From his Sprint Car standpoint, 2024 had been a bit of an off year for Kyle Larson and car owner Paul Silva, but the dynamic duo captured lightning in a bottle when Larson went from twenty-first to first at the Ironman 55 opener at Pevely last Friday. It continued with the sweep of I-55 on Saturday and then a thrilling victory on Monday over young Corey Day at Terry McCarl's Front Row Challenge in Oskaloosa. On Thursday Larson again pulled off some late race heroics to get by long-time friend Rico Abreu to make it four in a row on Toyota Qualifying night at the 63rd NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's.
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| Four big wins in a row now for Kyle Larson, will he make it five on Saturday? - Barry Johnson photo |
Abreu had some momentum of his own going into the night after running away with Sunday's Capitani Classic here at Knoxville, but it would be his fellow front row starter Bill Balog that would race out to the early lead in the twenty-five lap headliner and he would even stretch it out a bit before Rico reeled him back in to take the lead at the mid-race point. Carson Macedo and then Kyle Larson would soon drop Balog to fourth and with lapped traffic now in play the large Thursday night crowd would be treated to a great three car battle for the lead.
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| Rico Abreu - Barry Johnson photo |
Macedo looked to have a run at the leader with nine laps remaining, but when Rico expertly split a pair of lappers he would escape as Macedo now came under fire from Larson. The current NASCAR Cup points leader would then take the runner-up spot and with his sights now set on the leader he would quickly close the gap. Abreu was strong though and maintained the advantage until he raced into turn two on lap twenty-four.
The slower car of Danny Sams III appeared to hop the berm and then drift to the top of turn two, right into the path of the leader who was sailing around the cushion and when Rico had to check up for a split second, that was all that Larson needed to get a run on him down the back stretch and to take the lead in turns three and four coming to the white flag. Abreu would try to mount a comeback on the final lap, but to no avail as Larson took the victory with Macedo close behind in third. Tyler Courtney slipped past Balog late to finish fourth, Daryn Pittman was sixth, Brad Sweet was seventh, Brady Bacon finished eighth while Zeb Wise and Brian Brown closed out the top ten.
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| Barry Johnson photo |
Pittman, the former World of Outlaws champion who recently came out of retirement to drive the Kreitz Racing #69K was the quick qualifier of the night coming out eighth in the qualifying order and he then put on one of the most dominant performances that we have seen in sometime here during his heat race. Starting eighth, Pittman was able to stick the bottom and drove past hot shoes like James McFadden and Brad Sweet like they were standing still to get into the top four. Then, after a late race caution, he was able to get by Landon Crawley to take the win. A feature race victory would have given Daryn a perfect score of 500, something that only one driver has been able to accomplish in this century and that was David Gravel in 2017.
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| Barry Johnson photo |
In the second heat the crowd had two tight races to follow in the final laps as Hunter Scheurenberg slipped by Ryan Timms to take the win and eighth starting Tyler Courtney dropped Spencer Bayston out of the final transfer spot.
Kyle Larson was the first car out to qualify and posted the third quick time which would have lined him up eighth in heat race number three. However, when Ryan Giles scratched, Larson would go to the inside of row four for the start and he would get up to fourth on the opening lap before finishing third behind Tasker Phillips and Zeb Wise.
A late caution in the fourth heat would allow Carson Macedo to take the win over Daison Pursley, but all eyes were on the three car battle for the final transfer where Brian Brown passed Chris Windom late and then held off Logan Schuchart to make the A-Main. The night would not get any better for Schuchart as he would later finish eighth in the B-Main leaving him in infield for the finale.
While once again stacked with talent, Thursday's B-Main did not develop the excitement as the event did the night before as Dusty Zomer, Cap Henry, James McFadden and Cory Eliason earned the final four starting spots in the main event.
Larson's victory and Pittman's solid showing both earned them 490 points, but it will be Larson that will start from the pole position for Saturday's National Championship event as he looks for his second straight and third overall title. The remainder of the drivers who have locked in for Saturday's show, courtesy of KnoxvilleRaceway.com, is below while the remaining entries can come back tonight for an opportunity to make Saturday's finale by finishing in the top four of Friday night's A-Main.
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| Jeff Broeg photo |
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
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