For Kevin Thomas Jr., Knoxville Raceway provided the perfect setting for a transformation weekend for both himself and his Rock Steady Racing team.

KTJ’s beginning to the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship season saw him finish no better than eighth in any of his first 10 series starts, and a point ranking of 11th entering this weekend’s Avanti Windows & Doors Corn Belt Clash.

On Saturday night at the 1/2-mile dirt oval in Iowa, Thomas parlayed an inside second row starting position into victory. First, the Cullman, Alabama racer narrowly avoided a major catastrophe during the opening laps, then put a clamp on the top spot on a lap eight restart en route to his first USAC victory of the season and the first of his career at Knoxville, one that was worth a cool $15,000.

At this time last year, Thomas was on his way to a five-win campaign in USAC National Sprint Car competition. The kind of performances that the team had longed for throughout the first several months of the season have now come back around, and the good times are back again for KTJ and the No. 3R.

“I’m pretty hard on myself in general, but this year has been pretty trying,” Thomas admitted. “To be able to win here at Knoxville is historic and this was also our first time having an opportunity and then capitalizing on it.”

After a seventh place result in Friday’s opener, Thomas knew the capability was there, but everything had to align, from himself and his machine to qualifying well (4th) and setting the tone for the rest of the night at the wheel of his Rock Steady Racing/Inferno Armor – Lucas Oil Center – Creative Finishing/Mach-1/Stanton Chevy.

“There are a lot of people who put up with stuff from me and what I like to feel in a racecar,” Thomas explained. “We have tried and tried and tried and there was something that was very much staring us right in the face that we changed. Now it’s so much better. Like last night, it was an unfortunate thing that we had a situation with a right rear shock but we were still running good. This was the first time all year that we’ve been in the invert, and that gave ourselves a chance to win.”

The victory moved Thomas another rung up the leader as his 45th career USAC National Sprint Car win sent him to seventh place on the all-time win list alongside 1968-1970-1975 series champion Larry Dickson.

USAC AMSOIL National Sprints Night #2 Knoxville Raceway Results

1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (3)

 2. Ryan Bernal (7)

 3. Kyle Cummins (18)

 4. Justin Grant (5)

5. Gunnar Setser (9)

6. Chase Stockon (11)

7. Logan Seavey (15)

8. Robert Ballou (10)

9. Briggs Danner (12)

 10. Mitchel Moles (6)

11. Jake Swanson (1)

 12. Logan Calderwood (13)

 13. R.J. Johnson (19)

14. Wyatt Burks (23)

15. Charles Davis Jr. (16)

16. Carson Garrett (22)

17. Hayden Reinbold (14)

18. Kobe Simpson (20)

19. Braydon Cromwell (21)

20. Kale Drake (8)

 21. C.J. Leary (2)

22. Brady Bacon (4)

23. A.J. Johnson (17)

24. Jadon Rogers (24). NT