Kyle Larson has always wanted to win the Knoxville Nationals. It wasn't the same last year when he won "The One and Only" here in August, the qualifying system wasn't the same and the atmosphere at the Knoxville Raceway, or in the city of Knoxville, couldn't match the buzz that a sold out crowd brings. It wasn't allowed to. So on this Saturday night, as he stood in victory lane with an oversized wreath of flowers holding him place, you could hear the emotion in his voice as the driver who is now referred to as "The GOAT" by his peers thanked one and all who were in attendance for helping him achieve his dream of winning the Knoxville Nationals.
Even NASCAR, that in the past has bristled when Larson made it clear that Knoxville was bigger to him than Daytona, took pride in the accomplishment tweeting out its congratulations to the driver that leads the current Cup points standings and who will now race this afternoon on the road course in Indianapolis looking for his sixth win of the season. But this win was for the Sprint Car fans who have watched this young talent knowing that it would have come earlier if not for his move to Stock Cars in 2012. Yes, he had come close to winning the Nationals before while bouncing back and forth between Knoxville and his NASCAR duties, but in this the 60th running of the granddaddy of them all, Larson was focused, locked in and the odds on favorite from night one.
And he delivered.
 |
| 2021 Knoxville Nationals Champion Kyle Larson - Barry Johnson photo |
With track worked being done prior to the finale the fifty lap feature started out as a single file parade around a very quick bottom as pole-sitter Gio Scelzi set the pace and was already into traffic on lap six. Ten-time champion Donny Schatz had made the big move on the start coming from fifth to second and as Scelzi left the bottom in an effort to clear traffic, Schatz would drive under him exiting turn two to take the point on lap eleven. Larson would soon drop the nineteen-year-old Scelzi to third and this would now be a two car race heading to the scheduled mid-race pit stop.
Going to the cushion on lap twenty-five Larson would sail around Schatz to take the lead and after lap twenty-six was scored Schatz had a similar run off the top on Larson just before the caution waved so at "halftime" the running order would be Larson, Schatz, Scelzi, defending Nationals champion David Gravel and Brent Marks.
When the cars returned to the track for the restart though Marks, along with Brooke Tatnell were each penalized two positions for continuing to work on their cars after time had expired. One lap would be scored before Rico Abreu spun at the back of the field going down the front stretch and once back to green the top of the historic half-mile was now fast, but also treacherous in turn one and that became evident when both Brian Brown and Tyler Courtney took a tumble there on lap twenty-nine.
Two laps after the restart Gravel's race would go up in smoke while running third after fuel issues choked off his powerplant and when he drove to the infield the race would stay green. Larson was now leaving Schatz and the rest of the field in his wake as the lead grew to more than a straightaway, but as the lap counter dropped below ten Larson had settled in on the bottom and was now longer catching the final car on the lead lap Shane Stewart.
Leaving a nice gap between he and Stewart, Kyle would later confirm that he was watching the big video board to monitor his advantage over Schatz and with the track now taking rubber on the bottom he did not want to make any mistakes. Both Schatz and the 2018 champ Brad Sweet closed quickly on Larson and with three laps to go Schatz gave the middle of turns three and four a try only to lose some ground on the leader. Donny would again close in quickly and on the final lap with the capacity crowd coming to its feet Schatz would pull nearly even with Larson in turn four, but with the bite that he knew that he would have off the bottom, Kyle would pull him down the front straightaway to the checkers and the win of his dreams.
The reception for Schatz had a few more cheers than jeers as he was interviewed as the runner-up while Sweet had to battle back to third after getting a slow start from the outside of row one. The youngest driver to ever earn the pole at the Nationals, Scelzi finished fourth and will be a contender for years to come while Logan Schuchart completed the top five after starting eighth. Marks was solid all week taking the sixth spot, James McFadden moved from thirteenth to seventh while his car owner Kasey Kahne followed him in for eighth driving the Roth Motorsports car for the week. Carson Macedo who charged from seventeenth to eighth in the first half of the race dropped one spot to ninth and Sheldon Haudenschild who made the move of the night earlier just to qualify came from twentieth to tenth.
The finish of the B-Main was spectacular as the final four qualifiers for the Championship race were determined. Macedo had already taken the checkered flag well ahead of the next four drivers who were all charging to the checkered flag along with the lapped car of Josh Baughman. Kerry Madsen and Cory Eliason were wheel-to-wheel for second and after giving up the fourth spot to Sheldon Haudenschild in turns one and two of the final lap, Spencer Bayston had a run off the top of turn four and was now ahead of Sheldon midway down the front stretch. With those two drivers in a drag race to the finish line that is positioned near the end of the straightaway they were closing quick on Madsen, Eliason and Baughman who were likely easing up a bit as they saw the checkers.
To avoid hitting the back of Eliason, Haudenshild turned hard left aiming for the push off road inside of the berm in turn one and with that move he would nip Bayston by 0.008 seconds for the fourth and final transfer position. Talk about an appetizer!
The C-Main also had some last lap drama as Sawyer Phillips charged around the outside of Carson McCarl to steal fourth joining Hunter Schuerenberg, Rookie of the Nationals Ayrton Gennetten and Harli White in the transfer to the B-Main.
Jack Dover prevailed in a back and forth battle with Dustin Selvage to win the D-Main and Jason Sides was dominant in his E-Main victory.
After a year off I know that I sure appreciated being back for the Nationals even more than usual and you had the sense that everybody in attendance felt the same as it was a festive atmosphere all four nights. A big thank you to Kendra Jacobs and the entire staff at the Knoxville Raceway who work their tails off all throughout the year to make this event the greatest there is in Sprint Car racing and, as always I have to thank my Positively Racing colleague Barry Johnson, his wife Stephanie and daughter Aidan for the hospitality they have given to my son Morgan and I for nearly three decades now.
That year off also made us realize just how much of a "racing family" reunion this is and we have the best in the Nachbors; Keith, Jeff, Sean, Sam and Ethan. Thank you so much for the food, fun and friendship, we can't wait to do it all again in 2022!
Next up will be the rescheduled Hoker Trucking SLMR East Series race at the CJ Speedway on Thursday night followed by what we call the "Sprint Invader Nationals" weekend with Friday night action at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and Saturday night thunder at 34 Raceway west of Burlington.
Hope to see you there!
No comments:
Post a Comment