By T.J. Buffenbarger
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (August 13, 2020) — Kyle Larson continued his amazing summer by winning the opening night of “The One and Only” event on Thursday at Knoxville Raceway winning the 25-lap preliminary feature. Larson overcame a lackluster qualifying effort that landed him in 10th spot to charge through the field, passing Logan Schuchart for the lead on lap 18 and drove away for the $10,000 victory. The win was the Elk Grove, California native’s 30th feature victory of the 2020 season.
In what has become a common tale this season Larson’s car owner and crew chief Paul Silva had Larson’s car setup again to improve as the race went on.
“I was nervous early. I did not get a good start and my car was so laid left I couldn’t get grip. I think as the fuel load burned off, I got good. I got the top going on that restart and everybody was still trying to work the middle and the bottom and was able to get the runs I needed and make passes at the right times.”
Larson was able to recover from nearly spinning the car to making the winning pass a few laps later with a slide job in turns three and four with some contact with Schuchart.
“I almost spun out once trying to show my nose to Brown and I got by him and was able track (Schuchart) down and hit the bottom really well in one and two and got a run on him and felt like I needed to take advantage of that before we got to heavier traffic. I slid him, felt some contact, so I’m glad to see him not get into the wall or anything like that.”
Schuchart and Aaron Reutzel started on the front row with Schuchart taking the lead with Reutzel under pressure from Cory Eliason racing for the second position. One lap later the 2019 Knoxville Nationals champion David Gravel joined the fray for the third position. Behind that trio Brian Brown moved into the top five around Spencer Bayston.
Gravel disposed of Eliason on lap four to take away the third position. The first caution flag appeared for Terry McCarl’s car smoking heavily on the racetrack. Officials brought McCarl’s car for World of Outlaws officials to check the car for an oil leak, and officials sent him back on the track with McCarl retaining his position.
The following restart saw Gravel drop from third position deep through the field while Daryn Pittman shot up to third position, but the caution appeared before the lap was complete when Pittman spun in turns three and four. This allowed Gravel to retain his position for the restart.
The ensuing double file restart saw Eliason get sideways in turn one and collect Brad Sweet, Donny Schatz, and James McFadden in turn one to bring out the red flag. All drivers exited their cars under their own power with Schatz the only one able to restart but pulled pit side shortly after the restart.
The third attempt to restart the feature was successful with Schuchart pulling away from the field while Brown drove around Reutzel and Gravel to take the second position. As Brown started to close in on Schuchart for the lead Larson started to make his presence felt sweeping around Gravel in turns one and two and Reutzel in three and four on lap six.
Larson nearly spun trying to catch Brown on lap 11 but was able to close in on both Brown and Schuchart as slower traffic came into play on lap 13. Larson quickly closed on Brown, taking away second position on lap 15 through turns one and two.
On lap 18 Larson closed in on Schuchart and attempted a slide job through turns three and four, making contact that damaged Schuchart’s front wing, taking the lead. From there Larson pulled away from the field. Schuchart held off Reutzel with the damage to finish second. Afterwards Schuchart was encouraged by the good start to the weekend, but had issues trying to run the top of the track towards the end of the feature along with wanting a different outcome from Larson’s slide job.
“We started getting tight as the race went on and I wasn’t hitting my marks as good,” said Schuchart. “It was just hard to roll the top. In the beginning I could roll around there and lay left, but not too left, and I was getting a little to upright there at the end of the race. I would have liked to have a bit better of a race there with (Larson). I wish the slide job was a little better, but he has a reputation he needs to live up to. That’s where you let other people make the rules and maybe we’ll get him next time.”
Carson Macedo charged from 24th starting position after transferring from the B-Main to finish fourth with Gravel rounding out the top five.
By virtue of his performance throughout the night Reutzel leads the event points after the first night by nine points over Schuchart. Larson, Brown, and Bayston round out the top five in the event point standings.
The One and Only
World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series
Knoxville Raceway
Knoxville, Iowa
Friday August 13, 2020
Time Trials
1. 1A, Jacob Allen, 15.570
2. 1S, Logan Schuchart, 15.609
3. 71, Spencer Bayston, 15.610
4. 21, Brian Brown, 15.632
5. 87, Aaron Reutzel, 15.647
6. 2M, Kerry Madsen, 15.660
7. 15, Donny Schatz, 15.687
8. 19, Shane Stewart, 15.732
9. 12N, Joey Saldana, 15.735
10. 83, Daryn Pittman, 15.763
11. 13, Paul McMahan, 15.795
12. 49, Brad Sweet, 15.836
13. 41, David Gravel, 15.852
14. 9, James McFadden, 15.865
15. 26, Cory Eliason, 15.872
16. 17W, Shane Golobic, 15.880
17. 15H, Sam Hafertepe Jr, 15.891
18. 39, Sammy Swindell, 15.899
19. 3Z, Brock Zearfoss, 15.903
20. 57, Kyle Larson, 15.912
21. 14, Parker Price-Miller, 15.915
22. 3P, Sawyer Phillips, 15.923
23. 17A, Austin McCarl, 15.944
24. 09, Matt Juhl, 15.957
25. 18, Gio Scelzi, 15.957
26. 7, Tim Kaeding, 15.985
27. 27, Tucker Klaasmeyer, 15.985
28. 20, AJ Moeller, 16.017
29. 7X, Justin Henderson, 16.019
30. 48, Danny Dietrich, 16.028
31. 28, Scott Bogucki, 16.029
32. 5C, Colby Copeland, 16.036
33. 4, Terry McCarl, 16.044
34. 49J, Josh Schneiderman, 16.053
35. 3, Ayrton Gennetten, 16.056
36. 2, Carson Macedo, 16.060
37. 24, Rico Abreu, 16.070
38. 17X, Josh Baughman, 16.086
39. 44S, Trey Starks, 16.093
40. 17, Sheldon Haudenschild, 16.094
41. 33M, Mason Daniel, 16.100
42. 41S, Dominic Scelzi, 16.111
43. 7BC, Tyler Courtney, 16.120
44. 11K, Kraig Kinser, 16.120
45. 55, Hunter Schuerenberg, 16.124
46. 2KS, Brooke Tatnell, 16.150
47. 5, Ian Madsen, 16.159
48. 7S, Jason Sides, 16.160
49. 7TAZ, Tasker Phillips, 16.168
50. 49X, Tim Shaffer, 16.177
51. 88, Kyle Offill, 16.193
52. 70, Cale Thomas, 16.197
53. 99, Skylar Gee, 16.230
54. 2C, Wayne Johnson, 16.240
55. 94, Jeff Swindell, 16.242
56. 83J, Lynton Jeffrey, 16.269
57. 56N, Davey Heskin, 16.360
58. 35, Zach Hampton, 16.379
59. 9W, Ryan Giles, 16.404
60. 44, Chris Martin, 16.421
61. 6, Bill Rose, 16.524
62. 42, Sye Lynch, 16.526
63. 39M, Anthony Macri, 16.574
64. 14K, Tori Knutson, 16.646
65. 56, Joe Simbro, 16.754
66. 2K, Kevin Ingle, 16.791
67. 64, Scotty Thiel, NT
Heat Race (10 Laps)
1. Tyler Courtney (1)
2. Rico Abreu (2)
3. Gio Scelzi (4)
4. David Gravel (6)
5. Donny Schatz (7)
6. Brock Zearfoss (5)
7. Jacob Allen (8)
8. Jeff Swindell (10)
9. Tasker Phillips (9)
10. Bill Rose (11)
DQ: Scott Bogucki (3)
DNS: Scotty Thiel
Heat Race #2 (10 Laps)
1. Kraig Kinser (1)
2. Josh Baughman (2)
3. Kyle Larson (5)
4. Tim Kaeding (4)
5. James McFadden (6)
6. Logan Schuchart (8)
7. Tim Shaffer (9)
8. Colby Copeland (3)
9. Shane Stewart (7)
10. Lynton Jeffrey (10)
11. Sye Lynch (11)
Heat Race #3 (10 Laps)
1. Terry McCarl (3)
2. Hunter Schuerenberg (1)
3. Cory Eliason (6)
4. Spencer Bayston (8)
5. Joey Saldana (7)
6. Davey Heskin (10)
7. Anthony Macri (11)
8. Tucker Klaasmeyer (4)
9. Kyle Offill (9)
10. Parker Price-Miller (5)
11. Trey Starks (2)
Heat Race #4 (10 Laps)
1. Brooke Tatnell (1)
2. Sheldon Haudenschild (2)
3. Josh Schneiderman (3)
4. Brian Brown (8)
5. Daryn Pittman (7)
6. Sawyer Phillips (5)
7. AJ Moeller (4)
8. Zach Hampton (10)
9. Tori Knutson (11)
10. Shane Golobic (6)
11. Cale Thomas (9)
Heat Race #5 (10 Laps)
1. Ian Madsen (1)
2. Mason Daniel (2)
3. Aaron Reutzel (7)
4. Austin McCarl (4)
5. Ayrton Gennetten (3)
6. Sam Hafertepe Jr. (5)
7. Paul McMahan (6)
8. Skylar Gee (8)
9. Ryan Giles (9)
10. Joe Simbro (10)
Heat Race #6 (10 Laps)
1. Jason Sides (1)
2. Carson Macedo (3)
3. Danny Dietrich (4)
4. Matt Juhl (5)
5. Brad Sweet (7)
6. Wayne Johnson (9)
7. Sammy Swindell (6)
8. Chris Martin (10)
9. Kevin Ingle (11)
10. Dominic Scelzi (2)
11. Kerry Madsen (8)
D-Main (started), 8 Laps, NT
1. Anthony Macri (4)
2. Lynton Jeffrey (7)
3. Jeff Swindell (1)
4. Ryan Giles (6)
5. Chris Martin (5)
6. Zach Hampton (3)
7. Kevin Ingle (10)
8. Kyle Offill (2)
9. Bill Rose (9)
10. Tori Knutson (8)
11. Joe Simbro (11)
DNS: Cale Thomas
DNS: Scotty Thiel
DNS: Sye Lynch
DNS: Justin Henderson
C-Main (10 Laps)
1. Sammy Swindell (1)
2. Ayrton Gennetten (3)
3. Hunter Schuerenberg (2)
4. Parker Price-Miller (7)
5. Colby Copeland (8)
6. Anthony Macri (15)
7. Shane Golobic (5)
8. Tim Shaffer (10)
9. Skylar Gee (12)
10. Tasker Phillips (14)
11. Wayne Johnson (9)
12. Lynton Jeffrey (16)
13. AJ Moeller (4)
14. Ryan Giles (18)
15. Tucker Klaasmeyer (6)
16. Trey Starks (13)
17. Jeff Swindell (17)
18. Davey Heskin (11)
DNS: Scott Bogucki
DNS: Dominic Scelzi
Dash (6 Laps)
1. Logan Schuchart (1)
2. Aaron Reutzel (4)
3. Spencer Bayston (3)
4. Cory Eliason (2)
5. Joey Saldana (6)
6. David Gravel (5)
7. Brian Brown (7)
8. Donny Schatz (8)
B-Main (12 Laps)
1. Austin McCarl (1)
2. Rico Abreu (8)
3. Matt Juhl (2)
4. Carson Macedo (6)
5. Danny Dietrich (3)
6. Paul McMahan (4)
7. Brock Zearfoss (10)
8. Shane Stewart (15)
9. Tim Kaeding (5)
10. Sheldon Haudenschild (12)
11. Sammy Swindell (16)
12. Josh Baughman (9)
13. Sam Hafertepe Jr. (7)
14. Parker Price-Miller (19)
15. Josh Schneiderman (11)
16. Kerry Madsen (20)
17. Ayrton Gennetten (17)
18. Sawyer Phillips (14)
19. Mason Daniel (13)
20. Hunter Schuerenberg (18)
A-Main (25 Laps)
1. Kyle Larson (10)
2. Logan Schuchart (1)
3. Aaron Reutzel (2)
4. Carson Macedo (24)
5. David Gravel (6)
6. Brian Brown (7)
7. Spencer Bayston (3)
8. Gio Scelzi (15)
9. Joey Saldana (5)
10. Ian Madsen (19)
11. Austin McCarl (21)
12. Jacob Allen (11)
13. Tyler Courtney (16)
14. Jason Sides (20)
15. Rico Abreu (22)
16. Terry McCarl (13)
17. Brooke Tatnell (18)
18. Matt Juhl (23)
19. Sheldon Haudenschild (25*)
20. Daryn Pittman (9)
21. Kraig Kinser (17)
22. Donny Schatz (8)
23. Cory Eliason (4)
24. Brad Sweet (12)
25. James McFadden (14)
Lap Leaders: Schuchart 1-17, Larson 18-25.
Hard-charger: Macedo
* Sheldon Haudenschild used a World of Outlaws provisional earning season points and money, but not event points.