American Racing News Vol 1, Issue 2 Issue 6 | Page 27

by Bryan Hulbert and Bill Wright

KNOXVILLE, Iowa (August 13, 2016) – In a
race that will go down as one of the best
ever runs at the Knoxville Raceway, the 56th
annual 5-hour ENERGY Knoxville Nationals
presented by Casey’s General Stores found
a new champion as “The Ragin’ Cajun” Jason
Johnson brought a near capacity crowd to
their feet with a hair raising battle with
Donny Schatz to claim Sprint Car racing’s
biggest prize.
“Parked it. B.C.!” screamed the Louisiana
native as he immediately dedicated his win
to Bryan Clauson.
Asked about his nearly race long battle with
the nine-time Knoxville Nationals Champion; Johnson stated, “I wasn’t giving up. I
mean, this is the biggest race of the year,
and the biggest race of my career. It was a
golden opportunity, and I needed to make
the most of it and I know he wasn’t happy
with me for crowding him but $!&% I wanted to win.”
While Jason occupied the outside of the
front row, it was Daryn Pittman who took
off with the race lead with Jason Johnson in
tow. Working to third on the second round,
Donny Schatz worked smoothly around the