Kaleb Johnson has been racing off and on at the Knoxville Raceway for the better part of five years. Thursday was as good of a time as any to win his first race of his career at the raceway during night one of the Extreme Powered by Mediacom 360 Knoxville Nationals. Johnson, who started from the pole, led from start to finish and never was really challenged even in lapped traffic. Johnson said in victory lane, he was thankful for owner Dennis Gainey to give him such a good car.
Johnson: “It means the world to me. He gave me a chance to let me work and maintain with my guys. Just a big thanks to the entire DGRD team.”
Chase Randall charged from 12th to 2nd and Kade Higday completed the podium. After night one Emerson Axsom leads the points with 488, Austin McCarl is 2nd with 476, Jamie Ball is 3rd with 473, and Johnson and Terry McCarl are 4th and 5th respectively with 468. The second half of the field will run tonight and the top 20 in points will lock into the Saturday night A-Main. Live coverage is on KNIA with Live Track Side at 5:00 and Race Nights Live at 7:00.
34th Annual Xtream Powered by Mediacom Knoxville 360 Nationals Presented by Great Southern Bank Night #1 Results
Time Trials (Qualifying Order), 2 laps: 1. 87, Aaron Reutzel, Clute, TX (7), 16.405; 2. 21T, Cole Macedo, Lemoore, CA (1), 16.509; 3. 27A, Emerson Axsom, Franklin, IN (44), 16.577; 4. 4, Cam Martin, Ankeny, IA (2), 16.627; 5. 23, Seth Bergman, Snohomish, WA (8), 16.705; 6. 4W, Jamie Ball, Knoxville, IA (18), 16.775; 7. 88, Austin McCarl, Altoona, IA (31), 16.821; 8. 01, Terry McCarl, Altoona, IA (19), 16.858; 9. 4G, Cole Garner, Sioux Falls, SD (6), 16.877; 10. 95, Matt Covington, Glenpool, OK (26), 16.903; 11. 27H, Justin Peck, Monrovia, IN (17), 16.911; 12. 24, Kade Higday, Pleasant Hill, IA (25), 16.915; 13. 87X, Shone Evans, Scotland, ONT, Can. (3), 16.949; 14. 6, Kaleb Johnson, Sioux Falls, SD (40), 16.968; 15. 22X, Riley Goodno, Knoxville, IA (36), 16.976; 16. 22, Ryan Leavitt, Knoxville, IA (28), 16.999; 17. 99, Tony Rost, Omaha, NE (34), 17.008; 18. 47, Brant O’Banion, Sioux Falls, SD (16), 17.04; 19. 70, Calvin Landis, Knoxville, IA (33), 17.045; 20. 86, Timothy Smith, Rocheport, MO (24), 17.051; 21. 55B, Brandon Anderson, Glenpool, OK (4), 17.093; 22. 2KS, Chase Randall, Waco, TX (49), 17.109; 23. 63, JJ Hickle, Quilcene, WA (52), 17.117; 24. 64, Hunter Schuerenberg, Sikeston, MO (43), 17.129; 25. 8H, Jacob Hughes, Hartford, SD (15), 17.136; 26. 09, Matt Juhl, Tea, SD (46), 17.185; 27. 23W, Garet Williamson, Columbia, MO (48), 17.185; 28. 52, Blake Hahn, Sapulpa, OK (22), 17.207; 29. 36, Jason Martin, Liberal, KS (37), 17.221; 30. 18T, Tanner Holmes, Jacksonville, OR (54), 17.235; 31. 2JR, Kelly Miller, Coaldale, ALB, Can. (39), 17.247; 32. 83, Kurt Mueller, Reynolds, IL (10), 17.252; 33. 4J, Chase Johnson, Penngrove, CA (38), 17.262; 34. 7B, Ben Brown, Marshall, MO (41), 17.276; 35. 45X, Kyler Johnson, Quinter, KS (11), 17.283; 36. 23M, Lance Moss, Cherryville, NC (23), 17.285; 37. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (47), 17.299; 38. 33, Alan Zoutte, Knoxville, IA (9), 17.299; 39. 10B, Landon Britt, Memphis, TN (35), 17.329; 40. 20T, Corey Timmerman, Burlington, IA (32), 17.372; 41. 17B, Ryan Bickett, Ramona, SD (29), 17.399; 42. 48, Danny Dietrich, Gettysburg, PA (42), 17.448; 43. 55X, Chase Brown, Yutan, NE (50), 17.455; 44. 27W, Weston Olson, Warren, MN (20), 17.510; 45. 2J, Zach Blurton, Great Bend, KS (27), 17.513; 46. 6G, Bryan Gossel, Windsor, CO (14), 17.537; 47. 38, Logan Alexander, Lacona, IA (13), 17.537; 48. J2, John Carney II, El Paso, TX (53), 17.539; 49. 8X, Micah Slendy, Sioux Falls, SD (45), 18.017; 50. T4, Tyler Graves, Chariton, IA (5), 18.023 / 51. 17N, Nathan Anderson, Newton, IA (21), 18.036; 52. 88E, Terry Easum, Broken Arrow, OK (51), 18.082; 53. 1A, John Anderson, Des Moines, IA (12), 18.333; 54. G5, Gage Pulkrabek, East Grand Forks, MN (30), 18.534
Heat one (started), 8 Laps, 2:20.2: 1. Matt Juhl (1); 2. Jamie Ball (5); 3. Brandon Anderson (2); 4. Justin Peck (4) / 5. Aaron Reutzel (6); 6. Ryan Leavitt (3); 7. Lance Moss (8); 8. Kelly Miller (7) / 9. Bryan Gossel (10); 10. Ryan Bickett (9);
Heat two (started), 8 Laps, 2:18.2: 1. Garet Williamson (1); 2. Chase Randall (2); 3. Austin McCarl (5); 4. Kade Higday (4) / 5. Cole Macedo (6); 6. Tony Rost (3); 7. Chris Martin (8); 8. Danny Dietrich (9) / 9. Logan Alexander (10); 10. Kurt Mueller (7)
Heat three (started), 9 Laps, NT: 1. Emerson Axsom (6); 2. Blake Hahn (1); 3. Terry McCarl (5); 4. Chase Johnson (7) / 5. John Carney II (10); 6. Chase Brown (9); 7. Shone Evans (4); 8. Alan Zoutte (8) / 9. JJ Hickle (2); 10. Brant O’Banion (3)
Heat four (started), 8 Laps, 2:54.6: 1. Hunter Schuerenberg (2); 2. Jason Martin (1); 3. Kaleb Johnson (4); 4. Calvin Landis (3) / 5. Cam Martin (6); 6. Cole Garner (5); 7. Ben Brown (7); 8. Landon Britt (8) / 9. Weston Olson (9); 10. Micah Slendy (10)
Heat five (started), 8 Laps, 2:21.9: 1. Tanner Holmes (1); 2. Riley Goodno (4); 3. Matt Covington (5); 4. Jacob Hughes (2) / 5. Timothy Smith (3); 6. Seth Bergman (6); 7. Zach Blurton (9); 8. Corey Timmerman (8) / 9. Tyler Graves (10); 10. Kyler Johnson (7)
C main (started), 10 Laps, 3:00.7: 1. JJ Hickle (2); 2. Ryan Bickett (3); 3. Weston Olson (4); 4. Terry Easum (10) / 5. Kurt Mueller (1); 6. Micah Slendy (7); 7. Logan Alexander (6); 8. Bryan Gossel (5); 9. John Anderson (11); 10. Nathan Anderson (9); 11. Tyler Graves (8); 12. Gage Pulkrabek (12) DNS – 13. Brant O’Banion; 14. Kyler Johnson
B main, 12 Laps, NT: 1. Aaron Reutzel (1); 2. Cole Macedo (2); 3. Cole Garner (5); 4. Seth Bergman (4) / 5. Cam Martin (3); 6. Danny Dietrich (17); 7. Ryan Leavitt (7); 8. Ben Brown (11); 9. Chris Martin (13); 10. John Carney II (20); 11. Kelly Miller (10); 12. Timothy Smith (9); 13. JJ Hickle (21); 14. Shone Evans (6); 15. Lance Moss (12); 16. Landon Britt (15); 17. Zach Blurton (19); 18. Alan Zoutte (14); 19. Terry Easum (24); 20. Chase Brown (18); 21. Weston Olson (0); 22. Corey Timmerman (16); 23. Tony Rost (8); 24. Ryan Bickett (22)
A main (started), 20 Laps, 6:04.5: 1. Kaleb Johnson (1); 2. Chase Randall (12); 3. Kade Higday (2); 4. Austin McCarl (6); 5. Emerson Axsom (8); 6. Justin Peck (3); 7. Terry McCarl (5); 8. Jamie Ball (7); 9. Matt Covington (4); 10. Riley Goodno (9); 11. Matt Juhl (15); 12. Hunter Schuerenberg (13); 13. Cole Macedo (22); 14. Garet Williamson (16); 15. Aaron Reutzel (21); 16. Tanner Holmes (19); 17. Chase Johnson (20); 18. Brandon Anderson (11); 19. Jacob Hughes (14); 20. Jason Martin (18); 21. Seth Bergman (24); 22. Calvin Landis (10); 23. Cole Garner (23); 24. Blake Hahn (17). Lap Leader: K. Johnson 1-20. Hard-charger: Randall.
Thursday Points
Emerson Axsom 488
Austin McCarl 476
Jamie Ball 473
Kaleb Johnson 468
Terry McCarl 468
Kade Higday 465
Cole Macedo 462
Justin Peck 461
Matt Covington 460
Aaron Reutzel 460
Chase Randall 453
Riley Goodno 451
Seth Bergman 437
Hunter Schuerenberg 432
Matt Juhl 430
Cole Garner 425
Cam Martin 424
Garet Williamson 422
Brandon Anderson 420
Calvin Landis 413
Tanner Holmes 412
Jacob Hughes 407
Jason Martin 403
Blake Hahn 397
Chase Johnson 395
Ryan Leavitt 393
Shone Evans 382
Timothy Smith 378
Tony Rost 359
JJ Hickle 358
Ben Brown 352
Kelly Miller 349
Chris Martin 344
Danny Dietrich 337
Lance Moss 334
John Carney II 326
Landon Britt 323
Alan Zoutte 321
Brant O’Banion 315
Chase Brown 313
Zach Blurton 312
Corey Timmerman 309
Kurt Mueller 303
Weston Olson 300
Ryan Bickett 297
Kyler Johnson 279
Logan Alexander 272
Bryan Gossel 272
Micah Slendy 267
Terry Easum 259
Tyler Graves 258
Nathan Anderson 232
John Anderson 224
Gage Pulkrabek 213