8/7/02
Knoxville Raceway
Nationals, Night One
55 cars
Joey Saldana (26th car to time) set the mark at 15.218 seconds in qualifications and with it earned 200 points. Daryn Pittman (23rd) was second quick, followed by Craig Dollansky (24th), Tim Shaffer (49th), Brian Paulus (41st), Kasey Kahne (25th), Toni Lutar (2nd), Sean Michael (44th) and Paul McMahan (6th). Drawing an early pill was not as important as usual as the track stayed pretty heavy. Troy Meyer looked to have motor problems after hot laps and was done for the night. Gerald Cressman never took to the track. Tommy Tarlton got into the wall a bit after completing his second lap when the left rear tire came off the rim. Skip Jackson went through an engine change as he lost one and got only one lap in. Robert Bell suffered a left rear flat.
Heat one (started): 1. Steve Kinser 11 (8) 2. Saldana 17 (10) 3. Ed Lynch Jr. 2L (9) 4. Jon Agan 4 (4) / 5. Chris Walraven 56 (6) 6. Michael Dupuy 4m (7) 7. Colin Northway 12 (5) 8. Ty Bartz 75 (1) / 9. Brooke Tatnell 66 (3) 10. DNS - Jeff Johnson (2)
S. Kinser and Saldana were benefited by Jeff Johnson's absence as they moved up a row on the start. Lynch was not as lucky and did a great job of picking off cars using the low side of the raceway. Bartz was running fifth when he spun bringing out a yellow on lap four. Tatnell went up in smoke on lap seven and ducked in the pits.
Heat two (started): 1. Lance Dewease 77 (8) 2. Pittman 21 (10) 3. John Lambertz 12L (2) 4. Fred Rahmer 88H (7) / 5. Chad Meyer 1w (6) 6. Mike Moore 69 (1) 7. Kahne 51K (9) 8. Bob Bennett 3 (5) / 9. Doug Wilson 33w (4) 10. Tarlton 21T (3)
Dewease was very strong and got to the front in a hurry in the non-stop event. Rahmer worked hard to get around Moore and Meyer to garner the final transfer into the A main.
Heat three (started): 1. Jason Sides 7s (8) 2. Calvin Landis 70 (5) 3. Dollansky 7 (10) 4. Brad Furr 2 (7) / 5. Gary Wright 9 (4) 6. Shane Hunter 8s (2) 7. Lutar 4x (9) 8. Leonard Lee 16L (6) / 9. David Murcott 20m (3) 10. Jason Johnson 44 (1)
Dollansky got off to a horrible start when Lee and Landis made contact, so he came to a stop in turn one to get a restart. Sides made his move early on the low side getting into the top three in the first lap. Landis did a fine job of moving forward, as well as Dollansky.
Heat four (started): 1. Josh Higday 24H (4) 2. Shaffer 83 (10) 3. Skip Jackson 21x (5) 4. Jason Johnson 41 (6) / 5. Michael 1z (9) 6. Terry Pletch 29T (2) 7. Jeff Shepard 92 (7) 8. Dennis Moore Jr. 71 (8) / 9. John VanDenBerg V10 (3) 10. Scott Fokken 1FX (1)
Higday who won the 360 Tournament of Champions on Sunday, picked up where he left off in impressive fashion over Shaffer, who was really coming on at the end. Michael got crossed up trying to pass Pletch and let Jason Johnson get by him with two laps to go. He ran out of time in trying to catch him.
Heat five (started): 1. Danny Wood 6 (7) 2. Mike Reinke 17R (6) 3. McMahan U2 (9) 4. Kenny Jacobs 6K (8) / 5. Tim Kaeding 35w (5) 6. Paulus 28 (10) 7. Ralph Spithaler Jr. 56x (3) 8. Bobby Mincer 15m (2) / 9. Derek Beckman 50D (4) 10. Doug Strong 43 (1)
Wood was a rocket getting to the front. Reinke disposed of the first three rows for second, McMahan and Jacobs had all they could handle with each other, and Kaeding, who was a close fifth. Beckman was running second when he spun on lap four.
C main (started): 1. Tatnell (3) 2. Wilson (1) / 3. Tarlton (4) 4. VanDenBerg (6) 5. Beckman (2) 6. Jeff Johnson (7) 7. Fokken (9) 8. J. Anderson (11) 9. Bell (13) 10. Strong (10) 11. Hildreth (12) 12. Jason Johnson 44 (8) 13. Murcott (5) DNS - T. Meyer 11m, Cressman 56c
Tatnell led flag to flag in an event that had one caution for a spun Murcott on lap six. He was running fourth at the time and retired.
B main (started): 1. Paulus (1) 2. Kahne (2) 3. Shepard (7) 4. D. Moore (5) / 5. Tatnell (21) 6. C. Meyer (9) 7. Northway (11) 8. Lutar (3) 9. Lee (8) 10. Mincer (16) 11. Walraven (6) 12. Bennett (10) 13. Hunter (14) 14. Spithaler (15) 15. Wilson (20) 16. Bartz (19) 17. Kaeding (13) 18. Dupuy (4) 19. M. Moore (18) 20. Wright (12) 21. Pletch (17) DNS - Michael
A tough break for Michael as he didn't have enough time to change his motor prior to the B starting. Paulus led the distance with Kahne behind. This is the first time four cars have been brought from the B on a qualifying night. Four spots weren't enough for Tatnell who passed sixteen cars to finish fifth. Pletch exited right away, ahead of Wright on lap four. Dupuy was running a strong third, when he left the chase on lap eight. Kaeding was done on lap nine. M. Moore stopped the event on lap seven when something broke in the front end, sending his nose directly into the gumbo. He did a series of flips, but was uninjured.
A main (started): 1. S. Kinser (2) 2. Saldana (8) 3. Dewease (1) 4. Shaffer (5) 5. Dollansky (6) 6. Pittman (7) 7. McMahan (3) 8. Shepard (23) 9. Furr (12) 10. Sides (9) 11. Rahmer (11) 12. Lynch (4) 13. Wood (13) 14. K. Jacobs (10) 15. Jackson (17) 16. Jason Johnson 41 (14) 17. Kahne (22) 18. Landis (16) 19. Reinke (15) 20. Higday (19) 21. Lambertz (20) 22. Agan (18) 23. Paulus (21) 24. D. Moore (24)
S. Kinser took the early lead, until Saldana came up in a few laps from nowhere to take the front on the low side. The two battled tooth and nail for 14 laps with Dewease a close third. Lap 14 saw Paulus blow his right rear, which broke some rods and ended his race. While under caution, D. Moore also retired with mechanical problems. Saldana led S. Kinser and Dewease on the restart. The two battled, but Saldana held the point. With two laps to go, it appeared Dewease would crawl under both drivers, but S. Kinser slammed the door and killed Lance's momentum. S. Kinser quickly recovered and passed Saldana with a terrific move. Dewease was coming on the cushion, but fell just short of the first pair. Shaffer passed Dollansky for fourth on the final circuit. Shepard moved up 15 positions to come home eighth.