KNOXVILLE — Kyle Larson put on an almost unprecedented performance on Saturday at the Knoxville Raceway.
In fact, only one other driver prior to this weekend had pulled off what Larson did at the 62nd Knoxville Nationals. Donny Schatz went wire-to-wire in the 50-lap A-Main feature to win the race without ever relinquishing the lead.
"I can tell you right now this race from the pole," Schatz said. "Kyle was pretty exceptional. It was pretty cool to see."
Now, Schatz wants to see Larson do something even more exceptional.
"We expect him to go win the Indy 500 from the pole next year," Schatz said.
Larson was rarely challenged Saturday night racing to his second Knoxville Nationals title in three years, earning his 10th career win at the 'Sprint Car Capital of the World.' Just hours after taking the checkered flag in southern Iowa, Larson made his way to the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway finishing eighth on Sunday during NASCAR's Indianapolis Road Race.
Hours earlier, Larson waited for the cheers from the fans to die down inside the post-race press conference at the livestock pavilion on the Marion County Fairgrounds after Schatz laid down the challenge for next year's Indianapolis 500. Larson didn't confirm that he plans to run next May in the 'The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.'
Larson did, however, elude to the race being in his potential plans for 2024.
"I do get to compete in lot of big, massive events. The biggest in our country. Some of the biggest in the world," Larson said. "Knoxville is the event I look forward to the most. There might be one other event I look forward to a little bit more next year."
Larson closed out a long night of action at Knoxville as a series of scary crashes plagued the night. Cody Ihlen suffered a hard crash down the front stretch shortly after the green flag flew on the 10-lap E-Main as did Matt Covington on the final lap of the D-Main race with both drivers having the taken away from the track by ambulance for further medical examination. It was announced on social media that Covington cleared all scans and images for any internal injuries.
Ihlen and Covington were not the only cars to bring out red flags throughout the night. Frank Rodgers III had his car go up in flames coming out of turn four with four laps left in the E-Main, Christopher Thram lost a tire with 10 laps left in the C-Main and James McFadden went flipping through the first turn shortly after taking the lead in the B-Main with 12 laps remaining moments before Pleasantville native Tasker Phillips had a left rear tire go down causing another flip and another red flag to fly.
"This is the Knoxville Nationals," Schatz said. "You're not going to win it every time. That's why it's one of the toughest races to win each year."
Once the 50-lap A-Main finally got underway, Larson took off jumping ahead of Schatz and Rico Abreu building a lead that grew to 3.7 seconds over the first 10 laps. Abreu, who had made charges from the B-Main into the top five throughout the 'Sprintweeks,' got past Schatz and was cutting into Larson's lead with 36 laps left when Chase Randell lost a tire bringing out a caution flag that would have given Abreu another chance make a run on a restart at overtaking Larson.
Abreu, however, had to head to the back of the field after tire started to go down during the caution laps. Once again, Schatz moved back into second place.
"I just kept going as hard as I could," Schatz said. "We got decent run coming out of that restart. I thought maybe that would be the chance, but once Kyle got to the top, we just couldn't see him."
Larson would carry the lead into the mid-race stop with Carson Macedo, Logan Schuchart and Kerry Madsen moving into the top five. Schuchart would be the next driver to challenge Larson out of the restart, getting within 1.5 seconds of the lead before puff of smoke suddenly came out of the car with 10 laps left, bringing out the final caution and again moving Schatz up to second.
"I felt like I was in a cage match with myself to get it to go," Schatz said. "We were pretty fortunate to run where we were. We had to fight with some pretty good cars and get some luck to stay in position for the podium."
Throughout the 50-lap feature, David Gravel was making his way through the field after qualifying 22nd for A-Main after finishing second to Aaron Reutzel on 'Hard Knox' Friday. Gravel, who was passed late by Schatz in last year's Knoxville Nationals' A-Main, fought his way into the top five heading into the final 10 laps before overtaking Schatz for second with eight laps left.
"We had a fast car all week long. We've had a fast car all year," Gravel said. "We just had an unfortunate prelim night (on Thursday), but we got into the show. If you're in the show, you've got a chance. I had a good start, got up a couple rows, then found the top and zinged past a couple guys. Before I knew it, I was in the top 10."
Gravel's fast car and hard charge, however, could not catch Larson before the checkered flag waved. Even with lap traffic ahead and Gravel pulling within a second, Larson came across the finish line on the 50th lap bringing the 62nd Knoxville Nationals to a close minutes after midnight.
"I saw them doing track grip up top during driver introductions. That helped me make a decision to cruise the bottom for a little while," Larson said. "I just tried to stay calm and hit my marks. I felt like, if I could run clean laps, I could get a decent gap. I tried to lap some cars before the halfway break hoping we'd have less cars to deal with in the second half.
"It was tricky. The bottom was fast for awhile, then I caught traffic really quickly. The middle didn't have great grip and I was afraid to go to the top too quickly. Thankfully, I never saw anybody. The cautions kind of played out at the right times to help me. I was able to get some clean laps and was able to tick some laps off. There were times I got caught up in traffic and I wasn't sure how close the guys behind me were. I felt like I made all the right decisions and ran a pretty good race. It's pretty cool to add my name to the list of guys that have won this race multiple times."
AUTO RACING
62nd NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals Presented by Casey’s Results
E main (started), 10 Laps, NT: 1. 16, Brooke Tatnell, Sans Souci, NSW, Aust. (1); 2. 44P, Skylar Prochaska, Lakefield, MN (3); 3. 4J, Kevin Thomas Jr., Cullman, AL (8); 4. Austin Bishop, Elverson, PA (2); 5. 45, Rusty Hickman, Bendigo, VIC, Aust. (9); 6. 20, AJ Moeller, Rockwell City, IA (6); 7. 1a, Chase Dietz, York, PA (5); 8. 2KK, Kevin Ingle, Huron, SD (7); 9. 65, Jordan Goldesberry, Springfield, IL (15) / 10. 15JR, Cole Mincer, Burlington, IA (12); 11. 121, RJ Johnson, Tampa, FL (10); 12. 9H, Landon Hansen, Newton, IA (11); 13. 4K2W, Matt Wasmund, Jackson, MN (14); 14. 6, Bill Rose, Plainfield, IN (16); 15. 78, Bill Wagner, Reeder, ND (18); 16. 6x, Frank Rodgers III, Lucas, IA (13); 17. G5, Gage Pulkrabek, East Grand Forks, MN (17); 18. 105, Cody Ihlen, Pipestone, MN (4) DNS – w19, Trent Pigdon, Cardup, WA, Aust.; 27, Carson McCarl, Altoona, IA; 17AU, Jamie Veal, Warrnambool, VIC, Aust.; 37, Ayden Gatewood, Caruthersville, MO; 56, Joe Simbro, Pleasantville, IA; 15H, Sam Hafertepe Jr., Sunnyvale, TX; 5x, Daryn Pittman, Owasso, OK; 18R, Ryan Roberts, Aurora, NE.
D main (started), 13 Laps, NT: 1. 25, Lachlan McHugh, Gold Coast, QLD, Aust. (2); 2. 35, Zach Hampton, Plainfield, IN (7); 3. 24H, Kade Higday, Pleasant Hill, IA (4); 4. 13JT, Mark Dobmeier, Grand Forks, ND (6); 5. 70, Kraig Kinser, Bloomington, IN (9) / 6. 10V, Cap Henry, Bellevue, OH (8); 7. 21T, Cole Macedo, Lemoore, CA (11); 8. 101, Kalib Henry, Sacramento, CA (10); 9. Brooke Tatnell (16); 10. 1m, Don Droud Jr., Lincoln, NE (12); 11. Rusty Hickman (20); 12. 17x, Terry McCarl, Altoona, IA (15); 13. Kevin Thomas Jr. (18); 14. Skylar Prochaska (17); 15. 55T, McKenna Haase, Des Moines, IA (13); 16. Kevin Ingle (23); 17. Chase Dietz (22); 18. 17N, Harli White, Lindsay, OK (1); 19. Austin Bishop (19); 20. 95, Matt Covington, Glenpool, OK (14); 21. AJ Moeller (21); 22. 50YR, JJ Hickle, Quilcene, WA (5); 23. Jordan Goldesberry (24); DQ (Muffler) - 20G, Noah Gass, Mounds, OK (3) DNS – 22, Riley Goodno, Knoxville, IA; 91, Kyle Reinhardt, Neptune City, NJ; 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA; 83T, Tanner Carrick, Lincoln, CA; 16A, Colby Copeland, Roseville, CA
C main (started), 15 Laps, NT: 1. 2K, Lynton Jeffrey, Sydney, NSW, Aust. (3); 2. 39M, Justin Sanders, Aromas, CA (2); 3. 3, Tim Kaeding, San Jose, CA (1); 4. 17B, Bill Balog, Hartland, WI (8) / 5. 17w, Shane Golobic, Fremont, CA (7); 6. 7s, Robbie Price, Cobble Hill, BC, Can. (6); 7. 18T, Tanner Holmes, Jacksonville, OR (11); 8. 4CW, Chris Windom, Canton, IL (4); 9. 1K, Kelby Watt, Adel, IA (15); 10. 52, Blake Hahn, Sapulpa, OK (12); 11. 1x, Jake Bubak, Arvada, CO (17); 12. 12x, Ayrton Gennetten, Gravois Mills, MO (10); 13. 5C, Dylan Cisney, Port Royal, PA (5); 14. 3z, Brock Zearfoss, Jonestown, PA (19); 15. Lachlan McHugh (20); 16. 6B, Clint Garner, Sioux Falls, SD (13); 17. 3P, Sawyer Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (18) 18. Zach Hampton (21); 19. Kade Higday (22); 20. Kraig Kinser (24); 21. 1C, Brenham Crouch, Lubbock, TX (16); 22. 42, Sye Lynch, Apollo, PA (9); 23. 24T, Christopher Thram, Sanborn, MN (14); 24. Mark Dobmeier (23) DNS – 49x, Tim Shaffer, Aliquippa, PA
B main, 22 Laps, NT: 1. 13, Justin Peck, Monrovia, IN (1); 2. 9P, Parker Price-Miller, Kokomo, IN (11); 3. 21, Brian Brown, Grain Valley, MO (5); 4. 17, Sheldon Haudenschild, Wooster, OH (10) / 5. 19, Brent Marks, Myerstown, PA (12); 6. 6G, Garet Williamson, Columbia, MO (7); 7. 9, Kasey Kahne, Enumclaw, WA (3); 8. 71, Shane Stewart, Bixby, OK (6); 9. 26, Zeb Wise, Angola, IN (17); 10. 7w, Dustin Selvage, Indianola, IA (9); 11. 5T, Ryan Timms, Oklahoma City, OK (14); 12. 11, Cory Eliason, Visalia, CA (16); 13. Tim Kaeding (23); 14. Bill Balog (24); 15. 21H, Brady Bacon, Broken Arrow, OK (19); 16. 88, Austin McCarl, Altoona, IA (4); 17. Justin Sanders (22); 18. Lynton Jeffrey (21); 19. 22K, Kaleb Johnson, Sioux Falls, SD (18); 20. 4w, Jamie Ball, Knoxville, IA (20); 21. 7TW, Brandon Wimmer, Fairmount, IN (13); 22. 7TAZ, Tasker Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (8); 23. 83, James McFadden, Alice Springs, NT, Aust. (2); 24. 1, Justin Henderson, Tea, SD (15)
A main (started), 50 Laps, NT: 1. 57, Kyle Larson, Elk Grove, CA (1); 2. 2, David Gravel, Watertown, CT (22); 3. 15, Donny Schatz, Fargo, ND (3); 4. 18, Gio Scelzi, Fresno, CA (9); 5. 41, Carson Macedo, Lemoore, CA (5); 6. 49, Brad Sweet, Grass Valley, CA (16); 7. 24, Rico Abreu, St. Helena, CA (2); 8. 83JR, Buddy Kofoid, Penngrove, CA (8); 9. 55, Kerry Madsen, St. Mary’s, NSW, Aust. (7); 10. Sheldon Haudenschild (20); 11. 5, Spencer Bayston, Lebanon, IN (13); 12. 14, Corey Day, Clovis, CA (10); 13. 2KS, Chase Randall, Waco, TX (14); 14. Brian Brown (19); 15. 4, Ian Madsen, St. Mary’s, NSW, Aust. (11); 16. 8, Aaron Reutzel, Clute, TX (21); 17. 3J, Dusty Zomer, Sioux Falls, SD (12); 18. Parker Price-Miller (18); 19. Justin Peck (17); 20. 7BC, Anthony Macri, Dillsburg, PA (15); 21. 2m, Davey Heskin, St. Michael, MN (24); 22. 10, Scott Bogucki, McLaren Vale, SA, Aust. (23); 23. 1s, Logan Schuchart, Hanover, PA (4); 24. 39, Hunter Schuerenberg, Sikeston, MO (6).
Lap Leader: Larson 1-50.
Hard-charger: Gravel.
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