Livescore
KNOXVILLE — So far this week, no amount of traffic has been able to slow down Kyle Larson.
On Saturday, the only traffic in front of the reigning Knoxville Nationals champion will be the pace car.
Larson charged through the feature race on the second night of qualifying at the 63rd edition of the 410 Nationals, moving up from the third row to challenge for the lead as the last of the 25 laps in the A-Main wound down. Finally, with just under two laps left, Larson was able to get by good friend Rico Abreu before holding on to win the final race of the night ultimately clinching the pole position for Saturday’s 50-lap run to the one of sprint car racing’s crown jewel events after winning a tiebreaker with Daryn Pittman for the most points scored during the two qualifying nights.
“I really haven’t had much confidence leading into last week just because we haven’t been running up the level of our standards. It’s nice to get back to winning at a good rate. There’s no better time to hit that stride than the week that leads into the biggest night of the season,” Larson said. “.
“The job’s not done. I can’t afford to look to far ahead. You still have to go out there on Saturday and execute some good laps.”
Thursday’s A-Main marked the fourth straight sprint car feature win for Larson and five straight wins in total going back to the Brickyard 400 two weeks ago. On Monday, Larson charged up from 13th place at the start of the 30-lap feature in the Front Row Challenge to win for the fourth time in five starts at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa.
Larson didn’t have as far back to climb on Thursday after posting the third-fastest qualifying lap (15.954 seconds) before moving up from the fourth row to third place in the third of five heat races. Just clinching a spot in the A-Main by moving past three cars in the 10-lap heat took a lot of pressure off the reigning Knoxville champion.
“Qualifying is the most stressful at the time. That first lap is so critical in those heat races when you’ve got everyone so wound up,” Larson said. “That first corner is very important. I was had to start inside, but I was able to make a good move early and get into a transfer spot pretty early. You know if you get through that race, your night is set up pretty well.”
Abreu, meanwhile, found himself on the front row for Thursday’s A-Main after racing up to third in the second heat race. The winner of Sunday’s Capitani Classic went right to work moving to the front of the field taking the lead away from feature pole sitter Bill Balog while working through traffic midway through the 25-lap race.
“It was just a process of managing the lap traffic and looking ahead to where cars were running,” Abreu said. “There were some cars further back of the field that struggled to make those decisions. They would be running sloppy lines from the bottom all the way to the top. It can disrupt how we feel and pull our cars out of the back of the track. I was trying to be very aggressive with my break pedal when I caught up to cars.”
Larson, meanwhile, continued to charge on the cushion of the track moving into third place with 14 laps left before reeling in Carson Macedo for second place with eight laps remaining. Macedo went on to finish third to Larson, reaching the podium with the defending Knoxville champion for the second time this week after also finishing third to Larson’s winning effort at the Front Row Challenge.
“Hopefully, we’ve put ourselves in a better position to beat him (Larson) on Saturday night,” Macedo said. “Kyle’s going to be tough to beat from the front row, but I don’t think anyone is invincible. It’s nothing we can’t accomplish. We’re in the top four with Kyle, Daryn and Sunshine (Tyler Courtney). Those are four fast cars that can drive up to the front of the field.”
Abreu tried to hold off Larson to win Thursday night’s A-Main, continuing to weave around lap cars trying to put some extra distance between himself and his friend heading into the final laps. After making it into a gap of lapped cars, Larson finally made the winning move on Abreu going around the Capatani Classic champion heading around the second turn before completing the pass down the backstretch, taking the white flag in front before holding on for another thrilling win in a week filled with thrilling sprint car late-race drama leading into Saturday’s 50-lap championship run.
“It was difficult to get around Rico. It felt like we were getting close, but once I got past Carson he moved down to the inside of the track. I thought that might be it for having a chance to pass him,” Larson said. “I got one chance to get past him coming out of that turn. I kind of ran a sloppy line over the final race. It all just kind of worked out in the end.”
Pittman put himself in position to join Larson on the front row on Saturday, posting the fastest lap in qualifying crossing the finish line in 15.594 seconds before charging up from sixth to win the opening heat race. Hunter Schuerenberg, Tasker Phillips, Ayrton Gennetten and Macedo also won 10-laps heats. Sye Lynch claimed the C-Main while Dusty Zomer took the B-Main.
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