By T.J. Buffenbarger
KNOXVILLE, IA (August 13, 2026) – Kyle Larson may not be able to compete in the finale of the 65th NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s on Saturday, but he made the most of his time here by winning the feature on Toyota qualifying night.
Larson, from Elk Grove, California, moved up from eighth starting position to pass Garet Wiliamson after a late race restart for the victory.
Garet Williamson and Austin McCarl started on the front row for the 25-lap feature event. Williamson took the lead with Austin McCarl staying on his back bumper on the opening lap.
Buddy Kofoid was able to gain momentum through turns one and two and circle around the outside of Austin McCarl to take away the second position.
Before the field could get back to the start finish line, the red flag appeared when Kaleb Johnson got sideways between turns three and four and collected Carson McCarl and Matt Juhl, sending Johnson upside down. All three drivers walked away from the incident under their own power. This sent Kofoid back to the third position for the restart.
During the restart Williamson felt pressure immediately from Austin McCarl while Larson disposed of Tasker Phillips for the fifth position. Shortly after Larson traded fourth position before Larson secured the spot on lap five.
The race for the lead heated up on lap seven when Austin McCarl used a slide job in turns one and two to take the lead from Williamson on lap seven. Williamson tried to counter the following lap but could not make the pass. Behind them Kofoid and Larson started to close in on the lead duo.
Williamson did not give up and took the lead on lap nine with his own slide job through turns one and two on lap nine.
Just as McCarl was passing Wiliamson for the lead in turns one and two the caution flag appeared for Tasker Phillips ended up backwards in turn two. Phillips was able to restart at the tail of the field.
During the restart Larson was able to slide past Kofoid through turns one and two for the third position. Then Larson was able to throw a big slide job on Austin McCarl to take the second position on lap 12.
Williamson was able to extend his lead over Larson to 1.905 seconds on lap 15, but that lead quickly shrunk to 0.572 seconds when the caution flag appeared on lap 18.
After the restart Williamson ran the slider line and was able to keep Larson on bay. Larson started to close on Williamson when the red flag appeared with 19 laps complete when Phillips hit the wall and flipped in turn two. Phillips walked away from the crash but was unable to continue.
Following the restart Larson built up his momentum around the top of the racetrack and drove by Williamson for the lead on lap 21. Williams was able to use the bottom to keep pace for one lap before Larson pulled away to a 3.271 second advantage at the finish.
Williams held on for second while Brent Marks used the final restart to surge from fifth to third on lap 22 and took the final podium position. Buddy Kofoid and Austin McCarl round out the top five.
Tanner Thorson was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 15.299 seconds. Spencer Bayston, Carson Macedo, Brent Marks, Chris Martin, and Ayrton Gennetten won heat race events. Landon Crawley won the C-Main event while Logan Schuchart won the B-Main.
65th NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s
Toyota Qualifying Night
Knoxville Raceway
Knoxville, Iowa
Thursday, August 13, 2026
Qualifying
1. 88T-Tanner Thorson, 15.299[7]
2. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 15.397[6]
3. 74-Xavier Doney, 15.399[1]
4. 57-Kyle Larson, 15.400[5]
5. 69K-Daryn Pittman, 15.453[27]
6. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 15.486[18]
7. 9R-Chase Randall, 15.488[9]
8. 21-Brian Brown, 15.505[21]
9. 12X-Landon Crawley, 15.515[8]
10. 55-Kerry Madsen, 15.555[23]
11. 71-Parker Price Miller, 15.584[15]
12. 83-Michael Kofoid, 15.604[22]
13. 9P-Daison Pursley, 15.630[20]
14. 31-Cale Thomas, 15.642[10]
15. 1TZ-Tasker Phillips, 15.655[17]
16. 88W-Austin McCarl, 15.656[39]
17. 45D-Derek Hagar, 15.703[4]
18. 23-Garet Williamson, 15.707[44]
19. 15K-Creed Kemenah, 15.727[28]
20. 16C-Skylar Gee, 15.740[12]
21. 17B-Bill Balog, 15.746[29]
22. 19HM-Kaleb Johnson, 15.748[11]
23. 19-Brent Marks, 15.762[47]
24. 40-Clint Garner, 15.762[14]
25. 1X-Scott Bogucki, 15.777[24]
26. 5-Brenham Crouch, 15.788[30]
27. 17A-Jack Anderson, 15.794[31]
28. 23L-Jimmy Light, 15.857[2]
29. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 15.859[45]
30. 87X-Ashton Torgerson, 15.870[25]
31. 17-Spencer Bayston, 15.886[38]
32. 41-Carson Macedo, 15.897[37]
33. 27-Carson McCarl, 15.902[36]
34. 44-Chris Martin, 15.907[34]
35. 28M-Conner Morrell, 15.909[13]
36. 26R-Levi Hillier, 15.977[40]
37. 49-Josh Schneiderman, 15.985[33]
38. 33W-Cap Henry, 16.028[43]
39. 09-Matt Juhl, 16.052[49]
40. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, 16.053[26]
41. 4C-Cameron Martin, 16.110[42]
42. 6DC-Will Armitage, 16.115[35]
43. 8-John Carney II, 16.132[19]
44. 2M-JJ Hickle, 16.140[3]
45. 16G-Austyn Gossel, 16.216[16]
46. 14T-Brooke Tatnell, 16.289[48]
47. 27B-Garrett Benson, 16.332[46]
48. G5-Gage Pulkrabek, 16.638[41]
49. 56-Joe Simbro, 16.677[32]
Heat Race #1 (10 Laps)
1. 17-Spencer Bayston[2]
2. 17B-Bill Balog[4]
3. 88W-Austin McCarl[5]
4. 71-Parker Price Miller[6]
5. 26R-Levi Hillier[1]
6. 1S-Logan Schuchart[7]
7. 5-Brenham Crouch[3]
8. 88T-Tanner Thorson[8]
9. 4C-Cameron Martin[9]
10. 14T-Brooke Tatnell[10]
Heat Race #2 (10 Laps)
1. 41-Carson Macedo[2]
2. 83-Michael Kofoid[6]
3. 49-Josh Schneiderman[1]
4. 19HM-Kaleb Johnson[4]
5. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[8]
6. 17A-Jack Anderson[3]
7. 9R-Chase Randall[7]
8. 6DC-Will Armitage[9]
9. 45D-Derek Hagar[5]
10. 27B-Garrett Benson[10]
Heat Race #3 (10 Laps)
1. 19-Brent Marks[4]
2. 27-Carson McCarl[2]
3. 23-Garet Williamson[5]
4. 21-Brian Brown[7]
5. 33W-Cap Henry[1]
6. 9P-Daison Pursley[6]
7. 74-Xavier Doney[8]
8. 8-John Carney II[9]
9. 23L-Jimmy Light[3]
10. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[10]
Heat Race #4 (10 Laps)
1. 44-Chris Martin[2]
2. 87-Aaron Reutzel[3]
3. 09-Matt Juhl[1]
4. 57-Kyle Larson[8]
5. 40-Clint Garner[4]
6. 31-Cale Thomas[6]
7. 2M-JJ Hickle[9]
8. 15K-Creed Kemenah[5]
9. 12X-Landon Crawley[7]
10. 56-Joe Simbro[10]
Heat Race #5 (10 Laps)
1. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[1]
2. 1X-Scott Bogucki[4]
3. 1TZ-Tasker Phillips[6]
4. 69K-Daryn Pittman[8]
5. 55-Kerry Madsen[7]
6. 28M-Conner Morrell[2]
7. 87X-Ashton Torgerson[3]
8. 16C-Skylar Gee[5]
9. 16G-Austyn Gossel[9]
C-Main (10 Laps)
1. 12X-Landon Crawley[1]
2. 4C-Cameron Martin[4]
3. 45D-Derek Hagar[2]
4. 27B-Garrett Benson[7]
5. 16G-Austyn Gossel[5]
6. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[8]
7. 23L-Jimmy Light[3]
8. 56-Joe Simbro[9]
9. 14T-Brooke Tatnell[6]
C-Main (10 Laps)
1. 12X-Landon Crawley[1]
2. 4C-Cameron Martin[4]
3. 45D-Derek Hagar[2]
4. 27B-Garrett Benson[7]
5. 16G-Austyn Gossel[5]
6. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[8]
7. 23L-Jimmy Light[3]
8. 56-Joe Simbro[9]
9. 14T-Brooke Tatnell[6]
B-Main (12 Laps)
1. 1S-Logan Schuchart[4]
2. 88T-Tanner Thorson[1]
3. 15K-Creed Kemenah[9]
4. 16C-Skylar Gee[10]
5. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[2]
6. 9P-Daison Pursley[7]
7. 5-Brenham Crouch[12]
8. 74-Xavier Doney[3]
9. 55-Kerry Madsen[6]
10. 9R-Chase Randall[5]
11. 33W-Cap Henry[17]
12. 40-Clint Garner[11]
13. 26R-Levi Hillier[16]
14. 28M-Conner Morrell[15]
15. 4C-Cameron Martin[22]
16. 87X-Ashton Torgerson[14]
17. 6DC-Will Armitage[18]
18. 17A-Jack Anderson[13]
19. 45D-Derek Hagar[23]
20. 8-John Carney II[19]
21. 12X-Landon Crawley[21]
22. 31-Cale Thomas[8]
23. 2M-JJ Hickle[20]
24. 27B-Garrett Benson[24]
A-Main (25 Laps)
1. 57-Kyle Larson[8]
2. 23-Garet Williamson[1]
3. 19-Brent Marks[11]
4. 83-Michael Kofoid[4]
5. 88W-Austin McCarl[2]
6. 71-Parker Price Miller[5]
7. 41-Carson Macedo[15]
8. 87-Aaron Reutzel[13]
9. 1S-Logan Schuchart[21]
10. 17-Spencer Bayston[14]
11. 21-Brian Brown[6]
12. 69K-Daryn Pittman[7]
13. 44-Chris Martin[17]
14. 17B-Bill Balog[9]
15. 88T-Tanner Thorson[22]
16. 16C-Skylar Gee[24]
17. 49-Josh Schneiderman[18]
18. 1X-Scott Bogucki[12]
19. 15K-Creed Kemenah[23]
20. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[20]
21. 1TZ-Tasker Phillips[3]
22. 19HM-Kaleb Johnson[10]
23. 27-Carson McCarl[16]
24. 09-Matt Juhl[19]