Gio Scelzi Opens 360 Knoxville Nationals with Dominant Triumph for Spire Motorsports
Gio Scelzi knows how to bring the heat to Knoxville Raceway.
The pilot of the Spire Motorsports No. 77 drove a perfect 20 laps in Thursday’s Xtream powered by Mediacom 360 Knoxville Nationals pres. by Great Southern Bank opener in his hunt for a second career event title with the American Sprint Car Series.
Scelzi and Ryan Leavitt set the front row for the Feature with Chase Randall and Kyle Larson behind the top two starters. The Fresno, CA native jumped to the lead at the drop of the green flag as Randall and Larson overtook Leavitt for the podium positions on the opening lap.
As Scelzi used the bottom lane to establish a pace, Larson followed in tow as Randall attempted to use the high line. Larson’s No. 57 overpowered Randall as he took over the runner-up spot while “Hot Sauce” grew the gap over the field to 1.3 seconds.
When lapped traffic arrived at the halfway point, Larson shaved down the lead by one second as Scelzi struggled in the pack until the sole caution of the Feature flew on Lap 12.
On the ensuing restart, Scelzi scurried away as Randall retook second place from Larson. On Lap 15, Larson came back for the position, then Aaron Reutzel joined the mix by taking third place on Lap 16.
As Larson and Reutzel waged battle for second, Scelzi capitalized by growing the lead to 2.4 seconds as he drove away to his fourth career win in a 360 Sprint Car at the “Sprint Car Capital of the World” and a $3,000 prize.
“The middle got really dirty there midway through the race,” Scelzi said. “I didn’t realize the bottom would come in that fast. I saw Chris (Martin) running it in the B-Main and looked like he was pretty stuck down there. I hit the first corner wide open and I was like ‘Wow, I hope it’s that way in (Turns) 3 and 4.’ Man, this was cool. We had to win to be anywhere decent in points on Saturday, so great job to my guys.”
Reutzel bested Larson on the final lap to solidify Thursday’s podium positions. Randall finished fourth, and 2019 360 Nationals champion James McFadden rounded out the night’s top five.
Recap Notes:
Quick Time Award: Aaron Reutzel (16.267 sec.)
Heat Race Winners: Justin Peck, John Carney II, Tanner Holmes, Austin McCarl, Matt Juhl
C-Main Winner: Jesse Pate
Last Chance Showdown Winner: Chris Martin
Hard Charger Award: Riley Goodno (+11)
UP NEXT: The 36th Xtream powered by Mediacom 360 Knoxville Nationals pres. by Great Southern Bank continues with the second night of preliminary racing for the American Sprint Car Series on Friday, Aug. 7.
Where can you watch every lap of the American Sprint Car Series? Live on DIRTVision.
RESULTS: Feature (20 Laps): 1. 77-Giovanni Scelzi[1]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel[8]; 3. 57-Kyle Larson[4]; 4. 9-Chase Randall[3]; 5. 21T-James McFadden[6]; 6. 14-Corey Day[10]; 7. 26-Justin Peck[12]; 8. 11-Justin Henderson[7]; 9. 17GP-Brock Zearfoss[11]; 10. 4J-Ryan Leavitt[2]; 11. 22X-Riley Goodno[22]; 12. 9P-Daison Pursley[5]; 13. 88W-Austin McCarl[15]; 14. 13-Tanner Holmes[14]; 15. 44-Chris Martin[21]; 16. 01-Carson McCarl[18]; 17. 09-Matt Juhl[16]; 18. 71B-Brady Baker[20]; 19. 8C-John Carney II[17]; 20. 64-Kaleb Johnson[24]; 21. 4C-Cale Thomas[9]; 22. 8M-Kade Morton[19]; 23. 86-Timothy Smith[13]; 24. G2-Tony Rost[23]
