8/8/2013
Sprint Source
Gravel Powers to Opening Night Win at FVP Knoxville Nationals
World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car rookie edges Sweet; Stewart leads points
KNOXVILLE, Iowa. - Aug. 7, 2013 - David Gravel earned the biggest victory of his young career when he drove around Greg Hodnett early then held off Brad Sweet to the checkered flag during Wednesday's opening night of the 53rd FVP Knoxville Nationals featuring the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series at Knoxville Raceway.
Gravel, the leading contender for the series' Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Award, got off to a stellar to start. Taking the green in fourth, he was in second by the end of the first lap when a caution then flew as Johnny Herrera's machine rolled to a stop on the front stretch. On the restart, Gravel shot to the lead on the low side of turn one around Greg Hodnett. The start, however, was called back as Shane Stewart hit the orange cone, leading to a caution to assess the penalty.
On the following restart Hodnett went to the bottom to defend the line. Gravel then shot to the top, and after another lap and a half used his momentum to swing the FMR Racing-sponsored car to the lead. Gravel led the rest of the race nearly unchallenged until the final front stretch run, where his car stumbled from running out of fuel.
Kings Royal champion Brad Sweet finished second after starting fifth. Tim Kaeding worked his Roth Enterprises KPC up to the third spot after starting 12th. World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series championship leader Daryn Pittman finished fifth in the feature event after starting dead-last in 24th, earning the KSE Hard Charger award.
Gravel, 21, started off the night by qualifying 11th out of 49 cars. Paul McMahan, who is the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series leading qualifier, collected the fast time award again in the CJB Motorsports car, earning an important 200 event points with a 15.210 second qualifying effort. Kraig Kinser's night would start off poorly as his motor shut off after his qualifying lap and qualified 30th. That would only be the beginning of his motor problems that night.
Gravel's win came with a few tight squeezes in lapped traffic.
"There were definitely a few close calls," said the driver of the Bill Rose Racing J&J. "This has to be my biggest win, the biggest stage and the most people watching. Everyone wants to win here, and I've been close a few times so to finally get one is amazing. With three to go we started running out of fuel and just limped to the finish line."
Sweet had a strong run, but was never able to mount a charge to challenge for the lead.
"We have been good here in the past, but last year we kind of struggled," said Sweet, driver of the Kasey Kahne Racing Ollie's Bargain Outlet car. "We've been here for a few weeks here practicing. We had a really close heat race and it was nice to finish second in the feature so that we lock ourselves in on Saturday and that's what it is all about. He was basically nowhere to be seen after the restart and I was just racing for second. Saturday night is a whole different story with a 50-lap feature and that's what it is all about."
Kaeding used a last-lap pass to secure a podium finish.
"Greg kind of got stuck behind a lapped car and we just committed to the top and we were able to roll around him there," said Kaeding, of San Jose, Calif. "Starting 12th you put yourself a little deep and we worked our way through it. Hopefully we can make it into the main event Saturday. Hopefully we don't have to run Friday, just the Speed Sport News World Challenge and that's about the only thing we've got Friday, then roll into the track Saturday and work on making the feature event."
Heat racing action was wild with eight spot inversions for the five heat races. Paul McMahan earned a feature starting spot by finishing fourth after starting eighth. Neither Donny Schatz nor Daryn Pittman would be so lucky. Both drivers started seventh in their respective heats and were unable to finish in the top four, relegating them to the Last Chance Showdown
As Pittman earned the hard charger award in the A-Main, Schatz was also on the move. Starting 23rd, he advanced 13 positions to finish tenth as he attempts to win his seventh FVP Knoxville Nationals title in the past eight years.
Shane Stewart, who won at Knoxville last weekend, finished sixth in Wednesday's feature event, but combined it with a fourth-place qualifying effort and a second-place finish in heat race action to tie Justin Henderson atop the event point standings with 481 points. Stewart owns the tie-breaker of best feature finish. Sweet collected 480 for third most points while McMahan and Gravel rounded out the top 5.
World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series championship standings will be unaffected this week as the drivers will be awarded a flat 75 points due to the unique format of the FVP Knoxville Nationals.
The second half of the field competes Thursday night, including Outlaws Steve Kinser, Joey Saldana, Cody Darrah, Kerry Madsen and Craig Dollansky, who is coming off a victory in the Ironman 55 at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55.
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