From Bill Wright / knoxvilleraceway.com
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (September 15, 2022) – Shane Clanton went wire to wire to win on night #1 of the 18th Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals at Knoxville Raceway Thursday night. It was the Zebulon, Georgia native’s second career win at the famous half-mile, as he pocketed $7,000. Jonathan Davenport emerged as the high point getter on the night (full points below). Drivers will take the best of their two point totals on Thursday and Friday qualifying nights.
Clanton led from his pole position from the outset of the 25-lap main event ahead of Hudson O’Neal, Earl Pearson Jr., Tad Pospisil and Tim McCreadie. Jonathan Davenport jumped from sixth to fourth on lap two, and then claimed third from Pearson on the third circuit.
Chris Madden slowed to the bottom of turn one to bring a caution three laps in. Clanton led O’Neal, Davenport, Pearson and McCreadie back to green. On lap five, Pearson used the high side of two to get back by Davenport for third.
One more caution appeared 11 laps in when O’Neal’s strong second place run ended with rear-end issues. Brandon Sheppard shot by McCreadie to the fourth spot on that restart. Clanton entered lapped traffic with just five laps to go, but never wavered to the checkers.
Pearson followed Clanton to the stripe, with Davenport, Sheppard and Kyle Strickler in tow. McCreadie, Jimmy Owens, Ryan Gustin, Brian Shirley and Chase Junghans rounded out the top ten. Spencer Hughes and Brandon Overton set quick time over their respective groups. Clanton, Madden, Gustin, Junghans, Aaron Marrant and Stormy Scott won heat races. Mike Marlar and Garrett Alberson won B mains.
“The car was phenomenal in the race there,” said Clanton in Victory Lane. “We made some changes, because of what we did to (teammate) Tyler’s (Bruening) car there. If it wasn’t for him, and the changes we made for him, I may not have won the race. We just adjusted the shocks. We just tweaked it here and there. Our car was fast to begin the night, and we made the right adjustments.”
“We qualified good and run good in our heat,” said Pearson. “The car was good there. It was kind of top dominant tonight. Hopefully, the track will be different tomorrow where we can move around a little bit. Hudson broke there, and Davenport drove me clean. Second was good enough…we’ll try again tomorrow, but we had a good points night, and good starting spot for Saturday anyway.”
“We had a really fast racecar there,” said Davenport. “The top was definitely the place to be in that race, but I felt like I could move around the middle and bottom too. I felt really comfortable, so hopefully, we can carry that through the rest of the weekend. The goal was to be there at the end on Saturday, and I think we have a good starting spot. It’s all about having a good balance. It’s a lot of fun and one of my favorite racetracks to be at.”
Join us for night #2 of the 18th Annual Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals on Thursday! For more information, visit or check Knoxville Raceway’s website at www.KnoxvilleRaceway.com or on Facebook and Twitter.
A main (started), 25 Laps, NT:
1. Shane Clanton (1); 2. Earl Pearson Jr. (4); 3. Jonathan Davenport (6); 4. Brandon Sheppard (9); 5. Kyle Strickler (11); 6. Tim McCreadie (5); 7. Jimmy Owens (7); 8. Ryan Gustin (14); 9. Brian Shirley (16); 10. Chase Junghans (15); 11. Aaron Marrant (13); 12. Mike Marlar (18); 13. Garrett Alberson (19); 14. Ricky Weiss (8); 15. Spencer Hughes (22); 16. Stormy Scott (17); 17. Ross Robinson (10); 18. Chris Spieker (23); 19. Tad Pospisil (2); 20. Daniel Hilsabeck (21); 21. Hudson O'Neal (3); 22. Ricky Thornton Jr. (20); 23. Justin Zeitner (24); 24. Chris Madden (12). Lap Leader: Clanton 1-25. Hard-charger: Shirley.
Thursday Points
1. 49, Jonathan Davneport, 489
2. 46, Earl Pearson Jr., 486
3. 25c, Shane Clanton, 482
4. 39, Tim McCreadie, 480
5. 20, Jimmy Owens, 480
6. 1, Brandon Sheppard, 478
7. 8, Kyle Strickler, 477
8. 11, Spencer Hughes, 460
9. 19R, Ryan Gustin, 458
10. 1x, Aaron Marrant, 454
11. 04, Tad Pospisil, 453
12. 18J, Chase Junghans, 452
13. 157, Mike Marlar, 449
14. 7w, Ricky Weiss, 449
15. 3s, Brian Shirley, 448
16. 58, Garrett Alberson, 448
17. 62, Justin Zeitner, 448
18. 71, Hudson O’Neal, 443
19. 7, Ross Robinson, 441
20. 20RT, Ricky Thornton Jr., 438
21. 2s, Stormy Scott, 436
22. 44, Chris Madden, 428
23. 76, Brandon Overton, 427
24. 22H, Daniel Hilsabeck, 426
25. 56, Chris Spieker, 419
26. 32s, Chris Simpson, 417
27. 32, Bobby Pierce, 415
28. 99JR, Frank Heckenast Jr., 413
29. 18s, Jesse Sobbing, 413
30. 18D, Daulton Wilson, 398
31. 21, Billy Moyer, 392
32. 16, Tyler Bruening, 391
33. 33, Nick Marolf, 391
34. 40B, Kyle Bronson, 390
35. 1st, Johnny Scott, 390
36. 29D, Spencer Diercks, 389
37. 1T, Tyler Erb, 388
38. 22, Charlie McKenna, 385
39. 51, Matt Furman, 384
40. 53, Andrew Kosiski, 384
41. 42, Johnathan Huston, 377
42. 14w, Dustin Walker, 373
43. 48, Tim Lance, 373
44. 14M, Reid Millard, 369
45. 6H, Al Humphrey, 367
46. 10, Junior Coover, 364
47. 15, Justin Duty, 361
48. 25, Chad Simpson, 359
See the full story and results:
Check out the recap at lucasdirt.com:
Photo: knoxvilleraceway.com / lucasdirt.com
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