The list of winners of the Xtream powered by Mediacom 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank is a who’s who of Sprint Car legends. Among them include the likes of Sammy Swindell, Danny Lasoski, Shane Stewart, Kerry Madsen and Terry McCarl.
This weekend, the stars of the American Sprint Car Series National Tour will be vying for a chance to become a member of that exclusive club.
Series points leader Seth Bergman has been trying to join the club ever since making his first 360 Knoxville Nationals appearance back in 2007. His career-best in the event came in 2017 when he finished 12th in the Saturday night Feature, and he’s optimistic about his chances of resetting that mark this year, especially after his runner-up effort at the similarly sized Lakeside Speedway on July 19.
“We’ve got a few things that we need to get better on,” Bergman said. “But definitely, I feel like we were one of the fastest cars all night [at Lakeside], if not the car to beat there in the Feature. So yeah, I feel good. I feel like we’ve got a good package, a good game plan for some of these big tracks.”
Eight National Tour teams traveled to Knoxville a week early to partake in a weekly event on Saturday night. Hank Davis was the highest-finishing National Tour full-timer, placing sixth.
It was a major achievement considering the massive 62-car field in the 360 Sprint Car division and the fact that it was only Davis’s third start at Knoxville. However, the transition from the 1/4-mile Oklahoma bullrings Davis grew up on to the 1/2-mile Knoxville Raceway has been accelerated thanks to the guidance of his crew chief and mentor, two-time 360 Knoxville Nationals winner Wayne Johnson.
“You can’t go down there [in the corners] and stop, momentum is a big deal,” Johnson said regarding the driving style required at Knoxville. “Dirty air is a big thing with these race cars on big racetracks, and I think that the more times we do it, the better he’s going to get at it.
“With my knowledge of running Knoxville and dirty air and all that stuff, I’m in his ear constantly. When we went to Knoxville the last few weeks, I just had him watch. I said, ‘Go watch how these other guys enter the corner, watch a lot of video.”
The Series regulars will have to fend off a fierce batch of local competitors this weekend, one of the toughest being two-time track champion Austin McCarl. While the Altoona, IA native has concentrated primarily on the 410 division for most of his career, he has been competitive in the 360 Nationals as well, scoring a prelim night win and a fifth-place finish on Saturday night in 2020.
McCarl made the trip to Lakeside to assess the state of his 360 program against the National Tour field and ended the night in the third spot.
“Driving style is pretty similar to Knoxville,” McCarl said. “This place is a little different though, it gets a little bit tricky on entrance, but whatever, it’s a dirt track.
“Wanted to come try some things. Wanted to just get some laps under the 360, don’t get to run it very often. So, I feel like we learned some things.”
Action begins with split-field preliminary nights on Thursday and Friday, Aug. 1-2, and will conclude with the $20,000-to-win championship on Saturday on Aug. 3. Tickets and other event information are available here, while those unable to make it to the “Sprint Car Capital of the World” can catch every lap live on DIRTVision with an annual FAST PASS.
