Tyler Knudtson celebrates with family and crew members after winning the 2018 Bud Perry Memorial at the Lebanon Midway Speedway.

Lebanon's Tyler Knutdson enters his third season behind the wheel of an Out-Pace USRA B-Mod in 2019 and is ready for a break-out season at the Lebanon Midway Speedway..

The driver of the Knudtson 32 Garage/TJR Racing No. 8K finished third in the Spring/Summer Series final point standings in 2018 despite no feature wins, but showed a lot of strong runs behind track champion Sam Petty and Summit USRA Weekly Racing Series national champion Kris Jackson in the track standings.

With last season his first in the car, the family team learned a lot as the cars was a former Jackson machine he ran in 2016 and 2017.

"We bought the car from Kris after the 2017 season and really had to start from square one, but had help from Kris, Tony Jackson at TJR Racing and Jim Ruble, along with my dad, as we put a Ruble engine in it," Knudtson said. "The car was fast and I had to learn how to adjust to it. Talk about from night to day."

Despite only running mostly Midway Speedway, Knudtson finished in the top 50 and was getting closer to a feature win. The team hit a small rough spot with a couple of weeks of DNFs and were searching for the issue. They found a couple of items at a special event at Lake Ozark Speedway as they placed Tony Jackson Jr. in the car. Being able to watch and the feedback from not only Tony, but Kris too, the team was right in the hunt and topped off the season with the Bud Perry Memorial win holding back Kris Jackson for the win.

Tyler, the youngest of the Knudtson brothers, watched older brother Brandon run up front in the Bomber and Pure Stock classes in earlier Midway seasons.

Joining the team again this season will be Cave Creek Cabin River Resort, Sho-Me Hail and Dent Removal, South Side ATV Salvage, Knudtson's 32 Garage and TJR Racing, all of Lebanon. Knudtson is employed by Tracker Marine in Lebanon.

"My family loves the racing, especially my dad, a long time and great supporter, along with my girlfriend who is at each race I'm in and goes with me even if we aren't racing at that track."

The Lebanon Midway Speedway will begin the chase for the championship this Friday, April 5, with Out-Pace USRA B-Mods plus Street Stocks, Midwest Modifieds, Pure Stocks, Hornets and the new Kidz Cruiser class.

Gates open at 5 p.m. with hot laps at 7 and driver's cut-off at 7:30. Racing gets underway at 8 p.m.

Adult pit passes are only $30 with adult grandstand admission $12 with discounts for military and seniors.

For more information visit the track's Facebook page or official website at MidwaySpeedway.net.