Brent Marks (19) battles Rico Abreu (24) and Logan Schuchart for the win Friday night at Knoxville Raceway. (Tyler Carr photo)

By Jacob Seelman, SWN News Editor

KNOXVILLE, Iowa (June 12, 2026) – Brent Marks has been oh-so-close to victory lane over the past two weeks with High Limit Racing, but it took a drop-in to the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series for him to finally get over the hump in 2026.

In doing so, Marks topped arguably the race of the year in any winged sprint car tour across the country.

Marks led only the final three laps of Friday night’s Premier Chevy Dealers Clash opener at the Sprint Car Capital of the World, roaring past Logan Schuchart and then fending off the Shark Racing No. 1s in the final moments to reign victorious in his familiar No. 19 sprinter.

How those two got to the lead, though, was another story in itself.

Then-leader Rico Abreu, who had dominated most of the race after taking control from Aaron Reutzel on lap four, slowed suddenly down the backstretch with what was later revealed to be a failing engine.

That put Marks out front for an instant, moments after he’d been waging war with Schuchart for the runner-up spot and believing that Abreu was “long gone” in the Tony Stewart Racing No. 24.

Schuchart slid Marks deep into turns three and four to lead lap 22, but Marks countered the next time around – in nearly the exact same spot on the racetrack – to wrest control of the race away.

From there, Marks captured a narrow .437-second victory for the 16th World of Outlaws victory of his career and first since March of 2024 at Texas’ Cotton Bowl Speedway.

It was his second career triumph at Knoxville, both coming against The Greatest Show on Dirt.

“I was just driving the hell out of the thing,” Marks said. “The car got so good, and it got so grippy that there were times to where it would twitch really bad, and I was fighting it because it had that much grip. What a hell of a run there. Actually, crossing the checkered, I think we ran out of fuel. I’m not sure; it just kind of died on me. Hopefully, that’s all it was.

“What a way to get our first win of the year. This is just awesome.”

With a last-lap pass for position, Sheldon Haudenschild drove the KCP Racing No. 18 to a second-place finish, with Schuchart completing the podium after starting from the pole and being in contention for the victory throughout.

“I feel like we were in the hunt, and know the direction to go [now],” Schuchart noted. “It’s definitely the best we’ve been at Knoxville this year. I’m proud of the team. They’ve been working really hard to get us better. I just got a little tight as the race went on.”

Fourth went to two-time defending Outlaws champion David Gravel, while Reutzel faded to fifth after leading the first three circuits from the outside pole.

Tyler Courtney, Kyle Larson, Brenham Crouch, Buddy Kofoid, and Carson Macedo closed the top 10, while Cole Macedo was the KSE Hard Charger after taking a provisional and racing from 25th to 12th.

But the story of the night was Marks, who now has seven podium finishes in his last eight 410 sprint car starts – but most importantly, has a long-awaited victory among those strong runs.

“As a driver, I knew I needed to get the win, because we had the car to do it,” Marks noted. “We were able to capitalize on that.”

World of Outlaws sprint car teams get back in action Saturday night at Knoxville with the Premier Chevy Dealers Clash finale, the last national-series tune-up prior to the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals in mid-August.

Every lap of World of Outlaws action throughout the season can be streamed live with a DIRTvision subscription.

The finish:

NOS Energy Drink Feature (25 laps): 1. 19-Brent Marks[8]; 2. 18-Sheldon Haudenschild[5]; 3. 1S-Logan Schuchart[1]; 4. 2-David Gravel[11]; 5. 87-Aaron Reutzel[2]; 6. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[16]; 7. 57-Kyle Larson[6]; 8. 5-Brenham Crouch[7]; 9. 83-Michael Kofoid[14]; 10. 41-Carson Macedo[12]; 11. 88-Austin McCarl[9]; 12. 2C-Cole Macedo[25]; 13. 11-Justin Henderson[4]; 14. 15-Donny Schatz[23]; 15. 10-Ryan Timms[17]; 16. 27-Emerson Axsom[18]; 17. 23-Garet Williamson[21]; 18. 21-Brian Brown[15]; 19. 26-Justin Peck[19]; 20. 17-Spencer Bayston[24]; 21. 69K-Daryn Pittman[22]; 22. 6-Kasey Jedrzejek[13]; 23. 7S-Chris Windom[20]; 24. (DNF) 24A-Rico Abreu[3]; 25. (DNF) 55-Kerry Madsen[10]

Lap Leader(s): Aaron Reutzel 1-3, Rico Abreu 4-21, Logan Schuchart 22, Brent Marks 23-25.

Hard Charger: 2C-Cole Macedo (+13)