NickHolt Posted September 15, 2019 Report Share Posted September 15, 2019 Jimmy Owens repeats as Late Model Knoxville Nationals Champ KNOXVILLE, Iowa (September 14, 2019) - Jimmy Owens became just the second driver in the history of the Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals to win the $40,000 event in back-to-back years. The 47-year-old Tennessee veteran did the trick on Saturday night at Knoxville Raceway. Jimmy Owens with Brandon Sheppard (L) and Hudson O'Neal (R)(HeathLawsonPhotos.com) Owens joins fellow Volunteer State driver Mike Marlar as the only drivers in the 16-year-history of the crown jewel event to win in consecutive years. Owens took the lead from Brandon Sheppard on lap 86 and held off one final charge from Sheppard coming off of turn four to take the win. Sheppard finished in second with Hudson O'Neal charging from the back after making two pit stops to Owens and Sheppard on the podium. Devin Moran, in his first start in the Knoxville finale, finished in fourth with Kyle Bronson coming from his 20th starting position to round out the top five drivers. Polesitter, Shane Clanton grabbed the lead at the start of the event with fellow front-row starter Darrell Lanigan running in second. Those two ran 1-2 for the first 44 laps of the race until Sheppard was able to get by Lanigan after a lap 44 caution. Clanton led the first 55 circuits of the race until a restart on lap 56 allowed Chris Madden to become the first car to lead other than Clanton. Madden was seeking his first Knoxville win after being absent from the speedway for nearly twelve years. Once in front, Madden started to pull away from Clanton. Clanton slowed on lap 72 with a broken axle, bringing his night to an end. On the restart, Sheppard became the third different leader of the race as he zipped around the top to take over the lead from Madden. Like Madden did before him, Sheppard was pulling away from the field. However, the race for the top spot was far from over. Owens took second on lap 80 from Madden in swift fashion but was still several car lengths behind Sheppard. With 20 laps remaining, Owens found the momentum he was looking for, and with that rally he began slicing into Sheppard's huge lead. The laps were winding down in rapid-fire fashion, and Owens was ready to pounce. He darted under Sheppard with fourteen laps to go and wrestled the lead away from the fellow Rocket Chassis driver. Sheppard was not done though. Owens had to battle traffic in front of him and Sheppard was able to make one last-lap ditch effort to steal the win from Owens, but came up just short at the finish line. Owens started 18th and made history in event as no other driver has ever started that deep in the pack and managed a victory. "We had a really good car. We had to be married to that top way more than I wanted to, but our tires fired up and we got going really well. We chased Sheppard down in lapped traffic and we had one opportunity to get by him, so we took it the best we could. On that last lap I could hear him [Sheppard]. I didn't know if he was above me or below me. I figured if he was below me, he couldn't get around me so I just scooted down the track a little bit to kill his line coming off of turn four and I thought, well heck if it's going to be a drag-race, maybe we can beat him to the line." Sheppard once again felt the disappointment of coming up just short of his and car owner Mark Richards' first win at Knoxville. "That was the most fun I have had in a race car in a while. Jimmy did a heck of a job and my hat is off to him. He was there when he needed to be. There were a few things during the race that made me run harder than I wanted to. I am just disappointed; we had a really fast race car." Hudson O'Neal came home with his best career Knoxville Nationals finish. "We were somewhere around 15th-20th place for most of the race. We made a pit-stop before the fuel-stop and I think it really brought the car to life. It definitely got the car a whole lot better because it was more maneuverable. I had some good restarts, and I think on that last one, we drove past four cars through the middle. Everything has to line up to drive from the back like that. The winner's Ramirez Motorsports-owned, Rocket Chassis is sponsored by: Rhino Ag, Boomtest Well Service, Reece Monument Company, Tommy Pope Construction, FK Rod Ends, Sunoco Race Fuels, Red Line Oil, Hypercoil Springs, Integra Shocks, and Midwest Sheet Metal. Completing the top ten were Chris Madden, Stormy Scott, Ricky Weiss, Earl Pearson Jr., and Frank Heckenast Jr. Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Race Summary Saturday, September 14, 2019 16th annual Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals Knoxville Raceway - Knoxville, IowaFAST Shafts C-Main Finish (15 Laps, Top 4 Transfer to B-Main): Cody Laney, JC Wyman, Mike Fryer, Reid Millard, Junior Coover, Brian Harris, Corey Zeitner, Charlie McKenna, David Webster-DNS, Chad White-DNS, Jonathan Brauns-DNS, Tim Simpson-DNS, Jared Landers-DNSLucas Oil Products Red "N"Tacky Spray Grease B-Main Finish (20 Laps, Top 6 Transfer to A-Main): Brian Birkhofer, Tim McCreadie, Shannon Babb, Chase Junghans, Billy Moyer, Jr., Billy Moyer, Johnny Scott, Jeremy Grady, Mike Mataragas, Jason Feger, Dave Eckrich, Jake Neal, Brent Larson, Spencer Diercks, Jeremiah Hurst, Nick Marolf, Cody Laney, JC Wyman, Dustin Nobbe, Reid Millard, Mike Fryer, Jimmy Mars-DNSLucas Oil Feature Finish (100 Laps): FINISH START CAR # DRIVER NAME HOMETOWN EARNINGS 1 18 20 Jimmy Owens Newport, TN $40,800 2 9 1S Brandon Sheppard New Berlin, IL $20,000 3 16 71 Hudson O'Neal Martinsville, IN $10,700 4 17 1d Devin Moran ® Dresden, OH $9,550 5 20 40B Kyle Bronson Brandon, FL $8,200 6 4 0m Chris Madden Gray Court, SC $7,000 7 23 2s Stormy Scott Las Cruses, NM $7,200 8 3 7w Ricky Weiss Headingley, MB $6,000 9 15 1 Earl Pearson, Jr. Jacksonville, FL $6,300 10 21 99JR Frank Heckenast, Jr. Frankfort, IL $5,000 11 12 32s Chris Simpson Oxford, IA $4,500 12 2 29 Darrell Lanigan Union, KY $4,000 13 24 49 Jonathan Davenport Blairsville, GA $4,600 14 10 0 Scott Bloomquist Mooresburg, TN $3,400 15 5 1T Tyler Erb ® New Waverly, TX $4,000 16 22 50 Shanon Buckingham Morristown, TN $3,900 17 14 28 Dennis Erb, Jr. Carpentersville, IL $3,100 18 8 16T Tyler Bruening Decorah, IA $3,000 19 28 18J Chase Junghans Manhattan, KS $2,900 20 25 15B Brian Birkhofer Muscatine, IA $2,800 21 1 25 Shane Clanton Zebulon, GA $2,700 22 19 32P Bobby Pierce Oakwood, IL $2,600 23 27 18 Shannon Babb Mowequa, IL $2,500 24 6 20RT Ricky Thornton Jr. Sedgwick, KS $2,500 25 11 14 Josh Richards Shinnston, WV $3,300 26 7 5 Don O'Neal Martinsville, IN $2,500 27 26 39 Tim McCreadie Watertown, NY $3,500 28 30 21 Billy Moyer Batesville, AR $2,500 29 13 1c Chad Simpson Mt. Vernon, IA $2,500 30 29 21JR Billy Moyer, Jr. Batesville, AR $3,400 Race Statistics Entrants: 55Lap Leaders: Shane Clanton (Laps 1 - 55); Chris Madden (Laps 56 - 72); Brandon Sheppard (Laps 73 - 85); Jimmy Owens (Laps 86 - 100)Wrisco Feature Winner: Jimmy OwensMargin of Victory: 0.388 secondsCautions: Chad Simpson (Lap 9); Frank Heckenast Jr. (Lap 10); Chris Simpson (Lap 22); Don O'Neal, Tim McCreadie, Josh Richards (Lap 33); Ricky Thornton Jr. (Lap 44); Fuel Stop (Lap 50); Tyler Erb (Lap 55); Bobby Pierce (Lap 55); Shane Clanton (Lap 72)Optima Batteries Hard Charger of the Race: Jimmy Owens (Advanced 17 Positions)Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Jonathan DavenportAllstar Performance Power Move of the Race: Stormy ScottSunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Jimmy OwensEibach Springs Rookie of the Race: Devin MoranCOMP Cams Engine Builder of the Race: Vic Hill Racing EnginesOhlins Shocks Chassis Builder of the Race: Rocket ChassisOuterwears Crew Chief of the Race: Jeff Strope (Jimmy Owens)Dirty Girl Racewear Fastest Lap of the Race: Shane Clanton (Lap #3 - 19.364 seconds)Hot Rod Processing Tough Break of the Race: Tim McCreadieSTEEL-IT Most Laps Led: Shane Clanton (55 Laps)PFC Brakes Pole Award: Shane ClantonTime of Race: 87 minutes 23 seconds Lucas Oil Championship Point Standings: POS CAR # DRIVER NAME HOMETOWN POINTS EARNINGS 1 49 Jonathan Davenport Blairsville, GA 7130 $258,162.60 2 39 Tim McCreadie Watertown, NY 6520 $139,665.08 3 14 Josh Richards Shinnston, WV 6515 $169,862.57 4 20 Jimmy Owens Newport, TN 6395 $202,552.70 5 1T Tyler Erb ® New Waverly, TX 6385 $157,766.34 6 1d Devin Moran ® Dresden, OH 6205 $114,065.03 7 1 Earl Pearson, Jr. Jacksonville, FL 6175 $130,661.31 8 71 Hudson O'Neal Martinsville, IN 6050 $142,077.59 9 40B Kyle Bronson Brandon, FL 5555 $88,090.00 10 50 Shanon Buckingham Morristown, TN 5515 $84,520.00 11 2s Stormy Scott Las Cruses, NM 5220 $65,480.00 12 21JR Billy Moyer, Jr. Batesville, AR 4960 $59,115.00 13 5 Don O'Neal Martinsville, IN 4305 $54,525.00 14 0 Scott Bloomquist Mooresburg, TN 3740 $73,733.84 *Results are unofficial until Close of Business on the Tuesday following Race Day* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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