Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

In the 2024 (410) Knoxville Nationals, some drivers were a little disappointing. I was expecting better results from Pittman, Courtney, Abreu, and Schatz. Sweet and Gravel even moreso, as they seemed out to lunch.

On the other hand, Day and Macri did a lot better than I figured they would do. Good on them!

I was really disappointed with Pittman's run and was surprised at the line he was running, started going backwards and didn't stop. I figured Donnie would have set the car up for running a lower line.

Agreed, I really expected Darren to finish at least 5th.  

The older I get the faster I was

Corey's run didn't suprise me at all he's proven he can make good speed at Knoxville and run with the best of them. I was disappointed in Pittman, Courtney, Abreau, Schatz, Sweet and Gravel's performance... 

The older I get the faster I was

I listened to the races on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday but I Watched it on Saturday.  So just to clarify, I didn't see races earlier in the week.  Did Pittman over achieve on Thusday or did he under achieve on Saturday?  I was also disapointed with seeing him fall back on Saturday.  But after the race I wondered if anyone expected that car to contend for the nationals a month ago?  I didn't hear anyone, maybe some people did?  But his real impressive performance was his heat.  Yes I know he set quick time, but he was the only person who won their heat from the 8th starting position.  Since I only listened to it, I'm going to ask, did he get a lucky break in his heat race?  In the feature he only got up to 6th.  Had he not started second in the A, I think everyone would be pretty happy with how the nationals turned out for that team.  Eleventh for that team, I think is a very good result.  I'm not sure anyone would've thought they would've finished eleventh a month ago?

They had said in one of the interviews they would be happy just to make the show. Thursday he did lay down a great qualifying lap and he was definately impressive in his heat race. No lucky breaks at all, just flat out drove around everyone. I text egras who was sitting on the backstretch and even said where the heck did that come from with Pittman. And he was racing against a pretty solid group of cars as I think Sweet and maybe Mcfadden were in his heat. The feature he was and about 2-4 cars were battling lap after lap but was running pretty well. I was a little shocked to see the slip back on Saturday the way they did after Thursday but if you told me their overall finishing position was what it was on Weds at the start I would have said wow they definately did better than what I thought.

I think I was more shocked with Gravel essentially being a non factor aside from qualifying. One could argue that had it not been for some cautions in the B he may not have even made it into the A as there was quite a bit of distance between him and McFadden before the yellows started to fly. 

The 1st 2 heats on Wednesday were a Yawner! Just a freight train around the top. Starting from Heat #3 forward it seemed to get a lot racier as they started working the bottom. Thursday was pretty good. Friday to me seemed like the best track for all 4 days. Unfortunately Larson went Old School Steve Kinser on everyone and smoked the field. 

Abreau sirprised me the most. I thought he would be more of a threat on Saturday. Gio actually made a good run out of it and may have even showed Larson his nose once but then unfortunately started going backwards after that...

Over all I had a blast. Good racing. A relatively clean week as far as tearing up equipment in both the 360's & 410's...

Very unfortunate for Sassy. That was a pretty brutal hit in turns 1 & 2. Good to see se was heading home on Sunday.

Not to take away anything from those who did run well or exceed expectations, I think many of the mentioned drivers would have probably preferred a more slick track that required finesse and pace as opposed to aggression. 

I typically use hard charger as a general metric for track conditions and Day, Gravel and Schatz all were +8 this year with Day taking it on highest finishing position. Looking back however, that number is normally much higher.

Out of curiosity, I went back and checked - 8 is the lowest number of cars passed for the Hard Charger since Jason Meyers went 17th to 9th in 2003's single-caution affair. It's worthing noting that many of these had fewer than 50 laps. I'd think given more conducive passing conditions you'd have seen Gravel, Schatz or Schuchart make a better run. Hell, if Logan doesn't break the quick change gears he might have had a better run himself. 

2023 - Gravel +22, finished second

2022 - Sheldon +15, finished eighth

2021 - Sheldon +10, finished 10th

2020 (not true Nationals but close enough for this discussion) - Schatz +12, finished 12th

2019 - Schuchart +22, finished second

2018 - Gravel +13, finished 10th

2017 - Reutzel +12, finished seventh

2016 - Larson +16, finished sixth

2015 - Greg Hodnett +13, finished 10th

2014 - Brad Sweet +10, finished 13th

2013 - Schatz +20, won

2012 - Davey Heskin +12, finished 10th

2011 - Shane Stewart +15, finished second

2010 - Craig Dollansky +20, finished fourth

2009 - Danny Lasoski +12, finished 11th

2008 - Terry McCarl +15, finished eighth

2007 - Brian Brown +10, finished 13th

2006 - Danny Lasoski +20, finished fourth

2005 - Daryn Pittman +13, finished ninth

2004 - Shane Stewart +17, finished seventh

pittman is old,the young guns are taking over, scelzi is a good example, day is another one!  jmo

Ascot was the greatest of all time..

West Capital wasn't half bad either..

Life is good...

And you still can't spell Rico's last name.

You got me there.

The 69k team can't figure out the setup for Knoxville come A main time. It makes sense given their lack of laps there, but I don't think anyone should have expected much more than a top 10 even with the outside pole starting spot. Schatz and especially Gravel were huge disappointments especially given how well they were running going into the event. Its crazy how much the game changed overnight as Larson was as out to lunch as he's ever been in a sprint car 3 weeks before Knoxville and Gravel seemed unbeatable.

They fell back when they went out there with Lance a few years back also. Donny doesn't have a feel for the track there I'd guess. 

Really interesting stuff!

Thanks...

Thanks for sharing the stats. 

Keep It Real

That's what I was wondering.  Basically the only thing I remember was they were talking about other stuff and all of the sudden they said Pittman is in the lead.  From what I remember he got the lead early on, which made me wonder if it was a situation of "the seas parting" in front of him (which does happen from time to time).  It does kind of suck though considering he was leading going into turn one.  But overall I think it was a very good result for that team.  If they had started last in the A, I think everyone would be talking about how great they ran.  Overall, I still think it was a good week for them.

The big thing with this to me is this year, I don't think there were any cautions other than the break?  That makes a big difference in passing.  Not only do cars drop out who started up front but it also tightens up the field.  However, even though I would've liked to see a few more yellows I was glad there was only one wreck.