James McFadden led all 30 laps on his way to winning the 28th annual Osky Challenge. It was a night that included some big time wrecks and a DNF for Kyle Larson in the A Main. Carson Macedo came home in second place and he will be one of the favorites to win the Knoxville Nationals. Corey Day rounded out of the podium, as he continues his impressive tour outside of California. Brent Marks looked to have a podium finish locked up until he had one of the biggest wheel stands you’ll ever see on a late restart. He settled for fourth. Blake Hahn had one of his best runs of the season and came home in fifth.
Buddy Kofoid was involved in a wreck in his heat after Riley Goodno lost the handle of his car on the initial start and went for a wild ride. Ryan Timms was also involved in the wreck. Kofoid’s night was over but it was a good night for Roth Motorsports. That team is firing on all cylinders and will be very good at Knoxville. Timms had a lot of speed all night. He was dominating the B Main until he pulled off with four to go. Flyin’ Ryan is a sleeper for the Nationals.
Scott Bogucki has been flying lately. The only issue is that he has had some terrible luck. He had no where to go when Austin McCarl suffered mechanical failure right in front of him during the feature. Bogucki went for a ride and was able to walk away. He’s another guy I will have my eye on during the Knoxville Nationals. His team was working late last night to get that no. 10 car back together for his prelim night.
Anthony Macri had a decent showing with a seventh place finish. I’m not really sure what to expect out of him this week. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him toward the top of the points but his results have not been promising lately. We know the 7BC has speed at Knoxville, Macri just needs to get comfortable.
It doesn’t seem like the no. 50YR machine that JJ Hickle is driving for Nationals has 1/2 mile speed. He didn’t have the speed last night and it’s a shame because he was very fast in the no. 25 during the 2022 event. He ultimately wrecked on lap one but just making the A Main is a huge accomplishment.
2023 Knoxville Nationals
Below is a chart breaking down where the top 50 drivers finished in the 2022 Knoxville Nationals and what seed that would have made them. I included a row to show where I seeded them for the 2023 Nationals. If you haven’t seen my 2023 seeds yet, please click here to check them out.
| DRIVER | 2022 Nationals Finish | 2023 Nationals Seed |
| 15 Donny Schatz | 1 (1 Seed) | 1 Seed |
| 2 David Gravel | 2 (1 Seed) | 1 Seed |
| 1s Logan Schuchart | 3 (1 Seed) | 2 Seed |
| 7BC Tyler Courtney | 4 (1 Seed) | N/A Injured |
| 1a Jacob Allen | 5 (2 Seed) | 8 Seed |
| 57 Kyle Larson | 6 (2 Seed) | 1 Seed |
| 19 Brent Marks | 7 (2 Seed) | 4 Seed |
| 17 Sheldon Haudenschild | 8 (2 Seed) | 5 Seed |
| 49 Brad Sweet | 9 (3 Seed) | 2 Seed |
| 5 Daryn Pittman | 10 (3 Seed) | 6 Seed |
| 83jr Buddy Kofoid | 11 (3 Seed) | 3 Seed |
| 13 Justin Peck | 12 (3 Seed) | 4 Seed |
| 24 Rico Abreu | 13 (4 Seed) | 1 Seed |
| 8 Aaron Reutzel | 14 (4 Seed) | 3 Seed |
| 55 Kerry Madsen | 15 (4 Seed) | 5 Seed |
| 88 Austin McCarl | 16 (4 Seed) | 3 Seed |
| 41 Carson Macedo | 17 (5 Seed) | 2 Seed |
| 7TAZ Tasker Phillips | 18 (5 Seed) | 12 Seed |
| 83 James McFadden | 19 (5 Seed) | 4 Seed |
| 21 Brian Brown | 20 (5 Seed) | 2 Seed |
| 39m Justin Sanders | 21 (6 Seed) | 6 Seed |
| 18 Gio Scelzi | 22 (6 Seed) | 3 Seed |
| 50YR JJ Hickle | 23 (6 Seed) | 14 Seed |
| 9P Parker Price-Miller | 24 (6 Seed) | 5 Seed |
| 2 Lynton Jeffrey | 25 (7 Seed) | 7 Seed |
| 3 Tim Kaeding | 26 (7 Seed) | 11 Seed |
| 21T Cole Macedo | 27 (7 Seed) | 9 Seed |
| 26 Zeb Wise | 28 (7 Seed) | 7 Seed |
| 9 Kasey Kahne | 29 (8 Seed) | 12 Seed |
| 21H Brady Bacon | 30 (8 Seed) | 8 Seed |
| 7BC Anthony Macri | 31 (8 Seed) | 7 Seed |
| 3z Brock Zearfoss | 32 (8 Seed) | 12 Seed |
| 1 Justin Henderson | 33 (9 Seed) | 9 Seed |
| 17X Terry McCarl | 34 (9 Seed) | 13 Seed |
| 11 Cory Eliason | 35 (9 Seed) | 5 Seed |
| 4 Ian Madsen | 36 (9 Seed) | 9 Seed |
| 16 Brooke Tatnell | 37 (10 Seed) | 14 Seed |
| 39 Hunter Schuerenberg | 38 (10 Seed) | 10 Seed |
| 5 Spencer Bayston | 39 (10 Seed) | 4 Seed |
| 91 Kyle Reinhardt | 40 (10 Seed) | 11 Seed |
| 55T McKenna Haase | 41 (11 Seed) | 16 Seed |
| 5c Dylan Cisney | 42 (11 Seed) | 13 Seed |
| 14 Corey Day | 43 (11 Seed) | 6 Seed |
| 3p Sawyer Phillips | 44 (11 Seed) | 15 Seed |
| 1AU Marcus Dumsney | 45 (11 Seed) | N/A |
| 1 Logan Wagner | 46 (11 Seed) | N/A |
| 17W Shane Golobic | 47 (12 Seed) | 8 Seed |
| 42 Sye Lynch | 48 (12 Seed) | 10 Seed |
| 15H Sam Hafertepe Jr | 49 (12 Seed) | 9 Seed |
| 6 Brandon Wimmer | 50 (12 Seed) | 20 Seed |
The only other thing from this chart is that I am sad that Logan Wagner, Tyler Courtney and Marcus Dumsney are not competing this year. Courtney and Dumsney are both recovering from injuries and will hopefully be back on the track soon. Wagner just got a new ride with the no. 69K team but I don’t think he was planning on showing up this year anyway.
Comparing Wednesday vs. Thursday
Theres a lot of commotion that Thursday seems to be significantly harder than Wednesday this year. Let’s break that down below for seeds 1-7 (drivers who have the best chance to make the A Main in my opinion).
| Driver | Prelim Night | Seed |
| Kyle Larson | Thursday | 1 |
| Donny Schatz | Wednesday | 1 |
| Rico Abreu | Thursday | 1 |
| David Gravel | Wednesday | 1 |
| Brian Brown | Thursday | 2 |
| Logan Schuchart | Thursday | 2 |
| Brad Sweet | Thursday | 2 |
| Carson Macedo | Thursday | 2 |
| Gio Scelzi | Wednesday | 3 |
| Austin McCarl | Thursday | 3 |
| Buddy Kofoid | Thursday | 3 |
| Aaron Reutzel | Wednesday | 3 |
| James McFadden | Wednesday | 4 |
| Spencer Bayston | Thursday | 4 |
| Justin Peck | Wednesday | 4 |
| Brent Marks | Wednesday | 4 |
| Sheldon Haudenschild | Wednesday | 5 |
| Cory Eliason | Thursday | 5 |
| Parker Price Miller | Wednesday | 5 |
| Kerry Madsen | Wednesday | 5 |
| Justin Sanders | Wednesday | 6 |
| Corey Day | Wednesday | 6 |
| Daryn Pittman | Thursday | 6 |
| Chase Randall | Wednesday | 6 |
| Anthony Macri | Thursday | 7 |
| Zeb Wise | Wednesday | 7 |
| Shane Stewart | Thursday | 7 |
| Lynton Jeffrey | Wednesday | 7 |
Out of those 28 drivers, 15 are competing on Wednesday and 13 are competing on Thursday. Thats pretty even, but one thing does stick out, as all of the two seeds are competing on Thursday. Logan Schuchart, Carson Macedo, Brad Sweet and Brian Brown will be joining Kyle Larson and Rico Abreu. Donny Schatz and David Gravel are in a good position to lock themselves in right away by being the Wednesday favorites. Aaron Reutzel, Gio Scelzi and James McFadden will also have a good shot at locking in on Wednesday. Things start to get loaded when you look down at seeds 4, 5 and 6. Most of those guys will be competing on Wednesday. So yes, Thursday’s prelim night is definitely top heavy, but I think Wednesday’s field might be deeper when you really dive in. Guys like Cory Eliason, Anthony Macri and Shane Stewart will have a tough time getting to the top of the points on Thursday. Wednesday offers us a chance to see guys like Justin Sanders, Zeb Wise, Corey Day, Chase Randall and Lynton Jeffrey lock themselves in to the A Main.
Drivers Who Could Surprise on Wednesday:
Scott Bogucki, Jamie Ball, Blake Hahn, Kyle Reinhardt, Sye Lynch, Brandon Wimmer
Drivers Who Could Surprise on Thursday:
Jamie Veal, Ryan Timms, Sawyer Phillips, Shane Golobic, Tanner Holmes, Kaleb Johnson
Critiquing the Dingus Drunk’s Tiers 4 & 5
Tier 5
I knew this one was coming. The hate for Anthony Macri since he left his family owned no. 39M continues. I can’t say I blame him for ranking him in tier 5!!! (equivalent to seeds 13-16). I have Macri sitting as a 7 seed with an outside chance of making the A Main. As I said earlier, he hasn’t done much behind the wheel of the 7BC, but I am still keeping faith.
Justin Henderson showing up in tier 5 is a bit surprising for me. Thats a Knoxville regular getting buried in the tiers. I have Henderson as a nine seed, meaning I think he could come very close to making the A but ultimately fall short in the B. He was pretty close to making the A last year.
I just went off about Scott Bogucki and how I think he has a legitimate shot to make the A Main and then I see him show up in tier 5. He just might be the guy that causes us to no longer be able to “trust the tiers.”
Sye Lynch and Tim Kaeding are the other two drivers that I think deserve better than tier 5. It wouldn’t shock me to see either of them up front in the B battling for that last transfer spot. Kaeding was good at Huset’s for the High Banks and has a ton of Knoxville experience. He fell two spots short of making the 2022 Nationals. Lynch in his family no. 42 machine is much better than Lynch in the no. 29 we usually see him in. The 42 definitely has speed and Lynch has a tendency to time well.
Tier 4
I haven’t seen enough of JJ Hickle in the no. 50YR to say he has a chance to make the A Main again. He was not very fast at the Front Row Challenge. If he was back in that no. 25, I would say he definitely has a shot.
The hate for Buddy Kofoid is really showing here. You can’t argue that he hasn’t been super fast in the 83JR. He went quick time at the Capitani before the rain came.
Brock Zearfoss should be in tier 5. He hasn’t shown us anything this year to indicate a potential A Main start.
Justin Sanders should be in tier 3. He made the A Main last year and he might be in an even better car this year. He has been very fast right out of the gate in the 39M.
Other than that, I’m cool with how the Dingus placed them. Only time will tell if we will still be able to trust the tiers.
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