By Troy Hennig
PLACERVILLE, CA – (2- 21, 2016)…Elk Grove’s Kyle Larson has confirmed he is returning to the scene of his first sprint car victory and will take on the World of Outlaws Wednesday March 23rd at the second annual Brad Sweet’s Placerville Short Track Outlaw Showdown presented by Riebes Auto Parts. Larson is fresh off a career best seventh place finish during the Daytona 500 this past weekend. Larson will reunite with championship winning sprint car crew chief Paul Silva and team up with fellow NASCAR driver Rico Abreu of Rutherford, CA.
The upcoming Wednesday night race will mark Larson’s first World of Outlaw appearance since last year at Kokomo Speedway in Indiana and as of now this is his only confirmed Northern California sprint car and midget race. Larson is no stranger to the high banked red-clay quarter mile speedway. He won his first sprint car main event at Placerville Speedway in August of 2007 and three years later at this same track won the King of California 410 sprint car championship. With his busy NASCAR schedule, Larson has been very restricted in returning to his sprint car and midget roots in Northern California. Yet, this is something both Sweet and Larson had hoped would happen. “Placerville is such a fun little race track,” said Larson. “The track is fast with usually two grooves and I am really excited to get to see a lot of familiar faces in the pit area and hopefully put on a good show for the fans. ”
Joining Larson and Abreu in competing against the World of Outlaws is Indy 500 competitor Bryan Clauson of Noblesville, IN. Clauson also has local ties to the area because he grew up in nearby Citrus Heights. Clauson is in the midst of his Circular Insanity Tour that will see him compete in 200 racing events during 2016. During the March 23rd event, fans will also get the chance to watch these three drivers compete with the USAC Western States Midget series.
Brad Sweet’s Placerville Short Track Outlaw Showdown presented by Riebes Auto Parts will feature the greatest sprint car and midget drivers in the world attacking one of the fastest quarter-mile dirt tracks in America. For this year’s event, Sweet has bumped the main event laps from 35 to 40 and is paying the World of Outlaw main event winner $10,000.
The World of Outlaws is led by seven-time champion and inaugural winner of this event Donny Schatz of Fargo, North Dakota. Schatz drives the Tony Stewart Racing Bad Boy Buggies #15. Battling Schatz for the main event win are Kasey Kahne Racing teammates Daryn Pittman of Owasso, Oklahoma and the event organizer Brad Sweet of Grass Valley. Other top drivers with the World of Outlaws include Shane Stewart, of Bixby, OK, who drives for the #2 Larson/Marks racing, the Brownsburg Bullet Joey Saldana in the Roth Motorsports #83 and another local favorite and Destiny Motorsports #7 driver Paul McMahan of Nashville, TN by way of Elk Grove, CA
Fans are able to reserve their tickets for Brad Sweet’s Placerville Short Track Outlaw Showdown presented by Riebes Auto Parts by following this online link at https://dirtcar.ticketforce.com/ordertickets.asp?p=659&backurl=default.asp Reserved tickets are $45 per seat. Fans can purchase pit passes / general admission seating on the day of the event but those seats are all first come first serve. Tickets and will call booth will open at 2 PM. Pit gate opens at 2 PM. Grandstands open at 4 PM with sprint car qualifying slated to begin at 6:30 PM.