STORYLINES: CORN BELT NATIONALS
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Knoxville, Iowa (July 9, 2020)………Storylines are in abundance everywhere you go, but the storylines sometimes write themselves when you enter a large-scale event such as this weekend’s 2nd annual Brandt Corn Belt Nationals, Friday and Saturday, July 10-11, at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway.
BACON ON HIGH HEAT
Not only is Brady Bacon coming off a victory in the most recent USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car race last Saturday night at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Ind., his third victory of the year, all of which he started 8th or worse in. The Broken Arrow, Okla. driver also swept both nights of the inaugural Corn Belt Nationals in 2019, leading 43 of the total 55 laps run amongst the two nights. In 13 previous visits to Knoxville by the USAC Sprints dating to 1968, only one driver has won more than once. Bacon’s already been there, done that three times, first winning in 2011.
CLIPPING THE WING
For only the second occasion this year, Tyler Courtney is set to compete in a USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car event. With the wing this year, Courtney (Indianapolis, Ind.) has competed on three occasions at Knoxville, finishing a best of 3rd on June 6. The 2018 USAC Sprint champ and 2019 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget titlist can get around Knoxville quickly regardless of the circumstances. He swept the entire night (fast qualifier, heat winner, feature winner) with USAC back in 2018.
POWERS GRANTED
Justin Grant has been on point this year, finishing within the top-five of all nine USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car features run thus far, with three wins to his credit and holds the series point lead by 70 on top of it. Is there any slowing down Grant? The last time he entered a USAC Sprint event at Knoxville as the USAC Sprint point leader, he exited as a winner, leading all 30 laps en route to victory back in 2017.
SEAVEY’S COMEBACK, REINBOLD-UNDERWOOD EXPANDS WITH THORSON
After being sidelined since an Indiana Midget Week crash at Lincoln Park Speedway since June 18, Logan Seavey will make his return to Reinbold-Underwood’s No. 19AZ while Tanner Thorson, who raced admirably in the car during the meantime, will continue with the team in an added second car, the No. 19A. While Reinbold-Underwood finished 2nd in last year’s Corn Belt finale with driver C.J. Leary, this weekend marks both Seavey and Thorson’s Knoxville debuts.
HALF MILE, FULL TILT
This weekend’s Corn Belt Nationals marks just the second and third trips of the year for the series to a half-mile track. Chris Windom was the class of the field in the only other one held this season on July 1 at the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track. Among drivers entered for Knoxville this weekend, Windom ranks fourth in half-mile USAC Sprint feature victories behind Dave Darland (16), Bacon (13) and Robert Ballou (13). But, like Darland and Ballou, that first Knoxville victory has remained elusive for Windom. All three have finished inside the top-3 at Knoxville at one point in their USAC careers, however.
DO YOU FEEL LIKE WE “DUE?”
There are a slew of top-rung drivers not only seeking a first career USAC National Sprint Car victory of 2020, but also a first career Knoxville triumph. Ballou (Rocklin, Calif.) has been superb in just three series starts this season with a 7th, 3rd and 2nd and has a top Knoxville finish of 2nd in 2017. Darland (Lincoln, Ind.), the only driver who’s made starts in all three USAC National series at Knoxville, earned a top result of 3rd in a midget in 2006.
C.J. Leary, Chase Stockon, Kevin Thomas Jr. and Carson Short all reside 4th through 7th in the USAC standings, separated by 58 points, and all of whom share one common thread, they are still hunting for USAC victory number one in 2020. Leary (Greenfield, Ind.) finished as the runner-up to Bacon in the 2019 Corn Belt final night feature. Stockon (Fort Branch, Ind.) finished as high as 4th at Knoxville in 2017. Thomas (Cullman, Ala.) holds the one-lap USAC track record of 18.548 at Knoxville and earned a best finish of 3rd during last year’s Corn Belt opener while Short (Marion, Ill.), a recent World of Outlaws winner in Haubstadt, Ind., finished 10th at last year’s Corn Belt finale.
DUTCHER / BERNAL REUNITED…AND IT FEELS SO GOOD
12-time USAC National Sprint Car winning owner Michael Dutcher returns to the series to field a car for the first time since May of 2019 for 2013-14 USAC Western Classic Sprint Car champion Ryan Bernal (Hollister, Calif.). Dutcher, the 2012 USAC Mechanic of the Year award recipient, has worked with series Rookie Anthony D’Alessio on the trail this year, but the 17GP returns with some clout with those dozen wins coming with Kevin Thomas Jr. and Jon Stanbrough. The pairing of Bernal and Dutcher first took place during Indiana Sprint Week in 2017 where they made all six feature events.
SWANSON DIVES INTO KNOXVILLE INITIAL TIME
Like Bernal, Jake Swanson also possesses a USAC Sprint Car title in his native homeland. Swanson (Anaheim, Calif.) captured the 2017 West Coast driving championship and has made annual Midwest trips a ritual each summer. With racing scarce on the west coast this year due to COVID-19 restrictions, he and Team AZ Racing made the foray to the Midwest, starting with an impressive 4th place run in the Tony Hulman Classic on July 1 at Terre Haute before working their way out to Knoxville and back to the west coast.
WELCOME BACK, COTTLE
It's been three years since Shane Cottle last competed at Knoxville Raceway in USAC competition, but he makes his return this weekend with his entry into the event for Hodges Motorsports. The Kansas, Ill. driver won the opening night of the Bill Gardner Sprintacular last Friday at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Ind., then took the second night off to attend a family function. He’s now 1-for-1 in his USAC Sprint Car start to win ratio for 2020. Cottle finished 9th at the Knoxville round in 2017, one spot behind, incidentally enough, Josh Hodges. With Hodges as the pilot, the Hodges Motorsports team has made the feature in each of their previous four appearances at Knoxville, which also included a heat race victory in that same 2017 race.
MIDWEST WINGLESS INVASION
No less than 11 drivers who’ve competed with the new USAC Midwest Wingless Racing Association Sprint Cars this year are entered for the Corn Belt Nationals. They include two-time series winner and point leader Wyatt Burks (Topeka, Kans.), plus one-time series winners Don Droud Jr. (Lincoln, Neb.) and Wesley Smith (Nixa, Mo.). Also in the lineup are top-10 points runners Zach Clark (Olathe, Kans.) and Braydon Cromwell (Lone Jack, Mo.), plus Jack Wagner (Lone Jack, Mo.), Samuel Wagner (Lone Jack, Mo.), Terry Richards (Denton, Neb.), Neal Matuska (Waukee, Iowa), Jason Billups (Holt, Mo.) and Max Grogan (Basehor, Kans.).
WAR HORSES
The Corn Belt Nationals are co-sanctioned by both the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship and the POWRi WAR Sprint Car League. A pair of recent WAR champs have entered to compete in the event on the big half-mile in 2016 series titlist Clinton Boyles (Greenwood, Mo.), a Kokomo winner one week ago who also secured the 2018 Gas City (Ind.) I-69 Speedway track championship after moving to Indiana. Fellow Missourian Riley Kreisel (Warsaw, Mo.) has captured each of the last two WAR titles and comes in as the series point leader by 80 points over Jack Wagner.
Both nights of the Corn Belt Nationals will be streamed live in their entirety on DIRTVision, the official streaming platform for Knoxville Raceway. FloRacing subscribers can catch Saturday’s USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car $20,000-to-win A-Main feature LIVE on FloRacing.
Prior to the green flag for Saturday’s A-Main on FloRacing, the lead-up to the main event will provide extensive pre-race coverage that will feature in-depth interviews, analysis, snippets, highlights and even a behind-the-scenes look at the Corn Belt Nationals from a unique vantage point spotlighting the various personalities involved in the event. It’s all scheduled to start at approximately 8:30pm Central on Saturday night.
The Brandt Corn Belt Nationals begins Friday, July 10 with the pit gate opening at Noon Central time for trailer parking. Sign-in commences at 3pm with draw closing at 5:45pm. The drivers meeting takes place at 6pm followed by engine warm up at 6:15pm with hot laps starting at 6:45pm with the rest of the program following thereafter. The same exact schedule and times are in place for the Saturday, July 11 portion of the event as well.
The event, co-sanctioned by the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship and the POWRi Lucas Oil War Sprint Car League, features two complete nights of sprint car racing action with each night culminating with a feature race, the Friday main event paying $5,000-to-win and the Saturday finale paying $20,000-to-win.
Spectator tickets for the Brandt Corn Belt Nationals are available at www.knoxvilleraceway.net or by calling the Knoxville Raceway ticket office at 641-842-5431. Tickets start at $25 for adults on Thursday and $30 for Saturday.
Brady Bacon dominated both ends of the inaugural Brandt Corn Belt Nationals in 2019, walking away with a two-night total of $25,000 between his two victories.
While separate event-specific points will be earned throughout the Corn Belt Nationals, all drivers and teams competing in the event that possess a USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car license will be awarded 50 appearance points each night, which will go toward the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car championship standings. No prelim or feature points will be awarded.
CORN BELT NATIONALS ENTRY LIST:
(53 drivers as of July 8, 2020)
0 BRANDON STEVENSON/Holstein, IA
0s STEVE IRWIN/Fenton, MI
1m DON DROUD JR./Lincoln, NE
2 JASON BILLUPS/Holt, MO
2c ZACH CLARK/Olathe, KS
4 JUSTIN GRANT/Ione, CA
4T JOSH CASTRO/Peoria, AZ
4x BRAYDON CROMWELL/Lone Jack, MO
5 CHUCK ALEXANDER/Chariton, IA
5s CHASE STOCKON/Fort Branch, IN
6 MARIO CLOUSER/Auburn, IL
7 CLINTON BRUNS/Little Rock, IA
7BC TYLER COURTNEY/Indianapolis, IN
8D JUSTIN STANDRIDGE/Athens, IL
9K KEVIN THOMAS JR./Cullman, AL
9W JUSTIN ZIMMERMAN/Athens, TX
11w WYATT BURKS/Topeka, KS
12 ROBERT BALLOU/Rocklin, CA
12s WESLEY SMITH/Nixa, MO
12x DOUG SYLVESTER/Ottumwa, IL
13 DENNIS GILE/Phoenix, AZ
13MJ BRANDON HALVERSON/Jackson, MN
16 ANTHONY NICHOLSON/Millington, TN
17 NICK BILBEE/Indianapolis, IN
17GP RYAN BERNAL/Hollister, CA
18 TERRY RICHARDS/Denton, NE
19 CHRIS WINDOM/Canton, IL
19A TANNER THORSON/Minden, NV
19AZ LOGAN SEAVEY/Sutter, CA
19L GLEN SAVILLE/Razorback, NSW
24 BRIAN VANMEVEREN/Woodbury, MN
27 STEVE THOMAS/Ludlow, IL
28 BRANDON MATTOX/Terre Haute, IN
29 MITCH WISSMILLER/Saybrook, IL
30 C.J. LEARY/Greenfield, IN
33m MATT WESTFALL/Pleasant Hill, OH
34AZ JAKE SWANSON/Anaheim, CA
36d DAVE DARLAND/Lincoln, IN
48 NEAL MATUSKA/Waukee, IA
66m MAX GROGAN/Basehor, KS
67 JONATHAN HUGHES/Knoxville, IA
69 BRADY BACON/Broken Arrow, OK
71 ROBERT BELL/Colfax, IA
71p CARSON SHORT/Marion, IL
73 SAMUEL WAGNER/Lone Jack, MO
74x SHANE COTTLE/Kansas, IL
75 DUSTIN CLARK/Washington, IN
77 DUSTIN SMITH/Russiaville, IN
77J JACK WAGNER/Lone Jack, MO
87 PAUL DUES/Minster, OH
90 CLINTON BOYLES/Greenwood, MO
91 RILEY KREISEL/Warsaw, MO
ST1 LANE STONE/Concordia, MO