Henderson and Sandvig Score First Top-Five Finish of 2022 at Knoxville Raceway

The third time was the charm for Justin Henderson and Mike Sandvig Motorsports as the duo finally kicked off their 2022 racing campaign at the famed Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa Saturday night following two weekends of inclement weather.

The long wait paid off as the team picked up their first top five of the season with a fourth-place finish.

“It felt good to finally get on track on Knoxville, but I wish it didn’t take this long,” said Henderson. “We still had to deal with the elements in terms of wind and such, but overall, we hung on for a top five and that’s not bad.”

Henderson began the evening by timing in second quickest in qualifying with a fastest lap of 14.918 seconds. This marked the second consecutive week that Henderson showed speed right off the trailer as he set quick time at Knoxville the weekend before prior before rain entered the picture.

“The car is really stable early in the night, and it seems we have the right things working for us then,” he said. “We really have not been able to learn a whole lot to start the year just quite yet, but we know for sure we have speed.”

He backed up the impressive qualifying performance by advancing three positions in a heat race to finish third and lock himself into the A-main.

“It was one of those deals where we went into one and two and we were pretty much fourth right away because a row just didn’t take off,” said Henderson. “We were able to pass another car and anytime you are moving forward is a good time.”

Lining up from the outside-second row for the feature, Henderson quickly moved into the third position by the completion of lap one. He settled into the final podium spot throughout the first half of the event before slipping to fifth after a mid-race restart.

Following a fuel only open red with nine laps remaining, Henderson battled back to finish where he started- fourth- in the A-main for his first top-five of the season.

“We tried some things set up wise that the car drastically changed once the fuel load came off,” he said. “Being able to add fuel there worked to our advantage and the car got better and really came to life. I think we definitely know not to do that again, but overall; we had a fast car all night.”

Next up for the duo will their first two-race weekend of the season as they will return to Knoxville Raceway on Saturday before competing in the $5000-to-win Cressman Santitation Shootout at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, South Dakota on Sunday.

Henderson enters Huset’s as the defending track champion in the 410 Sprint Car division and will be looking to back-up a 2021 season that saw him score five victories and 12 top five finishes in 18 events at the 3/8 mile oval dirt track.

“It’s my job to be up front and that’s what we are going there for,” he said. “This year will be tougher as I think the field will be a lot tougher this season. But we know how good we are there, and the goal is for that to not change. We’re coming in looking to win and that’s going to be our goal each week all season.”

Weekend Results –

April 30 – Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa – Qualifying: 2; Heat race: 3 (6); Feature: 4 (4).

SEASON STATS –

2 races, 0 wins, 1 top 5s, 1 top 10s, 2 top 15s, 2 top 20s

UP NEXT – 

Saturday, May 8th, at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa and Sunday, May 9th, at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, S.D

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Sandvig would also like to thank Morton Buildings, Eszlinger Electric, Heartland Kitchen Solutions DeBerg Flooring, R2 Enterprise, GRP Motorsports, Team Enterprise Metal Fabrication and Powder Coating, Winters Performance, Schoenfeld Headers, BK Racing TI Components, SBS FK Shocks, Wings Unlimited, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, Hinchman Racewear, Rider Racing Engines, Triple X Race Co., and Simpson Race Products for their continued support.