What won the race: Dakotah Knuckles of Ewing, Va., shot into the lead at the initial green flag from his pole starting position and never looked back en route to scoring a wire-to-wire victory in Sunday night's 44-lap Buddy Rogers Memorial at Tazewell Speedway. He kept two drivers at arm's length — Jason Trammell early and David Payne late — to earn a $5,044 payday in a race co-sanctioned by the Schaeffer's Fall Nationals and Iron-Man Championship Series.

Quotable: “It wasn’t worth nothing at the start, but we try to get these things were they’re better at the end. We’ve struggled with that this year,” Knuckles said. “We’ve qualified good we just ain’t raced good. After that second caution, I seen my dad down here trying to tell me where to go. I just tried to play it cool, lay back and tried to save my stuff a little bit toward the end.”

Key notes: Knuckles handled four restarts — including a final one on lap 38 — to beat Payne to the finish line by 1.076 seconds, denying the Murphy, N.C., driver back-to-back victories in the 11th annual Buddy Rogers Memorial. ... Knuckles's triumph was his first-ever on both the Fall Nationals and Iron-Man tours. ... Payne overtook Trammell for second place on a lap-20 restart and drew as close as two-tenths of a second of Knuckles before slipping several car lengths behind in the closing circuits. … Pierce McCarter scratched from the feature.

On the move: Donald McIntosh of Dawsonville, Ga., started 12th and finished fourth.

Winner's sponsors: Knuckles drives a Rocket Chassis sponsored by Hill's Truck Repair, TimberLine Barns, BruceBilt, Hickory Star Marina, Alaco and Western Building Supply.

Points chase: Heading for Tazewell, McIntosh had 588 points to lead Pierce McCarter (554) and David Payne (550) in the Fall Nationals standings.

Current weather: Clear, 68°F

Car count: 21

Fast qualifier: Dakotah Knuckles

Time: 11.846 seconds

Polesitter: Dakotah Knuckles

Heat race winners: Austin Atkins

Next series race: October 9, Tri-County Racetrack (Brasstown, NC) $10,000