Shane Stewart may have been living by the philosophy of the late John Wooden when he told his U-C-L-A basketball teams be quick but don’t hurry. Stewart waited until the opportune time to make his move and drove by Kraig Kinser on the final lap to get the second qualifying night win of the 54th Annual Knoxville Nationals last night. Stewart said he was surprised that Kinser left the bottom open. Kinser wound up second with Mark Dobmeier in third place. The championship A-Main is set and due to a near perfect night for Donny Schatz, he will start on the pole for tonight’s A-Main with Stewart in the front row. Kerry Madsen and Brian Brown will start on the second row. Knoxville weekly driver Ryan Bunton, who did not have an engine two weeks ago and blew one on Thursday night, locked it into his first ever Nationals A-Main in 16th spot. There is one more show for the non-qualifiers this morning at 11 and then the championships tonight. You can hear all the action on KNIA/KRLS today at 11 and later tonight at five with Live Track Side and seven with Race Night’s Live.
A-Main
1. Shane Stewart
2. Kraig Kinser
3. Mark Dobmeier
4. Donny Schatz
5. David Gravel
6. Craig Dollansky
7. Justin Henderson
8. Brooke Tatnell
9. Lee Jacobs
10. Danny Dietrich
11. Don Droud Jr.
12. Greg Hodnett
13. Daryn Pittman
14. Davey Heskin
15. Sammy Swindell
16. Wayne Johnson
17. Brad Sweet
18. Randy Hannagan
19. Tim Kaeding
20. Tony Bruce Jr.
21. Greg Wilson
22. Josh Hodges
23. Jac Haudenschild
24. Tim Shaffer
Championship A-Main Starters:
A main
1. 15, Donny Schatz 492
2. 2, Shane Stewart 491
3. 29, Kerry Madsen 491
4. 21, Brian Brown 485
5. 51, Paul McMahan 484
6. 24, Terry McCarl 481
7. 7, Craig Dollansky 481
8. 1D, Justin Henderson 472
9. 11K, Kraig Kinser 471
10. 83, David Gravel 471
11. 13, Mark Dobmeier 464
12. 15H, Sam Hafertepe Jr. 457
13. 71m, Joey Saldana 454
14. 82, Bryan Clauson 444
15. 1, Sammy Swindell 443
16. 6R, Ryan Bunton 443
17. 9, Daryn Pittman 441
18. 4, Cody Darrah 437
19. 51s, Stevie Smith 434
20. 45, Tim Shaffer 434