Win puts Californian into $50-lap, $150,000-to-win main event; Tatnell captures Speed Sport News World Challenge
KNOXVILLE, Iowa - Aug. 9, 2013 - Kyle Larson powered to victory on Friday's final qualifying night for the 53rd FVP Knoxville Nationals and in the process earned a spot in Saturday's $150,000-to-win, 50-lap main event at Knoxville Raceway.
Larson, who started his day in a NASCAR Nationwide Car at Watkins Glen International in New York, finished it off by standing atop the podium in victory lane at Knoxville Raceway after he charged past Chad Kemenah on the second lap and drove away, holding off Cap Henry and Kemenah on a late restart to win a Knoxville Nationals preliminary feature for the second consecutive year.
With 26 cars already locked into Saturday's sprint car spectacular - 16 in the A-main and 10 in the Last Chance Showdown - Larson's victory moves him into the 17th starting position for Saturday's 50-lap A-main. Henry, Kemenah and fourth-place finishing Jac Haudenschild also earned positions in Saturday's A-main while the rest of Friday night's competitors will be lined up by order of finish after the 10 cars locked into the Last Chance Showdown.
Larson struggled on his original qualifying night and was outside the locked in top 26 in event points, forcing him to race on Friday night. Larson made the most of a late draw and while much of his competition late in the session were struggling to crack the top 20, Larson posted a 15.901-second lap to qualify fourth.
In his heat race he picked up a pair of spots to finish second and earn a coveted transfer spot to Friday night's feature race.
The feature event opened with a multi-car wreck taking out several competitors towards the rear of the field. A jumbled restart saw Larson struggle but a caution quickly waved again and on the ensuing restart he lunged forward picking up a couple of positions and running tight on Kemenah's tail. Kemenah worked the bottom while Larson worked the top and just one lap later, Kemenah couldn't keep the pace and Larson grabbed the lead.
Larson held the lead for the rest of the event as he worked the top of the track while Henry, Kemenah and Haudenschild jockeyed for position. A caution with 8 laps to go tightened the field, but also gave Larson the clean air he needed to roll away to victory.
"I struggled in lapped traffic," said Larson, of Elk Grove, Calif. "I was really good in clean air, but once I got the car into dirty air, it was pretty tight. Thankfully, that yellow came out because I didn't think I was ever going to get by that lapped car. From there I had clean air, and that was the key to winning."
Kemenah was excited to finish in the top four and earn a position in Saturday's A-main.
"Anything from first to fourth for us is like a feature win to get us into the Knoxville Nationals, now we've got 50 laps to try to go forward. Kyle was so fast in clean air that it didn't matter, he was just really good. I just wanted to make sure that I didn't miss the bottom and seal the tires up. If you seal the tires up here you can go from a hero to a zero in one lap."
Speed Sport News World Challenge
Also earning a starting position in Saturday night's feature by winning the Speed Sport News Knoxville World Challenge was Brooke Tatnell, a native of San Souci, New South Wales, Australia. Tatnell stole the lead from Jason Johnson, who led the first 15 laps before Tatnell took charge. The victory gave Tatnell the option to start 25th on Saturday night's A-main.
"We've been struggling a bit all year and it was just about keeping my composure," said Tatnell, who is still recovering from a non-racing-related foot injury. "When you've had such a bad year you overdrive it and tonight it was just take deep breaths and stay calm. Our car was better in dirty air, but his car was better in clean air. ... There is nothing better than racing against the Outlaws, when you race the best it's the only way you improve yourself. I don't mind getting my butt handed to me, but I don't mind giving them a butt kicking either."
Tim Kaeding charged through the World Challenge field attempting to secure that final spot in the A-main on Saturday night but came up one spot short. He already was locked into Saturday's Last Chance Showdown and will start Saturday fifth in the Last Chance Showdown.
KNOXVILLE RACEWAY NOTEBOOK
NOTES: Chad Kemenah was the fastest qualifier around the half-mile semi-banked oval with a time of 15.762 seconds ... James McFadden, Jac Haudenschild, Davey Heskin, Randy Hannagan, Robby Wolfgang and Jeff Swindell won heat races.
HEARTBREAK: Sammy Swindell faced heartbreak after leading his LCS in Friday's event from green to checkered, but started running out of fuel as he entered turn one on the final lap. Swindell fell to third, but remained in transfer spot as his car was completely out of gas. Swindell thought he was destined for the night's feature event, until he crossed the scales two pounds light, leading to a disqualification and a sixth-place starting position in the E-Main on Saturday night. Also struggling to qualify for the event was 2005 event winner Kraig Kinser, who will start 17th in the C-Main.
ALPHABET GAME: Most of the rest of the Outlaws have an easier Saturday night planned with the Craig Dollansky, Donny Schatz and Jason sides all starting the Last Chance Showdown while the rest of the series top drivers have secured positions in the feature event.
POINTS: World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series championship standings will be unaffected this week as the drivers will be awarded a flat 75 points due to the unique format of the FVP Knoxville Nationals. Daryn Pittman continues to lead Donny Schatz by 71 points.
- Admin Account on Aug 10, 2013
- Article Date: 8/10/2013