McCarl wins second qualifying night of 360 Knoxville Nationals
Friday, August 7, 2009
By Stacy Ervin
Terry McCarl only led one lap of the 20-lap main event but it was the only one that really counted. The Iowa native won the second 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 Friday, August 7. The victory was worth $3,000.
Polesitter Brian Brown led the first 19 laps, leaving all the other action in his dust. Early in the race, McCarl, who started seventh, had to pick his way through fast competitors who were racing each other with a vengeance.
Outside front-row starter Travis Rilat held second until Gregg Bakker began giving serious chase. However, the yellow flag came out at lap four when Ben Gregg and Don Young got together in turn one. Zach Chappell also came to the work area at that time with a stuck throttle. Also at that time, a light sprinkle began to fall over the speedway.
When the race resumed, Brown again jumped out to his lead while Rilat and Jack Dover exchanged second spot each lap until Dover slowed at lap 10 with a mechanical failure.
After that yellow flag, Brown got the lead again but McCarl put a slider on Rilat for second. McCarl began to make a serious charge on Brown at lap 16. Lapped traffic played a factor when the laps wound down.
Brown looked to be on his way to victory, but when he came out of four to the checkered flags, McCarl made his move and it paid off in a big way.
Cale Conley set the fastest time of the night’s 59 competitors with a lap of 15.973. That was a new track record for one lap of 360 racing. Jack Dover was the first car to come out for time trials and the first to break the track record with a 15.977. Those were the only two drivers under the previous record and the only two to turn laps in the 15-second bracket for this event.
Heat races were won by Zach Chappell, Ryan Roberts, Dusty Zomer, Tim Crawley and Ben Gregg. Joe McCarthy won the C-Main, but then went for a flip at the beginning of the B-Main. Cale Conley won the B-Main.
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