Ryan Timms has already proven he can rise to the occasion on Knoxville Raceway’s biggest stage. Saturday night, the 19-year-old did it again.

Timms led all 30 laps of the 36th Xtream powered by Mediacom 360 Knoxville Nationals, surviving a tense late-race charge from Aaron Reutzel to become the second-youngest winner of the American Sprint Car Series crown jewel.

“It’s unbelievable,” Timms said. “I was just as nervous, maybe even more nervous than I was for the 410 race last year. These 360s, they’re so hard to win here in Knoxville with how momentum-based they are. There’s not many guys that can say they’ve won either one, let alone both of them, so it’s cool.”

The victory made Timms only the third driver to win both the 360 Nationals and Knoxville’s 410 Nationals, joining Danny Lasoski and Sammy Swindell.

Timms started from the pole alongside 2022 winner Reutzel and quickly put his Liebig Motorsports No. 10 out front, initially working the bottom of the half-mile oval.

Behind him, James McFadden slipped past Reutzel for second before Reutzel reclaimed the position on lap five. By then, Timms had moved toward the cushion as the leaders began closing on slower traffic.

That’s where Reutzel started cutting into Timms’s advantage.

Reutzel closed on the leader by lap 10 as Timms navigated traffic, but Timms found enough room through the middle to rebuild his advantage while Reutzel battled Friday winner Tyler Courtney for second. Timms led by 1.6 seconds at halfway.

Once Reutzel cleared traffic and Courtney’s challenge, however, the 2022 winner began reeling Timms back in.

With six laps remaining, Reutzel had reached Timms’s back bumper just as the leaders encountered another pack of slower cars. Timms struggled to make headway on the bottom, giving Reutzel an opportunity to pounce.

The closest call came with two laps remaining.

Timms caught Kyler Johnson entering turn one, stacking up the leaders as Reutzel followed him into the corner. Reutzel made contact with the rear of Timms’s car amid the logjam, but both kept rolling with the victory still up for grabs.

Timms went back to the cushion for the final lap while Reutzel committed to the bottom. Reutzel made one last charge through the final corners, but Timms had enough momentum to beat him to the checkered flag by 0.167 of a second.

“I wasn’t sure where to run the whole race, really,” Timms said. “I didn’t know what was working. Once we got to lap traffic, I assumed that was probably the 87 that ran into the back of me. I was running the top the whole time, then I guess the top started going away. I struggled to hit the bottom for whatever reason, but there’s lapped cars everywhere.

“They were running the bottom, then I saw Aaron get to my inside once, so I figured he was making ground on the bottom. I was really unsure if I should just fall in line and follow them. It wasn’t my best effort in lap traffic for sure, but it was a good blocking effort, and I’m glad I blocked that guy.”

Reutzel finished second, with Courtney rounding out the podium. Kyle Larson was fourth and McFadden completed the top five.

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360 Knoxville Nationals Saturday Results at Knoxville Raceway