Kaleb Johnson won his first Knoxville feature Thursday at the 360 Nationals Opener (Paul Arch Photo) (Video Highlights from DirtVision.com)
by Bill Wright
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (August 1, 2024) – Kaleb Johnson led flag to flag on night #1 of the 34th Annual Xtream Powered by Mediacom 360 Knoxville Nationals Presented by Great Southern Bank. The Sioux Falls, South Dakota native earned his first win aboard the DGRD #6, giving that team their maiden victory at Knoxville as well. The win was worth $3,000, and Johnson is the thirteenth different first-time feature winner at Knoxville in 2024.
Johnso led from the pole position in the 18-lapper early, trailed by Kade Higday, Matt Covington, Austi McCarl and Emerson Axsom. Johnson used his preferred low line to pull away from the pack and enter lapped traffic on the ninth circuit. McCarl got by Covington for third at the halfway point.
Chase Randall was on the move after starting outside row six, and on lap twelve, advanced from sixth to fourth. His charge continued with a pass of McCarl with four to go for third. He reeled in Higday and passed him on the high side for second with two to go, but ran out of laps to catch Johnson.
Johnson’s win came ahead of Randall, Higday, Austin McCarl and Axsom. Justin Peck, Terry McCarl, Jamie Ball, Covington and Riley Goodno rounded out the top ten. Aaron Reutzel set quick time over the 54-car field, while Matt Juhl, Garet Williamson, Axsom, Hunter Schuerenberg and Tanner Holmes won heats. JJ Hickle won the C main, and Reutzel claimed the B.
Axsom leads the pack in points with 488 heading into Saturday’s final. Austin McCarl, Jamie Ball, Johnson and Terry McCarl make up the top five in points pending Friday’s qualifying night (complete points below).
“I think it definitely helped to start on the pole,” said an excited Johnson in Victory Lane. “I saw the moisture coming up on the bottom with the humidity. I’m a little tired, but I was going to make sure I wasn’t going to lose that one. I feel like I’ve had so many chances, not only here, but other places, and I just wasn’t able to do it. It was good to finally put a full night together.”
“I feel a lot better after that run,” said Randall of his hard-charger effort. “We were kind of chasing some issues all night. We just weren’t comfortable in the racecar. I think it ran a lot better there, passing a lot of good cars and getting up to second in that feature. I wish we had a yellow. I was really maneuverable in traffic and I wish I had a chance at Kaleb, but he did a good job and was way out there.”
“We’re really fast,” said Higday. “We just need to get better at the end of that race. We need to capitalize when we get to lapped traffic, and we were pretty bad there in that dirty air. That allowed Chase to get by us, and luckily we didn’t run fourth or fifth. I hope this sets us up decently.”
Join us Friday, August 2, for night #2 of the 34th Annual Xtream Powered by Mediacom 360 Knoxville Nationals Presented by Great Southern Bank. For tickets and more information on the Knoxville Raceway, visit us online at www.KnoxvilleRaceway.com or on Facebook.
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
1. Emerson Axsom 488
2. Austin McCarl 476
3. Jamie Ball 473
4. Kaleb Johnson 468
5. Terry McCarl 468
6. Kade Higday 465
7. Cole Macedo 462
8. Justin Peck 461
9. Matt Covington 460
10. Aaron Reutzel 460
11. Chase Randall 453
12. Riley Goodno 451
13. Seth Bergman 437
14. Hunter Schuerenberg 432
15. Matt Juhl 430
16. Cole Garner 425
17. Cam Martin 424
18. Garet Williamson 422
19. Brandon Anderson 420
20. Calvin Landis 413
21. Tanner Holmes 412
22. Jacob Hughes 407
23. Jason Martin 403
24. Blake Hahn 397
25. Chase Johnson 395
26. Ryan Leavitt 393
27. Shone Evans 382
28. Timothy Smith 378
29. Tony Rost 359
30. JJ Hickle 358
31. Ben Brown 352
32. Kelly Miller 349
33. Chris Martin 344
34. Danny Dietrich 337
35. Lance Moss 334
36. John Carney II 326
37. Landon Britt 323
38. Alan Zoutte 321
39. Brant O’Banion 315
40. Chase Brown 313
41. Zach Blurton 312
42. Corey Timmerman 309
43. Kurt Mueller 303
44. Weston Olson 300
45. Ryan Bickett 297
46. Kyler Johnson 279
47. Logan Alexander 272
48. Bryan Gossel 272
49. Micah Slendy 267
50. Terry Easum 259
51. Tyler Graves 258
52. Nathan Anderson 232
53. John Anderson 224
54. Gage Pulkrabek 213