Jonathan Davenport claimed victory on the first preliminary night at the Knoxville Late Model Nationals with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, but he’s not impressed with the track describing it as a “dump.”
Jonathan Davenport at the opening night of the Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals 2024
After tying Jimmy Owens for second place on the all-time win list with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, Davenport spoke with Always Race Day about his dominant performance where he led all 25 laps and held off a late charge from Bobby Pierce.
When asked about the track conditions, Davenport bluntly answered, “Track’s just way too narrow for us. They keep narrowing it every time we came back. It’s about the same as last year, I feel like. But we knock such a big hole in the air we gotta have a wider race track to race on.”
UDPB: Jonathan Davenport (@TheFast49) took home the Knoxville Late Model Nationals prelim win at @knoxvilleraces tonight.
He still thinks it’s “a dump,” but that’s just what he calls it. Listen to hear what he wants to see the rest of the weekend. pic.twitter.com/f9DaUxCw2j
— Always Race Day (@AlwaysRaceDay) September 20, 2024
When asked what his suggestions to improve the track are, Davenport replied, “Just widen it back out like it used to be. There is a culvert or drain tile that we can all see and hell we used to run over that thing. Now, it’s 20 foot inside the berm. We just need more area to race on and it would race better. I’m not saying it’s going to be great.”
He then lamented, “They keep it so wet that it doesn’t slow down much. Honestly, just ran 25 laps on the mac right there. So maybe Saturday it may slow down a little after we get you know to the lap 40, 50 mark, maybe. But it just needs to slow down and be wider and I think they’d have a better race track.”
Jonathan Davenport via Always Race Day on X
When asked where he would place Knoxville on the dump scale, Davenport replied, “This place is still a dump. I mean that’s just what I call it. It’s not the worse place in the world. It’s an awesome facility, but it’s a shame that they have this awesome facility, but their race track is just so narrow. I know they do it to keep Donny [Schatz] from winning all of the Knoxville Nationals because they try and keep the top to keep up with the bottom, but it definitely hurts us.”
“it’s a Sprint Car track so we come second fiddle,” he added.
Jonathan Davenport celebrates a win on the opening night of the Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals via FloRacing
Davenport’s win was his eighth with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series of the year. He took him a $7,000 pay day. Racing continues tonight and tomorrow. The schedule for Saturday was adjusted with the pit gate opening at 1:00 PM local time with the grandstands opening at 3:00 PM. Hot laps will begin at 4:00 PM with racing expected to start at 5:00 PM.
The change in the schedule is due to inclement weather potentially moving through the area at night.
Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals logo
What do you make of Davenport’s comments regarding Knoxville Raceway?
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