By T.J. Buffenbarger
PEVELY, MO (Saturday May 23, 2020) — Kyle Larson never had the opportunity to race at Federated Auto Parts I-55 Speedway before this weekend. Larson capped off his debut weekend at the high banked oval by winning Saturday’s portion of the Drydene Double Down Invitational with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series.
“It feels really cool. I’ve always wanted to race here at Pevely, and it definitely didn’t disappoint,” said Larson about his first visit to Pevely. “All the track prep, I was worried, but it turned out to be a great racetrack.”
Larson backed up his track record setting performance in qualifying and second place finish in the feature on Friday by bettering his feature position after Sheldon Haduenschild crashed while occupying the top position. Larson then held off a late surge by Brent Marks through slower traffic for the victory. The win was Larson’s fifth of the 2020 season, second sprint car win of the year, and first triumph with the World of Outlaws this season.
Larson was emotional in victory lane following his first win since losing his ride in the NASCAR Cup Series due to the use of a racial slur during an online race in April.
“I can’t thank all of you fans enough for the past handful of weeks here. It really means a lot. Everybody that is on this car. Tarlton’s, Finley Farms, Lucas Oil, Durst, Priority Aviation, Glenn Styres, my family, my friends, everybody. This win means so much personally I can’t even describe it.”
Larson was also quick to credit his team for improving his sprint car program after some struggles that dated back to the Knoxville Nationals last season.
“Paul Silva has been working his tail off,” said Larson of his car owner and crew chief. “Ever since we started the year off Volusia and struggled. He worked hard this week and got it better and I felt great in that feature. I could finally get down the straightaways, I could get grip into the corner and off, I don’t think I could have been much better other than not making a mistake on my part hurting the car.”
Even more impressive was the fact that Larson accomplished his victory at Pevely after encountering some mechanical issues after contacting the fence just before halfway through the 40-lap main event.
“When I knocked the Jacobs ladder out about lap 12 it made it a lot harder,” Larson described how tricky the track was to navigate on the cushion following his wall contact. “I was extremely tight, but I felt good before I got into the wall. Then it took me a handful of laps to get used to it. I finally started just running the crap out of it and wide open was the only way I could keep it from bouncing.”
The missing Jacobs ladder became more of an issue when dealing with slower cars throughout the feature but ended up catching some breaks that made it less of a factor.
“I was really worried about traffic,” said Larson of the slower cars. “We got that red when (Haudenschild) wrecked and it put me in the lead. Without the Jacobs ladder I was so tight. Then I got to traffic, my pace would slow down, and I would get even tighter, so I knew I would need cautions and they really fell at the right time for me. Everything fell in my lap tonight, but we had a good car to go with it.”
Haudenschild took the lead from Brad Sweet at the start and asserted his dominance early in the event. Larson had a brief race for third with Shane Stewart swapping the position before Larson drove away on lap four and was challenging Sweet for second one lap later.
After a caution on lap 10 for Parker Price-Miller slowing in turn four Haudenschild continued to lead while Larson drove around the top of Sweet to take the second spot.
By lap 15 Haudenschild was starting to overtake the back of the field. This allowed Larson to gain ground briefly on Haudenschild, but Haudenschild was able to split a pair of lapped cars and pull away from Larson.
On lap 25 disaster struck for Haudenschild as he jumped the cushion between turns one and two and went for a wild tumble. Haudenschild exited the car under his own power but surrendered the lead to Larson.
After cautions for Terry McCarl slowing and Aaron Reutzel’s flat left rear tire Larson had to contend with Brent Marks, who moved past Sweet for second earlier in the race. Marks was able to keep pace with Larson and was closing on the lead in over the final five laps of the event, but ran out of time as Larson drove to victory over Marks, Sweet, Logan Schuchart, and Brock Zearfoss.
Afterwards Larson felt he had a strong enough car to contend for the win even if Haudenschild would not have crashed while leading.
“I felt like I was better than (Haudenschild) before I got into the wall,” said Larson. “Once I figured out how to drive (the car) with no Jacobs ladder I still feel like I was better than him. It is unfortunate to see him get into the wall; I think it was going to be a great race. It always is with two aggressive drivers. I felt like I could have beat him heads up, so that was a big confidence booster for me.”
World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series
Drydene Double Down Invitational
Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55
Pevely, MO
Saturday May 23, 2020
Qualifying Flight-A
1. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 10.948
2. 51-Freddie Rahmer, 10.965
3. 57-Kyle Larson, 11.007
4. 71-Shane Stewart, 11.032
5. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 11.196
6. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 11.22
7. 1A-Jacob Allen, 11.308
8. 41S-Dominic Scelzi, 11.428
9. 21-Brian Brown, 11.436
10. 48-Danny Dietrich, 11.667
11. 4-Terry McCarl, 11.698
12. 24-Rico Abreu, 11.718
13. 35X-Stuart Brubaker, 11.724
14. 33M-Mason Daniel, 11.793
15. 99M-Kyle Moody, 11.82
16. 17W-Shane Golobic, 11.848
17. 17A-Austin McCarl, 11.877
18. 24W-Lucas Wolfe, 11.946
19. 41-David Gravel, 11.963
20. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, 12.263
21. 15-Donny Schatz, 12.274
22. 35-Zach Hampton, 12.314
23. 44S-Trey Starks, 12.361
24. 13JT-Mark Dobmeier, 12.367
25. 2M-Kerry Madsen, 12.456
26. 9K-Kyle Schuett, 12.657
27. 15H-Sam Hafertepe, 12.679
28. 55W-Logan Wagner, 12.774
29. 6-Bill Rose, 12.791
30. 55-Hunter Schuerenburg, NT
31. 42-Cory Bruns, NT
Qualifying Flight-B
1. 49-Brad Sweet, 11.531
2. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 11.806
3. 14-Parker Price-Miller, 11.856
4. 83R-Lynton Jeffrey, 11.859
5. 83-Daryn Pittman, 11.874
6. 2-Carson Macedo, 11.886
7. 26-Cory Eliason, 11.894
8. 5-Brent Marks, 11.923
9. 13-Paul McMahan, 11.927
10. 18-Ian Madsen, 11.975
11. 17B-Bill Balog, 11.986
12. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 11.998
13. 9X-Paul Nienhiser, 12.015
14. 7S-Jason Sides, 12.037
15. 9-Kasey Kahne, 12.038
16. 11-Zeb Wise, 12.061
17. 91-Cale Thomas, 12.074
18. 2C-Wayne Johnson, 12.083
19. 39M-Anthony Macri, 12.12
20. 2KS-Chad Boespflug, 12.249
21. 91R-Kyle Reinhardt, 12.279
22. W20-Greg Wilson, 12.281
23. 51B-Joe Miller, 12.283
24. 70-Justin Peck, 12.334
25. 49J-Josh Schneiderman, 12.473
26. 64-Scotty Thiel, 12.552
27. 44-Jeff Swindell, 12.556
28. 11T-T.J. Stutts, 12.61
29. 21X-Brinton Marvel, 12.935
30. 23B-Brian Bell, 13.127
Non-Qualifier #1 (8 Laps)
1. 15-Donny Schatz [7]
2. 35-Zach Hampton [2]
3. 13JT-Mark Dobmeier [4]
4. 2M-Kerry Madsen [5]
5. 44S-Trey Starks [3]
6. 9K-Kyle Schuett [6]
7. 6-Bill Rose [9]
8. 55W-Logan Wagner [8]
9. 42-Cory Bruns [11]
Non-Qualifier #2 (8 Laps)
1. 91R-Kyle Reinhardt [6]
2. W20-Greg Wilson [7]
3. 51B-Joe Miller [8]
4. 49J-Josh Schneiderman [10]
5. 70-Justin Peck [9]
6. 44-Jeff Swindell [12]
7. 11T-T.J. Stutts [13]
8. 23B-Brian Bell [15]
9. 21X-Brinton Marvel [14]
DRYDENE Heat #1
Flight (A) (10 Laps)
Top 5 Transfer
1. 1S-Logan Schuchart [1]
2. 57-Kyle Larson [2]
3. 11K-Kraig Kinser [3]
4. 4-Terry McCarl [6]
5. 1A-Jacob Allen [4]
6. 41-David Gravel [10]
7. 15-Donny Schatz [11]
8. 17A-Austin McCarl [9]
9. 21-Brian Brown [5]
10. 35X-Stuart Brubaker [7]
11. 99M-Kyle Moody [8]
DRYDENE Heat #2
Flight (A) (10 Laps)
Top 5 Transfer
1. 71-Shane Stewart [2]
2. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [3]
3. 51-Freddie Rahmer [1]
4. 41S-Dominic Scelzi [4]
5. 24-Rico Abreu [6]
6. 48-Danny Dietrich [5]
7. 17W-Shane Golobic [8]
8. 24W-Lucas Wolfe [9]
9. 3-Ayrton Gennetten [10]
10. 33M-Mason Daniel [7]
11. 35-Zach Hampton [11]
DRYDENE Heat #3
Flight (B) (10 Laps)
Top 5 Transfer
1. 49-Brad Sweet [1]
2. 83-Daryn Pittman [3]
3. 14-Parker Price-Miller [2]
4. 26-Cory Eliason [4]
5. 17B-Bill Balog [6]
6. 13-Paul McMahan [5]
7. 9X-Paul Nienhiser [7]
8. 91-Cale Thomas [9]
9. 9-Kasey Kahne [8]
10. 39M-Anthony Macri [10]
11. 91R-Kyle Reinhardt [11]
DRYDENE Heat #4
Flight (B) (10 Laps)
Top 5 Transfer
1. 5-Brent Marks [4]
2. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [1]
3. 2-Carson Macedo [3]
4. 83R-Lynton Jeffrey [2]
5. 18-Ian Madsen [5]
6. 87-Aaron Reutzel [6]
7. 7S-Jason Sides [7]
8. 11-Zeb Wise [8]
9. 2C-Wayne Johnson [9]
10. 2KS-Chad Boespflug [10]
11. W20-Greg Wilson [11]
DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash (8 Laps)
1. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [2]
2. 49-Brad Sweet [4]
3. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [1]
4. 57-Kyle Larson [6]
5. 1S-Logan Schuchart [7]
6. 71-Shane Stewart [3]
7. 83-Daryn Pittman [8]
8. 5-Brent Marks [5]
C-Main (10 Laps)
Top 2 Transfer
1. 39M-Anthony Macri [2][-]
2. 35X-Stuart Brubaker [1][-]
3. 13JT-Mark Dobmeier [9][$150]
4. 33M-Mason Daniel [3][$150]
5. 2M-Kerry Madsen [11][$150]
6. 2KS-Chad Boespflug [4][$125]
7. 91R-Kyle Reinhardt [6][$125]
8. 49J-Josh Schneiderman [12][$125]
9. 99M-Kyle Moody [5][$125]
10. 44S-Trey Starks [13][$125]
11. 70-Justin Peck [14][$125]
12. 23B-Brian Bell [20][$125]
13. 51B-Joe Miller [10][$125]
14. W20-Greg Wilson [8][$125]
15. 6-Bill Rose [17][$125]
16. 11T-T.J. Stutts [18][$125]
17. 9K-Kyle Schuett [15][$125]
18. 35-Zach Hampton [7][$125]
19. 42-Cory Bruns [21][$125]
20. 44-Jeff Swindell [16][$125]
21. 55W-Logan Wagner [19][$125]
22. 21X-Brinton Marvel [22][$125]
23. 64-Scotty Thiel [23][$125]
24. 15H-Sam Hafertepe [24][$125]
25. 55-Hunter Schuerenburg [25][$125]
Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps)
Top 4 Transfer
1. 13-Paul McMahan [2][-]
2. 21-Brian Brown [1][-]
3. 41-David Gravel [3][-]
4. 87-Aaron Reutzel [4][-]
5. 48-Danny Dietrich [5][$300]
6. 91-Cale Thomas [10][$250]
7. 15-Donny Schatz [7][$225]
8. 9X-Paul Nienhiser [6][$200]
9. 17W-Shane Golobic [9][$200]
10. 9-Kasey Kahne [14][$200]
11. 7S-Jason Sides [8][$200]
12. 11-Zeb Wise [12][$200]
13. 39M-Anthony Macri [17][$200]
14. 17A-Austin McCarl [11][$200]
15. 24W-Lucas Wolfe [13][$200]
16. 2C-Wayne Johnson [16][$200]
17. 35X-Stuart Brubaker [18][$200]
18. 3-Ayrton Gennetten [15][$200]
NOS Energy Drink Feature (40 Laps)
1. 57-Kyle Larson [4][$20,000]
2. 5-Brent Marks [8][$7,000]
3. 49-Brad Sweet [2][$3,000]
4. 1S-Logan Schuchart [5][$2,700]
5. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [3][$2,500]
6. 71-Shane Stewart [6][$2,200]
7. 2-Carson Macedo [12][$2,000]
8. 15-Donny Schatz [25][$800]
9. 18-Ian Madsen [20][$1,600]
10. 26-Cory Eliason [14][$1,450]
11. 83-Daryn Pittman [7][$1,300]
12. 14-Parker Price-Miller [10][$1,200]
13. 24-Rico Abreu [19][$1,100]
14. 17B-Bill Balog [18][$1,000]
15. 11K-Kraig Kinser [9][$1,000]
16. 51-Freddie Rahmer [11][$1,000]
17. 41-David Gravel [23][$1,000]
18. 7S-Jason Sides [26][$]
19. 13-Paul McMahan [21][$1,000]
20. 83R-Lynton Jeffrey [16][$1,000]
21. 1A-Jacob Allen [17][$1,000]
22. 87-Aaron Reutzel [24][$1,000]
23. 4-Terry McCarl [13][$1,000]
24. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [1][$1,000]
25. 41S-Dominic Scelzi [15][$1,000]
26. 21-Brian Brown [22][$1,000]
Lap Leaders: Brad Sweet 1-2, Sheldon Haudenschild 3-23, Kyle Larson 24-40
KSE Hard Charger Award: 15-Donny Schatz[+17]