Column: Nearly Another Knoxville Nationals Prelim Win For Allen; Peck Strong For Podium Finish
News Director 
Column By: ALEX NIETEN / WORLD OF OUTLAWS – KNOXVILLE, IA – Jacob Allen held on for second in Wednesday night’s preliminary feature for the 2024 Knoxville Nationals, wheeling his father, Bobby Allen’s, Sprint Car.
It was a strong night for the Hanover, PA native as he sits eighth in points and likely on the bubble of locking into Saturday’s finale after Thursday’s prelim. Despite losing the lead late, Allen showed no signs of disappointment once the checkered flag flew.
“Honestly, I think I ran a pretty good race, a race that I’m pretty proud of running,” Allen said. “I felt like my race car was really good. We didn’t go through much lapped traffic, but I made a nice pass that I thought would maybe be a defining move on Blake Hahn. But obviously Gio had a really good car as well. There’s honestly nothing to hang our heads about. Last year I didn’t even race this race and took some time off. To come back, lead my prelim night, and run second is a huge accomplishment.”
Rounding out the Knoxville Nationals opener podium was Justin Peck aboard the Buch Motorsports machine. Peck is confident he and the Buch crew have something to build on after Wednesday but have a couple areas with room for improvement if they want to challenge for a Knoxville Nationals title.
“I feel like we’re pretty close, just need to find a little bit more speed,” Peck said. “I think our straight-line speed or straight-line grip is pretty good. I’m struggling kind of getting in the corner, and then depending on how that goes maybe struggling through the rest of the corner. Like I said, we’ll keep working. It’s cool to put it on the podium on a prelim night of the Knoxville Nationals.”
Chase Randall and Brent Marks completed the top five. A 21st to 10th drive earned Anthony Macri the KSE Racing Hard Charger. Matt Juhl claimed Simpson Quick Time honors in Sea Foam Qualifying.
Your Life Iowa Heats One, Three, Four, and Five belonged to Sam Hafertepe Jr., Donny Schatz, Aaron Reutzel, and Chase Randall. Milton Hershey School Heat Two went to Jamie Ball.
Anthony Macri won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown. The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Michael Kofoid.
