The legendary Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway is revered in open-wheel circles as the Mecca of winged sprint car racing. This weekend, Tony Stewart Racing’s (TSR) Levi Jones and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., will be looking to make the facility a team favorite as they head into the USAC Knoxville Midget Nationals on Friday and Saturday.
Jones will look to drive the No. 20 TSR/Chevrolet/Spike machine into victory lane with his first USAC National Midget Car Series win. In 2006, Jones scored back-to-back 10th-place finishes in the Doodlebug Classic and USAC Knoxville Midget Nationals.
Stenhouse will make his first USAC Midget Series start on the half-mile Knoxville oval this weekend. He has made several starts at the facility, and earned a fourth-place finish in the Knoxville 360 Nationals in 2005.
Jones is ranked eighth in the USAC Midget standings with 154 points, only three markers out of fifth place. He currently leads the USAC National Sprint Car Series championship with 610 points. Jones has won a season-high four USAC Sprint Series features, as well as the prestigious East Bay Winternationals in January.
Stenhouse has one victory each in USAC Sprint, Midget and Silver Crown this year, making him the only driver to have won in all three national divisions. After missing three USAC Sprint races and one USAC Midget event early in the season, Stenhouse is ranked ninth in the USAC Midget Series standings with 149 points.
TSR’s Tracy Hines continues to recover from injuries he sustained in an off-road motorcycle accident on April 30. He joined the team at O’Reilly Raceway Park for the USAC Sprint and Midget Series events last Saturday.
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