The biggest Sprint Car race in the World is this week

More than 100 of the most successful Sprint Car drivers on the planet have descended upon the Iowa plains for a chance at the $190,000 main event prize and a share of the overall $1.165 million purse in a race rightfully called The Granddaddy of Them All.

It’s the Knoxville Nationals.

Kyle Larson, who has arguably become the face of North American motorsports this decade, is chasing his third win in four years in the biggest race of the season. He would become the first repeat winner since 10-time World of Outlaws champion Donny Schatz accomplish the feat in 2006 and 2007.

Winning a third would put Larson in the company of Steve Kinser (12), Donny Schatz (11), Doug Wolfgang (five), Kenny Weld (four), Danny Lasoski, (four), and Mark Kinser (three) as the seventh with at least three Knoxville Nationals wins on their résumé.

Speaking of Schatz, the Tony Stewart Racing driver and 10-time WoO champion should also be primed to contend for his 12th win in the event after winning most recently in 2022 and scoring a podium in the race last season. Schatz is also second in the World of Outlaws standings.

Brad Sweet, the five-time World of Outlaws champion, is currently leading the High Limit Racing standings in his first season since launching the breakaway tour with Larson and FloRacing. The Big Cat won in 2018, podiumed in 2015 and 2021, and has been in the top 10 in eight of his 11 starts on Championship Saturday.

World of Outlaws points leader David Gravel won the race in 2019 and is very much at the top of his game right now inside the Big Game Motorsports No. 2. They have won 13 World of Outlaws victories, including one at Knoxville in June, and also won the second biggest race of the season in the Kings Royal at Eldora last month.

Beyond Larson, Schatz, Sweet and Gravel, the 108-car entry list also features 1983 winner Sammy Swindell, 2005 winner Kraig Kinser and 2010 winner Tim Shaffer.

This is all a testament to how hard it is to win this race because only 27 drivers have won over 62 runnings and this race tends to be dominated over decade long streaks, one that Larson very much looks capable of building upon since 2020.

But there are no shortage of breakout candidates entering the week.

Rico Abreu was running second to Larson early in the feature last year before he broke out of the mix. He won the Capitani Classic at Knoxville on Sunday, the annual final tune-up race before the biggest week of the season. The No. 24 has also become one of the annual threats to win anywhere it goes especially since Abreu hired Ricky Warner as crew chief last season.

Carson Macedo has experienced a topsy-turvy season, at times the Jason Johnson No. 41 looking like the best team in the discipline and at times struggling to break into the top-10 each night. But there is a legacy at play here with the late Johnson winning the race in 2016 and Gravel winning the race for the team in 2019. Last year, Macedo won his prelim night and finished fifth in the finale.  

No one has a higher ceiling and a lower floor simultaneously than Sheldon Haudenschild with million dollar man Logan Schuchart, Buddy Kofoid, Corey Day, Brent Marks and Tyler Courtney all being good bets to contend on Championship Saturday Night too.

The full week airs on DirtVision.

Wednesday and Thursday Nights

Order of Events: Hot laps, Qualifications, 5 Heats, C Main, B Main, 25-lap feature.
Qualifications: 200 points are awarded for quick timer, 198 for second quick, 196 for third, etc.

Only the top 50 qualifiers each night make the heats, the rest are put in the last chance heats if needed in which the first eight finishers will fill the back of that night’s C feature (starting in the sixth row). If there are 10 or fewer cars not making the heats, they will line straight up by time starting in the sixth row. The quickest will be given 50 points, the next 47, etc.

Last Chance Heats (for drivers out of the top 50 in Qual.): 50 points awarded to the winner, 47 for 2nd, etc.
Heats: 100 points are awarded for the heat race winner, points go down by three for each position: 97, 94, 91, 88, etc.

Heats are inverted by eight. For most of the history of this format, the top 10 were inverted. This sets up the best racing of the week as only the top four finishers transfer to the A Main. Fifth through eighth go to the B Main, finishing positions 9-10 go to the C Main.

C Main: Top four finishers go to back of the B. Fifth place is worth 92 pts., 6th is 90, etc.
B Main: The top four finishers transfer to the tail of the A. The B awards 142 points for fifth, 140 for sixth and so on by twos.
A Main: The A Main points are the same as time trials: 200, 198, 196 etc. This explains how a driver cannot make the A, but if he timed well may have more points than someone who did make the A. The invert for the A Main is eight.

First tiebreaker is finish position in respective main event. Next tie breaker is rank in time trial. The third tiebreaker is pill draw. Other tie breaking criteria may be implemented if needed.

A perfect score (quick time, heat win, feature win) is 500.

The top 16 in combined points from Wednesday and Thursday are locked into Saturday’s Championship feature. 

Teams ranking 17th-26th in points are awarded the first 10 positions in the Saturday B Main. The rest of the field comes back for racing on Friday.

Hard Knox Friday

Drivers who find themselves not locked into Saturday’s A-Main have a second chance to qualify for the finale. The top-four finishers in Friday’s feature event will fill positions 21-24 in Saturday night’s feature lineup.

The top four finishers in Saturday’s B main receive starting spots 17-20.

Friday’s event will consist of split field qualifying, 6 heats, C Main, two B Main’s and the Hard Knox 25-lap feature.

Championship Saturday

Events: 10-lap E Main, 12-lap D Main, 15-lap C Main, 22-lap B Main and the 50-lap Knoxville Nationals Championship feature.

The B, C, D and E Main will take the top four finishers to the tail of the next event (if there are scratches, there may be more taken for a particular event).

The 50-lap feature crowns a champion.

Entry Lists

Wednesday Qualifying Night

1 Sammy Swindell, Germantown, TN (C)
1a Jacob Allen, Hanover, PA
1M Don Droud, Jr., Lincoln, NE
J2 John Carney II, El Paso, TX
2 David Gravel, Watertown, CT (C)
2K Kevin Ingle, Huron, SD
2KS Chase Randall, Waco, TX
2X Lynton Jeffrey, Sydney, NSW, Aust.
3P Sawyer Phillips, Pleasantville, IA
3Z Brock Zearfoss, Jonestown, PA
4W Jamie Ball, Knoxville, IA
G5 Gage Pulkrabek, East Grand Forks, ND
6B Brandon Wimmer, Fairmount, IN
6W Dustin Selvage, Indianola, IA
8H Jacob Hughes, Hartford, SD (R)
09 Matt Juhl, Tea, SD
9 Kasey Kahne, Enumclaw, WA
9P Parker Price-Miller, Kokomo, IN
10 Scott Bogucki, McLaren Vale, SA, Aust.
10V Brian Paulus, Six Mile, SC
11N Kasey Jedrezek, Lagrange, OH (R)
13 Justin Peck, Monrovia, IN
14 Corey Day, Clovis, CA
14J Jack Dover, Springfield, NE
15 Donny Schatz, Fargo, ND (C)
15H Sam Hafertepe, Jr., Sunnyvale, TX
15J Jack Potter, Lee’s Summit, MO
15JR Cole Mincer, Burlington, IA
17 Sheldon Haudenschild, Wooster, OH
17GP Cale Thomas, Fairland, IN
18T Tanner Holmes, Jacksonville, OR
19 Brent Marks, Myerstwon, PA
19H Joel Myers, Jr., Santa Rosa, CA (R)
20 A.J. Moeller, Rockwell City, IA
21T Cole Macedo, Lemoore, CA
22 Riley Goodno, Knoxville, IA
23 Garet Williamson, Columbia, MO
23L Jimmy Light, Indianapolis, IN
23M Lance Moss, Cherryville, NC
24T Christopher Thram, Sanborn, MN
26 Zeb Wise, Angola, IN
27 Carson McCarl, Altoona, IA
39M Anthony Macri, Dillsburg, PA
44 Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA
45X Jace Park, Overland Park, KS (R)
48 Danny Dietrich, Gettysburg, PA
49X Tim Shaffer, Aliquippa, PA (C)
52 Blake Hahn, Sapulpa, OK
55 Kerry Madsen, St. Mary’s, NSW, Aust.
55t McKenna Haase, Des Moines, IA
70 Kraig Kinser, Bloomington, IN (C)
73 Scotty Thiel, Sheboygan, WI
83 Michael Kofoid, Penngrove, CA
87 Aaron Reutzel, Clute, TX
99 Skylar Gee, Leduc, ALB, Can.
101 Kalib Henry, Sacramento, CA

Thursday Qualifying Night

1 Tasker Phillips, Pleasantville, IA
1C Brenham Crouch, Lubbock, TX
1s Logan Schuchart, Hanover, PA
2M Ryan Giles, Grimes, IA
3 Tim Kaeding, San Jose, CA
3G Ayrton Gennetten, Gravois Mills, MO
3J Dusty Zomer, Sioux Falls, SD
3N Jake Neuman, New Berlin, IL
5 Spencer Bayston, Lebanon, IN
6 Bill Rose Racing
7BC Tyler Courtney, Indianapolis, IN
7s Landon Crawley, Benton, AR (R)
8 Cory Eliason, Visalia, CA
9H Landon Hansen, Newton, IA
12X Ricky Peterson Jr., Rawson, OH
13JT Mark Dobmeier, Grand Forks, ND
14T Brooke Tatnell, Sans Souci, NSW, Aust.
17B Bill Balog, Hartland, WI
18 Giovanni Scelzi, Fresno, CA
19s Hunter Schuerenberg, Sikeston, MO
21 Brian Brown, Grain Valley, CA
21H Brady Bacon, Broken Arrow, OK
22x J.J. Hickle, Quilcene, WA
23R Ryan Roberts, Aurora, NE
24 Terry McCarl, Altoona, IA
24D Danny Sams, III, North Port, FL (R)
24R Rico Abreu, St. Helena, CA
25 TBA-Deuce5 Motorsports
27A Emerson Axsom, Franklin, IN (R)
27B Jake Bubak, Arvada, CO
27w Weston Olson, Warren, MN (R)
28 Joe Perry, Billings, MT
33W Cap Henry, Republic, OH
35 Zach Hampton, Mooresville, IN
36 Jason Martin, Liberal, KS
41 Carson Macedo, Lemoore, CA
42 Sye Lynch, Apollo, PA
44X Scotty Johnson, Melcher-Dallas, IA (R)
49 Brad Sweet, Grass Valley, CA (C)
49J Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA
53 Jessie Attard, Landilo, NSW, Aust.
55c Chris Windom, Canton, IL
57 Kyle Larson, Elk Grove, CA (C)
58 Kaleb Johnson, Sioux Falls, SD
65 Jordan Goldeberry, Springfield, IL
69K Daryn Pittman, Owasso, OK
74 Xavier Doney, Odessa, MO (R)
83JR James McFadden, Alice Springs, NT, Aust.
87 Aaron Reutzel, Clute, TX
88 Austin McCarl, Altoona, IA
88T Tanner Thorson, Broken Arrow, OK
91 Kyle Reinhardt, Neptune City, NJ
95 Tyler Drueke, Eagle, NE