KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Move over, Donny Schatz … there’s a new king in town!
‘The Rajin’ Cajun’ Jason Johnson went to war with Schatz in Saturday night’s 5-hour Energy Knoxville Nationals 50-lap championship A-Main, and while he wasn’t the best in the first half of the event, he was the strongest car when it mattered most.
Johnson took the lead from Schatz for the first time two laps after the halfway break, then dished out slide job after wheel-banging slide job in a furious battle with the nine-time Nationals winner on laps 44 and 45 before using the high line to assert his control over the half-mile for good.
The Eunice, Louisiana native led the final five laps — and 21 circuits overall — on the way to his historic first-career Knoxville Nationals crown.
“Parked it for BC!” screamed Johnson, who drove for the late Bryan Clauson at the 2015 Chili Bowl.
By the numbers, the win was Johnson’s third-career Outlaws victory, second of the season and his third-career 410 sprint car win at Knoxville Raceway, coming by way of one of the gutsiest drives in Nationals history.
“I wasn’t giving up,” he added. “I mean, this is the biggest race of the year, and the biggest race of my career. It was a golden opportunity, and I needed to make the most of it and I know he wasn’t happy with me for crowding him but s*** I wanted to win.”
The key to Johnson’s victory was the second half of the race going caution-free.
“It really made a difference. … I was worried about blistering my tires, but I’ve got to thank my fellow competitor, Shane Stewart. I’ve spent a lot of time talking with him about how to race this track, and I was just trying to stay patient and run him [Donny Schatz] down and when I got by him, I stayed patient for a few laps but I just couldn’t stay patient anymore. It was time to go.”
After a pre-race fireworks show that clouded the facility in smoke and delayed the initial start, the championship A-Main took the green just after 10:30 p.m. local time with Pittman leading the early charge and Schatz rising from fifth to third in just two laps.
It took until lap 10 for Pittman to reach traffic, but as soon as he did the race for the lead got hot and heavy. Johnson closed to within three car lengths before surging around the top side of turn four to take the lead on lap 11, but Pittman rallied back to reclaim the lead in turns one and two to top lap 12 as Schatz got around Johnson for second.
The next time by was when Schatz pounced, taking advantage of traffic to weave his way around Pittman and lead at the 13th round. In just one lap, the No. 15 Bad Boy Off-Road/TSR entry opened up a second’s advantage over his nearest pursuers, but that gap would be erased when Craig Dollansky went up in smoke off the fourth turn.
The first restart of the night saw Australian Kerry Madsen roll around Pittman for the third position as Schatz made quick tracks out front. By the time the caution flew for the halfway break at lap 25, Schatz was just entering traffic again and enjoyed a lead of 1.107 seconds over Johnson, Madsen and Pittman.
With no major adjustments for any of the top-running teams, Schatz led the field back to green with 25 to go and quickly got away from Johnson on the single-file restart. But Johnson would roll back up to Schatz and pull off a wicked slide job in turn four to capture the top spot at lap 27.
As Johnson began to put distance between he and Schatz, edging it out to 1.4 seconds with 18 to go, traffic became a factor once again for the leaders. Johnson would make a huge mistake with 16 to go, however, driving up over the cushion and allowing Schatz and Madsen to close in again.
Madsen would finally dispatch Schatz on the top side coming to complete lap 38 and immediately set his sights on Johnson, but had to deal with Schatz again, as the North Dakota native passed Madsen back with 10 laps to go while Johnson began to pull away for home.
