The 62nd NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals will be run Aug. 9-12 at Iowa’s famed Knoxville Raceway.
The four days of racing at the half-mile dirt track offers a $1,159,005 purse, with $866,625 of that to be distributed on Saturday night. The winner of the 50-lap championship feature will bank $185,000.
Four Knoxville Nationals victors, including 11-time and defending winner Donny Schatz, were among the early entries for sprint car racing’s marquee event. Brad Sweet, David Gravel and Kyle Larson were the others.
Those drivers are among eight racers SPEED SPORT has identified as the favorites to win this year’s Knoxville Nationals based on their current season’s success and past experience at The Sprint Car Capital of the World.
The Favorites (8)
David Gravel
Entering the final weekend of July, David Gravel, driving the Big Game Motorsports No. 2 car owned by Tod Quiring, was tied atop the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series standings and had won a series-best nine features.
Among Gravel’s victories was a $250,000 triumph in the High Bank Nationals at South Dakota’s Huset’s Speedway. The 2019 Knoxville Nationals winner also topped one of the two World of Outlaws features at Knoxville Raceway this season and was last year’s Nationals runner-up.
Tuned by Cody Jacobs, the No. 2 car has been among the most consistent on the national trail this season.
Donny Schatz
Donny Schatz celebrates his 11th Knoxville Nationals triumph last August at Knoxville Raceway. (Frank Smith photo)
Donny Schatz ran down Gravel with four laps remaining to win the 61st edition of the Knoxville Nationals.
Schatz, who turns 46 years old on the second night of the Nationals, has 11 victories in the sport’s biggest race and has finished second seven times. The Fargo, N.D., resident has 22 top-10 finishes in 24 Nationals A mains.
While he has not had a dominant season this year, the Tony Stewart Racing driver was on his game in winning a sixth Kings Royal at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway, and banking that $175,000 prize.
Schatz has won 13 races that have paid him $100,000 or more.
Logan Schuchart
Logan Schuchart knows his way around the big half-mile tracks and Knoxville Raceway is certainly no exception. Schuchart, who became the first sprint car driver to earn $1 million in a race when he topped the July 13 Eldora Million at Eldora Speedway, finished third in the Nationals last season and picked up a preliminary night triumph aboard his grandfather Bobby Allen’s No. 1s Shark Racing machine.
Rico Abreu
With respected crew chief Ricky Warner preparing his Abreu Racing No. 24 car, Rico Abreu is enjoying the best season of his career. Abreu, who has always been fast at Knoxville, has won six features this season, including four with the World of Outlaws. Abreu topped the Hard Knox feature during last year’s Nationals.
Keyword: Eight Favorites To Win The Knoxville Nationals