KNOXVILLE, Iowa — As the biggest race in sprint car racing approaches on Saturday night, reigning Knoxville Nationals winner Kyle Larson is the hottest driver in the country.
Larson triumphed for his fourth consecutive start on night two of the 63rd annual NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals, running down Rico Abreu to earn the $12,000 top prize and collect the most points during the night to earn the pole for Saturday’s $190,000-to-win main event.
Larson lined up sixth for the 25-lapper and put on another show in the Silva Motorsports No. 57. He methodically picked his way forward, passing some strong cars in the process.
Larson punctuated his rise to the top of the leaderboard with a slider on Abreu with only two laps remaining. Four straight wins for Larson with a combined 49 sprint cars passed. It was his 10th triumph at Knoxville Raceway.
His performance earned him 490 points, enough to put him on the pole for the 50-lap finale.
“Rico was doing a good job as the leader and doing a good job through traffic,” Larson recalled. “And Carson (Macedo) got kind of rolling there for a minute and thankfully I was able to get by him. I didn’t know exactly what to do. I felt like if you could hit the bottom, it was the best place to be, and I think Rico knew that as well. But then he got to that lapper and couldn’t follow him, had to go to the top or middle.
“And that lapper just hit the berm in front of me, gave me a bunch of clean air and probably messed him up. So, right place at the right time, but you always have to execute every lap. We were able to put ourselves in position to get another win. It feels really good. The car felt great during the feature.”
Bill Balog and Abreu led the feature to green, and it was Balog inching ahead to lead the opening lap.
Throughout the opening half of the race, the action remained relatively tame up front. Balog made some daring moves in traffic to stay ahead of Abreu, but the action really warmed up beyond the halfway mark.
Abreu made his move with a slider on Balog on lap 12. The battle between the two allowed third-running Carson Macedo to close in. Right after Abreu stole the lead, Macedo ripped by Balog to secure the runner-up spot.
It wasn’t much longer before Larson followed the footsteps of the two Californians up front and went by “The North Pole Nightmare” for third.
Abreu got trapped behind a lapped car allowing Macedo to look low down the back straightaway, but the No. 24 closed the door on the No. 41.
That allowed Larson to close in, and on lap 18 he rolled by Macedo for second. Then the sights were set on his childhood friend Abreu just ahead.
Larson got to work building momentum to chase down Abreu as he was nearly a second behind once he grabbed the runner-up position.
Larson stayed on the gas, and the opportunity he needed presented itself with only two laps remaining. As the two navigated turns one and two, Larson looked low as Abreu went to the cushion. Larson managed to pull alongside, and a lapped car drifted in Abreu’s lane exiting the corner. The disruption to Abreu’s line allowed Larson to power ahead down the back straightaway and head toward the white flag.
Abreu stayed close with Larson throughout the final rotation around the half mile, but there was no stopping Larson as he held on for the prelim win.
Abreu come home second and only a couple laps short of prelim glory. He’ll start sixth on Saturday.
“I’ve got to do a little better job managing traffic and knowing the race pace,” Abreu said. “I felt like I left the bottom open there, but I just wanted to keep it up on the pipes toward the end of the race. The top was just really far around. On the cushion my right front would get up a little bit where I had to give up some in the center. Other than that, Ricky (Warner), Zack (Middlebrooks), and Brady (Forbrook) did an awesome job.”
Macedo finished third in the Jason Johnson Racing machine and will start fourth on Saturday.
“The race was in stages for me,” Macedo said. “I feel like early I got my wing back too far, and I had to push it back forward. I started catching them back once we got to traffic. I felt pretty good. And then once we got to traffic, I felt really good. I could maneuver really nicely anywhere I wanted to go. I got to Rico when he kind of got messed up with a lapper and thought I was going to be able to squeeze underneath him and then just had to pace behind him for a minute.”
Tyler Courtney and Bill Balog rounded out the top five.
63rd NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals Presented by Casey’s Toyota Qualifying Night Two Results
Time Trials (Qualifying Order), 2 laps: 1. 69K, Daryn Pittman, Owasso, OK (8), 15.594; 2. 7BC, Tyler Courtney, Indianapolis, IN (14), 15.926; 3. 57, Kyle Larson, Elk Grove, CA (1), 15.954; 4. 21, Brian Brown, Grain Valley, MO (39), 15.966; 5. 33W, Cap Henry, Bellevue, OH (5), 15.996; 6. 3J, Dusty Zomer, Sioux Falls, SD (4), 16.017; 7. 8, Cory Eliason, Visalia, CA (3), 16.024; 8. 21H, Brady Bacon, Broken Arrow, OK (6), 16.067; 9. 41, Carson Macedo, Lemoore, CA (30), 16.072; 10. 1K, Kelby Watt, Adel, IA (2), 16.085; 11. 83SR, James McFadden, Alice Springs, NT, A (10), 16.092; 12. 24R, Rico Abreu, St. Helena, CA (28), 16.098; 13. 35, Zach Hampton, Plainfield, IN (11), 16.103; 14. 42, Sye Lynch, Apollo, PA (16), 16.108; 15. 17B, Bill Balog, Hartland, WI (35), 16.114; 16. 49, Brad Sweet, Grass Valley, CA (22), 16.145; 17. 88, Austin McCarl, Altoona, IA (23), 16.150; 18. 1C, Brenham Crouch, Lubbock, TX (12), 16.167; 19. 1S, Logan Schuchart, Hanover, PA (50), 16.221; 20. 74, Xavier Doney, Odessa, MO (7), 16.223; 21. 5X, Justin Henderson, Tea, SD (34), 16.228; 22. 5, Spencer Bayston, Lebanon, IN (29), 16.254; 23. 40, Clint Garner, Sioux Falls, SD (15), 16.264; 24. 49J, Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (9), 16.270; 25. 27A, Emerson Axsom, Franklin, IN (47), 16.273; 26. 24D, Danny Sams III, North Port, FL (17), 16.298; 27. 88T, Tanner Thorson, Minden, NV (21), 16.354; 28. 26, Zeb Wise, Angola, IN (46), 16.384; 29. 55C, Chris Windom, Canton, IL (25), 16.386; 30. 36, Jason Martin, Liberal`, KS (13), 16.407; 31. 6, Robbie Price, Cobble Hill, BC, Can (20), 16.419; 32. 19S, Hunter Schuerenberg, Sikeston, MO (54), 16.448; 33. 2M, Ryan Giles, Grimes, IA (18), 16.450; 34. 58, Kaleb Johnson, Sioux Falls, SD (44), 16.489; 35. 13JT, Mark Dobmeier, Grand Forks, ND (49), 16.492; 36. 7S, Landon Crawley, Benton, AR (38), 16.498; 37. 5T, Ryan Timms, Oklahoma City, OK (37), 16.499; 38. 1D, Tasker Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (31), 16.530; 39. 25, Daison Pursley, Locust Grove, OK (27), 16.574; 40. 3G, Ayrton Gennetten, Gravois Mills, MO (33), 16.601; 41. 22X, JJ Hickle, Quilcene, WA (43), 16.617; 42. 24, Terry McCarl, Altoona, IA (24), 16.639; 43. 27B, Jake Bubak, Arvada, CO (51), 16.642; 44. 3, Tim Kaeding, San Jose, CA (42), 16.665; 45. 91, Kyle Reinhardt, Neptune City, NJ (41), 16.716; 46. 18R, Ryan Roberts, Aurora, NE (36), 16.799; 47. 3N, Jake Neuman, New Berlin, IL (32), 16.802; 48. 65, Jordan Goldesberry, Springfield, IL (53), 16.819; 49. 27W, Weston Olson, Warren, MN (26), 16.951; 50. 53, Jessie Attard, Landilo, NSW, Aust. (48), 16.992 / 51. 95, Tyler Drueke, Eagle, NE (19), 16.998; 52. 14T, Brooke Tatnell, Sans Souci, NSW, Aust. (52), 17.035; 53. 28, Joe Perry, Billings, MT (40), 18.757; 54. 9H, Landon Hansen, Newton, IA (45), NT.
First Heat (started), 10 Laps, 2:52.5: 1. Daryn Pittman (8); 2. Landon Crawley (1); 3. Brad Sweet (5); 4. Danny Sams III (3) / 5. James McFadden (6); 6. Justin Henderson (4); 7. Dusty Zomer (7); 8. JJ Hickle (9) / 9. Robbie Price (2); 10. Ryan Roberts (10)
Second Heat (started), 10 Laps, NT: 1. Hunter Schuerenberg (2); 2. Ryan Timms (1); 3. Rico Abreu (6); 4. Tyler Courtney (8) / 5. Spencer Bayston (4); 6. Tanner Thorson (3); 7. Cory Eliason (7); 8. Austin McCarl (5) / 9. Jake Neuman (10); 10. Terry McCarl (9);
Third Heat (started), 10 Laps, NT: 1. Tasker Phillips (1); 2. Zeb Wise (2); 3. Kyle Larson (7); 4. Brady Bacon (6) / 5. Brenham Crouch (4); 6. Jake Bubak (8); 7. Zach Hampton (5); 8. Jordan Goldesberry (9) / 9. Clint Garner (3) DNS – 10. Ryan Giles
Fourth Heat (started), 10 Laps, NT: 1. Carson Macedo (6); 2. Daison Pursley (1); 3. Kaleb Johnson (2); 4. Brian Brown (7) / 5. Logan Schuchart (5); 6. Chris Windom (3); 7. Josh Schneiderman (4); 8. Weston Olson (9) / 9. Tim Kaeding (8) DNS – 10. Sye Lynch
Fifth Heat (started), 10 Laps, 2:53.8: 1. Ayrton Gennetten (1); 2. Mark Dobmeier (2); 3. Bill Balog (6); 4. Jason Martin (3) / 5. Emerson Axsom (4); 6. Cap Henry (8); 7. Kelby Watt (7); 8. Xavier Doney (5) / 9. Jessie Attard (10); 10. Kyle Reinhardt (9);
C Main (started), 10 Laps, 2:55.9: 1. Sye Lynch (1); 2. Clint Garner (2); 3. Robbie Price (3); 4. Tim Kaeding (5) / 5. Terry McCarl (4); 6. Brooke Tatnell (10); 7. Tyler Drueke (9); 8. Jessie Attard (8); 9. Jake Neuman (7); 10. Joe Perry (11); 11. Kyle Reinhardt (6) DNS – 12. Ryan Giles 13. Ryan Roberts 14. Landon Hansen
B Main (started), 12 Laps, 3:31.0: 1. Dusty Zomer (2); 2. Cap Henry (1); 3. James McFadden (5); 4. Cory Eliason (3) / 5. Zach Hampton (6); 6. Spencer Bayston (12); 7. Austin McCarl (7); 8. Logan Schuchart (9); 9. Kelby Watt (4); 10. Justin Henderson (11); 11. Chris Windom (16); 12. Emerson Axsom (14); 13. Brenham Crouch (8); 14. Jake Bubak (18); 15. Tanner Thorson (15); 16. Tim Kaeding (24); 17. Josh Schneiderman (13); 18. Xavier Doney (10); 19. JJ Hickle (17); 20. Sye Lynch (21); 21. Robbie Price (23); 22. Clint Garner (22); 23. Weston Olson (20); 24. Jordan Goldesberry (19)
Feature (25 Laps): 7:28.3: 1. Kyle Larson (6); 2. Rico Abreu (2); 3. Carson Macedo (3); 4. Tyler Courtney (7); 5. Bill Balog (1); 6. Daryn Pittman (8); 7. Brad Sweet (9); 8. Brady Bacon (4); 9. Zeb Wise (11); 10. Brian Brown (5); 11. Kaleb Johnson (14); 12. Hunter Schuerenberg (13); 13. James McFadden (23); 14. Cory Eliason (24); 15. Ryan Timms (17); 16. Tasker Phillips (18); 17. Danny Sams III (10); 18. Jason Martin (12); 19. Dusty Zomer (21); 20. Landon Crawley (16); 21. Ayrton Gennetten (20); 22. Mark Dobmeier (15); 23. Cap Henry (22); 24. Daison Pursley (19).