Haudenschild Tops Opening Knoxville Prelim In Photo Finish

Sheldon Haudenschild celebrates in victory lane Wednesday night at Knoxville Raceway. (Ashley Zimmerman Wigans photo)

By Jacob Seelman, SWN News Editor

KNOXVILLE, Iowa (Aug. 12, 2026) – In one of the most thrilling preliminary night finishes in the history of the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals, Sheldon Haudenschild made a last-gasp pass coming to the checkered flag to win BRANDT Professional Agriculture Qualifying Night in a breathtaking photo finish.

With a run off the bottom of the fourth corner of historic Knoxville Raceway, Haudenschild’s KCP Racing No. 18 surged ahead of James McFadden and Jace Park, who ran first and second for most of the final lap after trading the top spot throughout the 25-lap feature.

But Haudenschild had the big momentum when it counted most, edging out a thrilling victory by .006 seconds over McFadden at the finish line.

It marked the long-awaited first Knoxville Nationals prelim-night win for Haudenschild in his 14th Nationals appearance, and remarkably just his second career 410 sprint car win at the Marion County Fairgrounds half mile overall.

Understandably, the emotion was electric in victory lane after Haudenschild celebrated atop his special pink-and-green ‘Grand Prix Guava’ NOS Energy Drink mount.

Did he ever doubt his chances, despite running third at the white flag?

“I never count myself out, that’s for sure,” said the Wooster, Ohio, native. “Man, hats off to [crew chief Kyle] Ripper. That was awesome, man. The 28 [Park] and the 21 [McFadden] there, they got to playing a couple games on the white flag [lap]. And I saw the 21 cut down real hard [to the low lane], and I knew he probably lost a little bit of momentum. Then he slid across the track, and I was like, ‘Man, if I could get my right rear where I’ve been putting it, I think I’ll have a shot as long as they don’t close that gap too soon.

“This place is just a different beast on the bottom to run. I felt like I was able to move around good,” Haudenschild continued. “I squared [turns] one and two up. I ripped the cushion in one and two. I rolled the bottom and was patient. Even when I’d miss it in the middle of one and two, I kind of just aborted and still had backstretch speed. We rolled good all night, man.”

In a 25-lapper that only had one yellow flag, the intense drama actually began before the initial green ever waved.

Defending Knoxville Nationals champion Ryan Timms – who struggled in qualifying, won his heat race on a fourth-to-first blitz, and was slated to start ninth in the Wednesday-night feature – was barely able to make the call after fuel issues on his Liebig Motorsports No. 10 that had his crew scrambling to get the car prepared and pushed off in time to make the four-wide parade lap for the fans.

Timms made it out, albeit having to line up from the rear of the field, but only completed two laps before pulling in complaining of fuel blowing into his back. He finished 24th in the feature and, at 19th in event points already after Wednesday, is destined to return for Friday’s Hard Knox program in another effort to lock into the championship feature field.

Meanwhile, Park led early and often up front, opening up nearly two seconds on the field in the first eight laps before slower traffic came into the conversation and allowed those behind his No. 28 to begin closing in to challenge.

McFadden dispatched early runner-up Cole Macedo for second place a lap before halfway, then rocketed up toward Park’s rear nerf bar and seemed to just be sizing up a potential battle for the lead when Emerson Axsom grenaded an engine in turn two after charging from 22nd to 13th.

The lone yellow flag of the race restacked the field for a single-file restart, and on the resumption it didn’t take long for McFadden to work the inside to get past Park for the top spot, doing so down the frontstretch coming to 10 to go and clearing Park through turns one and two.

Park remained right within striking distance, however, and reloaded with a move to the inside of turn two on lap 21 to retake control of the race. He led until McFadden switched lanes himself, surging to the low side in turns three and four to grab the top spot at the white flag.

As they jockeyed back and forth, neither one counted on Haudenschild being a player. After being two seconds back of the leaders with four laps left, Haudenschild roared forward, made mincemeat of the deficit, and ultimately pulled off one of the most jaw-dropping moves in Knoxville Raceway history to seal the deal and bank the $12,000 winner’s share.

Sheldon Haudenschild (18) takes the checkered flag ahead of James McFadden (21) and Jace Park (28) Wednesday at Knoxville Raceway. (Tyler Carr photo)

With Thursday’s preliminary program still to run, Haudenschild leaves Wednesday as the high-points earner with 481 of a possible 500, and is all but assured of starting his eighth career Knoxville Nationals championship A-Main come Saturday night.

He’s ready to fight for what would be the biggest win of his career and is all smiles amid the process.

“Ripper had a long off-season putting this thing together, and, man, it’s paying off now,” he added. “It’s just so fun to drive and we’re just having a lot of fun right now.”

Action at Knoxville Raceway continues Thursday with Toyota Qualifying Night for the 65th NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals, featuring another complete program of hot laps, qualifying, heat races, and alphabet main events, headlined by a 25-lap feature that will again pay $12,000 to the winner.

The top 16 in combined preliminary-night points across Wednesday and Thursday’s action will lock into Saturday’s 50-lap, $200,000-to-win championship feature. On-track action begins Thursday at 6:45 p.m. CT.

The finish:

BRANDT Qualifying Night A-Feature (25 laps): 1. 18-Sheldon Haudenschild [7]; 2. 21T-James McFadden [6]; 3. 28-Jace Park [1]; 4. 2C-Cole Macedo [3]; 5. 23D-Chase Dietz [4]; 6. 11-Justin Henderson [5]; 7. 42-Sye Lynch [2]; 8. 4-Kasey Kahne [8]; 9. 3P-Sawyer Phillips [12]; 10. 25-Jy Corbet [11]; 11. 14-Corey Day [24]; 12. 2-David Gravel [23]; 13. 53-Jack Dover [20]; 14. 14TSR-Rico Abreu [21]; 15. 22-Riley Goodno [17]; 16. 24D-Danny Sams III [13]; 17. 24T-Christopher Thram [18]; 18. 6T-Zach Hampton [10]; 19. 51-Steven Snyder Jr. [16]; 20. 17GP-Brock Zearfoss [19]; 21. 45X-Rees Moran [14]; 22. 11N-Darin Naida [15]; 23. 27A-Emerson Axsom [22]; 24. 10-Ryan Timms [9].

Lap Leader(s): Jace Park 1-14, James McFadden 15-20, Jace Park 21-23, James McFadden 24, Sheldon Haudenschild 25.

Hard Charger: 14-Corey Day (+13)