This was a good Knoxville Nationals.
Yeah, but, Larson led all 50 laps again, and it wasn’t really a contest.
Sure, but you have to look past the feature and consider the event holistically.
Candidly, of all the Knoxville Nationals there have ever been, the feature of the 63rd running sure was one of them but when you take a step back and look at the event holistically from Wednesday to Saturday there was a great deal to enjoy.
The history of the Granddaddy of Them All is full of dominating performances and streaks like Kinzer and Schatz. The appeal of the Knoxville Nationals, like a lot of dirt half-mile racing in general, isn’t in thrilling back-and-forth duels.
That’s a bonus and not the expectation.
From the moment Kyle Larson selected No. 1 in his qualifying pill on Thursday, it became a fait accompli that he was winning this race, especially when he fended off Rico Abreu to win the overall prelim night. So, from a Larson standpoint, simply respect the greatness and look towards other elements of the week for what makes this such a compelling spectacle.
Gosh, there were no shortage of storylines, when you step back and look from 20,000 feet.
Donny Schatz had to race his way into the feature from Hard Knox Night while David Gravel and Brad Sweet were forced to advance through a B-Main that also included the likes of Justin Peck and James McFadden who all advanced over Brock Zearfoss, Dusty Zomer, Cory Eliason, Buddy Kofoid, Spencer Bayston and Cole Macedo.
That a national touring list of who’s who and was so dang fascinating to watch.
This is to say nothing of how Schatz made the feature in the first place, actually missing the cut to advance to his Hard Knox night feature until Jack Dover got disqualified for missing the scales, and handing the transfer to the 10-time Outlaws champion and 11-time Knoxville winner instead.
Tangible drama!
While Wednesday’s track was predictably, historically, generally untraceable, the track crew responded with a tremendous race track on Thursday and Friday; but also, most of Saturday too. The racing throughout the week was generally interesting, even if Lynton Jeffrey made the below convincing argument for why the racing could stand to be improved in one significant way.
It was an overall good show.
And that says nothing about those who attended in person and have the privilege of experiencing Dingus, the Iowa Beer Bus, the 55th annual (!!!) chicken feed, Brian Brown delivering Casey’s to literally anyone who wants a slice, Pella Haudenschild and all the other really freaking cool things about this town in early August.
Speaking of early August, it felt like late September all week, and one of the coziest race weeks in recent memory.
The much-debated format continues to get it right, at least for the most part, in that it took eight from Wednesday and eight from Thursday, an overall mix of Outlaws, High Rollers, locals and travelers too.
Could the race, in this era of parity stand to invert six instead of eight? Maybe. Let’s entertain that. How about 28 instead of 24 main event starters? Maybe, again, but that dilutes the process and prestige too.
Ultimately, when you evaluate the 63rd Knoxville Nationals holistically, it was a tremendously compelling week of racing with no shortage of drama, that ultimately produced the same winner three over the past four years.
It was earned and it was legitimate.
Isn’t that what we all wants, combined, from a sporting event?