From T.J. Buffenbarger
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (June 13, 2020) — KNOXVILLE, Iowa (June 13, 2020) – Kyle Larson continued his incredible winning streak by picking up Saturday’s World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series feature victory during the Brownell’s Big Gun Bash at Knoxville Raceway. The win gave Larson a sweep of the World of Outlaws weekend at Knoxville, his fifth sprint car victory in a row, and 10th during the 2020 calendar year.
Getting to victory lane was far from easy for Larson having to overcome losing the lead from a mid-race challenge from Brian Brown, having Brad Sweet almost put Larson back to third position, only to rally to re-take the lead and drive away for the victory.
“I took a glance at the big screen on that restart and I saw (Brown) was right on me,” Larson said of Brown’s challenge for the lead. “ I knew (Brown) was going to run the top in three and four and thought if I could get a good three and four, he may not slide me the next corner. I didn’t get through there like I needed to, he got the run, and got by me. I knew my car was really good, so I just stayed patient behind him. Then Brad (Sweet) got to my inside and thankfully I cleared him off two, otherwise that could have been the deciding factor of the race. I was able to block him into three and nail the bottom for a couple of laps and get back to Brown and slide him. From then on my car felt really good.”
Larson was happy to get the victory in front of fans in the grandstands at Knoxville.
“Another good car. Just sweet to have five in a row in a sprint car now feels awesome. In front of a great crowd too makes it feel even better.”
Daryn Pittman started on the front row with Sweet and led the opening circuit. Larson moved up to fourth on lap two driving by Brown in turn two followed by passing Parker Price-Miller for third on the same lap in turn three. Brown also passed Price-Miller for fourth one lap later.
Larson continued his march to the front passing Sweet for second position off turn four on lap four and set his sights on Pittman for the lead. On lap nine Brown also continued moving up through the field passing Sweet for third off turn two for the third spot. Sweet tried to counter one lap later, but Brown was able to hold the position.
On lap 10 disaster struck for Pittman as he made contact trying to lap David Gravel and spun in turn two, relinquishing the lead to Larson. Both Pittman and Gravel went to the work area and were able to make repairs and join the tail of the field.
After one lap was completed and the caution appeared again or Parker Price-Miller slowing in turn four Brown started to pressure Larson for the lead. Brown was able to slide past Larson on lap 11 to take the top spot. One lap later Sweet was able to get a run under Larson for second. Larson and Sweet exchanged the position before Larson took the position back on lap 13. One later Larson was able to drive low off turn four to drive by Brown for the lead.
Sweet passed Brown for second on lap 15 and tried to keep pace with Larson, but to no avail as Larson drove away during the second half of the race for the victory. Sweet held on for second with Ian Madsen, Carson Macedo, and Sheldon Haudenschild rounding out the top five.
For Larson the Knoxville sweep was significant after he struggled with the Paul Silva Racing team during the 2019 Knoxville Nationals, failing to make the Saturday finale.
“I wish it was August already, I feel really good,” said Larson of his car at Knoxville this weekend. “It’s a race I’ve always wanted to win. I’ve been close once, really close. Now with me getting to run more sprint car stuff we’re showing we can get our car even better. We struggled here bad last year. IT was terrible. We’ve just gotten better and better and now we’ve hit on something.”
World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series
Brownell’s Big Gun Bash
Knoxville Raceway
Knoxville, Iowa
Friday June 13, 2020
Qualifying Flight-A
1. 2-Carson Macedo, 15.09
2. 1A-Jacob Allen, 15.097
3. 24-Rico Abreu, 15.26
4. 55M-McKenna Haase, 15.31
5. 39M-Anthony Macri, 15.392
6. 18-Ian Madsen, 15.414
7. 21-Brian Brown, 15.505
8. 56N-Davey Heskin, 15.625
9. 83R-Lynton Jeffrey, 15.648
10. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 15.715
11. 15-Donny Schatz, 15.721
12. 20-A.J. Moeller, 15.747
13. 5-Brent Marks, 15.763
14. 71-Shane Stewart, 15.785
15. 44S-Trey Starks, 15.79
16. O9-Matt Juhl, 15.824
17. 41-David Gravel, 15.85
18. 55-Hunter Schuerenburg, 15.879
19. 2KS-Chad Boespflug, 15.921
20. 33M-Mason Daniel, 15.929
21. 35-Zach Hampton, 15.943
22. 9-Kasey Kahne, 15.962
23. 17W-Shane Golobic, 16.005
24. 6-Bill Rose, 16.027
25. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 16.052
26. 56-Joe Simbro, 16.075
27. 14K-Tori Knutson, 17.114
Qualifying Flight-B
1. 14-Parker Price-Miller, 15.679
2. 57-Kyle Larson, 15.734
3. 5X-Gio Scelzi, 15.871
4. 49-Brad Sweet, 15.896
5. 83-Daryn Pittman, 15.901
6. 2M-Kerry Madsen, 15.925
7. 7X-Justin Henderson, 15.96
8. 39-Sammy Swindell, 15.986
9. 2C-Wayne Johnson, 16.003
10. 17A-Austin McCarl, 16.049
11. R44-Jeff Swindell, 16.099
12. 3-Jac Haudenschild, 16.128
13. 4-Terry McCarl, 16.158
14. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 16.162
15. 7-Tim Kaeding, 16.217
16. 15M-Bobby Mincer, 16.217
17. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 16.236
18. 3P-Sawyer Phillips, 16.274
19. 49J-Josh Schneiderman, 16.326
20. 7TAZ-Tasker Phillips, 16.333
21. 13-Mark Dobmeier, 16.357
22. 27-Tucker Klaasmeyer, 16.381
23. 7S-Jason Sides, 16.445
24. 44-Chris Martin, 16.466
25. 9W-Ryan Giles, 16.543
26. 50-Mike Ayers, 17.228
Non-Qualifier (8 Laps)
1. 13-Mark Dobmeier [2]
2. 17W-Shane Golobic [5]
3. 9-Kasey Kahne [3]
4. 7S-Jason Sides [6]
5. 44-Chris Martin [8]
6. 11K-Kraig Kinser [9]
7. 27-Tucker Klaasmeyer [4]
8. 9W-Ryan Giles [10]
9. 6-Bill Rose [7]
10. 35-Zach Hampton [1]
11. 56-Joe Simbro [11]
12. 14K-Tori Knutson [13]
13. 50-Mike Ayers [12]
DRYDENE Heat #1
Flight (A) (8 Laps)
Top 5 Transfer
1. 24-Rico Abreu [2]
2. 21-Brian Brown [4]
3. 83R-Lynton Jeffrey [5]
4. 2-Carson Macedo [1]
5. 15-Donny Schatz [6]
6. 39M-Anthony Macri [3]
7. 41-David Gravel [9]
8. 44S-Trey Starks [8]
9. 13-Mark Dobmeier [11]
10. 5-Brent Marks [7]
11. 2KS-Chad Boespflug [10]
DRYDENE Heat #2
Flight (A) (8 Laps)
Top 5 Transfer
1. 1A-Jacob Allen [1]
2. 1S-Logan Schuchart [5]
3. 18-Ian Madsen [3]
4. 17W-Shane Golobic [11]
5. 56N-Davey Heskin [4]
6. 55-Hunter Schuerenburg [9]
7. 55M-McKenna Haase [2]
8. O9-Matt Juhl [8]
9. 71-Shane Stewart [7]
10. 20-A.J. Moeller [6]
11. 33M-Mason Daniel [10]
DRYDENE Heat #3
Flight (B) (8 Laps)
Top 5 Transfer
1. 14-Parker Price-Miller [1]
2. 83-Daryn Pittman [3]
3. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [9]
4. 7X-Justin Henderson [4]
5. 7-Tim Kaeding [8]
6. 4-Terry McCarl [7]
7. 9-Kasey Kahne [11]
8. R44-Jeff Swindell [6]
9. 49J-Josh Schneiderman [10]
10. 2C-Wayne Johnson [5]
11. 5X-Gio Scelzi [2]
DRYDENE Heat #4
Flight (B) (8 Laps)
Top 5 Transfer
1. 57-Kyle Larson [1]
2. 49-Brad Sweet [2]
3. 2M-Kerry Madsen [3]
4. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [7]
5. 39-Sammy Swindell [4]
6. 17A-Austin McCarl [5]
7. 3-Jac Haudenschild [6]
8. 7S-Jason Sides [11]
9. 3P-Sawyer Phillips [9]
10. 7TAZ-Tasker Phillips [10]
11. 15M-Bobby Mincer [8]
DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash (6 Laps)
1. 83-Daryn Pittman [2]
2. 49-Brad Sweet [3]
3. 14-Parker Price-Miller [1]
4. 57-Kyle Larson [5]
5. 24-Rico Abreu [4]
6. 21-Brian Brown [8]
7. 1A-Jacob Allen [6]
8. 1S-Logan Schuchart [7]
C-Main (10 Laps)
Top 2 Transfer
1. 5-Brent Marks [1][-]
2. 7TAZ-Tasker Phillips [4][-]
3. 11K-Kraig Kinser [8][$150]
4. 9W-Ryan Giles [10][$150]
5. 2C-Wayne Johnson [2][$150]
6. 44-Chris Martin [7][$125]
7. 15M-Bobby Mincer [6][$125]
8. 2KS-Chad Boespflug [5][$125]
9. 6-Bill Rose [11][$125]
10. 56-Joe Simbro [13][$125]
11. 35-Zach Hampton [12][$125]
12. 14K-Tori Knutson [14][$125]
13. 50-Mike Ayers [15][$125]
14. 20-A.J. Moeller [3][$125]
15. 27-Tucker Klaasmeyer [9][$125]
16. 33M-Mason Daniel [16][$125]
Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps)
Top 4 Transfer
1. 41-David Gravel [7][-]
2. 39M-Anthony Macri [3][-]
3. 17A-Austin McCarl [6][-]
4. 55-Hunter Schuerenburg [5][-]
5. 44S-Trey Starks [9][$300]
6. 13-Mark Dobmeier [13][$250]
7. O9-Matt Juhl [11][$225]
8. 9-Kasey Kahne [8][$200]
9. 3-Jac Haudenschild [10][$200]
10. 7S-Jason Sides [14][$200]
11. 7TAZ-Tasker Phillips [19][$200]
12. 5-Brent Marks [18][$200]
13. 49J-Josh Schneiderman [16][$200]
14. 3P-Sawyer Phillips [17][$200]
15. 55M-McKenna Haase [1][$200]
16. 71-Shane Stewart [15][$200]
17. 4-Terry McCarl [4][$200]
18. R44-Jeff Swindell [12][$200]
19. 5X-Gio Scelzi [2][$200]
NOS Energy Drink Feature (30 Laps)
1. 57-Kyle Larson [4][$10,000]
2. 49-Brad Sweet [2][$5,000]
3. 1S-Logan Schuchart [8][$3,000]
4. 2-Carson Macedo [13][$2,700]
5. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [10][$2,500]
6. 21-Brian Brown [6][$2,200]
7. 2M-Kerry Madsen [12][$2,000]
8. 24-Rico Abreu [5][$1,800]
9. 18-Ian Madsen [11][$1,600]
10. 39-Sammy Swindell [20][$1,450]
11. 15-Donny Schatz [17][$1,300]
12. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [16][$1,200]
13. 17W-Shane Golobic [15][$1,100]
14. 7-Tim Kaeding [18][$1,000]
15. 39M-Anthony Macri [22][$950]
16. 17A-Austin McCarl [23][$900]
17. 7X-Justin Henderson [14][$850]
18. 83-Daryn Pittman [1][$750]
19. 41-David Gravel [21][$725]
20. 14-Parker Price-Miller [3][$700]
21. 1A-Jacob Allen [7][$700]
22. 56N-Davey Heskin [19][$700]
23. 55-Hunter Schuerenburg [24][$700]
24. 83R-Lynton Jeffrey [9][$700]
Lap Leaders: Daryn Pittman 1-9, Kyle Larson 10, 14-30, Brian Brown 11-13
KSE Hard Charger Award: 39-Sammy Swindell[+10]