Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Lasoski eyes 3rd WoO Knoxville Nationals title

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at [email protected] or (702) 259-4089.

Danny Lasoski led the O'Reilly World of Outlaws Series points standings for 45 of the first 46 events this season but now trails 17-time WoO champion Steve Kinser by 21 points.

Points, however, won't be on Lasoski's mind tonight as the series opens its biggest race weekend, the 43rd annual Knoxville Nationals at Knoxville Raceway in Iowa, with the first of four nights of racing.

Lasoski said it is impossible to overstate the importance of the Knoxville Nationals.

"For someone who doesn't follow the World of Outlaws, the Knoxville Nationals would be the same as someone not following the Indy 500 or the Daytona 500," said Lasoski, a two-time winner of the event. "It is our granddaddy of them all as far as dirt open-wheel racing goes. It doesn't get any bigger than this.

"To win this race one time is phenomenal and we've won it twice so it's double for us. Everybody shoots for this one race all year long -- it's like every race prior to this is just a practice."

The Knoxville Nationals is expected to draw entries from Australia and New Zealand as well as the United States. Saturday night's final will be televised live by the Speed Channel beginning at 7 p.m. (PDT).

Lasoski, who leads all drivers with 81 career victories at Knoxville Raceway, won the Nationals in 1998 and again in 2001, the year he won the WoO championship in his first year driving for team owner Tony Stewart.

Stewart, the reigning NASCAR Winston Cup champion, said Lasoski's victory at Knoxville in 2001 was a defining moment for his team.

"That was definitely my first big win as a car owner," Stewart said. "I guess I was just more excited for our team more than anything because those guys had worked so hard to be competitive for that race.

"We had been competitive all year anyway but to come out as a full-time Outlaw team and win the Knoxville Nationals in our first year together, that pretty much put us at a level not only in our minds, but in our competition's minds that we weren't there to mess around; we meant business."

Julian, the left-rear tire changer for Kelley Racing and driver Al Unser Jr., suffered a concussion and an unspecified injury to his right knee when Unser's car was rear-ended by Bryan Herta's car during a pit stop. Julian, who was struck by Unser's car, was airlifted to St. Louis University Hospital.

Julian was to return to Indianapolis and be re-evaluated by IRL physicians.

Sam Schmidt Motorsports drivers Brandon Erwin and Tom Wood both qualified for the front row for last weekend's IRL Infiniti Pro Series race at Gateway. It marked the first pole for Schmidt's IPS team and the first time in the series' brief history that teammates have qualified on the front row. Erwin was battling for the lead late in Saturday's race when he made contact with another car and crashed; Erwin finished 10th and Wood took fifth despite crashing in the final practice on Saturday. Schmidt, a former IRL driver, resides in Henderson.

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