Kyle Larson and Logan Schuchart threw a series of sliders at one another in the closing laps of the Ironman 55 at Federated Auto Parts Raceway in Pevely, Missouri and when the checkered flag waved, Larson scored his 31st career victory in the series by two-tenths of a second. It was his second Ironman 55 after winning it in 2020.
“That was probably the most fun sprint car race I’ve ran maybe ever,” Larson said. “It was just a great race. I hope all of you fans enjoyed it. Even if you wanted anybody else to win, that was a damn good race. You can’t say enough about it.”
In eight Outlaw races this year, Larson now has three victories.
MORE: Kyle Larson finishes second to Justin Peck at Kokomo Speedway
After a pair of abortive starts, Schuhart took the early lead as Larson set about moving forward from his sixth-place starting position. By Lap 17 Larson made his way to the third in time for a caution flag that waved one lap later.
On that restart, Larson slipped past the current Outlaws points leader Brad Sweet and set his sight on Schuchart. At the halfway point, Larson caught the leader and provided a taste of what was to come, sliding the Outlaw regular only to have Schuhart cross under him and retake the lead.
On Lap 34 Larson was finally able to create some distance until a late-race caution set up the 11-lap shootout that thrilled the fans.
“I got stuck behind lappers in (Turns) 1 and 2 that really slowed me down, and I knew he’d be close,” Larson said. “I saw his nose in (Turns) 3 and 4. He could make up a lot of time on entry to just spook me enough to run harder and make some mistakes.
“I slid him coming to the white. I knew he was going to slide me in (Turn) 1, so I thought I’d run my diamond line in (Turns) 1 and 2 and just hope I could be there. I was further behind down the backstretch than I thought I could be or needed to be. I was praying he was going to leave just enough room to drive between the inside wall and him, and he did and we both chased it up the track coming for the win.”
Schuchart’s second-place finish was his 10th podium finish of 2023, making him one of only four drivers to reach that mark so far.
“I know you never want to run second, but as far as a fan event, fans are what make this deal happen, and you can’t ask for a better race,” Schuchart said. “Kyle’s a badass race car driver. He’s going to run aggressive. Once he passed me, I didn’t know exactly what he did to get there, but I just felt like I was going to gas it up a little bit. … I did my best to put on a show, go up there and race for the win.”
Sweet took the last spot on the podium and with David Gravel struggling to finish ninth, Sweet extended his points lead to 14.
Corey Day in fourth and Carson Macedo rounded out the top five.
Heart was thumpin last night! Such an awesome race with @LSchuchart1s pic.twitter.com/cGMlZNfnDL
— Kyle Larson (@KyleLarsonRacin) August 6, 2023
Results:
NOS Energy Drink Feature (55 Laps): 1. 57-Kyle Larson[5]; 2. 1S-Logan Schuchart[2]; 3. 49-Brad Sweet[4]; 4. 14-Corey Day[15]; 5. 41-Carson Macedo[6]; 6. 5-Spencer Bayston[11]; 7. 15-Donny Schatz[12]; 8. 83JR-Michael Kofoid[10]; 9. 2-David Gravel[3]; 10. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[9]; 11. 7S-Robbie Price[8]; 12. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[16]; 13. 70-Kraig Kinser[14]; 14. 45-Rusty Hickman[18]; 15. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[21]; 16. 51B-Joe B Miller[20]; 17. 22-Riley Goodno[23]; 18. (DNF) 23B-Brian Bell[17]; 19. (DNF) 21T-Cole Macedo[7]; 20. (DNF) 20G-Noah Gass[13]; 21. (DNF) 6-Bill Rose[24]; 22. (DNF) 1A-Jacob Allen[22]; 23. (DNF) 83-James McFadden[1]; 24. (DNF) 101-Cody Maroske[19]
