Leading flag-to-flag Saturday night at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway, Kyle Larson won his second consecutive Knoxville Nationals and his third in four years.
Larson started from the pole and led all 50 laps of the feature, holding off charges from Daryn Pittman, Carson Macedo, and Giovanni Scelzi in the 50-lap showdown.
“It doesn’t get any bigger than the Knoxville Nationals,” Larson said in a release. “It feels great to lead back-to-back 50 lappers from start to finish because the best Sprint Car drivers in the world are lined up behind me.
“They don’t make it easy. It was a tricky race there. I know at times it maybe doesn’t look like it, but those lappers were just fast enough around the bottom. I felt like I was just slowing myself down. I was able to get clear of a couple of them and able to get rolling back near the bottom and the middle actually came in, so I felt like I strung together some good laps there at the end.”
The team struggled at the beginning of the year, but when his fortune turned around it did so completely. The Knoxville Nationals preliminary and features wins were the latest in five consecutive sprint car victories.
The Nationals showcased a much easier path to victory than the Ironman 55 last week when Larson overcame a 12th-place starting position and led 12 of 55 laps in the Feature. Earlier in the weekend, he started 21st in a qualification race and drive to victory. at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 in Pevely, Missouri.
On Monday, Larson drove from 13th into victory lane at Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, Iowa.
Larson’s first challenge of the Nationals came from Pittman, who pressured Larson from his second-place starting position.
Macedo got around Pittman for second on Lap 16 and climbed to within half a second to Larson before a planned caution flag for fuel.
After the restart, Scelzi took his shot but Larson would not relinquish the lead.
“Hats off to [the team],” Larson said. “Everybody knows we’ve been really bad this year until the last couple weeks. They’ve been working extremely hard. It’s been a very disappointing year to our standards. For them to never give up and myself to never give up either is tough to do. Like I said, they work so hard.
“All of this goes to them for continuing to push and push and try to get better and better. All of these teams are racing 90 times a year. We’re only getting to race 25 to 30, so we have to work extra hard. It makes these wins feel extra great.”
Scelzi held Corey Day at bay to secure the runner-up spot.
“I know I look upset, but I can’t be more proud of my guys,” Scelzi said. “Adam (Clark), to come from a beer delivery truck to a crew chief on a Sprint Car. I really wish Tim Mallicoat was here to see us run second. I want to win this race more than anything in my life. Man, thank you to Danny Lasoski, my mom and my dad, everyone on this race team. Damn, I want to win this race so bad. You’ve got to lose them before you can win them.”
Day rounded out the podium.
Results
NOS Energy Drink Feature (50 Laps): 1. 57-Kyle Larson[1]; 2. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[5]; 3. 14-Corey Day[11]; 4. 41-Carson Macedo[4]; 5. 39M-Anthony Macri[8]; 6. 21-Brian Brown[7]; 7. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[3]; 8. 10-Scott Bogucki[10]; 9. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[14]; 10. 1A-Jacob Allen[16]; 11. 69K-Daryn Pittman[2]; 12. 2-David Gravel[19]; 13. 15-Donny Schatz[21]; 14. 1S-Logan Schuchart[22]; 15. 21H-Brady Bacon[9]; 16. 13-Justin Peck[18]; 17. 83SR-James McFadden[20]; 18. 17B-Bill Balog[13]; 19. 49-Brad Sweet[17]; 20. 27A-Emerson Axsom[24]; 21. 19-Brent Marks[12]; 22. 2KS-Chase Randall[15]; 23. 24R-Rico Abreu[6]; 24. 5X-Justin Henderson[23]
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