KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Trey Starks surprised everyone, including himself during Wednesday night’s Brandt qualifying night program for the 59^thannual NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals at legendary Knoxville Raceway.

The Washington native who flies to Iowa weekly to compete at the historic half-mile oval aboard the No. 44 J&J sprint car co-owned by Jeff McCall and Scott Gobrecht, took the lead on lap five and held off a late charge from Australian James McFadden to earn his first victory at the track and his first with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series.

Starks victory came on a night when eight of the top 10 qualifiers failed to transfer into the feature through their heat races.

“We were a product of our circumstances here tonight,” Starks explained. “A lot of fast guys didn’t make it through their heat, and that cut out a lot of guys that you have to beat. I can’t believe we won our preliminary night at the Knoxville Nationals.”

Still he held off McFadden in uncharacteristic fashion by running the bottom groove around Knoxville Raceway.

“I almost never run the bottom,” Starks said. “That’s the point of running here is to get better at this race track. I used to be a strictly top guy, but I knew that is where Mark was going to be … We were best on one and two on the bottom and I’m not sure where I was fastest in three and four.”

McFadden, who won the Knoxville 360 Nationals last week aboard Kasey Kahne Racing’s No 9, brought the KKR entry home second

“It’s been really cool to get a lot of laps at Knoxville before the Nationals,” he said. “I’ve never had a chance to do that before and it’s really helped, and it’s been a really great time.

“I was annoyed at that caution. I felt like we were better on the long runs but in clean air we weren’t going to be able to handle them. If the race was longer, I feel like we might have had a little better shot at them.”

Sheldon Haudenschild, who won the Ironman 55 at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55, last weekend, finished third.

“I can’t complain after that,” Haudenschild said. “Too many driver errors. I would make a mistake and bounce it off the wall. I have to clean it up on my end. Our car was fast. I made those mistakes and I was still able to run them down.”

Polesitter and early leader Mark Dobmeier finished fourth with fast-qualifier Aaron Reutzel, who was the high point man on the night, coming home fifth.

The victory capped a difficult week (see separate story) for Starks and his team, including a crash and an engine failure.

Donny Schatz raced from 24^thin feature to finish 11^thafter he and Kyle Larson shared the fourth row in the B main. Larson missed the feature and because of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule at Michigan Int’l Speedway, his participation the remainder of the week is in limbo.

Reutzel ended up with 487 points with Tim Kaeding second with 466 points.

To see full results, turn to the next page.

KNOXVILLE, Iowa — A landmark victory on the opening night of the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals ended a yearlong string of bad luck for Trey Starks and his Gobrecht Motorsports team.

Starks, who has traveled back and forth between his home in Washington to Knoxville Raceway all season, turned in the performance of his life to pick up his first World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series victory on the sport’s biggest stage.

Starks, whose car is co-owned by Scott Gobrecht and Jeff McCall, was in disbelief at his victory.

“This hasn’t been the best year for us for multiple different reasons,” Starks explained. “We’ve obviously gotten a ton of rain and we haven’t gotten the laps that we wanted to get this year. We’ve learned something every week we come here and it seems like the last several weeks or the last month, nothing has gone our way. We’ve had problem after problem after problem. At times we haven’t been very fast.”

And the struggle got worse as Knoxville Nationals week began with Sunday night’s Capitani Classic and two nights of racing at Southern Iowa Speedway.

“After all the problems we’ve had this week — we got run over on Monday night at Osky and last night we blew an engine, running solid both times,” Starks said. “To say we were due for this one is an understatement. These guys work so hard. I can’t thank Jeff McCall and Scott Gobrecht enough for believing in me and putting me in their car year after year here.

I just cannot believe it. We have needed this one, but tonight was the night to do it.”

Starks commutes weekly from Washington and McCall travels in from Cherryville, N.C.

“We chose to run Knoxville for a couple of reasons,” Starks said. “Jeff is from North Carolina and Scott is from Pennsylvania. We don’t like to settle in one place, so we thought let’s go to Knoxville. We were let down last year when we didn’t make the feature last year.

“I come in every Thursday and go home every Sunday,” said Starks, who runs a machine shop along with his father and brother. “Jeff does the same exact thing from North Carolina. It’s been a headache at times, but nights like this make it worth it.

“Sometimes I’ll take the red eye into Des Moines. When we run Jackson on Friday, I try to fly in on Thursday. Airports are my second home right now. I try to get back home as quickly as I can.”

And all the travel and hard work paid off on night one of the Knoxville Nationals.

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LIVE from the Knoxville Nationals
Presented by Mobil 1 Truck & SUV
Sheldon Haudenschild Wednesday Third Place Interview

Sheldon Haudenschild used a last-lap pass to claim 3rd place in the opening night of the 59th Knoxville Nationals at Knoxville Raceway. Moments ago, he spoke with Ralph Sheheen.

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LIVE from the Knoxville Nationals
Presented by Mobil 1 Truck & SUV
James McFadden Wednesday 2nd Place Interview

James McFadden grabbed second place with five laps to go in the opening night of the 59th Knoxville Nationals at the famed Knoxville Raceway in Iowa. Ralph Sheheen caught up with him afterwards.

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LIVE from the Knoxville Nationals
Presented by Mobil 1 Truck & SUV
Trey Starks Wednesday Winner Interview

Trey Starks took his first main event victory at Knoxville Raceway Wednesday night, claiming the win as he prepares for Saturday’s 59th Knoxville Nationals.

Mobil 1 – the best choice for your Truck or SUV. Learn more about Mobil 1 Truck & SUV oil and enter for a chance to win a Toyota pickup or SUV at dirtgiveaway.com.

Philippe Coutinho will not return to the Premier League this month despite Barcelona offering him to a number of English clubs in recent weeks, sources at the Catalan club have told ESPN FC.

Barca had hoped to push through a move to Tottenham Hotspur before the transfer window shuts on Thursday, Aug. 8 but talks have now broken down.

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The Spanish champions believed a loan move to London was possible despite some complications earlier this week but have now conceded time is against them and their record signing will not be returning to England during the current transfer window.

Sources at Barca have told ESPN FC that talks with Tottenham were progressing well until chairman Daniel Levy looked to change the terms of the agreement.

Coutinho, 27, was also offered to other English clubs but there were no takers. Jurgen Klopp told ESPN FC that Liverpool could not afford a deal to re-sign the Brazilian, while Arsenal were never interested, despite reports in Spain to the contrary.

Manchester United's fleeting interest never progressed into anything firm, while Chelsea's transfer ban prohibited them from making a bid.

Speaking after Barcelona's 2-1 friendly win over Napoli in Miami on Wednesday, head coach Ernesto Valverde confirmed that Coutinho would be part of his plans if he remained at the Nou Camp this season.

"Of course I am counting on him," Valverde said. "We don't know what's going to happen, but he's with us.

"He didn't play today because, like Arthur and [Arturo] Vidal, they've only had two training sessions. The plan is the same. Bring them in little by little. We will see if on Saturday he can play some minutes.

"The idea is the same with him as everyone else. We count on him, of course."

Barca are still open to selling Coutinho this month, with the transfer windows remaining open in other countries, but felt that the English market represented their best chance of making some money back on a player they signed for a fee rising to €160 million 18 months ago.

Coutinho is prepared to leave and Paris Saint-Germain could yet come in for him, or he could, as sources told ESPN FC earlier this summer, be included in a deal to bring Neymar back to Camp Nou.

There have not yet been any signs of interest from clubs in Italy or Germany.

Coutinho has failed to produce his best form at Camp Nou and is expected to fall further down the pecking order following the arrival of Antoine Griezmann for €120m this summer. Even before the arrival of Griezmann, though, Barca were keen to sell.

The ex-Liverpool man is currently in the United States with the rest of his Barcelona teammates. They play Napoli in Miami and again on Saturday in Ann Arbor, Michigan, as part of the inaugural La Liga-Serie A Cup.

Romelu Lukaku is on the verge of leaving Manchester United for Inter Milan in a £72 million deal, sources have told ESPN FC.

Lukaku had been in Belgium since Monday and travelled to Milan on Wednesday evening to undergo a medical and seal the move. Lukaku's agent, Federico Pastorello, played a key role in brokering the agreement that is set to see the striker's two-year stay at Old Trafford come to an end.

Inter submitted a fresh offer -- made up of £60m in up-front payments and another £12m in add-ons -- after a day of talks in London on Wednesday.

Pastorello posted a photo on social media of him and Lukaku on a plane that said "Ready to take off .... direction Milano!"

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Ready to take off .... direction Milano ??!!! ⚫️? @inter ... stiamo arrivando .... @romelulukaku #interfc #romelulukaku

A post shared by Federico Pastorello (@fedepastorello) on Aug 7, 2019 at 3:23pm PDT

Lukaku's former club Everton are due a £5m payment as part of the deal.

The Belgium international has angered United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer this summer after ruling himself out of all six preseason games with an ankle injury. Lukaku was also reprimanded for posting preseason running data on Twitter before failing to report for training at Carrington on Tuesday.

Sources have told ESPN FC that United have not ruled out replacing the 26-year-old with Juventus striker Mario Mandzukic but there is an acceptance it may prove difficult with time running out before Thursday's transfer deadline. Solskjaer is comfortable with promoting 17-year-old Mason Greenwood into a more prominent role to make up for Lukaku's absence.

Lukaku will leave United having scored 42 goals in 96 games following a £75m move from Everton in 2017.