Leading up to Bill Balog’s NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals preliminary night, he didn’t (maple) sugar coat his chances.
“I told them, we’re not really prepared for this,” he said. “I don’t really expect a whole lot.”
But when the checkered flag concluded Thursday night’s Toyota Qualifying Night, Balog crossed the finish line with a fifth-place finish and enough points to lock him into Saturday’s main event for the first time – set to start 13th.
“It feels good,” Balog said with relief coating each word. “Knoxville pays the most. I need to make money; I do this for a living. I wasn’t counting money during the race. I wish we would’ve done a little bit better, obviously – first to fifth. Could’ve been a little bit better. I think our car was a little bit better. It feels awesome. I think… you know, I’ve tried many years and haven’t made it. To make it, finally, feels really good.”
Balog, the 10-time IRA Sprint Car Series champion from North Pole, AK, joined the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series for his first full season this year. About a month into the journey he realized he was not as prepared as he’d thought. He started building his program for the season in November, but with engine failures and broken parts plaguing the start of his season, he’s been left playing catch up ever since.
He currently sits eighth in World of Outlaws points with six top-five finishes and 19 top 10s in 39 starts. And despite being behind, he’s still managed strong runs throughout the year such as his second-place finish at Paducah International Raceway in April.
While he’d love to enter the Knoxville Nationals with an award-winning paint scheme and shiny new parts, Balog said he’s currently not even close to being able to do something like that. The car he’s running at Knoxville Raceway is the one he’d just put together for the Ironman 55 weekend at the 1/3-mile Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 – which produced finishes of 11th and eighth, respectively.
“I had some shocks done [on Wednesday). We’re just behind on stuff,” he said. “Making sure things aren’t falling off. We just put this car together for Pevely.
“We’ve just been working and thrashing. We didn’t have a qualifying wing really ready. We did get one at the last second. It’s lettered all wrong, but I don’t think anybody will notice. Just stuff like that… Hopefully, the more we work and prepare, we can have more stuff ready and maybe come in here with a little bit more confidence.”
By locking into Saturday’s Feature, with a full day to prepare on Friday, Balog now has time to sit with some confidence and let it grow for his first appearance in the $190,000-to-win, 50-lap, spectacle.
“I’m feeling good,” he said. “I think we definitely have something to work with. If it gets slick… it’s probably going to be slick for the Nationals A-Main. I just had a lot of confidence running the top (Thursday night). I know it was pretty tacked up tonight, but I think we’re going in the right direction, and I have something to work with.”
With the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s paying $15,000 to start, no matter where Balog finishes, he’ll leave with a check that’ll help steer his 2024 rookie season in the right direction.
“It’s just how the whole deal works, everything costs money and we’re buying tires as we go and just doing it as we go,” he said. “We’re not… you know, we get help from a lot of sponsors. I don’t have any real big sponsors. We have Anderson’s Maple Syrup, which is kind of our main sponsor but then we have like 30 little sponsors. That’s what’s kind of making it all work.
“It feels great to have some speed. With Grant helping, and Dennis and Susan and John; here’s a whole bunch of people that help us.”
While grandstand tickets are sold out for the 63rd NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s on Saturday, you can still watch Balog and the rest of the all-star field live on DIRTVision.
