Kyle Larson won the WoO opener at Knoxville Friday (Ken Berry Photo) (Video Highlights from DirtVision.com)
by Bill Wright
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (June 12, 2020) – Kyle Larson is on a roll and the NOS Energy Drink World of Outlaws were his latest victim Friday night at the Brownells Big Guns Bash at the Knoxville Raceway. Larson, from Elk Grove, California, won three events in a row with the All Star Circuit of Champions in the last week, and added another here in Knoxville Friday. The win aboard the Kyle Larson Racing #57 was also the fourth in his career at the famous half-mile oval.
David Gravel led Donny Schatz by a narrow margin early in the 25-lap feature event. Larson settled into third, ahead of Ian Madsen and Sammy Swindell, who had not competed in a sprint car since November. Schatz, who had looked strong by winning his heat, and went from eighth to second in the Dash, took the point on the second circuit.
Larson had a run on Gravel and took the second spot on the sixth lap, before Austin McCarl brought out a caution after stopping in turn two. Schatz elected for the low line on the restart, and Larson stormed to the lead in turn one, only to have it negated, when Rico Abreu got upside down in turn one. Rico walked away.
When the green flag fell again, it was Gravel who had a run and took the second spot. A good battle ensued, and Larson reclaimed the spot on the next lap. Larson was gaining momentum and shot by Schatz to lead lap ten.
The leader was in lapped traffic on the thirteenth circuit and worked through masterfully from there. Gravel avoided disaster in third after getting sideways and above the turn one cushion on lap 16. At the same time, Carson Macedo entered the top five after starting eleventh. With five laps to go, he snared fourth from Madsen.
Larson went on to victory ahead of Schatz, Gravel, Macedo and Sheldon Haudenschild, who gained fifth with two to go. Madsen, Swindell, Shane Stewart, Tim Kaeding and Kerry Madsen rounded out the top ten. Gravel and Ian Madsen set quick time over their respective groups. Gravel, Schatz, Abreu and Stewart won heats. Ryan Giles claimed the Non-qualifier heat, Shane Golobic won the C main, and Gio Scelzi took the B. Joe Simbro was a flip victim in the C, but walked away.
Logan Schuchart suffered a tough night that saw him undergo an engine change without getting a time trial in, have trouble in the Non-qualifier heat, and fall short of transferring to the C, before taking a provisional for the main event.
During opening ceremonies, WoO announcer John Gibson was awarded for being a part of 2000 straight events with the series.
“It’s a pleasure to drive for (crew chief) Paul Silva, and everyone who helps out on this team,” said Larson in Victory Lane. “It makes it a lot of fun to come to Knoxville, one of my favorite tracks. We were terrible at the Knoxville Nationals last year. We were pretty bad here a month ago. To turn around and have a solid night felt good. Before the first caution, I could enter above the holes in (turn) one and diamond and exit low off of two. I felt I could maintain with (Schatz). Once I got to second, Donny was still following the top and I was able to just make that line work and get the run on him in three and pass him. It felt really good in traffic. I got tight. I pulled my wing back, and about the same time, my nose wing fell down. Thankfully, I only had to go one lap with that. I was driving as hard as I could every lap.”
“(Larson) was definitely better than us,” said the second place Schatz. “He kind of surprised me on that restart when he took off so good. I knew his car would drive forward really good. We had that red, and got back in command there. He just found a different line in one and two. He went outside of it and came back down across the racetrack. I didn’t think it would stay that long, so I didn’t try it. You can’t be making a mistake, but if you are, now’s the time to do it. It was a real solid night. It’s been a challenge to get the car balanced, and these guys have done a good job. This week’s thrown us a huge curveball (with the absence of crew chief Steve Swenson). We’ve been smiling a lot more lately at the end of the night, and that’s a good thing.”
“We had a new car tonight,” said Gravel. “We’re working out a couple of bugs. We just got a little stood up in the A main. I’m happy with that. I’d rather start up front and have a chance to win that race. Tomorrow we’ll come back and keep working on that thing. We wanted to win tonight, but we’ll get her better for tomorrow and see what happens.”
Saturday night marks the finale of the NOS Energy Drink World of Outlaws Brownell’s Big Guns Bash! For more information, visit www.KnoxvilleRaceway.com or check Knoxville Raceway’s Facebook and Twitter.
410 Results
Time Trials Group 1 (Qualifying Order), 2 laps: 1. 41, David Gravel, Watertown, CT (6), 15.022; 2. 15, Donny Schatz, Fargo, ND (13), 15.119; 3. 83R, Lynton Jeffrey, Sydney, NSW, Aust. (1), 15.121; 4. 39, Sammy Swindell, Lakeland, TN (3), 15.158; 5. 2, Carson Macedo, Lemoore, CA (2), 15.226; 6. 21, Brian Brown, Grain Valley, MO (7), 15.245; 7. 57, Kyle Larson, Elk Grove, CA (21), 15.333; 8. 17, Sheldon Haudenschild, Wooster, OH (15), 15.386; 9. 2C, Wayne Johnson, Tuttle, OK (14), 15.419; 10. 7S, Jason Sides, Bartlett, TN (12), 15.483; 11. 1A, Jacob Allen, Hanover, PA (24), 15.537; 12. 3, Jac Haudenschild, Wooster, OH (4), 15.552; 13. 56N, Davey Heskin, St. Michael, MN (5), 15.565; 14. 7BC, Tyler Courtney, Indianapolis, IN (16), 15.568; 15. 44S, Trey Starks, Puyallup, WA (8), 15.607; 16. 83, Daryn Pittman, Owasso, OK (26), 15.652; 17. 17W, Shane Golobic, Fremont, CA (25), 15.661; 18. 5, Brent Marks, Myerstown, PA (18), 15.684; 19. 7X, Justin Henderson, Tea, SD (20), 15.727; 20. 55, Hunter Schuerenberg, Sikeston, MO (11), 15.904; 21. 6, Bill Rose, Plainfield, IN (17), 15.934; 22. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (27), 16.001; 23. 35, Zach Hampton, Plainfield, IN (9), 16.037; 24. 15M, Bobby Mincer, Burlington, IA (10), 16.060; 25. 56, Joe Simbro, Pleasantville, IA (19), 16.375; 26. 14K, Tori Knutson, Monticello, MN (23), 16.994; 27. 1S, Logan Schuchart, Hanover, PA (22), NT.
Time Trials Group 2 (Qualifying Order), 2 laps: 1. 18, Ian Madsen, St. Marys, NSW, Aust. (4), 15.572; 2. 20, AJ Moeller, Rockwell City, IA (1), 15.663; 3. 24, Rico Abreu, St. Helena, CA (7), 15.752; 4. 09, Matt Juhl, Tea, SD (6), 15.804; 5. 5X, Gio Scelzi, Fresno, CA (18), 15.848; 6. 14, Parker Price-Miller, Kokomo, IN (20), 15.872; 7. 39M, Anthony Macri, Dillsburg, PA (11), 15.873; 8. 71, Shane Stewart, Bixby, OK (24), 15.913; 9. 2M, Kerry Madsen, St. Marys, NSW, Aust. (23), 15.914; 10. 7, Tim Kaeding, San Jose, CA (2), 15.967; 11. 4, Terry McCarl, Altoona, IA (13), 16.007; 12. 17A, Austin McCarl, Altoona, IA (9), 16.009; 13. 55M, McKenna Haase, Des Moines, IA (19), 16.016; 14. 13, Mark Dobmeier, Grand Forks, ND (10), 16.027; 15. 49, Brad Sweet, Grass Valley, CA (16), 16.035; 16. 2KS, Chad Boespflug, Hanford, CA (26), 16.145; 17. 9, Kasey Kahne, Enumclaw, WA (12), 16.197; 18. 7TAZ, Tasker Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (14), 16.226; 19. 27, Tucker Klaasmeyer, Paola, KS (8), 16.290; 20. 33M, Mason Daniel, Springville, CA (5), 16.294; 21. 9W, Ryan Giles, Grimes, IA (21), 16.305; 22. 11K, Kraig Kinser, Bloomington, IN (22), 16.327; 23. 49J, Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (17), 16.369; 24. R44, Jeff Swindell, Memphis, TN (25), 16.545; 25. 50, Mike Ayers, Waukee, IA (3), 17.405; 26. 3P, Sawyer Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (15), NT.
Non-Qualifier Heat (started), 8 Laps, 2:15.0: 1. Ryan Giles (2); 2. Bill Rose (1); 3. Josh Schneiderman (6); 4. Chris Martin (3) / 5. Kraig Kinser (4); 6. Jeff Swindell (8); 7. Bobby Mincer (7); 8. Zach Hampton (5); 9. Joe Simbro (9); 10. Logan Schuchart (12); 11. Mike Ayers (10); 12. Tori Knutson (11) DNS – Sawyer Phillips
Heat one (started), 8 Laps, NT: 1. David Gravel (1); 2. Kyle Larson (4); 3. Carson Macedo (3); 4. Lynton Jeffrey (2); 5. Jacob Allen (6) / 6. Wayne Johnson (5); 7. Davey Heskin (7); 8. Trey Starks (8); 9. Justin Henderson (10); 10. Shane Golobic (9) DNS – Ryan Giles
Heat two (started), 8 Laps, 2:08.2: 1. Donny Schatz (1); 2. Sammy Swindell (2); 3. Sheldon Haudenschild (4); 4. Brian Brown (3); 5. Daryn Pittman (8) / 6. Tyler Courtney (7); 7. Jac Haudenschild (6); 8. Jason Sides (5); 9. Brent Marks (9); 10. Hunter Schuerenberg (10); 11. Bill Rose (11)
Heat three (started), 8 Laps, 2:11.5: 1. Rico Abreu (2); 2. Ian Madsen (1); 3. Kerry Madsen (5); 4. Anthony Macri (4); 5. Brad Sweet (8) / 6. Gio Scelzi (3); 7. Terry McCarl (6); 8. Kasey Kahne (9); 9. McKenna Haase (7); 10. Josh Schneiderman (11); 11. Tucker Klaasmeyer (10)
Heat four (started), 8 Laps, 2:12.5: 1. Shane Stewart (4); 2. AJ Moeller (1); 3. Matt Juhl (2); 4. Parker Price-Miller (3); 5. Tim Kaeding (5); 6. Austin McCarl (6); 7. Mark Dobmeier (7); 8. Tasker Phillips (9); 9. Chris Martin (11); 10. Mason Daniel (10); 11. Chad Boespflug (8)
C main (started), 10 Laps, 2:53.4: 1. Shane Golobic (1); 2. Hunter Schuerenberg (3) / 3. Ryan Giles (5); 4. Josh Schneiderman (2); 5. Kraig Kinser (9); 6. Mason Daniel (4); 7. Jeff Swindell (10); 8. Bobby Mincer (11); 9. Chad Boespflug (8); 10. Tucker Klaasmeyer (6); 11. Tori Knutson (15); 12. Mike Ayers (14); 13. Logan Schuchart (13); 14. Joe Simbro (12); 15. Bill Rose (7) DNS – Zach Hampton, Sawyer Phillips
Dash (started), 6 Laps, 1:41.4: 1. David Gravel (1); 2. Donny Schatz (8); 3. Rico Abreu (2); 4. Ian Madsen (6); 5. Shane Stewart (3); 6. Kyle Larson (7); 7. Sammy Swindell (5); 8. AJ Moeller (4)
B main (started), 12 Laps, 3:32.7: 1. Gio Scelzi (2); 2. Tyler Courtney (3); 3. Austin McCarl (4); 4. Wayne Johnson (1) / 5. Terry McCarl (6); 6. Davey Heskin (5); 7. Brent Marks (15); 8. Jac Haudenschild (7); 9. Kasey Kahne (10); 10. Justin Henderson (13); 11. Shane Golobic (17); 12. Jason Sides (11); 13. Tasker Phillips (12); 14. Hunter Schuerenberg (18); 15. Trey Starks (9); 16. McKenna Haase (14); 17. Chris Martin (16); 18. Mark Dobmeier (8)
A main (started), 25 Laps, NT: 1. Kyle Larson (6); 2. Donny Schatz (2); 3. David Gravel (1); 4. Carson Macedo (9); 5. Sheldon Haudenschild (11); 6. Ian Madsen (4); 7. Sammy Swindell (7); 8. Shane Stewart (5); 9. Tim Kaeding (20); 10. Kerry Madsen (10); 11. Matt Juhl (12); 12. Brad Sweet (18); 13. Logan Schuchart (25, prov.); 14. Gio Scelzi (21); 15. Brian Brown (15); 16. Austin McCarl (23); 17. Daryn Pittman (19); 18. Anthony Macri (14); 19. Parker Price-Miller (16); 20. Lynton Jeffrey (13); 21. Kraig Kinser (26, prov.); 22. Tyler Courtney (22); 23. Jacob Allen (17); 24. AJ Moeller (8); 25. Wayne Johnson (24); 26. Rico Abreu (3). Lap Leaders: Gravel 1, Schatz 2-9, Larson 10-25. Hard-charger: Schuchart.