McCarl, 88 points (tied); 9., Tim Shaffer, 86 points; 10., Ian Madsen, 85 points; 11., Bronson Maeschen, 83 points; 12., Jonathan Cornell, 82 points; 13., Brady Bacon, 81 points; 14., Lee Grosz, Davey Heskin, 80 points (tied).
Join us tomorrow night, August 3, for the 3rd Annual Capitani Classic here at the Knoxville Raceway! For more information, visit www.KnoxvilleRaceway.com!
Contact:
Brian Stickel,
Knoxville Raceway GM
bstickel@knoxvilleraceway.com
(641) 842-5431
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