Following the first two preliminary mains of the FVP Knoxville Nationals, presented by Casey’s General Stores, Danny Lasoski of Missouri leads the 2015 Cox Design & Metal Fabrication Iowa Speed Week point standings. Night number eight is Friday, August 14, with the twenty-second annual SPEED SPORT Knoxville World Challenge at the famed Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville. Although the top three point leaders (Danny Lasoski, Brian Brown, Sammy Swindell) have not qualified for tonight’s Knoxville World Challenge, fourth-placed Terry McCarl is set for the international race and he could take over the Iowa Speed Week point lead with a finish of fifteenth or better.

The unofficial top ten in the 2015 Cox Design Iowa Speed Week points after seven nights is as follows: 1., Danny Lasoski, 232 points; 2., Brian Brown, Sammy Swindell, 214 points (tied); 4., Terry McCarl 197 points; 5., Wayne Johnson, 166 points; 6., Bryan Clauson, 159 points; 7., Ian Madsen, 156 points; 8., Justin Henderson, 150 points; 9., Kerry Madsen, 144 points; 10., Dusty Zomer, 139 points.

This year, the Cox Design & Metal Fabrication Iowa Speed Week includes nine points-paying sprint car feature races in ten days, August 6-15, between the Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville and the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. The top three places pay $2,500, $1,000, and $500, respectively, with the winner declared the Jesse Hockett “Mr. Sprint Car” titlist.

Past “Mr. Sprint Car” titlists include Ricky Logan (2002) of Arkansas, Shane Stewart (2003, ’04) of Oklahoma, Billy Alley (2005) of Nebraska, Jason Johnson (2006) of Louisiana, Wayne Johnson (2007, ‘08) of Oklahoma, Terry McCarl (2009) of Iowa, Sammy Swindell (2010, ‘11) of Tennessee, Kyle Larson (2012) of California, Kevin Swindell (2013) of Tennessee, and Brian Brown (2014) of Missouri.

Roush Fenway Racing has swapped crew chiefs between two of its X-FINITY Series teams in advance of Saturday’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 in Lexington, Ohio. Seth Barbour is moving from Ryan Reed’s Number-16 Ford to work with Darrell Wallace Junior on the team’s No. 6 entry. Chad Norris is now working with Reed, who won the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway back in February but hasn’t had a top-10 finish since. Reed is still tenth in the point standings, four spots below Wallace – who is second to Daniel Suarez in the race for Rookie of the Year.

Wallace is winless in twenty starts this season with a best finish of fifth at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May … The driver-crew chief combination of Chris Buescher and Scott Graves remains intact on Roush Fenway’s other X-FINITY Series team. Buescher has two wins this season and has been atop the point standings since mid-May.

Saturday will mark just the third visit to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the X-FINITY Series and Ford has won the first two races – in 2013 with A-J Allmendinger and last year with Buescher, who carries a twenty-four-point championship lead into the second of three road races on the 2015 schedule. Ty Dillon and Chase Elliott are tied for second. They had finishes of nineteenth and fourth, respectively, in last year’s stop at Mid-Ohio.

The United States Modified Touring Series embarks on a three-day trek through Wisconsin and Minnesota this week for the fifth, sixth and seventh rounds of the 2015 Hunt for the USMTS Casey’s Cup powered by S&S Fishing & Rental.

Round 5 of ‘The Hunt’ kicks off Thursday at the Red Cedar Speedway in Menomonie, Wis., on Thursday, Aug. 13, and then it’s off to the Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Fountain City, Wis., for Friday night’s action. The weekend wraps up on Saturday, Aug. 15, at the Ogilvie Raceway in Ogilvie, Minn.

Each show will see the winner walk away with at least $3,000.

In last year’s USMTS debut at the Red Cedar Speedway, Rodney Sanders swept the program to solidify his place at the top of the rankings in the Hunt for the USMTS Casey’s Cup with his 22nd main event win of the season en route to claiming his second straight USMTS National Championship.

Sanders returns as the points leader again this year seeking his 16th triumph of 2015 but still winless in the first four of fifteen ‘Hunt’ races. Meanwhile, 2010 USMTS National Champion Jason Hughes already has two wins under his belt after going winless in regional action this season prior to last weekend.

Pits gates swing open at 4:30 p.m. and the grandstands open at 5 with hot laps at 6:45 and racing at 7 p.m. Wissota Super Stocks and Wissota Midwest Modifieds will also compete Thursday night.

Wissota Super Stocks ($1,000 to win) and Wissota Midwest Mods ($600 to win) will also be racing. Pit gates open at 4 p.m. and spectator gates open at 5 with hot laps at 6:45 and racing at 7.

The Red Cedar Speedway is a 3/8-mile semi-banked clay oval located east side of Menomonie on SR 29 (at the Dunn County Fairgrounds). Fans should enter the facility using the 21st St. entrance, and all traffic must exit via 21st St. For more information call 715-235-6318 or visit www.redcedarspeedway.com online.

Ironically, the last two times the USMTS invaded the Mississippi Thunder Speedway it was Sanders and Hughes getting the wins-their firsts at the Fountain City facility.

Another former champ, Ryan Gustin, tops the list with three wins at Bob Timm’s speedplant while Jon Tesch and Brad Waits each have two with Waits’s first coming in 2008 at the former Tri-Oval Speedway.

Terry Phillips, Tommy Myer and Tim Donlinger have also visited victory lane at the new configuration while other former winners on the long gone tri-oval layout include Al Hejna, Kelly Shryock and Todd Scharkey.

Racing action presented by the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Winona starts at 7 p.m. with USRA Late Models, USRA B-Mods, Wissota Super Stocks and Hornets also racing. Get there early and enjoy some Mini-Mods action on the Lightning Speedway beginning at 6 p.m.

Adult general admission tickets are $18 and seniors 65 and older get in for $16. Students 23 years of age or younger (with valid current student ID) and all kids ages 17 and under get in for free. Pits are $30 for adults, $15 for kids ages 6-12 and children ages 5 and under get in for free.

Race fans can get discount coupons good for $2 off adult general admission at Casey’s General Stores locations in Preston and Rochester.

The Mississippi Thunder Speedway is a 3/8-mile high-banked clay oval located 3.0 miles north of Fountain City on SR 35. For more information call 608-687-3282 or go to www.mississippithunder.com on the World Wide Web.

Zack VanderBeek got around Jason Krohn with six laps to go in last year’s ‘Hunt’ showdown at the Ogilvie Raceway, and then held off Sanders in the closing laps to score the win.

Earlier this year, Stormy Scott netted his second career USMTS win at Ogilvie. Krohn, Jeremy Payne and Hughes each have one win to their credit here.

Presented by Mora Chevrolet and Buick, the first green flag is scheduled to wave at 6:30 p.m. Midwest Mods, Street Stocks and Hornets will round out the racing action. Adult tickets are $20, seniors and students ages 13-17 get in for $18 and kids ages 12 and under are free.

Race fans can get discount coupons good for $2 off adult general admission at Casey’s General Stores locations in Cambridge, Milaca, Ogilvie and Princeton. Cade Dillard and his No. 97 Snickers machine will be greeting fans in person about a half-mile from the track at the Casey’s General Store located at 400 West Hwy. 23 in Ogilvie from 12-2 p.m. Tune your radio to WWJO 98.1 FM to hear live broadcasts from the appearance.

The Ogilvie Raceway is a 3/8-mile semi-banked dirt oval located 2.0 miles east of Ogilvie on the south side of SR 23. For more information call 763-267-4572 or visit their website at www.ogilvieraceway.com.

2015 HUNT FOR THE USMTS CASEY’S CUP POINTS (after 4 of 15 events):
1. 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas … 453
2. 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla. … 406 (2 wins)
2. 2s Stormy Scott, Las Cruces, N.M. … 406
4. 99 Jesse Sobbing, Malvern, Iowa … 398
5. 4r Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla. … 388
6. 33z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa … 376
7. 2 Grant Junghans, Manhattan, Kan. … 351
8. 1st Johnny Scott, Las Cruces, N.M. … 339 (1 win)
9. 97 Cade Dillard, Robeline, La. … 337
10. J17 Jake Gallardo, Las Cruces, N.M. … 324
11. IOU1 Brent Larson, Lake Elmo, Minn. … 292
12. 2 Casey Arneson, Fargo, N.D. … 289
13. 07 Cory Crapser, Chippewa Falls, Wis. … 271
14. 71 Philip Houston, Odessa, Texas … 270
15. 91 Joe Duvall, Claremore, Okla. … 266
16. 22d Daniel Hilsabeck, Adel, Iowa … 261
17. 40 Brian Green, Pierce City, Mo. … 242
18. 38 Ronnie Gould III, Seminole, Okla. … 211
19. 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo. … 182
20. 23k Ben Kates, Tonganoxie, Kan. … 159
Other winner:
186 Jeremy Payne, Springfield, Mo. (1 win)

For more information about Casey’s General Stores or to find the location nearest you, visit www.caseys.com online. You can also like them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CaseysGenStore and follow them on Twitter at www.twitter.com/caseysgenstore.

To learn more about the United States Modified Touring Series, visit www.usmts.com online or call 515-832-7944. You can also like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/usmts, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/usmts or subscribe to our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/usmtstv.