PORT ROYAL, PA (October 9, 2020) — Refill the ink and turn the page. Kyle Larson added another line to his 2020 book of dirt racing records Friday at Port Royal Speedway.
During the opening night of the Nittany Showdown, the Elk Grove, CA driver won his 11th World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series event in 23 starts and his 40th dirt track event in 80 overall starts this year – which includes a Late Model win at Port Royal in August.
“I would’ve liked to have gotten to 30 (wins). That was probably a more realistic goal,” Larson said with a smirk. “But once we got racing… this is the most I’ve ever raced with Paul. We usually only do 25 to 30 shows. I think with us getting to race more together, days in a row, too, it helped us get into a rhythm. I think that’s why we had such a strong summer.”
Larson didn’t let anyone else have a thought of victory in the 25-lap Feature. He cleared the 26-car field by the exit of Turn 4 on the initial start and extended the rope of time between he and second-place Danny Dietrich each lap. By Lap 5, Larson already had a two second lead on the PA Posse member.
While Larson set sail around the top of the half-mile track, the championship points contenders were hunting for every position they could. Ten-time Series champion Donny Schatz, who started the night setting Quick Time, eventually fell from fifth to seven and David Gravel fell from seventh to eighth. Further behind them, reigning champion Brad Sweet and Logan Schuchart were trying to fight their way forward, starting 15th and 21st, respectively.
Several drivers, including Sweet, were involved in an accident in Turn 4 with 10 laps to go. The wreck resulted and Carson Macedo and Lance Dewease’s nights coming to an end, but Sweet had minimal damage and was able to continue. He made his way back through the field to finish 11th, while Schuchart finished 12th.
By virtue of their finishes, Sweet now leads Schuchart by 40 points for the driver points title. Schatz continues to sit third in points, but is now 62 points behind Sweet, closing in on the championship battle for the second race in a row. Sweet’s Kasey Kahne Racing team did lose points to Gravel’s Jason Johnson Racing team for the team championship title hunt, though. JJR now leads KKR by 14 points.
The Lap 10 wreck was the sole caution of the night, giving Dietrich and third-place Sheldon Haudenschild their best shot at challenging Larson. On the restart, Dietrich tossed his car to the bottom of Turn 1 and pulled even with Larson. However, Larson had the better momentum around the top and launch ahead of him down the backstretch.
Even with lap cars in his way, Larson didn’t let anything slow his march to victory and crossed the finish line having led all 25 laps.
“I felt really good in the (DIRTVision Fast Pass) Dash there. Really really good,” Larson said. “The balance of the car felt different in the Feature. But I felt like I could still maintain good grip off and I could slide lappers and not lose too much momentum. I knew my car was good. It always is. As the race went on, I started to slide more but got a good enough start on the restarts to maintain a decent gap. Awesome car again. Can’t say enough about everyone who works on it.”
Dietrich’s runner-up finish is his best showing in 12 races with the Series this season. It was also the best showing for a PA Posse member. If he or another Posse member is unable to win Saturday night’s $15,000-to-win Nittany Showdown finale, it will be the first time since 2008 that the PA Posse has been shutout of winning in their home territory against the Outlaws.
“He’s (Larson) really good on the restarts,” said Dietrich, of Gettysburg, PA. “Going to the bottom (on the restarts) was not the place to be but it was the only option if you wanted to try and pass him. Just really happy with the car. We made huge improvements from last week.”
Sheldon Haudenschild rounded out the podium – his seventh podium finish in his last 15 World of Outlaws starts.
“To come out of here with a podium is good,” said Haudenschild, of Wooster, OH. “Just building for tomorrow.”
World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series
Nittany Showdown
Port Royal Speedway
Port Royal, Pennsylvania
Friday October 9, 2020
Qualifying Flight-A
1. 15-Donny Schatz, 15.19
2. 18-Gio Scelzi, 15.308
3. 41-David Gravel, 15.318
4. 39M-Anthony Macri, 15.354
5. 14S-Tony Stewart, 15.361
6. 9-James McFadden, 15.365
7. 21-Brian Brown, 15.368
8. 55-Mike Wagner, 15.435
9. 72-Daryn Pittman, 15.456
10. 11-T.J. Stutts, 15.49
11. 5-Brent Marks, 15.546
12. 49-Brad Sweet, 15.58
13. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 15.647
14. 1-Logan Wagner, 15.688
15. 83J-Lynton Jeffrey, 15.735
16. 17B-Steve Buckwalter, 15.769
17. 19M-Landon Myers, 15.88
18. 33M-Mason Daniel, 15.962
19. 2X-Dylan Cisney, 15.981
20. 57J-Jeff Miller, 16.054
21. 12-Brent Shearer, 16.056
22. 73B-Brett Michalski, 16.146
23. 47K-Kody Lehman, 16.218
24. 12W-Troy Fraker, 17.023
Qualifying Flight-B
1. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 15.349
2. 48-Danny Dietrich, 15.408
3. 57-Kyle Larson, 15.452
4. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 15.465
5. 2M-Kerry Madsen, 15.587
6. 69K-Lance Dewease, 15.605
7. 1A-Jacob Allen, 15.654
8. 2-Carson Macedo, 15.69
9. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 15.698
10. 51-Freddie Rahmer, 15.769
11. 10X-Ryan Smith, 15.773
12. 24-Lucas Wolfe, 15.805
13. 83-Spencer Bayston, 15.824
14. 91F-Tony Fiore, 15.927
15. 99M-Kyle Moody, 15.948
16. 14-Parker Price-Miller, 15.955
17. 91-Kyle Reinhardt, 15.983
18. 54-Zach Newlin, 16.158
19. 7S-Jason Sides, 16.202
20. 880-Drew Ritchey, 16.245
21. 6-Bill Rose, 16.416
22. 2C-Wayne Johnson, 16.524
23. 97-Brie Hershey, 16.598
24. 15B-Zach Hampton, NT
DRYDENE Heat Race #1 (8 Laps):
1. 15-Donny Schatz [1]
2. 41-David Gravel [2]
3. 14S-Tony Stewart [3]
4. 5-Brent Marks [6]
5. 21-Brian Brown [4]
6. 72-Daryn Pittman [5]
7. 11K-Kraig Kinser [7]
8. 19M-Landon Myers [9]
9. 12-Brent Shearer [11]
10. 2X-Dylan Cisney [10]
11. 47K-Kody Lehman [12]
12. 83J-Lynton Jeffrey [8]
DRYDENE Heat Race #2 (8 Laps):
1. 18-Gio Scelzi [1]
2. 39M-Anthony Macri [2]
3. 9-James McFadden [3]
4. 49-Brad Sweet [6]
5. 11-T.J. Stutts [5]
6. 55-Mike Wagner [4]
7. 17B-Steve Buckwalter [8]
8. 1-Logan Wagner [7]
9. 73B-Brett Michalski [11]
10. 33M-Mason Daniel [9]
11. 57J-Jeff Miller [10]
12. 12W-Troy Fraker [12]
DRYDENE Heat Race #3 (8 Laps):
1. 57-Kyle Larson [2]
2. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [1]
3. 2M-Kerry Madsen [3]
4. 10X-Ryan Smith [6]
5. 1A-Jacob Allen [4]
6. 1S-Logan Schuchart [5]
7. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [9]
8. 83-Spencer Bayston [7]
9. 99M-Kyle Moody [8]
10. 7S-Jason Sides [10]
11. 6-Bill Rose [11]
12. 97-Brie Hershey [12]
DRYDENE Heat Race #4 (8 Laps):
1. 48-Danny Dietrich [1]
2. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [2]
3. 69K-Lance Dewease [3]
4. 2-Carson Macedo [4]
5. 51-Freddie Rahmer [5]
6. 24-Lucas Wolfe [6]
7. 14-Parker Price-Miller [8]
8. 91F-Tony Fiore [7]
9. 880-Drew Ritchey [10]
10. 2C-Wayne Johnson [11]
11. 54-Zach Newlin [9]
DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash (6 Laps):
1. 57-Kyle Larson [1]
2. 48-Danny Dietrich [2]
3. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [4]
4. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [6]
5. 15-Donny Schatz [8]
6. 18-Gio Scelzi [7]
7. 41-David Gravel [3]
8. 39M-Anthony Macri [5]
C-Main (10 Laps):
1. 2X-Dylan Cisney [1][-]
2. 2C-Wayne Johnson [4][-]
3. 7S-Jason Sides [2][$150]
4. 33M-Mason Daniel [3][$150]
5. 54-Zach Newlin [8][$150]
6. 83J-Lynton Jeffrey [9][$125]
7. 6-Bill Rose [6][$125]
8. 57J-Jeff Miller [7][$125]
9. 97-Brie Hershey [10][$125]
10. 12W-Troy Fraker [11][$125]
11. 47K-Kody Lehman [5][$125]
12. 15B-Zach Hampton [12][$125]
Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps):
1. 1S-Logan Schuchart [2][-]
2. 72-Daryn Pittman [3][-]
3. 55-Mike Wagner [1][-]
4. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [6][-]
5. 24-Lucas Wolfe [4][$300]
6. 17B-Steve Buckwalter [7][$250]
7. 11K-Kraig Kinser [5][$225]
8. 19M-Landon Myers [9][$200]
9. 83-Spencer Bayston [10][$200]
10. 14-Parker Price-Miller [8][$200]
11. 91F-Tony Fiore [12][$200]
12. 99M-Kyle Moody [14][$200]
13. 2X-Dylan Cisney [17][$200]
14. 2C-Wayne Johnson [18][$200]
15. 73B-Brett Michalski [15][$200]
16. 12-Brent Shearer [13][$200]
17. 880-Drew Ritchey [16][$200]
18. 1-Logan Wagner [11][$200]
NOS Energy Drink Feature (25 Laps):
1. 57-Kyle Larson [1][$8,000]
2. 48-Danny Dietrich [2][$4,000]
3. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [3][$2,500]
4. 18-Gio Scelzi [6][$2,200]
5. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [4][$2,100]
6. 39M-Anthony Macri [8][$2,000]
7. 15-Donny Schatz [5][$1,800]
8. 41-David Gravel [7][$1,600]
9. 51-Freddie Rahmer [20][$1,500]
10. 2M-Kerry Madsen [10][$1,300]
11. 49-Brad Sweet [15][$1,200]
12. 1S-Logan Schuchart [21][$1,100]
13. 14S-Tony Stewart [9][$1,000]
14. 9-James McFadden [11][$700]
15. 5-Brent Marks [13][$600]
16. 11-T.J. Stutts [19][$600]
17. 10X-Ryan Smith [14][$600]
18. 21-Brian Brown [17][$600]
19. 72-Daryn Pittman [22][$600]
20. 1A-Jacob Allen [18][$600]
21. 83-Spencer Bayston [25][$]
22. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [24][$600]
23. 2X-Dylan Cisney [26][$]
24. 2-Carson Macedo [16][$600]
25. 69K-Lance Dewease [12][$600]
26. 55-Mike Wagner [23][$600]
Lap Leaders Kyle Larson 1-25
KSE Hard Charger Award: 51-Freddie Rahmer[+11]