10x IRA Champion Bill Balog on the pole, Capitani Classic winner Rico Abreu starting 2nd, Daryn Pittman looking for a perfect night at the Nationals aboard the Kreitz #69K, and Carson Macedo looking strong.
Was there ever any doubt? Kyle Larson goes 6th to 1st and scores the win on Toyota USA Qualifying Night at the Knoxville Nationals.
“It feels really good. It’s so much fun to drive the #57 for Paul Silva and his guys.” Larson stated in victory lane. “The car was so good.”
It needed to be that good. Larson started 6th in one of the strongest Nationals prelim A Mains in recent memory with contenders up and down the starting grid.
Balog led the field to the green and would pace the opening 10 circuits before Abreu utilized lapped traffic to his advantage to grab the lead on lap 11. The following lap, a charging Carson Macedo took 2nd from Balog and set his sights on Abreu at the front. Behind the top two, Larson and Balog waged battle for 3rd with the 2x Knoxville Nationals champ taking the spot on lap 15.
With Abreu, Macedo and Larson all caught in thick lapped traffic, a three-way race for the lead began, ebbing and flowing as the race reached its closing stages. Larson solidified himself in 2nd ahead of Macedo on lap 18 and on lap 22 momentarily drew side by side with Abreu as the pair pulled away from Macedo. On lap 24, Larson dove low into turn one and Abreu slid high but found himself blocked in by an out of shape lapped car and Larson drove by the #24 on corner exit to take the lead. Abreu mounted a return challenge on the final lap but fell just 0.399 of a second short and Larson crossed the finish line to take the win and in doing so, the pole of the Saturday Night Knoxville Nationals Championship Feature.
“Rico was good in traffic.” Larson admitted about the fellow Californian. “Carson was rolling for a bit there too. I couldn’t really run low early, but the bottom seemed like the place to be especially in one and two late in the feature and I could really hit it when I needed to. Rico got to that lapped car and had to go to the top. I saw the lapper hit the berm and get sideways in front of me and he drifted up in front of Rico and probably killed his momentum. Really glad we could put ourselves in position to get a win and a shot at the win on Saturday.”
Abreu, Macedo, Tyler Courtney and Balog rounded out the top 5 finishers. With the 5th place effort, Balog qualified for his first career Knoxville Nationals A Main, and on his birthday no less.
The top 16 of the 2024 NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals is set, with these drivers earning A Main lock ins:
1-Kyle Larson
2-Daryn Pittman
3-Tyler Courtney
4-Carson Macedo
5-Giovanni Scelzi
6-Rico Abreu
7-Brian Brown
8-Anthony Macri
9-Brady Bacon
10-Scott Bogucki
11-Corey Day
12-Brent Marks
13-Bill Balog
14-Sheldon Haudenschild
15-Chase Randall
16-Jacob Allen
These 10 drivers earned B Main lock-ins through their prelim nights:
1-Brad Sweet
2-Justin Peck
3-James McFadden
4-Cory Eliason
5-Matt Juhl
6-David Gravel
7-Garet Williamson
8-Dusty Zomer
9-Brock Zearfoss
10-Cap Henry
Tomorrow the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals continues with the infamous “Hard Knox” Qualifying Night for the drivers that failed to lock in through their prelim nights. Tickets are available at KnoxvilleRaceway.com or at the track on race day. The night’s racing will be broadcast live on DIRTVision.
HW Designs Photo
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