Kyle Larson Opens Ohio Sprint Speedweek With Convincing Victory At Attica

Story By: TYLER ALTMEYER / ALL STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS – ATTICA, OH – Ohio Sprint Speedweek has certainly been kind to Elk Grove, California’s Kyle Larson, as each of his Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 victories have occurred during Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Indy Metal Finishing, including the 2019 opener at Attica Raceway Park.

Larson, pilot of the Chevrolet Accessories/Finley Farms/Priority Aviation/Howard Johnson of Lima/No. 57sprint car, dominated Speedweek competition at the Attica bullring on Friday night, ultimately leading 25 circuits of the 40-lap program and crossing under the final checkers with a margin of victory nearing eight seconds, all while lapping up to the 12th position. The $5,000 victory increased Larson’s Series win total to nine, now with two at Attica Raceway Park; his first since 2016.

“Just a great car all night,” Kyle Larson explained, who will join the All Stars during the next five nights of Ohio Sprint Speedweek. “It was either starting to clean off, or take a little bit of rubber through turns three and four. That made things pretty technical. At times, I felt like I needed to cheat it and run below it to stay on a clean track, but I knew I needed to be in the rubber at the same time. Definitely a fun track. I haven’t raced Attica too much, but this is the slickest Attica I’ve been on, so it’s pretty neat to get a win.”

Although starting from the pole position, ‘Yung Money’ Kyle Larson was beat to the initial punch, forced to follow defending All Star champion and current Series point leader, Aaron Reutzel, for the first 15 circuits. A pair of cautions, one appearing on lap five and another on lap ten, gave Larson a set of opportunities to earn the advantage over Reutzel, but the Clute, Texas-native remained strong and in control.

Unfortunately for Reutzel, but a fortune circumstance for Larson, lap 16 proved to be drama-filled for the front-runners, as a spinning car would create a definite road block leaving Reutzel will little time to react and nowhere to go. Eventual contact with the spinning car ended with Reutzel laying on his side, ultimately ending his evening at Attica Raceway Park. Reutzel’s early retirement inherited the lead to Larson, and that is where he stayed.

Despite Buddy Kofoid’s ability to hang with Larson during the first 15 circuits, actually showing Larson his nose on multiple occasions, the driver of the familiar Ed Neumeister-owned, No. 11N entry was no match for Larson during the latter stages of the main event. Larson eventually escaped in traffic, extending his lead to nearly eight seconds with over half of the field left a lap down.

Six-time All Star champion, Dale Blaney, eventually snuck by Kofoid on lap 27 to secure the second position. Kofoid held on to finish third at the final checkers, followed by DJ Foos and 12th-starting Tim Shaffer.

“I obviously caught a big break when Reutzel got caught up in that wreck. We were a little bit lucky tonight,” Larson continued. “It’s tough when you’re in second and the track is really dirty. I felt like Reutzel was a little bit better than me when he was leading, but then, once I was the leader, I felt like I was better than I had been when I was behind him.”

“I could actually see [Buddy] Kofoid to my inside at the beginning when I was in second, so when I got the lead, I kept peeking to my inside every corner waiting for him to show a nose.”

Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Indy Metal Finishing will continue on Saturday evening, June 15, at the World’s Greatest Dirt Track – Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. Fans should take note that Eldora Speedway’s event schedule has been modified with the intent to avoid threatening weather.

Saturday’s schedule now has the pit area opening to competitors at 1:30 p.m., the grandstands opening to spectators at 2 p.m., the All Star Circuit of Champions driver meeting beginning at 3:15 p.m., and hot laps on track at 4:10 p.m., sharp. Those seeking additional news and notes regarding Eldora Speedway’s Ohio Sprint Speedweek program should visit Eldora Speedway on the Web at www.eldoraspeedway.com.

Keep in mind, Speed Shift TV, the official online broadcast partner of the All Star Circuit of Champions in 2019, will be conducting live video broadcasts during eight of nine Ohio Sprint Speedweek programs; Attica Raceway Park – 6/14, Eldora Speedway – 6/15, Wayne County Speedway – 6/17, Sharon Speedway – 6/18, Atomic Speedway – 6/19, Mansfield Motor Speedway – 6/20, Limaland Motorsports Park – 6/21, Wayne County Speedway – 6/22.

Contingency Awards/Results: Attica Raceway Park – Friday, June 14, 2019:
Event: 37th Annual Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Indy Metal Finishing
Entries: 53
C&R Racing All Star Warm-Ups: Kyle Larson – 12.761
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Aaron Reutzel – 12.478
Ford Performance Heat #1: Kyle Larson
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2: Justin Peck
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3: Buddy Kofoid
Mobil 1 Heat #4: Parker Price-Miller
Kistler Racing Products Heat #5: TJ Michael
Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts C-Main Winner: Paul McMahan
JE Pistons Dash #1: Kyle Larson
Fatheadz Eyewear Dash #2: Aaron Reutzel
Classic Ink USA B-Main Winner: Hunter Schuerenberg
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet A-Main Winner: Kyle Larson
MSD Performance Hard Charger Award: Hunter Scherenberg [+11]
Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: Joey Saldana
(Lincoln Electric, MSD Performance, Fatheadz Eyewear, Rayce Rudeen Foundation: Need decal to qualify for contingency award)

Qualifying

Group (A)
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 12.478; 2. 11-Dale Blaney, 12.773; 3. 57-Kyle Larson, 12.812; 4. 91-Cale Thomas, 12.936; 5. 13-Paul McMahan, 13.062; 6. O9-Craig Mintz, 13.080; 7. 3C-Cale Conley, 13.096; 8. 99-Skylar Gee, 13.134; 9. 1-Nate Dussel, 13.308; 10. 6-Joey Saldana, 13.423; 11. 20i-Kelsey Ivy, —

Group (B)
1. 23-Hunter Schuerenberg, 12.867; 2. 17B-Bill Balog, 12.960; 3. 16-DJ Foos, 13.089; 4. 5X-Justin Peck, 13.106; 5. W20-Greg Wilson, 13.366; 6. 81-Lee Jacobs, 13.370; 7. 8J-Jess Stiger, 13.580; 8. 71m-Paul May, 13.692; 9. 45-Trevor Baker, 13.820; 10. 29-Steve Butler, 13.918; 11. 40-George Hobaugh, 14.084

Group (C)
1. 3-Jac Haudenschild, 13.162; 2. 1ST-Gary Taylor, 13.169; 3. 11N-Buddy Kofoid, 13.297; 4. 52AU-Darren Mollenoyux, 13.322; 5. 25M-Chris Andrews, 13.355; 6. 14-Tony Stewart, 13.372; 7. 83M-Broc Martin, 13.378; 8. G1-Caleb Helms, 13.389; 9. 19-Mitch Harble, 13.672; 10. 46AU-Stuart Williams, 14.311; 11. 96AU-Bruce White, 14.671

Group (D)
1. 71P-Parker Price-Miller, 13.290; 2. 70X-Spencer Bayston, 13.468; 3. 33W-Caleb Griffith, 13.500; 4. 5T-Travis Philo, 13.505; 5. 3J-Trey Jacobs, 13.584; 6. 70-Brock Zearfoss, 13.611; 7. O7-Gerard McIntyre, 13.629; 8. 24-Rico Abreu, 13.678; 9. 17-Josh Baughman, 13.727; 10. 5H-Jordan Harble, 14.111

Group (E)
1. 57X-Andrew Palker, 13.042; 2. 49x-Tim Shaffer, 13.242; 3. 35b-Stuart Brubaker, 13.336; 4. 8M-TJ Michael, 13.354; 5. 5R-Byron Reed, 13.568; 6. 4-Cap Henry, 13.598; 7. 26-Cory Eliason, 13.618; 8. 71-Ayrton Olsen, 13.660; 9. 35-Tyler Esh, 13.697; 10. 28W-Allen Woods, 13.866

Heat #1 – Group (A) (10 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 57-Kyle Larson [2]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel [4]; 3. 11-Dale Blaney [3]; 4. O9-Craig Mintz [6]; 5. 1-Nate Dussel [9]; 6. 6-Joey Saldana [10]; 7. 99-Skylar Gee [8]; 8. 3C-Cale Conley [7]; 9. 13-Paul McMahan [5]; 10. 91-Cale Thomas [1]; 11. 20I-Kelsey Ivy [11]

Heat #2 – Group (B) (10 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 5X-Justin Peck [1]; 2. 16-DJ Foos [2]; 3. 17B-Bill Balog [3]; 4. W20-Greg Wilson [5]; 5. 8J-Jess Stiger [7]; 6. 71M-Paul May [8]; 7. 23-Hunter Schuerenberg [4]; 8. 40-George Hobaugh [11]; 9. 45-Trevor Baker [9]; 10. 29-Steve Butler [10]; 11. 81-Lee Jacobs [6]

Heat #3 – Group (C) (10 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 11N-Buddy Kofoid [2]; 2. 14-Tony Stewart [6]; 3. 1ST-Gary Taylor [3]; 4. 25M-Chris Andrews [5]; 5. G1-Caleb Helms [8]; 6. 46AU-Stuart Williams [10]; 7. 52AU-Darren Mollenoyux [1]; 8. 83M-Broc Martin [7]; 9. 19-Mitch Harble [9]; 10. 3-Jac Haudenschild [4]

Heat #4 – Group (D) (10 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 71P-Parker Price-Miller [4]; 2. 70X-Spencer Bayston [3]; 3. 3J-Trey Jacobs [5]; 4. 70-Brock Zearfoss [6]; 5. O7-Gerard McIntyre [7]; 6. 33W-Caleb Griffith [2]; 7. 5H-Jordan Harble [10]; 8. 17-Josh Baughman [9]; 9. 5T-Travis Philo [1]; 10. 24-Rico Abreu [8]

Heat #5 – Group (E) (10 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 8M-TJ Michael [1]; 2. 49X-Tim Shaffer [3]; 3. 35B-Stuart Brubaker [2]; 4. 5R-Byron Reed [5]; 5. 26-Cory Eliason [7]; 6. 57X-Andrew Palker [4]; 7. 4-Cap Henry [6]; 8. 35-Tyler Esh [9]; 9. 71-Ayrton Olsen [8]; 10. 28W-Allen Woods [10]

Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 57-Kyle Larson [1]; 2. 14-Tony Stewart [2]; 3. 11-Dale Blaney [3]; 4. 16-DJ Foos [6]; 5. 70X-Spencer Bayston [4]; 6. 5X-Justin Peck [5]

Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel [2]; 2. 11N-Buddy Kofoid [4]; 3. 8M-TJ Michael [3]; 4. 17B-Bill Balog [1]; 5. 71P-Parker Price-Miller [5]; 6. 49X-Tim Shaffer [6]

C-Main (10 Laps) – Top 2 Transfer
1. 13-Paul McMahan [6]; 2. 3C-Cale Conley [1]; 3. 35-Tyler Esh [3]; 4. 45-Trevor Baker [10]; 5. 17-Josh Baughman [4]; 6. 19-Mitch Harble [9]; 7. 29-Steve Butler [14]; 8. 28W-Allen Woods [13]; 9. 40-George Hobaugh [5]; 10. 71-Ayrton Olsen [8]

B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 23-Hunter Schuerenberg [1]; 2. 26-Cory Eliason [6]; 3. G1-Caleb Helms [4]; 4. 1-Nate Dussel [3]; 5. 6-Joey Saldana [9]; 6. 91-Cale Thomas [2]; 7. O7-Gerard McIntyre [7]; 8. 8J-Jess Stiger [5]; 9. 4-Cap Henry [15]; 10. 99-Skylar Gee [13]; 11. 13-Paul McMahan [17]; 12. 71M-Paul May [11]; 13. 46AU-Stuart Williams [12]; 14. 52AU-Darren Mollenoyux [14]; 15. 5H-Jordan Harble [16]; 16. 3C-Cale Conley [18]; 17. 33W-Caleb Griffith [10]; 18. 57X-Andrew Palker [8]

A-Main (40 Laps)
1. 57-Kyle Larson [1]; 2. 11-Dale Blaney [5]; 3. 11N-Buddy Kofoid [4]; 4. 16-DJ Foos [7]; 5. 49X-Tim Shaffer [12]; 6. 70X-Spencer Bayston [9]; 7. 71P-Parker Price-Miller [10]; 8. 5X-Justin Peck [11]; 9. W20-Greg Wilson [18]; 10. 23-Hunter Schuerenberg [21]; 11. 5R-Byron Reed [19]; 12. 26-Cory Eliason [22]; 13. 8M-TJ Michael [6]; 14. 70-Brock Zearfoss [20]; 15. 13-Paul McMahan [25]; 16. 1ST-Gary Taylor [13]; 17. 99-Skylar Gee [26]; 18. O9-Craig Mintz [16]; 19. 35B-Stuart Brubaker [14]; 20. 3J-Trey Jacobs [15]; 21. G1-Caleb Helms [23]; 22. 1-Nate Dussel [24]; 23. 87-Aaron Reutzel [2]; 24. 17B-Bill Balog [8]; 25. 25M-Chris Andrews [17]; 26. 14-Tony Stewart [3] Lap Leaders: Aaron Reutzel [1-15], Kyle Larson [16-40]