KNOXVILLE, Iowa — On Friday morning, Shane Stewart and his wife found out that they will be expecting a new baby girl in a few months. On Friday evening, they were celebrating for a different reason, as the multi-time Knoxville 360 Nationals Champion outlasted several of the best sprint car drivers on the planet to claim the main event checkered flag on night two of the 2014 FVP Knoxville Nationals. Starting sixth in the A Feature, the Oklahoma native slowly worked his way into the top three and then had to fight off seven-time Knoxville Nationals champion Donny Schatz to remain within striking range. Eventually, Stewart would put away Schatz and set his sights on the two early pacesetters Kraig Kinser and Mark Dobmeier who enjoyed their own wheel to wheel tussle at the front in the first three-quarters of the 25 lap event. With five laps to go, Stewart in his No. 2 Go Pro Special began to make his final charge, as he cleared Dobmeier for second and then caught a huge break with three laps to go as the caution flag waved when Josh Hodges’ machine screeched to a halt in turn one. On the final restart, Stewart took a run at Kraig Kinser, the 2005 Knoxville Nationals champion, but could not draw even and reset for a second attempt. Coming to the white flag, Kinser suddenly slipped high in turn three allowing Stewart to dive on the inside line and nose ahead. Kinser tried to answer back around Stewart as they crossed under starter Doug Clark’s white flag, but entering turn one Stewart was able to clear the second-generation driver forcing him to settle for runner-up honors. “(The) car was so good from the (start of the feature),” said Stewart after the race. “The preliminary races (earlier in the week) are real short so you can’t be patient, I thought I could challenge him, but I didn’t think Kraig would give me the bottom, however he was forced to a make decision on which line to take from the front and I exploited it.” Although Kinser came up short, the result was a much better one than the one his father Steve was dealt with 24 hours ago, when the 12-time Knoxville Nationals champion failed to make his preliminary main event after finishing a disappointing 12th in the B-Feature Thursday. The result from the younger Kinser should ensure that at least one member of the famed sprint car racing family will be present in the main event on Saturday night. Further back, Dobmeier held off Schatz for third place, the second time in four years that the Knoxville Raceway regular has placed himself on the podium in a Nationals preliminary event. As for Schatz, the fourth place result in the feature was a surprise to most considering how strong the Tony Stewart Racing driver had looked earlier on Friday night. The Fargo, South Dakota native had posted the second fastest lap in qualifying, beaten only by Craig Dollansky. Then in his heat race, Schatz stormed from sixth all the way to the lead in just under two laps and cruised his way to an easy victory. Starting seventh in the feature, Schatz followed Stewart early, but after multiple attempts to overtake the Oklahoma driver on the outside, Schatz eventually held his ground and settled for the fourth spot where he stayed to the checkered flag. Despite the less than hoped for result, his big points haul on Friday should ensure that Schatz will likely start somewhere in the front two rows in Saturday night’s main event, joining Kerry Madsen who garnered the most points on Thursday night. The festivities on championship Saturday at Knoxville Raceway begin in the morning with the non-qualifiers feature that will set the remaining runners for Saturday’s night four feature events plus the annual running of the World Challenge race. The main features are expected to begin around 8 p.m. eastern time/ 7 p.m. local time on Saturday night. Safe to say another memorable climax to a Knoxville Nationals weekend is definitely set to unfold. Stay tuned to Rubbings Racing for live coverage on Twitter (@RubbingsRacing) and on the website rubbingsracing.com with a full recap of Saturday’s night action.
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