KNOXVILLE, IOWA - Pennsylvania native Stevie Smith will start on the pole of the 52nd Annual Knoxville Nationals at Knoxville Raceway here tonight, while a Mechanicsburg native has his best starting spot ever in the event.
The 50-lap feature - the biggest race in the world for sprint cars - will pay $150,000 to the winner and $9,500 simply to qualify. It pays $75,000 for second; $37,500 for third; $26,000 for fourth and $21,000 for fifth.
Smith, a native of New Oxford but now from Broken Arrow, Okla., earned 479 points over two days of qualifying Wednesday and Thursday to lead 100 drivers who attempted to make the race. Smith has never won the race, but has numerous top five finishes. He is racing for a new team this year owned by Pennsylvanian Chad Clemens and finished fourth in Thursday night's qualifying feature.
World of Outlaws point leader Craig Dollansky of Elk River, Minn., will start second tonight. He earned 477 points, helped by his charge from the rear to finish fourth in Wednesday night's qualifying feature.
Californian Jonathan Allard will start third and Knoxville regular Brian Brown will start fourth. Donny Schatz, who has won five of the last six Nationals, starts fifth and Outlaws driver Joey Saldana sixth.
Two-time Outlaws champion Jason Meyers starts seventh and California's Tim Kaeding eighth. Kraig Kinser starts ninth and Mechanicsburg's Lucas Wolfe starts 10th. Wolfe had a solid qualifying night on Wednesday with a fifth-place finish, giving him his best career Nationals start. He recently won his first career World of Outlaws main event.
Ian Madsen, Kyle Larson, Shane Stewart, Daryn Pittman, Fayetteville's Lance Dewease and Paul McMahan round out the top 16 drivers locked into the main event after Thursday. Dewease finished fifth on Thursday.
The top four drivers from Friday night's main event (not available for this edition) will lock into the 17th to 20th starting spots, and the remaining four positions will be filled from a last chance B-main qualifier tonight.