KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Good luck stopping Aaron Reutzel and Ridge and Sons Racing right now.
The combination entered Saturday’s Stars and Stripes Salute opener at Knoxville Raceway as one of if not the hottest team in the sport of sprint car racing. They’d clicked off five wins in their last seven races with finishes of fourth and second in the other two.
The one thing missing from the run? A victory with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series.
Well, the No. 87 team made sure to change that in dominant fashion Saturday night.
The Clute, Texas, native started on the outside of the front row and rocketed by polesitter Donny Schatz to take control of the race. Reutzel wasted no time growing the advantage as the early portion of the 25-lapper unfolded. Lapped traffic posed little threat as Reutzel sliced his way through the slower cars while Schatz and Rico Abreu slugged it out for second. Schatz secured the spot and tried to put together a late run, but it was too little, too late as Reutzel wheeled his way to victory lane.
“I was hoping I could get a full car length on him so I could close the bottom,” Reutzel said of the start. “I thought for sure I had enough where I didn’t need to block him in the dash, and typical Donny he just went blowing by me. I made sure to close the door on him that time. It was tough. Traffic was tough.”
The hot streak is now at six triumphs in the last eight races for Reutzel. With Knoxville earning him another $20,000, he’s nearly at $200,000 in earnings already in 2026.
Donny Schatz came out on top of a fierce battle with Rico Abreu to claim the runner-up spot, giving the 10-time champion four podiums in 2026 in the CJB Motorsports No. 15.
Abreu brought the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing No. 24 home third for his fifth consecutive podium finish.
David Gravel and J.J. Hickle completed the top five.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel[2]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz[1]; 3. 24A-Rico Abreu[6]; 4. 2-David Gravel[5]; 5. 2M-JJ Hickle[4]; 6. 23-Garet Williamson[3]; 7. 18-Sheldon Haudenschild[8]; 8. 83-Michael Kofoid[12]; 9. 41-Carson Macedo[22]; 10. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[17]; 11. 21-Brian Brown[10]; 12. 71-Parker Price Miller[11]; 13. 55-Kerry Madsen[16]; 14. 11-Justin Henderson[21]; 15. 1S-Logan Schuchart[20]; 16. 2C-Cole Macedo[15]; 17. 10-Ryan Timms[24]; 18. 17-Spencer Bayston[13]; 19. 28-Jace Park[9]; 20. 7S-Chris Windom[18]; 21. (DNF) 27C-Carson McCarl[23]; 22. (DNF) 27-Emerson Axsom[14]; 23. (DNF) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[19]; 24. (DQ) 88-Austin McCarl[7]