Inside Line Promotions \u2013 KNOXVILLE, Iowa (Aug. 15, 2022) \u2013 David Gravel produced his second-best Knoxville Nationals result with a runner-up performance last weekend at Knoxville Raceway.<\/p>\n
The Big Game Motorsports driver kicked off the 61st<\/sup> annual NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey\u2019s by qualifying 10th<\/sup> quickest last Wednesday. He then advanced from seventh to fourth place in a heat race to lock into the A Main.<\/p>\n \u201cI was kind of disappointed in our qualifying effort,\u201d he said. \u201cI definitely expected more. I guess it was a blessing we ended up in the fifth heat race. If I didn\u2019t transfer through that heat I\u2019d have been screwed in the B Main. It would have killed our chances of getting locked in. Luckily we were able to get it done in the heat race. Starting 8th<\/sup> in the feature after being 10th<\/sup> quickest in qualifying was pretty crazy. We were all right. We struggled early. In the second half of the race we were able to pick guys off and get rolling at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n Gravel used a last-lap pass to score a third-place result. He was tied atop the points following the first preliminary night. Once all preliminary action was completed Gravel ranked fourth out of the more than 100 drivers, lining him up on the outside of the second row in Saturday\u2019s 50-lap main event.<\/p>\n Gravel advanced to third on the opening lap and he maneuvered into second place approximately a quarter of the way through the race.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I got to second I let Sunshine (Tyler Courtney) go and charge and do his thing,\u201d he said. \u201cThere was a comforting feeling running second at the halfway break. I didn\u2019t know I\u2019d take the lead so quickly into the second half of the race. He went down the track and I ran the top and got a run and passed him. That actually hurt me later on. If he stuck the bottom and pulled away I would have known the bottom had something.\u201d<\/p>\n Gravel took the lead on Lap 27 and maintained his advantage running the top lane until Lap 46.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was getting a little trickier to run the top,\u201d he said. \u201cI drove as hard as I could and did what I thought I needed to do and that\u2019s just the good or bad thing about sprint car racing, there\u2019s no spotter or rear view mirrors. There\u2019s an element of surprise. I heard Donny (Schatz) going down the backstretch and he slid in front of me and passed me.<\/p>\n \u201cIn a perfect world you\u2019d want to run the bottom of turns one and two and the top of turns three and four. After he passed me I went low in turns one and two behind him. Then I missed the bottom in turns three and four. The next corner I really lost ground on the top. After that lap and a half I was faster. With five laps to go and you screw around for two laps there\u2019s just not enough time to get back there.<\/p>\n \u201cI really want to win this race for Tod (Quiring) and the team. I think we had a good week. We were pretty fast every time we hit the race track. We put ourselves in position to win the race. That\u2019s all you can ask for. Leading the race with six laps to go you want to complete that. Sometimes being out front and not being challenged, nothing tells you to try anything different. At the end of the day we got beat by one of the best ever. You just learn from the experience for the next time.\u201d<\/p>\n Another marquee World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series event is on tap as Jackson Motorplex in Jackson, Minn., hosts the 44th<\/sup> annual AGCO Jackson Nationals this Thursday through Saturday.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a track I\u2019m comfortable at,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve won a race there, but I\u2019ve been on the podium multiple times. We have a unique format this weekend. We\u2019ll take it one day at a time and try to accumulate those points to get us in position for Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n QUICK RESULTS \u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n Aug. 10 \u2013 Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa \u2013 Qualifying: 10; Heat race: 4 (7); Feature: 3 (8).<\/p>\n Aug. 13 \u2013 Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa \u2013 Feature: 2 (4).<\/p>\n SEASON STATS \u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n 50 races, 5 wins, 27 top fives, 43 top 10s, 47 top 15s, 49 top 20s<\/p>\n UP NEXT \u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n Thursday through Saturday at Jackson Motorplex in Jackson, Minn., for the 44th<\/sup> annual AGCO Jackson Nationals with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series<\/p>\n MEDIA LINKS \u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n Twitter: https:\/\/twitter.com\/BigGameMotorspt<\/a><\/p>\n HUSET\u2019S SPEEDWAY \u2013 <\/strong><\/p>\n Huset\u2019s Speedway is a dirt oval located in Brandon, S.D. The track opened in 1954 and has undergone a large renovation within the last few years, making it a premier destination for both marquee racing events and weekly programs. For more information, visit http:\/\/www.HusetsSpeedway.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n JACKSON MOTORPLEX \u2013 <\/strong><\/p>\n Jackson Motorplex is a 4\/10-mile dirt track located in Jackson, Minn. It hosts special events from May through September, including races with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series, Midwest Power Series, Tri-State Late Models and more. For more information, visit http:\/\/www.JacksonMotorplex.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n TICKET LINK \u2013 <\/strong><\/p>\n To purchase online tickets for events at either Huset\u2019s Speedway or at Jackson Motorplex, visit http:\/\/mpv.tickets.com\/schedule\/?agency=JKMV_PL_MPV&orgid=55369#\/?view=list&includePackages=true<\/a>.<\/p>\n INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS \u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n Inside Line Promotions<\/em> specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP<\/em> Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.<\/p>\n To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP<\/em>, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com<\/a>. For more information on Inside Line Promotions<\/em>, visit http:\/\/www.InsideLinePromotions.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n *PHOTO BY TRENT GOWER PHOTOGRAPHY*<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Inside Line Promotions \u2013 KNOXVILLE, Iowa (Aug. 15, 2022) \u2013 David Gravel produced his second-best Knoxville Nationals result with a runner-up performance last weekend at Knoxville Raceway. The Big Game Motorsports driver kicked off the 61st annual NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey\u2019s by qualifying 10th quickest last Wednesday. He then advanced from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgravel89.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgravel89.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgravel89.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgravel89.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgravel89.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3591"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/davidgravel89.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3592,"href":"https:\/\/davidgravel89.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3591\/revisions\/3592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgravel89.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgravel89.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgravel89.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}