KNOXVILLE, Iowa — After winning his second Knoxville Nationals, Kyle Larson did a lot of gushing about how much he loves the event.
“When we were doing the four-wide, that was sick I was watching the lights flash and the fireworks go off,” Larson said. “Knoxville is the event that I look forward the most. There might be one event next year (Indianapolis 500) that I look forward to more. But this is my favorite weekend of the year. The Knoxville staff does a phenomenal job. This is new this year and this is amazing.”
• David Gravel, the 2019 Nationals winner, finished second for the second consecutive year.
“This is a good second,” he said. “Last year was a crappy second, and this was a good second. This is by far the best event in sprint car racing. It continues to evolve. It is amazing. It is the pinnacle.”
• Second-place starter Rico Abreu cut a left-rear tire only 13 laps into the race. He battled back through the field to finish seventh.
• Six (Kyle Larson, Gio Scelzi, Carson Macedo, Brad Sweet, Rico Abreu and Buddy Kofoid) of the top-10 finishers are from the state of California.
• The 62nd Knoxville Nationals was a complete sellout. Not only did the grandstand tickets sell out, but every available pit pass was sold for the first time in track history.
• Third-place finisher Donny Schatz brought a roar from the crowd at the post-race press conference when he said of Kyle Larson, “This is a hard race to win from the pole. Now we expect him to go win the Indy 500 from the pole next year.”
• Chase Randall won the rookie-of-the-year award and Anthony Macri claimed the annual Mr. Sprint Car honor.
• Sheldon Haudenschild’s Stenhouse Jr. Marshall Racing team won best-appearing car honors and $1,500, while Carson McCarl had the best-appearing helmet and best-dressed crew honors went to Brandon Wimmer’s crew.
• Next year’s Knoxville Nationals will be run Aug. 7-10.
• Dusty Zomer made his first attempt at the Knoxville Nationals in six years and made the main event. He decided to return to racing during the winter after a hiatus from the sport.
“I looked at it when I said, ‘Let’s get the deal going,’” Zomer said. “I knew I could do it mentally. I thought I was still in pretty good shape and that we would get better, and we’ve improved as the season has gone along and I think we can get even better after this week.”
• Cody Ihlen was involved in a vicious crash on the start of the E main and had to be cut from his No. 105 sprint car. He was transported to the hospital in Des Moines.
Matt Covington flipped his No. 95 during the D main and was also transported to the hospital. According to Covington’s Facebook page, he was awake, alert and undergoing CT scans late on Saturday night.
• Brooke Tatnell won the E main for the second time in his career. His previous triumph in the E came in 1991 — 22 years ago.
