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Kyle Larson Wins with Late Magic on Night #2 of the Knoxville Nationals!

Kyle Larson Wins with Late Magic on Night #2 of the Knoxville Nationals!
by Bill Wright

KNOXVILLE, Iowa (August 8, 2024) – Kyle Larson passed Rico Abreu with two laps to go to capture Toyota Qualifying Night #2 of the 63rd NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals Presented by Casey’s. The Elk Grove, California driver earned $12,000 for his eleventh win at Knoxville Raceway, and put himself on the pole of Saturday’s championship event paying $190,000 to win. Daryn Pittman will join him on the front row, as they led the top sixteen drivers in points locking themselves into the finale.

Bill Balog led at the outset of the 25-lap main event, followed by Abreu, Carson Macedo, Brady Bacon and Larson. On lap four, Larson gained fourth from Bacon. Up front, Balog was hitting traffic by lap seven.

Abreu reeled in Balog in traffic and slid in front of him in turn four to take the point on lap 12. A lap later, Macedo followed him into second. With ten to go, Larson gained third from Balog, while Tyler Courtney moved into the top five.

Larson continued his charge on the cushion and got around Macedo for second with seven laps to go. He slowly reeled in Abreu. On lap 24, Abreu stumbled a bit in turn two behind a lapper, and Larson used the low side to take the lead for good.

Larson’s win aboard Paul Silva’s #57 came ahead of Abreu, Macedo, Courtney and Balog. Pittman, Brad Sweet, Bacon, Zeb Wise and Brian Brown rounded out the top ten. Pittman set quick time over the 54-car field and won his heat. Hunter Schuerenberg, Tasker Phillips, Macedo and Ayrton Gennetten also won heats. Sye Lynch won the C main and Dusty Zomer claimed the B.

“Rico was doing a good job as the leader,” said Larson in Victory Lane. “Carson got rolling there for a minute, and I didn’t think I was going to get by him. I didn’t really know exactly what to do. Rico got to a lapper. He couldn’t follow him and had to go top or middle. That car hit the berm in front of me. That gave me a bunch of clean air and probably messed him up. We were in the right place at the right time, but you always have to execute every lap. The car felt great during the feature. The car felt better and better as that slime got thrown off the bottom.”

“Got to do a little better job managing traffic,” said Abreu. “I felt like I left the bottom open there. The top was just really far around. My right front would get up a little bit where I had to give some up in the center. The team did an awesome job. To finish on the podium with these guys is a good effort for my team.”

“The race was in stages for me,” said Macedo. “I felt like early, I got a back a little too far. I started catching them again when I got to traffic. I felt like I could maneuver well in traffic. I got to Rico, and he kind of got messed up. I thought I could squeeze by him, and paced myself behind him waiting for an opportunity. I saw the 57 beside me and went down in three and missed it. I knew I was in trouble. All in all, hat’s off to my team.”

Join us Friday, August 9, for the FVP “Hard Knox Night” at the 63rd NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals Presented by Casey’s. For tickets and more information on the Knoxville Raceway, visit us online at www.KnoxvilleRaceway.com or on Facebook.

63rd NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals Presented by Casey’s Toyota Qualifying Night #2 Results

Time Trials (Qualifying Order), 2 laps: 1. 69K, Daryn Pittman, Owasso, OK (8), 15.594; 2. 7BC, Tyler Courtney, Indianapolis, IN (14), 15.926; 3. 57, Kyle Larson, Elk Grove, CA (1), 15.954; 4. 21, Brian Brown, Grain Valley, MO (39), 15.966; 5. 33W, Cap Henry, Bellevue, OH (5), 15.996; 6. 3J, Dusty Zomer, Sioux Falls, SD (4), 16.017; 7. 8, Cory Eliason, Visalia, CA (3), 16.024; 8. 21H, Brady Bacon, Broken Arrow, OK (6), 16.067; 9. 41, Carson Macedo, Lemoore, CA (30), 16.072; 10. 1K, Kelby Watt, Adel, IA (2), 16.085; 11. 83SR, James McFadden, Alice Springs, NT, A (10), 16.092; 12. 24R, Rico Abreu, St. Helena, CA (28), 16.098; 13. 35, Zach Hampton, Plainfield, IN (11), 16.103; 14. 42, Sye Lynch, Apollo, PA (16), 16.108; 15. 17B, Bill Balog, Hartland, WI (35), 16.114; 16. 49, Brad Sweet, Grass Valley, CA (22), 16.145; 17. 88, Austin McCarl, Altoona, IA (23), 16.150; 18. 1C, Brenham Crouch, Lubbock, TX (12), 16.167; 19. 1S, Logan Schuchart, Hanover, PA (50), 16.221; 20. 74, Xavier Doney, Odessa, MO (7), 16.223; 21. 5X, Justin Henderson, Tea, SD (34), 16.228; 22. 5, Spencer Bayston, Lebanon, IN (29), 16.254; 23. 40, Clint Garner, Sioux Falls, SD (15), 16.264; 24. 49J, Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (9), 16.270; 25. 27A, Emerson Axsom, Franklin, IN (47), 16.273; 26. 24D, Danny Sams III, North Port, FL (17), 16.298; 27. 88T, Tanner Thorson, Minden, NV (21), 16.354; 28. 26, Zeb Wise, Angola, IN (46), 16.384; 29. 55C, Chris Windom, Canton, IL (25), 16.386; 30. 36, Jason Martin, Liberal`, KS (13), 16.407; 31. 6, Robbie Price, Cobble Hill, BC, Can (20), 16.419; 32. 19S, Hunter Schuerenberg, Sikeston, MO (54), 16.448; 33. 2M, Ryan Giles, Grimes, IA (18), 16.450; 34. 58, Kaleb Johnson, Sioux Falls, SD (44), 16.489; 35. 13JT, Mark Dobmeier, Grand Forks, ND (49), 16.492; 36. 7S, Landon Crawley, Benton, AR (38), 16.498; 37. 5T, Ryan Timms, Oklahoma City, OK (37), 16.499; 38. 1D, Tasker Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (31), 16.530; 39. 25, Daison Pursley, Locust Grove, OK (27), 16.574; 40. 3G, Ayrton Gennetten, Gravois Mills, MO (33), 16.601; 41. 22X, JJ Hickle, Quilcene, WA (43), 16.617; 42. 24, Terry McCarl, Altoona, IA (24), 16.639; 43. 27B, Jake Bubak, Arvada, CO (51), 16.642; 44. 3, Tim Kaeding, San Jose, CA (42), 16.665; 45. 91, Kyle Reinhardt, Neptune City, NJ (41), 16.716; 46. 18R, Ryan Roberts, Aurora, NE (36), 16.799; 47. 3N, Jake Neuman, New Berlin, IL (32), 16.802; 48. 65, Jordan Goldesberry, Springfield, IL (53), 16.819; 49. 27W, Weston Olson, Warren, MN (26), 16.951; 50. 53, Jessie Attard, Landilo, NSW, Aust. (48), 16.992 / 51. 95, Tyler Drueke, Eagle, NE (19), 16.998; 52. 14T, Brooke Tatnell, Sans Souci, NSW, Aust. (52), 17.035; 53. 28, Joe Perry, Billings, MT (40), 18.757; 54. 9H, Landon Hansen, Newton, IA (45), NT.

Heat one (started), 10 Laps, 2:52.5: 1. Daryn Pittman (8); 2. Landon Crawley (1); 3. Brad Sweet (5); 4. Danny Sams III (3) / 5. James McFadden (6); 6. Justin Henderson (4); 7. Dusty Zomer (7); 8. JJ Hickle (9) / 9. Robbie Price (2); 10. Ryan Roberts (10)

Heat two (started), 10 Laps, NT: 1. Hunter Schuerenberg (2); 2. Ryan Timms (1); 3. Rico Abreu (6); 4. Tyler Courtney (8) / 5. Spencer Bayston (4); 6. Tanner Thorson (3); 7. Cory Eliason (7); 8. Austin McCarl (5) / 9. Jake Neuman (10); 10. Terry McCarl (9);

Heat three (started), 10 Laps, NT: 1. Tasker Phillips (1); 2. Zeb Wise (2); 3. Kyle Larson (7); 4. Brady Bacon (6) / 5. Brenham Crouch (4); 6. Jake Bubak (8); 7. Zach Hampton (5); 8. Jordan Goldesberry (9) / 9. Clint Garner (3) DNS - 10. Ryan Giles

Heat four (started), 10 Laps, NT: 1. Carson Macedo (6); 2. Daison Pursley (1); 3. Kaleb Johnson (2); 4. Brian Brown (7) / 5. Logan Schuchart (5); 6. Chris Windom (3); 7. Josh Schneiderman (4); 8. Weston Olson (9) / 9. Tim Kaeding (8) DNS - 10. Sye Lynch

Heat five (started), 10 Laps, 2:53.8: 1. Ayrton Gennetten (1); 2. Mark Dobmeier (2); 3. Bill Balog (6); 4. Jason Martin (3) / 5. Emerson Axsom (4); 6. Cap Henry (8); 7. Kelby Watt (7); 8. Xavier Doney (5) / 9. Jessie Attard (10); 10. Kyle Reinhardt (9);

C main (started), 10 Laps, 2:55.9: 1. Sye Lynch (1); 2. Clint Garner (2); 3. Robbie Price (3); 4. Tim Kaeding (5) / 5. Terry McCarl (4); 6. Brooke Tatnell (10); 7. Tyler Drueke (9); 8. Jessie Attard (8); 9. Jake Neuman (7); 10. Joe Perry (11); 11. Kyle Reinhardt (6) DNS - 12. Ryan Giles 13. Ryan Roberts 14. Landon Hansen

B main (started), 12 Laps, 3:31.0: 1. Dusty Zomer (2); 2. Cap Henry (1); 3. James McFadden (5); 4. Cory Eliason (3) / 5. Zach Hampton (6); 6. Spencer Bayston (12); 7. Austin McCarl (7); 8. Logan Schuchart (9); 9. Kelby Watt (4); 10. Justin Henderson (11); 11. Chris Windom (16); 12. Emerson Axsom (14); 13. Brenham Crouch (8); 14. Jake Bubak (18); 15. Tanner Thorson (15); 16. Tim Kaeding (24); 17. Josh Schneiderman (13); 18. Xavier Doney (10); 19. JJ Hickle (17); 20. Sye Lynch (21); 21. Robbie Price (23); 22. Clint Garner (22); 23. Weston Olson (20); 24. Jordan Goldesberry (19)

A main, 25 Laps, 7:28.3: 1. Kyle Larson (6); 2. Rico Abreu (2); 3. Carson Macedo (3); 4. Tyler Courtney (7); 5. Bill Balog (1); 6. Daryn Pittman (8); 7. Brad Sweet (9); 8. Brady Bacon (4); 9. Zeb Wise (11); 10. Brian Brown (5); 11. Kaleb Johnson (14); 12. Hunter Schuerenberg (13); 13. James McFadden (23); 14. Cory Eliason (24); 15. Ryan Timms (17); 16. Tasker Phillips (18); 17. Danny Sams III (10); 18. Jason Martin (12); 19. Dusty Zomer (21); 20. Landon Crawley (16); 21. Ayrton Gennetten (20); 22. Mark Dobmeier (15); 23. Cap Henry (22); 24. Daison Pursley (19). Lap Leaders: Balog 1-11, Abreu 12-23, Larson 24-25. Hard-charger: McFadden.

A main qualifiers
1 57 Kyle Larson 490
2 69K Daryn Pittman 490
3 7BC Tyler Courtney 483
4 41 Carson Macedo 480
5 18 Giovanni Scelzi 471
6 24R Rico Abreu 470
7 21 Brian Brown 467
8 39M Anthony Macri 465
9 21H Brady Bacon 463
10 10 Scott Bogucki 460
11 14 Corey Day 459
12 19 Brent Marks 458
13 17B Bill Balog 458
14 17 Sheldon Haudenschild 457
15 2KS Chase Randall 456
16 1A Jacob Allen 453

B main qualifiers
17 49 Brad Sweet 452
18 13 Justin Peck 450
19 83SR James McFadden 444
20 8 Cory Eliason 444
21 09 Matt Juhl 444
22 2 David Gravel 443
23 23 Garet Williamson 443
24 3J Dusty Zomer 436
25 3Z Brock Zearfoss 435
26 33W Cap Henry 433

FRIDAY HARD KNOX Drivers
27 87 Aaron Reutzel 430
28 26 Zeb Wise 427
29 9 Kasey Kahne 424
30 55 Kerry Madsen 424
31 18T Tanner Holmes 418
32 27 Carson McCarl 417
33 19S Hunter Schuerenberg 416
34 9P Parker Price Miller 413
35 24D Danny Sams III 409
36 58 Kaleb Johnson 408
37 48 Danny Dietrich 407
38 14J Jack Dover 401
39 35 Zach Hampton 400
40 83JR Michael Kofoid 400
41 36 Jason Martin 399
42 15H Sam Hafertepe Jr 398
43 1K Kelby Watt 398
44 5T Ryan Timms 397
45 22 Riley Goodno 397
46 1D Tasker Phillips 396
47 15 Donny Schatz 392
48 52 Blake Hahn 390
49 7S Landon Crawley 389
50 4W Jamie Ball 388
51 1S Logan Schuchart 388
52 13JT Mark Dobmeier 387
53 5 Spencer Bayston 386
54 2X Lynton Jeffrey 385
55 88 Austin McCarl 385
56 6B Brandon Wimmer 383
57 3G Ayrton Gennetten 382
58 3P Sawyer Phillips 382
59 1C Brenham Crouch 380
60 J2 John Carney II 377
61 5X Justin Henderson 377
62 1M Don Droud Jr 376
63 21T Cole Macedo 376
64 25 Daison Pursley 375
65 27A Emerson Axsom 368
66 55C Chris Windom 359
67 42 Sye Lynch 359
68 24T Christopher Thram 358
69 74 Xavier Doney 357
70 88T Tanner Thorson 355
71 49J Josh Schneiderman 354
72 49X Tim Shaffer 346
73 23L Jimmy Light 344
74 55T McKenna Haase 343
75 40 Clint Garner 340
76 70 Kraig Kinser 337
77 101 Kalib Henry 332
78 6 Robbie Price 326
79 27B Jake Bubak 325
80 45X Jace Park 313
81 22X J.J. Hickle 313
Fr 44 Chris Martin 310
83 3 Tim Kaeding 310
84 6W Dustin Selvage 307
85 99 Skylar Gee 301
86 17GP Cale Thomas 297
87 19H Joel Myers 290
88 65 Jordan Goldesberry 289
89 27W Weston Olson 289
90 2M Ryan Giles 287
91 24 Terry McCarl 283
92 15JR Cole Mincer 278
93 23M Lance Moss 275
94 10V Brian Paulus 268
95 3N Jake Neuman 267
96 G5 Gage Pulkrabek 265
97 91 Kyle Reinhardt 264
98 53 Jessie Attard 259
99 18R Ryan Roberts 255
100 11N Kasey Jedrzejek 238
101 95 Tyler Drueke 236
102 2K Kevin Ingle 235
103 14T Brooke Tatnell 229
104 1 Sammy Swindell 229
105 28 Joe Perry 222
106 9H Landon Hansen 209

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