It has been quite a couple of weeks for Kyle Larson. He won the Brickyard 400, one of NASCAR’s crown jewels, then last week he swept the weekend at the Ironman 55 in Missouri, Monday he won the Front Row Challenge in Oskaloosa, and Thursday night, he passed Rico Abreu with two laps to go in the feature race to win night two of the Nos Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals as heard live on KNIA. Larson started 6th and played the waiting game while Bill Balog was leading the first 11 laps. After Balog started to fade in the middle of the race, Abreu took over and led until Larson took command on 24th of the 25 lap race. Larson said in victory lane, both himself and Abreu knew the bottom was the way to go and it would take a slight bobble to make the move.
Larson: “It didn’t really know what to do at first, and it looked like if you hit the bottom and I think Rico also knew that was the way around and that lapper in front of me hit the birm and messed up Rico and gave me clean air, just the right place at the right time.”
Abreu settled for runner-up while Carson Macedo took 3rd place. After two nights of competition, the top 26 in points are now locked in to their starting positions in the A and B-Mains on Saturday and with his win Lyle Larson will be on the pole for the second straight year to start the 50 lap A-Main. Tonight is the Hard Knox Night where anyone ranked in points 27th and lower must come back to retry to get into Saturday’s field. The top four from the A-Main will automatically transfer into the back of Saturday’s feature. Live coverage is on KNIA with Live Track Side at 5:00 and Race Nights Live at 7:00.
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.