KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Logan Schuchart fended off all challengers as the No. 1S machine won Wednesday night’s feature in the first of two preliminary nights for the 2022 Knoxville Nationals.
The Hanover, PA native started on pole position and led every lap of the 25-lap feature and held off charges from Giovanni Scelzi’s No. 18 car early in the feature and later had to fend off 10-time Knoxville Nationals Champion Donny Schatz in order to earn the first A-main win of the 2022 Nationals at the half-mile oval.
“We’ve still got to work on qualifying,” Schuchart said. “For whatever reason, the restarts there, I got beat every time I feel like. That last one, I really stuttered really bad before it took off and it felt like somebody was going to slide me going into 1.”
Schuchart set the 26th fastest time out of 51 competitors and raced in the first heat race. He started and finished third, transferring to the A-main. While Schuchart may feel like qualifying was a weakness, he did benefit from the eight-driver invert that seeded him into his starting position.
The #NOSvilleNationals offers one of the most unique formats in all of Sprint Car Racing.
? 51 qualifiers in one flight
? 5 Heats with huge 8-invert
? Mains set by times w/ invert
? Points add up for Sat. lock-ins? ???? ???????! Any questions? pic.twitter.com/1PGwKfsM9f
— World of Outlaws (@WorldofOutlaws) August 10, 2022
Schuchart was happy about winning, but his focus went immediately to Saturday’s 50-lap feature. The Wednesday night win placed him eighth in the Knoxville Nationals points system that determines where drivers will be seeded in either the Friday or Saturday programs.
“I’m looking at the big picture,” Schuchart said. “I don’t know if we did good enough. Somebody’s going to have to do the math pretty quick to figure it out for me. I’m just looking at the big picture. I feel like we have a good shot at it if we can put ourselves in a position to race for it. We just might’ve put ourselves too far back, so hopefully we can make a good run at it on Saturday and take some stress off.
“Hopefully we’re at the end of this deal and in the show, but if not we’ll try and make a run in that B-main and make something happen.”
Schatz finished second over 2019 Knoxville Nationals Champion David Gravel, Scelzi and 2021 World of Outlaws Rookie of the Year James McFadden.
Thursday’s program begins with hot laps at 7:15 p.m. CT. Below are the points standings for the week:
Point Totals after @BRANDT_co Professional Agriculture Qualifying Night #1 of the @NosEnergyDrink Knoxville Nationals presented by @caseysgenstore!#NOSvilleNationals #BRANDT pic.twitter.com/Ie35pVg0dA
— Knoxville Raceway (@knoxvilleraces) August 11, 2022
