PORT ROYAL, Pa. — Kyle Larson controlled all 30 laps to win Wednesday night’s World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series feature at Port Royal Speedway.
Larson raced from the pole to win his fourth series feature of the season aboard Paul Silva’s No. 57 and earn $20,000.
Lapped traffic was the only significant challenge Larson faced during the feature.
“I feel like I did a decent job in traffic, but then I got stuck in for like five-six laps and got pretty nervous,” Larson admitted. “I saw Danny [Dietrich] was up to second on the board and I’ve seen him roll the inside wall here before, so I was trying to keep my eye on that. My car was just phenomenal all night long. We had to pass to win the Heat and pass to win the dash, so I knew we would be good for the feature.”
Behind Larson, the PA Posse defended its home turf in impressive fashion with six of the top-10 finishers coming from local racers.
Danny Dietrich, Anthony Macri and Brent Marks combined to place the highest-finishing full-time World of Outlaws driver in fifth place for Sheldon Haudenschild.
Only four days removed from a nasty crash at Eldora’s Kings Royal, Dietrich was never certain he would be finished with rebuilding the Gary Kauffman Racing No. 48 in time for Port Royal. However, he and his crew thrashed enough to get the job done and head to the track on Wednesday. Their reward for all the hard work was a season-best runner-up result against the World of Outlaws.
“Man, I’m feeling pretty good here,” Dietrich said with a smirk. “Our truck is in the shop right now, so I’ve got to thank the Weikerts for getting this rig up here. We had to tear the other car apart and get this one built off the upper deck, so it’s been a tough few days on my guys. It would’ve been pretty easy to take the night and enjoy a break, but we’re here and I’m glad we stuck it out.”
Macri finished third after starting ninth.
“Maybe this car is just as good without an old crew chief as we are with the current situation,” Macri said. “We were going off the notebook tonight and throwing ideas off each other. We probably should’ve been more aggressive to start the night, but once I got into a rhythm I knew we were fine. I would’ve liked to see a caution, but the cookie just didn’t crumble that way.”
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): – 1. 57-Kyle Larson [1][$20,000]; 2. 48-Danny Dietrich [4][$6,000]; 3. 39M-Anthony Macri [9][$3,750]; 4. 19-Brent Marks [10][$3,250]; 5. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [3][$2,750]; 6. 45-Jeff Halligan [6][$2,500]; 7. 69K-Lance Dewease [13][$2,400]; 8. 41-Carson Macedo [7][$2,300]; 9. 23-Devon Borden [14][$2,200]; 10. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [17][$2,100]; 11. 2-David Gravel [5][$1,700]; 12. 1-Logan Wagner [11][$1,400]; 13. 49-Brad Sweet [8][$1,300]; 14. 1S-Logan Schuchart [16][$1,200]; 15. 5C-Dylan Cisney [18][$1,100]; 16. 1A-Jacob Allen [20][$1,000]; 17. 5-Spencer Bayston [12][$1,000]; 18. 67-Justin Whittall [21][$1,000]; 19. 15-Donny Schatz [2][$1,000]; 20. 83-James McFadden [22][$1,000]; 21. 55-Mike Wagner [24][$1,000]; 22. 33W-Mike Walter [25][$]; 23. 11-TJ Stutts [15][$1,000]; 24. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [23][$1,000]; 25. 11K-Kraig Kinser [19][$1,000]; 26. 98-Tyler Bear [26][