Blake Hahn. Chase Randall. And Donny Schatz.

Those were the drivers that mixed it up for Wednesday’s Knoxville Nationals qualifying night victory. Some eclectic trio, right? The Nationals and its unique format does that.

Either a driver qualifies exceptionally well, overcomes the mega eight-car invert in the heats, and makes out in points just fine. Or a suboptimal qualifying run leaves a driver zero choice but to leverage the inverts and find a way to keep one’s car up front.

Hahn — the 360 ace who’s recently converted to full-time 410 racing — and Randall — the 18-year-old who’s moved from Waco, Texas, to pursue a full-time Sprint Car career himself in Knoxville Raceway’s weekly racing series — represented the latter on Wednesday.

Schatz, on the other hand, of course outwitted Hahn and Randall and willed his way to another Knoxville victory. And though Schatz was again in a league to himself, he related to Hahn and Randall during the 25-lap sprint of an A-main more than people immediately think.

“You know they’re a little less experienced in these high-profile environments,” Schatz said. “That does happen here. Back when I was a kid, that’s how I got in the spotlight.”

Prior to Wednesday, Schatz hadn’t won a qualifying night at the Nationals since 2003. Today the 10-time World of Outlaws champion turned 45. As Schatz now officially enters into his late 40s, his numbers in recent years suggest he’s been on the downturn.

Twenty-four wins in 2018 drastically shrunk to 11 in ’19, then to five checkered flags in each of the last three seasons. Before this week, Schatz harbored three victories, which again is right in line with his five-victory average the last three years.

“We haven’t been consistent. There’s no surprise in that,” Schatz said. “You can look on paper and see it. Normal nights we struggle being inside the top 10 (and) it’s the way it is. Racing is pretty tough right now.”

Yet, when things are seemingly tougher than ever on a macro level (Sprint Car racing in general) and micro level (Schatz’s recent adverse seasons, coupled with the death of his beloved dad, Danny, last summer), the West Fargo, N.D., legend continues on with just that … his legend.

When the Nationals comes around, forget about the lowly fact he’s seventh in World of Outlaws points, his worst standing since 2002. A lot, if not, has to do with his mental approach.

“Like I told everybody around me, a couple of days leading up to Knoxville, I’m not mad at you. I just don’t really want to talk to you,” Schatz explained. “You just kind of get yourself in a mental zone. You think about it. You think about scenarios. You think about what if this happens? You think of what you can do when you get in the first turn, do you want to be behind somebody? Or do you want to fill the gap?

“You can’t really second guess it, but you get to play those scenarios through your mind to know what you’re going to do. Then, you have to be able to do it when it happens.”

That is a snippet of the mastermind of Schatz, whose greatness is very much present and not something that’s ready to be preserved until he’s eligible for the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame at age 50 just yet.

Other than Hunter Schuerenberg’s 462-point total, nobody came closer to Schatz’s 479 mark on Wednesday, which should be good enough to slot him in the first two rows of Saturday’s championship main event.

Wednesday’s fast-time recipient, David Gravel, and last year’s Kings Royal champion, Brent Marks, were relegated to Friday’s Hard Knox Night. Marks, too, qualified in the top 10 but could not churn out Schatz-like resolve.

“That’s the way things work,” Schatz said. “There’s a lot of good cars that weren’t in the show. There’s a lot of good cars that were in the back. It’s the dynamic the way this format is, the Nationals. You have to get yourself through those heat races, no matter what. And a lot of guys had trouble with that tonight.”

No matter what has really been Schatz’s mantra since the very beginning. The strong-willed nature has taken him so far that on Saturday he can tie Steve Kinser’s record of 12 Nationals titles. And it may just happen.

“The car was good there. Obviously that was only 25 laps, but we were a little better at the end than the beginning, and that says a lot,” Schatz said. “We have some different combinations of stuff. What we came here last year with didn’t do us the job when we came here earlier in the year, so we tried some different things. (Steve) ‘Scuba’ (Swanson) and the guys did a great job.

“I knew when I went out for that heat, if I didn’t get in that top two, I probably wouldn’t be in the first four rows of the A-main on Saturday night. I moved the goal post. It took me a little bit to get going, but once I finally got going, I finally got myself to second.

“I think we’re in a good spot. We’re going to be solidly in the show and that’s what’s most important right now. Saturday’s a long race.”