Owens Repeats as Late Model Knoxville Nationals Champ

Owens Repeats as Late Model Knoxville Nationals Champ

Story By: Jeremy Shields/LOLMDS

Photos By: Heath Lawson/LOLMDS

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.

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, Iowa

FAST 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-DNS

Lucas 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-DNS

Lucas 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: 55
Lap 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 Owens
Margin of Victory: 0.388 seconds
Cautions: 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 Davenport
Allstar Performance Power Move of the Race: Stormy Scott
Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Jimmy Owens
Eibach Springs Rookie of the Race: Devin Moran
COMP Cams Engine Builder of the Race: Vic Hill Racing Engines
Ohlins Shocks Chassis Builder of the Race: Rocket Chassis
Outerwears 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 McCreadie
STEEL-IT Most Laps Led: Shane Clanton (55 Laps)
PFC Brakes Pole Award: Shane Clanton
Time of Race: 87 minutes 23 seconds