Kyle Larson celebrates after winning Saturday’s night’s WoO Sprint Car Series Knoxville Nationals. Photo: WoO Media
Kyle Larson first attended the Knoxville Nationals at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway in 2005 when he was 13-years-old. He instantly fell in love with the aura of the place.
For 16 years since, the Elk Grove, California racer has dreamed of standing on the stage at Knoxville. On Saturday night, that childhood dream became a reality, as Larson beat Donny Schatz for the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series win at the half-mile dirt raceway.
A near last-lap, last-corner pass resulted in a margin of victory of 0.478-seconds, which ultimately netted Larson a cool $176,000, the highest-payday in series history
His breakthrough makes him the 27th different champion in 60 runnings of the Knoxville Nationals.
“I’ve always dreamed of winning this race,” Larson said. “The atmosphere this week was unbelievable. I felt the energy all week long from you fans. It kept me excited and pumped up. I hadn’t been this nervous leading up to a race in a couple of years. I had butterflies all day and during (NASCAR) Cup practice all I could think about is what I needed to do here at the Knoxville Nationals.”
Larson started the race from third while 19-year-old Giovanni Scelzi and Brad Sweet occupied the front row.
From the jump, Scelzi took the lead and paced the opening 10 laps, which was worth an extra $10,000 thanks to Knoxville’s lucrative lap bonus money.
On lap 11, fifth-starter Donny Schatz roared to life and rocketed from third-to-first in almost one full swing. He stormed by Larson and promplty passed Scelzi down the backstretch to lead lap 11. Schatz controlled the next 14 laps until Larson went by on the 25th lap.
Larson ran the second half of the the race unchallenged, until the five-to-go signal was given and Schatz mounted a charge. The 10-time Knoxville Nationals champion erased a closed quickly, cutting Larson’s advantage down to a single-car length as the white flag waved on lap 49.
Schatz gave it his all and pulled alongside Larson out of turn four, but fell short by a mere 0.478-seconds.
“I was thinking about how to beat Donny all day,” Larson said. “We’re just a little California team. Paul Silva is the best there is. I’m so fortunate to be with him.”
Schatz settled for a second place result, with Sweet in third, Scelzi in fourth and Logan Schuchart in fifth.
The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series will run three races through the Dakota’s next weekend. For more information, visit WorldofOutlaws.com.
World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series
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Knoxville Nationals – August 14, 2021
1. 57-Kyle Larson
2. 15-Donny Schatz
3. 49-Brad Sweet
4. 18-Gio Scelzi
5. 1S-Logan Schuchart
6. 19-Brent Marks
7. 9-James McFadden
8. 83-Kasey Kahne
9. 41-Carson Macedo
10. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild
11. 14-Kerry Madsen
12. O-Brooke Tatnell
13. 73-Justin Peck
14. 71-Shane Stewart
15. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss
16. 49X-Ian Madsen
17. 39M-Anthony Macri
18. 2-David Gravel
19. 7-Justin Henderson
20. 21-Brian Brown
21. 7BC-Tyler Courtney
22. 26-Cory Eliason
23. 24R-Rico Abreu
24. 48-Danny Dietrich
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