Wayne Johnson wins opening night qualifier for 360 Knoxville Nationals
Thursday, August 6, 2009
By Stacy Ervin
Wayne Johnson hasn’t exactly had the best racing season of his career in 2009. But he made up for that with a win in the opening night qualifying event for the 19th Annual Arnold Motor Supply 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Vermeer.
The win came in the ASCS sanctioned event at the Knoxville Raceway on Thursday, August 6, and was worth $3,000. It was a good start on his quest to be the first driver to win this event three times.
Johnson started fifth, ran down early leader Shane Stewart and took the lead at the halfway point in the Fattfro Maxim.
There was lots of drama before this 20-lap race ever got going. Dale Blaney was scheduled to start sixth but could not get his car to fire and stayed in the infield when the green dropped. However, a flip by Matt Covington in turn one on the start brought out the red flag. Matt Moro was also involved. Eric Baldaccini also made a trip to the work area to check his car over as he drove between the two. Blaney’s crew gambled and changed an MSD box, but the car still would not fire.
Stewart, who started third, took the early lead when the race went green. But the yellow soon returned when Moro stopped in turn three after two laps. After the restart, Johnson made his way to third. The next time around, he made his move to second.
The yellow came out again at lap eight when Lee Grosz spun in turn one. When the race resumed, Stewart led a lap and then Johnson put a slide job on him in turn one to take the lead at the halfway point.
From there, Johnson never looked back, as he came into lapped traffic at lap 16. It wasn’t an easy route to victory lane though, as Justin Henderson slowed to pull into the pits just as Johnson was coming off of turn four to the checkered flags. No contact was made, though, and Johnson went on to the win.
Stewart held on for second. Billy Alley charged up to third.
Billy Alley posted the fastest time trial of the night’s 52 competitors at 16.142. Heat races were won by Nate Van Haaften, Wayne Johnson, Kaley Gharst, Shane Stewart and Jon Agan. Brad Barickman won the C-Main. Johnny Anderson won the B-Main.
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