Clint Garner had 32 wins in 360 sprint car races at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway on his way to seven track championships, but there were two things that eluded him until Saturday night. He had never won the Knoxville Nationals and had never beaten the American Sprint Car Series regulars.

Leading flag-to-flag in the 27th annual edition of this race, Garner erased those deficiencies in his 14th try.

Garner's win was a vindication for the local drivers after losing to the Pennsylvania Posse in both preliminary nights. Tim Shaffer won on Thursday with Greg Hodnett taking the checkers Friday.

Lap one of the Nationals got off to a rocky start when Friday's winner Hodnett spun out of seventh on the opening trip around the track. When the race finally got an official lap in the books, Garner dove to the bottom to lead Nate Van Haaften and ASCS regular Wayne Johnson.

"It did get to the point where it was the 'win it or wear it' moment," Garner said from Victory Lane. "I ran the heck out of it. It's just a guessing game out front. You have no clue where everyone else is going and what's happening. I wish I could say it's easy, but it's so hard to do."

Outrunning the touring regulars made this victory much more special to Garner than many that came previously.

"This is definitely the biggest win of my career," he said. "I'm so happy, and there are so many people here. A lot of these guys race for a living, and they know how hard I try to keep up with them. They know when I can beat them, it is special. I'm proud to be a working man that races on the weekend. I'm more proud that I just beat a bunch of professionals."



Brian Brown finished second after coming from the middle of the pack. He earned the Hard Charger award for passing 10 cars but could not quite get around the final and most important one.

Charging to second, Brown worked both the top and bottom grooves, implementing the strategy of "go where they ain't." As he stood alongside Garner on the podium, however, it was difficult for Brown to be too disappointed.

"Clint has been coming here a lot of years," Brown said. "He has a true sprint car family. His brother, his dad... I'm envious of him. That's what racing's all about. If I can't win it, I'm glad he was able to. He should have won it three times by now. It was a great effort by our team. I was hoping for one more yellow. Twelfth to second is nothing to hang our head about."

Johnson -- Garner's early competition -- finished third. That made him the top ASCS regular in the special event.

"I suckered him on the first start," Johnson said. "I knew I wouldn't get another chance at it. Then he got the lead. He started running the top, and I felt like I was better than him on the bottom. The caution came out with 12 to go and took the lapped traffic away. I wasn't catching him late in the race, so I went to the top. I just opened the door for Brown there to slide me. We've struggled quite a bit at times in the last seven or eight months. So we can't hang our head about finishing third behind the two guys that probably have more laps here than anyone. Congratulations to Clint. Those guys work hard, and they're good friends of mine."

Series regular Aaron Reutzel finished fourth with Jamie Ball rounding out the top five.

Driving Tony Stewart's No. 14B, Christopher Bell finished sixth after starting 11th with the ASCS points leader Sam Hafertepe Jr. crossing under the checkers one spot behind him.

Preliminary night winners Shaffer and Hodnett finished ninth and 10th, respectively.

Top 10 Finishers
1. Clint Garner
2. Brian Brown
3. Wayne Johnson
4. Aaron Reutzel
5. Jamie Ball
6. Christopher Bell
7. Sam Hafertepe Jr.
8. Jeff Swindell
9. Tim Shaffer
10. Greg Hodnett
Complete Results, with B-Main finishes 

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