PEVELY, Mo. — There seems to be no stopping Kyle Larson at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55.
To open Federated Auto Parts Ironman 55 weekend on Friday Larson charged from 21st to victory in 30 laps. That marked the longest drive to a win with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars in 11 years.
On Saturday Larson started 12th with 55 laps to get the job done. Looking at the math from the night before, the task seemed like a simple one. But of course, driving through a field with the country’s best sprint car drivers in it two nights in a row is far from easy. But Larson managed to pull it off anyway.
It started with a strong first rotation that saw him go from 12th to ninth. Six circuits later he cracked the top five. And then on lap 44 he slipped under race-long leader Giovanni Scelzi to take the top spot.
“I was just fortunate enough to get a good initial start and kind of be the first one to the top to get to fifth,” Larson said. “I was really struggling there before the open red, so that was nice to be able to get Paul (Silva) to turn some wrenches on this thing and get me freed up. That really allowed me to kind of get through the waves in (turn) one and get through the middle and get pointed off of (turn) two much better.
“That was a fun race. I hope all of you fans enjoyed that. Ironman 55 is probably my favorite Sprint Car race of the year. It’s tough, long. I really enjoy these long races. Cool to three-peat this.”
The three-peat Larson mentioned is because he’s won all three Ironman 55 editions that he’s entered (2020, 2023, and 2024). The three wins ties Craig Dollansky’s record mark for the most that had stood alone since he topped three straight from 2011 to 2013.
He passed a total of 31 cars over the course of 85 feature laps through the two nights and banked $37,000.
Giovanni Scelzi and Donny Schatz led the field to green for the 55-lapper. Scelzi used the pole position to pull ahead of Schatz and lead the opening lap.
Scelzi managed to stretch out the advantage a bit through the early laps. Schatz settled into second with Carson Macedo in third. A little way behind them Larson began his journey through the field.
Even once traffic became a factor Schatz struggled to find the speed necessary to catch Scelzi. One lap he’d cut into the advantage, and the next Scelzi would pad it again.
Macedo used a restart with 34 laps remaining to muscle by Schatz for second shortly before a red flag ended the night for a pair of frontrunners. Contact with a lapped car sent fourth-running Corey Day into Michael Kofoid and sent Day upside down.
The stoppage turned into an open red to allow teams to refuel, and on the restart Schatz found his way back into second as Larson jumped into third. And then a restart with 22 laps remaining gave Larson the opportunity he needed to snatch second from Schatz, leaving only Scelzi between himself and a weekend sweep.
Larson patiently worked the low and middle grooves of the racetrack as Scelzi stayed committed to the top. Little by little Larson chipped away, and on lap 44 he pulled the trigger on a slider that stuck for the top spot. From there Larson never looked back on his way to a record-tying third Ironman 55.
“I was actually really surprised about the restart after the fuel stop,” Larson recalled. “I almost got to second into (turn) three by diamonding (turns) one and two. I didn’t expect that, so I knew my car was better right away. I knew I needed to take advantage of that. I lined up third, caution came right back out, and the bottom was better. My engine took off really good, and then I just kind of paced and hoped for no caution because I didn’t want to be on the outside for a restart. It just worked out really good for us.”
Donny Schatz brought the Tony Stewart/Curb Agajanian Racing No. 15 home second.
“Every time I was on the outside I was getting passed by cars on the inside,” Schatz said. “Being on the inside of the second row was probably better on those restarts. We capitalized on it, just tried to move around the racetrack. I guess I’m just glad that’s over with a decent run. It was pretty demanding. It feels like 200-degrees in the car. I’m not used to that, but that’s the way it goes. It was a good race. Kyle did a good job.”
Rounding out the Ironman 55 podium was Carson Macedo in the Jason Johnson Racing machine.
“I think Philip Dietz, Adam Zimmerman, and Robby McQuinn gave me a great race car,” Macedo said. “I feel like I was pretty versatile. I’d get to bouncing a little bit through the middle, but I could make a lot of speed up top. I just had one big mistake on my part. I think I got a little eager on the fuel and kind of maybe got it too loaded up. Then when I went to fire off on that restart there and kind of got stuck out there and let Donny and Kyle get by.”
Scelzi and Logan Schuchart completed the top five.
The finish:
Feature (55 Laps): 1. 57-Kyle Larson[12]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz[2]; 3. 41-Carson Macedo[3]; 4. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[1]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart[8]; 6. 2-David Gravel[10]; 7. 83-Michael Kofoid[14]; 8. 17B-Bill Balog[13]; 9. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[6]; 10. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[4]; 11. 53-Jessie Attard[21]; 12. 49J-Josh Schneiderman[19]; 13. 20G-Noah Gass[16]; 14. 34-Sterling Cling[18]; 15. 70-Kraig Kinser[11]; 16. 37B-Bryce Norris[23]; 17. 6-Kelby Watt[17]; 18. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[9]; 19. 14-Corey Day[5]; 20. 37-Ayden Gatewood[15]; 21. 21R-Gunner Ramey[20]; 22. 7A-Will Armitage[7]; 23. 50K-Thomas Meseraull[24]; 24. 24T-Christopher Thram[22]