The Warrnambool resident, who was racing in the number nine car for Kasey Kahne Racing, finished qualifying in 22^nd with a lap time of 15.838 seconds to start heat two in fourth.

After 10 laps of the heat he jumped up one spot. He would go on to start the 25-lap feature on the front row alongside North Dakota's Mark Dobmeier.

Once the light went green for the A-main, McFadden slipped back after a poor start but worked his way back to fight for the lead in the final stages of the race but was unable to pass eventual winner in Washington's Trey Starks.

McFadden finished the opening night in eighth spot on the points tally, which allowed him to skip the preliminary round on Saturday (AEST).

But his total of 450 was one short to gain automatic qualification for feature race on Sunday, instead he will start on pole in the B-main.

Scotty Thiel brought out the only caution of the race after spinning in turn three on lap 12, much to the displeasure of McFadden

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"We really didn't need that caution," he told Knoxville Raceway's website.

"I felt like we could go good on the bottom of three and four. Trey did a good job. He didn't make too many mistakes."

The four-time World Series Sprintcars champion wished the race had run longer.

"We got better and better as the race went on," McFadden said of his car.

"I messed up the start a bunch. We seem to bury ourselves in qualifying and can race good. I made too many mistakes in that feature race."

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