KYLE LARSON LEADS FROM START TO FINISH IN THIRD KNOXVILLE NATIONALS TRIUMPH!

By Bill Wright. Photo by Paul Arch Photos

KNOXVILLE, Iowa (August 10, 2024) – Kyle Larson was the class of the field all week at the 63rd NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals, and Saturday he capped it off with his third career win in Sprintcar racing’s biggest event. 

The Elk Grove, California driver earned $190,000 for his win aboard the Paul Silva #57. His wins the last two years have seen him lead all 50 laps.

Larson earned the pole position as high point driver for the week, and he led early over Daryn Pittman, Carson Macedo, Rico Abreu and Tyler Courtney. Anthony Macri entered the top five by lap four, and Logan Schuchart slowed to bring a caution on lap five.

Macri climbed to fourth when he passed Abreu on lap 7, as Gio Scelzi entered the top five. Scelzi found some speed on the low side, and passed Macri for fourth on lap nine. Larson was in lapped traffic on the sixteenth circuit, as Macedo passed Pittman for the runner-up position. Scelzi followed him into third on lap 18.

The event was stopped at the halfway point with an open red. Though any changes were allowed, owner and crew chief Paul Silva decided there would be no tire change on Larson’s entry despite several teams electing to do so. At that point, Larson led Macedo, Scelzi, Macri and Corey Day back to green.

On lap 27, Scelzi passed Macedo for second, and appeared to be reeling Larson slowly in. By lap 38, Larson was back in traffic, and his car worked well high, low and in the middle as he put several lapped cars between himself and Scelzi.

Larson’s final margin of victory was 3.8 seconds over Scelzi. Day charged to third, followed by Macedo and Macri. Brian Brown, Courtney, Scott Bogucki, Sheldon Haudenschild and Jacob Allen rounded out the top ten. Sawyer Phillips won the E main, Don Droud Jr. claimed the D main, Brenham Crouch took the C and Brad Sweet won the B main. Kaleb Johnson flipped in the B main, but was uninjured.

Gio Scelzi took home $1500 in the DGRD “Best Appearing Car” contest. Matt Juhl ($750) was second and Donny Schatz ($400) was third. The Jason Johnson Racing #41 team won the Avanti Windows & Doors “Best Appearing Crew” and $500. The Shark Racing #1s team was second ($250) and the Tony Stewart Racing #15 team was third ($150). Kyle Larson won the $2,000 SprintCarUnlimited Pole Award. Emerson Axsom was the Jetco Rookie of the Year ($1,000). The MPI Hard Charger was Corey Day, and Brian Brown was the week’s MPV Jesse Hockett “Mr. Sprint Car,” winning $6,500.

“It doesn’t get any bigger than the Knoxville Nationals,” said Larson in Victory Lane. “It feels great to lead back to back in 50 lappers from start to finish, because it’s the best sprint car drivers in the world behind me. They don’t make it easy. It was a tricky race there. Those lappers were just fast enough on the bottom and I felt like I was slowing myself down. I feel like I strung some good laps in at the end. We’ve been really bad this year, up until the last couple of weeks. The team works so hard, and all this goes to them. The tires (at the halfway point) looked brand new, so what’s the point in changing? We led the first 25, so why put on a new set and trick yourself? I felt better the second half.”

“I’m proud of this team,” said Scelzi. “I want to win this race more than anything in my life. You have to lose them before you can win them. I felt so good (on the bottom), I just didn’t want to go on the top because it kept getting bigger and bigger. I jumped off of it in four, and got to Kyle. I was better on the bottom in three and four, but he found his way and left me. My car was amazing. You don’t get these chances very often. You have to take advantage of them when you get them.”

“I feel like we had a really good car there,” said Day. “A caution in that last run would have helped I think. To run third here behind Kyle and Gio is awesome. You always want to win, but I have to give it up to them. We weren’t great on Wednesday night in the feature there, and we got our car better tonight. Hat’s off to my team. We’ve highly exceeded our expectations this year.”

Join us Saturday, August 24, for McKay Group Season Championship Night! All three sprint car divisions will be in action! For more information on the Knoxville Raceway, visit us online at www.KnoxvilleRaceway.com or on Facebook.

63rd NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals Presented by Casey’s Toyota Qualifying Night #2 Results

E main (started), 10 Laps, 2:39.7: 1. 3P, Sawyer Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (1); 2. 88T, Tanner Thorson, Minden, NV (2); 3. 19H, Joel Myers Jr., Sebastopol, CA (3); 4. 15JR, Cole Mincer, Burlington, IA (4); 5. 1, Sammy Swindell, Germantown, TN (10); 6. 23L, Jimmy Light, Lizton, IN (5) / 7. 1D, Tasker Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (7); 8. 87, Aaron Reutzel, Clute, TX (9); 9. 3N, Jake Neuman, New Berlin, IL (6); 10. 65, Jordan Goldesberry, Springfield, IL (12); 11. 49J, Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (18); 12. J2, John Carney II, El Paso, TX (17); 13. 2K, Kevin Ingle, Huron, SD (15); 14. 9H, Landon Hansen, Newton, IA (14); 15. 23M, Lance Moss, Cherryville, NC (11); 16. 27W, Weston Olson, Warren, MN (13); 17. 10V, Brian Paulus, Six Mile, SC (8); 18. G5, Gage Pulkrabek, East Grand Forks, MN (16) DNS – 49x, Tim Shaffer, Aliquippa, PA; 40, Clint Garner, Sioux Falls, SD; 25, Daison Pursley, Locust Grove, OK; 28, Joe Perry, Billings, MT; 24, Terry McCarl, Altoona, IA; 55t, McKenna Haase, Des Moines, IA; 6, Robbie Price, Cobble Hill, BC, Can.; 101, Kalib Henry, Sacramento, CA

D main (started), 12 Laps, 3:17.5: 1. 1m, Don Droud Jr., Lincoln, NE (2); 2. 5T, Ryan Timms, Oklahoma City, OK (1); 3. 7s, Landon Crawley, Benton AR (3); 4. 15H, Sam Hafertepe Jr., Sunnyvale, TX (4); 5. 22, Riley Goodno, Knoxville, IA (6) 6. 13JT, Mark Dobmeier, Grand Forks, ND (5) / 7. 24D, Danny Sams III, North Port, FL (7); 8. 45x, Jace Park, Overland Park, KS (8); 9. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (9); 10. 14J, Jack Dover, Springfield, NE (17); 11. 1K, Kelby Watt, Adel, IA (11); 12. 6w, Dustin Selvage, Indianola, IA (12); 13. 18R, Ryan Roberts, Aurora, NE (13); 14. 11N, Kasey Jedrezek, Lagrange, OH (15); 15. 74, Xavier Doney, Odessa, MO (10); 16. 53, Jessie Attard, Landilo, NSW, Aust. (16); 17. 95, Tyler Drueke, Eagle, NE (18); 18. Sawyer Phillips (19); 19. Joel Myers Jr. (21); 20. Tanner Thorson (20); 21. Sammy Swindell (23); 22. Jimmy Light (24); 23. Cole Mincer (22); 24. Brooke Tatnell (14) DNS – 2m, Ryan Giles, Grimes, IA; 27, Carson McCarl, Altoona, IA

C main (started), 15 Laps, 4:11.8: 1. 1C, Brenham Crouch, Lubbock, TX (2); 2. 48, Danny Dietrich, Gettysburg, PA (1); 3. 3G, Ayrton Gennetten, Gravois Mills, MO (3); 4. 55c, Chris Windom, Canton, IL (4) / 5. 17GP, Cale Thomas, Fairland, IN (6); 6. 24T, Christopher Thram, Sanborn, MN (7); 7. 6B, Brandon Wimmer, Fairmount, IN (11); 8. 3, Tim Kaeding, San Jose, CA (13); 9. 22x, JJ Hickle, Quilcene, WA (5); 10. 27B, Jake Bubak, Arvada, CO (17); 11. 35, Zach Hampton, Plainfield, IN (15); 12. 42, Sye Lynch, Apollo, PA (8); 13. Don Droud Jr. (19); 14. 36, Jason Martin, Liberal, KS (14); 15. Landon Crawley (21); 16. 70, Kraig Kinser, Bloomington, IN (18); 17. Sam Hafertepe Jr. (22); 18. Ryan Timms (20); 19. Mark Dobmeier (24); 20. Riley Goodno (23); 21. 55, Kerry Madsen, St. Mary’s, NSW, Aust. (16); 22. 91, Kyle Reinhardt, Neptune City, NJ (12); 23. 88, Austin McCarl, Altoona, IA (10); 24. 52, Blake Hahn, Sapulpa, OK (9) DNS – 26, Zeb Wise, Angola, IN; 4w, Jamie Ball, Knoxville, IA

B main (started), 22 Laps, NT: 1. 49, Brad Sweet, Grass Valley, CA (1); 2. 13, Justin Peck, Monrovia, IN (2); 3. 2, David Gravel, Watertown, CT (6); 4. 83SR, James McFadden, Alice Springs, NT, Aust. (3) / 5. 3z, Brock Zearfoss, Jonestown, PA (9); 6. 3J, Dusty Zomer, Sioux Falls, SD (8); 7. 8, Cory Eliason, Visalia, CA (4); 8. 83JR, Buddy Kofoid, Penngrove, CA (15); 9. 5, Spencer Bayston, Lebanon, IN (13); 10. 21T, Cole Macedo, Lemoore, CA (12); 11. 09, Matt Juhl, Tea, SD (5); 12. 9P, Parker Price-Miller, Kokomo, IN (18); 13. 23, Garet Williamson, Columbia, MO (7); 14. 99, Skylar Gee, Leduc, ALB, Can. (17); 15. 19s, Hunter Schuerenberg, Sikeston, MO (19); 16. Danny Dietrich (22); 17. Chris Windom (24); 18. Brenham Crouch (21); 19. 33w, Cap Henry, Bellevue, OH (10); 20. Ayrton Gennetten (23); 21. 18T, Tanner Holmes, Jacksonville, OR (16); 22. 9, Kasey Kahne, Enumclaw, WA (20); 23. 2x, Lynton Jeffrey, Sydney, NSW, Aust. (11); 24. 58, Kaleb Johnson, Sioux Falls, SD (14)

A main (started), 50 Laps, NT: 1. 57, Kyle Larson, Elk Grove, CA (1); 2. 18, Gio Scelzi, Fresno, CA (5); 3. 14, Corey Day, Clovis, CA (11); 4. 41, Carson Macedo, Lemoore, CA (4); 5. 39m, Anthony Macri, Dillsburg, PA (8); 6. 21, Brian Brown, Grain Valley, CA (7); 7. 7BC, Tyler Courtney, Indianapolis, IN (3); 8. 10, Scott Bogucki, McLaren Vale, SA, Aust. (10); 9. 17, Sheldon Haudenschild, Wooster, OH (14); 10. 1a, Jacob Allen, Hanover, PA (16); 11. 69K, Daryn Pittman, Owasso, OK (2); 12. 2, David Gravel, Watertown, CT (19); 13. 15, Donny Schatz, Fargo, ND (21); 14. 1s, Logan Schuchart, Hanover, PA (22); 15. 21H, Brady Bacon, Broken Arrow, OK (9); 16. 13, Justin Peck, Monrovia, IN (18); 17. James McFadden (20); 18. 17B, Bill Balog, Hartland, WI (13); 19. Brad Sweet (17); 20. 27A, Emerson Axsom, Franklin, IN (24); 21. 19, Brent Marks, Myerstown, PA (12); 22. 2KS, Chase Randall, Waco, TX (15); 23. 24R, Rico Abreu, St. Helena, CA (6); 24. Justin Henderson (23). Lap Leader: Larson 1-50. MPI Hard-charger: Day.