It has been said that, “You cannot keep a good man down,” and “Racing is the best medicine,” but there was nothing cliché about Jason Meyers’ performance on his qualifying night for the 51st running of the Knoxville Nationals. After visiting the hospital the night before with the flu, Meyers gathered up all his strength to put the Elite Racing #14 Allstar Performance KPC in Saturday night’s main event.
The 2010 World of Outlaws Champion began his Knoxville pursuit by qualifying 10th with a lap of 15.509. Meyers then picked up valuable passing points in his heat race when he started 7th and brought the #14 GLR Investments KPC home in 2nd.
For the main event, Meyers was lined up fifth on the start. When the green flag was unfurled, Meyers pounced like a wild beast being let out of a cage. By the 2nd turn, Meyers was in 2nd position and was tracking down leader Terry McCarl. On his second revolution of the track, Meyers got to the outside of McCarl and claimed the lead.
The first disruption of racing action was on Lap 3, when McCarl and Stevie Smith tangled while deciding the second position. On the restart, Meyers chose the bottom line. Going into turn 1, Meyers had to hold off a challenge from Mark Dobmeier. The California Champion held him off and opened up a 1 second lead.
The second yellow flag of the night was unfurled on Lap 7. This time Meyers chose the top line for the restart. The 2010 Champion drove out to the lead on the restart, leaving the rest of the field to scramble for positions behind him. Dobmeier established himself in the second position and started tracking down the #14 DDNi KPC.
On Lap 13, Dobmeier got under Meyers and pulled a slide job on him. Meyers would get back under and return the slide job, but not before the caution flag came out on Lap 14. As a result, Meyers found himself in the 2nd position for the restart. When racing action resumed, Meyers attempted another slide job for the lead, but it did not stick as Dobmeier retook the lead.
During the final 10 laps of the race, Meyers stayed in Dobmeier’s tire tracks, but was unable to retake the lead. Late in the race the 2010 champion held off a charge from Brian Brown, but had to settle for a second place finish on night one in Knoxville.
“I keep getting on the wrong end of yellow flags,” Meyers said when he got out of the #14 MediaTile KPC. “Obviously Mark (Dobmeier) was good tonight. I was out front for awhile and tried to set a good pace. After the week we have had and being sick yesterday, we battled back. My guys have stood behind me and have given me a good racecar. These heats were really tough here tonight and I really had a great car. We have a lot of people here this weekend with DDNi, MediaTile, GLR Investments, Allstar Performance, and everyone else. This special Allstar paint scheme looks great and we are looking to have a good run. I made it to the scales tonight, so we can put that to rest. It was a great night and hopefully this will put us in a good position for the rest of the weekend.”
After his performance last night, Meyers is 4th in points behind Sammy Swindell, Brad Sweet, and Dale Blaney. Tonight Meyers will be returning to the track in two invitational events. First up will be the new Race of Champions where he will face off with both Knoxville Nationals, Series and Track Champions. Then in the World Challenge, he will take on the World’s best sprint car racers in a grudge match to see who is the best.
Elite Racing Welcomes a New Crewmember
On Tuesday August 9th, Elite Racing welcomed a new family member. Crew Chief Brian Bloomfield and his wife Lindsey brought Londyn Renae Bloomfield into the world. She weighed in at 6 pounds and 1 ½ ounces and was 18 inches long. Momma and baby are resting at home this weekend as they both cheer daddy and the entire Elite Racing team on at Knoxville.
