Traditionally, the Knoxville Nationals polesitter has come on Thursday's qualifying night rather than Wednesday, but that wasn't the case this year.

Provisional high-point man Ryan Timms's 487 markers earned from Wednesday's opening qualifying night ended up being enough to earn him the pole over Carson Macedo, Thursday's high-point earner who ended up needing to finish at least second in his 25-lap feature as opposed to fifth.

Like Wednesday, there were plenty of topics that emerged from Thursday's qualifying night at the Knoxville Nationals, particularly Kyle Larson's continued strength at Knoxville, Brown Brown's crash (and injuries), Brad Sweet's very productive night, Spencer Bayston's much-needed run and a rookie making the top-16.

Let's discuss some of those storylines below. 

• Brian Brown Injured & Recovering After Knoxville Nationals Crash
  
• Knoxville Nationals Starting Lineup 2025: Ryan Timms Will Start First
• 2025 Knoxville Nationals Thursday Results At Knoxville Raceway
• 2025 Knoxville Nationals Wednesday Results At Knoxville Raceway
• Ranking The Knoxville Nationals Drivers: From Favorites To Long Shots
• Breaking Down Wednesday's Knoxville Nationals Qualifying Night

Kyle Larson vs. The Field?

When asked during the podium press conference how satisfied he was with Thursday's prelim victory, Kyle Larson sunk his head in slight disappointment. On one hand, winning is always important at Knoxville. But on another, he didn't like knowing he'll start ninth in Saturday's 

"It makes the heat even more disappointing," said Larson, who only went sixth to fourth in his heat race. "I felt like there as a lot more points out on the table."

Finishing third  in the heat (another three points) wouldn't have done Larson anything in the final point tally (eighth-starting Emerson Axsom had Larson beat by four points) but finishing second — an extra six points — would've given Larson the fifth-starting spot.

Does that really matter in the grand scheme of things? It may in Larson's eyes. He hasn't started that far back — in ninth — since 2017 when he finished second from the ninth-starting spot. He's led the last 100 laps of Saturday's Championship A-main from the pole and when he won in 2021, he started third.

In 2022, a year Larson recalls being off his game, he started sixth and finished there at the Nationals. Though Larson is a threat usually no matter where he starts, his concern when looking at where past winners started is valid. 

No winner has come from outside third at the Knoxville Nationals in over a decade when Donny Schatz won from the 21st-starting spot in 2013. That makes the past 10 winners from third or better, which this year is Timms, Carson Macedo and Logan Schuchart:

• 2024: Larson, pole
• 2023: Larson, pole
• 2022: Schatz, third
• 2021: Larson, third
• 2019: David Gravel, second
• 2018: Brad Sweet, pole
• 2017: Schatz, second
• 2016: Jason Johnson, second
• 2015: Schatz, pole
• 2014: Schatz, pole

Larson's brother-in-law, Brad Sweet, meanwhile, isn't looking that far into the recent trends of the Nationals. He's still pegging Larson as the top gun come Saturday despite him coming from Row 10. 

"I still think Kyle coming from ninth is going to be the guy to beat," Sweet said. "Until someone beats the best, he's still the favorite."

Brian Brown's Nationals Futility And Injuries

Fighting for a transfer goes wrong.

Brown has climbed from the car. pic.twitter.com/TwXjJ0e6yG

— World of Outlaws (@WorldofOutlaws) August 8, 2025

Brian Brown has caught the wrong kind of break at the Knoxville Nationals: A bone break rather than the kind of circumstantial break that would move him one step closer to finally winning the coveted event.

His wife revealed in the wee hours Friday morning that the 46-year-old Brown is recovering from a broken right hand and a broken left wrist following Thursday's qualifying night crash. Brown, who was treated and released by an area hospital, suffered his injuries from a violent heat race wreck where he flipped end-over-end when battling JJ Hickle for the final transfer spot went awry.

Some will blame the wreck on Hickle for not leaving enough room to his outside for Brown. Others will say Brown was at fault because he could've avoided contact by checking up enough rather than forcing his car through a tight window around Hickle's outside.

Either way, that's the byproduct of the pressure-packed Nationals. Brown had been on the cusp of starting eighth in the A-main with a shot at starting in the first two rows Saturday or even on the front row with a solid prelim finish. Though tensions arose and words were shared among the two crews, surely Brown's team couldn't restrain themselves from feeling their driver's pain. 

He's been tantalizingly close at the Nationals for so many years, and this year's Nationals may sting just as much as his three runner-ups in the long run because it's another golden opportunity gone by the wayside.

Brad Sweet Overcomes Tumultuous Stretch

WATCH: Brad Sweet has earned the fourth-starting spot in Saturday's Knoxville Nationals despite overcoming a recent concussion and crew changes.

Has Brad Sweet returned to racing at an elite level? The reigning six-time national champion looked the part in every aspect Thursday night, from his on-track speed to his post-race interview, where he radiated with optimism knowing he'd start fourth in Saturday's Nationals.

It's been a tumultuous last month for Sweet, who had to miss two weeks of racing and July 22's Kubota High Limit Racing event at Lernerville Speedway because of a concussion suffered in last month's Kings Royal week at Eldora Speedway.

Then on Saturday, Kasey Kahne Racing announced a midseason shift that gave Sweet the race-day crew that'd been on Kahne's No. 9 this season, a change that involved Sweet's crew chief Tye Wolfgang being let go from the team. Kahne himself is even stepping back from racing for the time being so he can give Sweet adequate attention.

Midseason shifts of that degree usually take time for teams to adjust themselves to. But Sweet and KKR, they're in prime position for their second Nationals title, having all the ingredients to make that happen: Speed (they were quick time by two tenths Thursday), maneuverability (21st-to-eighth in Thursday's prelim) and optimism.

Spencer Bayston's Much-Needed Night

It's no secret that Spencer Bayston hasn't lived up to expectations this season as the Jason Meyers Racing full-time successor to Corey Day, who's won 16 features since Bayston won his last race in August 2023.

Him locking into Saturday's Nationals with the 16th and final guarenteed starting position through Thursday's qualifying night is exactly what the Kubota High Limit Racing driver needed. Bayston probably felt he let his first win in two years slip away when fading to finish third after leading the opening 12 laps.

But with plenty of heavy-hitters still yet to qualify for Saturday's A-main — namely David Gravel, Buddy Kofoid, Anthony Macri and Donny Schatz — Bayston may have found the boost of confidence he's been looking for to salvage what's left of the 2025 season.

Rookie Makes The Top-16 

Who saw 20-year-old rookie Cameron Martin of nearby Ankeny, Iowa, as one of the top-16 lock-ins for Saturday's finale? That's the beauty of the Nationals. It's that it has a knack for rewarding an unheralded or, in Martin's case, a younger driver when the format is played right.

What's even more impressive is that Martin doesn't 410s reguarly at Knoxville — being more a weekly 360 competitor (he's fifth in the track's 360 standings). Before the weekend, he only entered 29 winged 410 events, scoring two top-10s along the way at Jackson Motorplex last month.

In fact, his best finish at Knoxville in a 410 is 14th earlier this year in weekly competition. To be two spots away from his best Knoxville finish before taking the green at the Nationals has to be the early contender for the event's most unexpected development.