KNOXVILLE, Ia. — Kyle Larson has been knocking on the door at the Knoxville Nationals for several years.
On Saturday night, he finally kicked down the door.
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Larson took the lead from Donny Schatz just past the halfway point of the 50-lap feature race at Knoxville Raceway, then held off a furious charge from Schatz and Brad Sweet over the final five laps to take the checkered flag and complete the Triple Crown.
Larson won the Chili Bowl Nationals and the King’s Royal earlier this season, the first two legs of the Triple Crown of sprint car racing.
On this night, the 29-year old driver nicknamed “Young Money” was “Big Money,” collecting the $176,000 top prize and the biggest trophy in sprint car racing.
“Gosh, I’ve always dreamed of winning this race,” Larson said. “The atmosphere this week was unbelievable. I think a year off last year in this place made the roof explode. I felt the energy all week. It kept me excited and pumped up. Like I said, I’ve always dreamed of winning this race.”
Schatz, a 10-time Knoxville Nationals champion, was happy for Larson.
“Kyle has been knocking on the door of this forever,” he said. “He’s definitely an extremely one-off talent. If we ever see anything like that again in our lifetime, it will be pretty rare. He got the job done. Hat’s off to them.”
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Sweet, the 2018 Knoxville Nationals winner, was closing the gap on Schatz before settling for third.
“Kyle was way out in front before it took rubber,” Sweet said. “Hat’s off to him and Donny. It was a good race all the way around.”
Pole-sitter Gio Scelzi led the first 10 laps before Schatz made his move. Schatz got around Larson for second, then went low in the second turn on the 11th lap to get past Scelzi for the lead.
“It’s hard to be upset with fourth place,” Scelzi said. “I felt I ran the best race it was mentally and physically possible to run. I got beat by the best three drivers in the world.”
Larson reeled in Schatz through the middle of the race, going to the cushion to get by Schatz for the lead on the 25th lap.
One lap later, Schatz regained the lead, but the yellow flag dropped for the midway break, putting Larson back in front for the restart.
“I wanted to get the lead before the halfway break,” Larson said. “I looked at the board and I knew we were coming down to the end of it. Rico (Abreu) had maintained ground up there in front of us. I decided to blitz it for a lap. Paid off. (Schatz) was actually getting back by me before that caution came out.”
Larson checked out on the field on the restart, leaving Schatz, Sweet and Scelzi to battle for second.
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But with five laps remaining, the bottom of the track went away for Larson. Schatz and Sweet, running the top, closed the gap from 3.3 seconds to less than a second when the white flag flew.
“I gave it everything I had,” Schatz said. “I was surprised when the racetrack changed like that. We just had to change with it. I saw (Larson) get to the bottom there. I was like, ‘There is no way there is rubber down there.’ I went down there and it was kind of chopped up.”
With Sweet breathing down his neck, Schatz gave it one last shot, going to the cushion in turns three and four. But Larson held on to win by two car lengths.
“I got closer to him as the laps wound down,” Schatz said. “I thought that lapped car was going to hold him up. I went up into three and I gave her the old Hail Mary. I didn’t quite come out in the spot I wanted.”
Larson, who earlier in the day was in Indianapolis for qualifying for Sunday’s Brickyard 400, flew back to win the one race he has dreamed of winning for as long as he can remember.
“It’s the biggest race of the year in my book,” Larson said. “I’m just very lucky that Rick Hendrick believes in me, Jeff Gordon believes in me to allow me to come out here and do this the night before racing a Cup car (Sunday). Huge thanks to them. This really is a dream come true.”
SATURDAY’S A-MAIN RESULTS
1. Kyle Larson; 2. Donny Schatz; 3. Brad Sweet; 4. Gio Scelzi; 5. Logan Schuchart; 6. Brent Marks; 7. James McFadden; 8. Kasey Kahne; 9. Carson Macedo; 10. Sheldon Haudenschild; 11. Kerry Madsen; 12. Brooke Tatnell; 13. Justin Peck; 14. Shane Stewart; 15. Brock Zearfoss; 16. Ian Madsen; 17. Anthony Macri; 18. David Gravel; 19. Brian Brown; 20. Tyler Courtney; 21. Cory Eliason; 22. Justin Henderson; 23. Rico Abreu; 24. Danny Dietrich.
B-MAIN WINNER — Macedo. C-MAIN WINNER — Hunter Schuerenberg. D-MAIN WINNER — Kack Dover. E-MAIN WINNER — Jason Sides.
Source: https://t-tees.com
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