Tyler Courtney’s Sprint Car resume has been growing at a rapid rate in recent years, and he added another major accolade Saturday night at Knoxville Raceway.
The Indianapolis, IN native wheeled his NOS Energy Drink No. 7BC to his first victory in the Xtream powered by Mediacom 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank.
“I’ve gotten to do a lot of cool things in my time in Sprint Car racing,” Courtney said. “But to win a Nationals event at Knoxville is up there. Obviously the Kings Royal is first, but this is probably second or third on the list.”
Courtney is a two-time winner at the “Sprint Car Capital of the World” in Non-Wing competition, but his latest victory is his first at the track with the wing on.
Saturday’s Feature lineup was set by points earned during preliminary action on Thursday and Friday, and Courtney’s performance on Friday night was enough to earn the outside of the front row for the 30-lap affair alongside 360 Nationals rookie Emerson Axsom.
The two ran side-by-side through Turns 1 and 2 on the opening lap, but Courtney’s momentum on the top lane was enough for him to power to the lead down the backstretch and pace the first circuit.
Axsom wasn’t interested in watching Courtney drive away though, as he dove to the bottom of Turn 1 on Lap 2 and completed the slide job to retake the top spot. But before he could build a gap, B-Main winner Chase Randall pounded the wall and flipped in Turn 3 to bring out the red flag.
When the race resumed, Axsom moved up the track on the restart to take the clean air away from Courtney and built a 1.3-second advantage by the end of the lap. However, once Axsom caught the tail of the field for the first time, Courtney began to quickly reel in the No. 27A machine.
On Lap 11, Courtney threaded the needle in Turn 1 between Axsom on the top and the slower car of Ryan Giles on the bottom. Axsom held onto the lead down the backstretch, but his contact with Carson McCarl seconds later in Turn 3 was all Courtney needed to grab the lead.
From there, Courtney put on a masterclass in navigating traffic, leading 20 laps in all to add $10,000 in lap money onto his $20,000 winner’s check.
“When we got to traffic, I felt like my car was pretty good at running behind guys,” Courtney said. “My car just kept getting better and better, and the track changed a little bit there at the end, so I had to move around and find that. The 360 field this year was really tough, so the cars I was getting to lap weren’t just slouches to go and try and pass. It was getting tough.”
The Clauson Marshall Racing team’s primary goal for the weekend was to build their Knoxville notebook ahead of next week’s NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s, but once they realized their potential with the 360 between the frame rails, their focus switched to the here and now.
“We don’t really come into this week with any expectations,” Courtney said. “But once we sat on the front row, then you’re holding yourself up to ‘Let’s go win this thing. We’re already here, let’s get it done.”
While Axsom was disappointed to come up short after earning the top starting spot, it was still a commendable effort by the 19-year-old in his first full-time season in the winged ranks.
“It’s good to put these runs together in these big races because it’s a confidence booster,” Axsom said. “I know my guys can do it and I know I can do it, it’s just putting it all together. Takes a little bit of time. I’m sitting here a little bit disappointed, but I think if you would have told me at the start of the year that we would come here and run second at the 360 Nationals, I’d probably be really pumped.”
While Austin McCarl’s third-place effort established a new career best on Saturday of the 360 Nationals for the 15-year Knoxville veteran, he will have to wait another year for his long-awaited first victory in the event.
“I’m disappointed to be sitting here third,” McCarl said. “I feel like I drove about as good as I could. I feel like we’ve been really solid all year, just haven’t been clicking off wins for whatever reason. But I feel like I’m right there every night, if we keep doing that, I think we can keep fine tuning.”
Reigning event winner Brian Brown’s quest for a repeat ended in the fourth spot, and Friday night runner-up Cory Eliason completed the top five.
Carson McCarl finished fourth in the B-Main to join his father Terry and brother Austin in the Feature, and his drive from the tail of the field to 15th was enough to pick up the night’s Hard Charger Award.
UP NEXT: The ASCS National Tour will return in two weeks for the first of three consecutive weekends of racing beginning at Dodge City Raceway Park on Friday, August 16, and concluding at Lincoln County Raceway on Saturday, August 17. Tickets to both events will be available at the track on race day, while those unable to make it to the track can watch every lap live on DIRTVision.
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[2]; 2. 27A-Emerson Axsom[1]; 3. 88-Austin McCarl[4]; 4. 21-Brian Brown[9]; 5. 8-Cory Eliason[3]; 6. 1TZ-Tasker Phillips[6]; 7. 4W-Jamie Ball[5]; 8. 21T-Cole Macedo[12]; 9. 6-Kaleb Johnson[8]; 10. 01-Terry McCarl[10]; 11. 95-Matt Covington[16]; 12. 55-Kerry Madsen[19]; 13. 27H-Justin Peck[15]; 14. 87-Aaron Reutzel[17]; 15. 27-Carson McCarl[24]; 16. 9-Kasey Kahne[22]; 17. 2M-Ryan Giles[23]; 18. 35-Skylar Prochaska[20]; 19. 24-Kade Higday[11]; 20. 26-Zeb Wise[18]; 21. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[13]; 22. 17-Tyler Groenendyk[7]; 23. 2KS-Chase Randall[21]; 24. (DNS) 27B-Jake Bubak
