The "Steel City Outlaw" Tim Shaffer won the battle, but Jamie Ball is in the best position to win the Knoxville 360 Nationals war after earning the most points Thursday night at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway.

Rager Phillips started the night in style by posting an event-record time of 15.826 in qualification. However, a deep inversion forced him to start sixth in his heat. He was unable to make up enough ground to transfer directly to the A-Main and was forced to start in the back of the pack after going through the B.

That proved to be his undoing as the 27th annual Knoxville 360 Nationals got off to a wicked start.

On lap one, Jon Agan was tagged from behind as he tried to hook the lower cushion. That sent him up the track through the middle of heavy traffic. He knocked Sammy Swindell into the frontstretch wall, and when Swindell's No. 3S started to flip down the track, it collected Phillips, Jordyn Brazier, Alex Hill, and Harli White to bring out the red flag.



Shaffer was in front of the melee and led the race flag to flag to earn the second American Sprint Car Series victory of his career. Staying up front was the key to Shaffer's success as another red flag waved behind him on lap six. Jonathan Cornell broke a rear axle, collecting Knoxville regular Joe Beaver.

Beaver neither knew nor cared that a mechanical problem caused the accident, saying "that dumb son of a bitch cost me to cars in two years," referencing another incident between them in 2016.

Once those accidents were out of the drivers' systems, the final 14 laps were run without incident and Shaffer built a two-second lead.

"It's awesome," Shaffer said from Victory Lane. "It's about learning each other, learning the track, and doing the right things. We're here to get seat time. I've been here a lot, but you're always learning. (Crew chief) Cody Jacobs gave me one heck of a race car tonight. At the end of the day, you have to put yourself in position for Saturday. We're here to have a good time and race."

Josh Baughman finished second, and while Shaffer seemed to have an insurmountable lead, Baughman might have been able to run him down with slightly different circumstances.

"We just needed to clear (Thomas) Kennedy sooner," Baughman said. "We're just going to relax and come have fun Saturday."

Having survived the opening-lap contact, Agan made a charge on Kennedy in the closing laps to take the third position.

"We were good, but yet again we weren't," Agan said. "We tried to make the best of it and do everything we could. We had a new race car here last week. We really didn't know what we had going in. I didn't rotate the center real well and Kennedy got past me. He came to the bottom, but we didn't touch. He opened up his entry a little bit and we were able to take it."

Kennedy finished fourth.

The fifth-place Ball earned the most points for the night with a combination of his performance in the heat and feature. As a result, he is locked into the Saturday night's finale, which is the race everyone is here to win.

Under the unique format of the Nationals, half of the more than 80-car field ran Thursday night with the other half running Friday, August 4. The top 20 based on points will lock into the big show with the remainder of field being set by a series of last-chance races.

Thursday night's top 10 in points include Ball (with 473), Aaron Reutzel (471), Shaffer (470), Baughman (467), Kennedy (467), Seth Bergman (467), Agan (465), Seth Brahmer (451), Ian Madsen (451), and Danny Lasoski (450).

Top 10 Finishers
1. Tim Shaffer
2. Josh Baughman
3. Jon Agan
4. Thomas Kennedy
5. Jamie Ball
6. Aaron Reutzel
7. Danny Lasoski
8. Seth Brahmer
9. Seth Bergman
10. Matt Moro
Complete Results, with heat finishes

Knoxville Nationals Coverage

Knoxville 360 Nationals Live Updates, Night 1
Josh Baughman Knows Knoxville Wins Equal Immediate Prestige
Seat Time Is Critical To Scelzi's 360 Success
Fearless Harli White Tackles Both The 360 And 410 Knoxville Nationals
Danny Lasoski Aims For A Knoxville Victory When It Matters Most
Seth Bergman Tunes Up For Knoxville Nationals By Passing 18 Cars In 2 Races
Tony Stewart And Christoper Bell Highlight Knoxville 360 Nationals Entry List

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