Kyle Larson Has 15,554 Reasons To Celebrate Dean Knittel Memorial Win At Portsmouth

Story By: TYLER ALTMEYER / ALL STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS – PORTSMOUTH, OH – ‘Yung Money’ Kyle Larson was certainly ‘money’ on Friday night during the annual Dean Knittel Memorial at Portsmouth Raceway Park.

Not only scoring his second Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Hercules Tires main event win in four tries, but the Elk Grove, California-native secured $15,554 in the process, simultaneously bumping his 2020 Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 season win count to six.

Starting from the pole position by way of dash result, Larson was nearly untouchable during the 30-lap contest, escaping to a hefty advantage right from the drop of the green flag. The driver of the Paul Silva-owned/Tarlton and Sons/Lucas Oil/Durst/Finley Farms/No. 57 sprint car reached slower cars by lap five, and although a few near-close calls with lapped traffic may have forced Larson to tap the brake pedal, his momentum never shifted, still placing two to three lapped cars between himself and second-place running Aaron Reutzel.

The main event’s first and only caution, occurring with five laps remaining, did give Reutzel an opportunity to restart on the back bumper of Larson, but it did not matter. The Clute, Texas-native was forced to settle for second, followed by Brock Zearfoss, Shane Stewart, and Cole Duncan.

With all bonuses considered, Kyle Larson collected upwards of $18,000 at Portsmouth, as extra money was awarded for his respective dash victory, as well as his overall fast time during qualifying time trials and for leading lap 15 during the 30-lap feature.

“It doesn’t matter what kind of pace you set, Aaron (Reutzel) seems to find a way to match what you’re doing, so I was trying to go as hard as I could,” Kyle Larson said in Portsmouth victory lane. “It was good to hold on and get another big payday.

“I was hoping we weren’t going to catch traffic again, but we ended up reaching the back anyhow,” Larson said of his restart with five laps remaining. “But what makes these cars fun is that we don’t have mirrors, so it makes you a little nervous of what’s going on behind you. Just another great race car. And thanks to all of you who help out on this car. We certainly couldn’t do it without each and every one of you. And thanks to all of you fans. This place is really neat and I’m glad I got the chance to race here.”

What’s Next:
Tony Stewart’s Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 will conclude the 2020 edition of Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Hercules Tires with a two-day stay at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio, on Friday and Saturday, July 11-12. The weekend will kick-off with the annual Lou Blaney Memorial on Saturday, followed by Justin Snyder’s Salute to the Troops on Sunday.

Contingency Awards/Results: Portsmouth Raceway Park – July 10, 2020:
Event: Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Hercules Tires
Entries: 39
C&R Racing Warm-Ups: Cale Conley – 13.519
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Kyle Larson – 13.646
Ford Performance Heat #1 Winner: Brock Zearfoss
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2 Winner: Hunter Schuerenberg
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3 Winner: Jimmy Stinson
Mobil 1 Heat #4 Winner: Cory Eliason
Kear’s Speed Shop Dash #1 Winner: Kyle Larson
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Dash #2 Winner: Aaron Reutzel
Classic Ink USA Screenprinting & Embroidery B-Main Winner: Josh Baughman
Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: Danny Smith
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet A-Main Winner: Kyle Larson
Hercules Tire A-Main Hard Charger: Gerard McIntyre (+6)

Qualifying

Group (A)
1. 71-Shane Stewart, 13.691; 2. 12n-Joey Saldana, 13.888; 3. 13-Paul McMahan, 13.896; 4. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 13.939; 5. 3C-Cale Conley, 13.968; 6. 24-Rico Abreu, 14.154; 7. 4-Cap Henry, 14.253; 8. 81-Lee Jacobs, 14.293; 9. 21-Brinton Marvel, 14.331; 10. 5h-Jordan Harble, 14.533

Group (B)
1. 57-Kyle Larson, 13.646; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 13.698; 3. 11-Zeb Wise, 14.017; 4. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 14.385; 5. 1B-Keith Baxter, 14.389; 6. 28-Tim Shaffer, 14.439; 7. W20-Greg Wilson, 14.450; 8. 22B-Ryan Broughton, 14.457; 9. 15k-Chad Kemenah, 14.510; 10. 54-Danny Smith, 14.703

Group (C)
1. 22C-Cole Duncan, 14.223; 2. 17-Josh Baughman, 14.303; 3. 99-Skylar Gee, 14.388; 4. 70-Sye Lynch, 14.527; 5. O7-Gerard McIntyre, 14.631; 6. 4X-Jimmy Stinson, 14.760; 7. 59-Bryan Nuckles, 15.178; 8. 21N-Frankie Nervo, 15.392; 9. 40i-Mark Imler, 15.933; 10. 22D-Josh Davis, 99.500

Group (D)
1. 26-Cory Eliason, 14.380; 2. 35-Stuart Brubaker, 14.623; 3. A79-Brandon Wimmer, 14.678; 4. 19R-Jordan Ryan, 14.797; 5. 23-Cole Macedo, 15.248; 6. 83X-Nate Reeser, 15.590; 7. 9W-Lance Webb, 15.609; 8. 1-Jamie Myers, 15.989; 9. 15-Mitch Harble, 99.730

Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [1]; 2. 13-Paul McMahan [2]; 3. 71-Shane Stewart [4]; 4. 81-Lee Jacobs [8]; 5. 24-Rico Abreu [6]; 6. 12N-Joey Saldana [3]; 7. 5H-Jordan Harble [10]; 8. 4-Cap Henry [7]; 9. 21-Brinton Marvel [9]; 10. 3C-Cale Conley [5]

Heat #2 – Group (B) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [1]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel [3]; 3. 11-Zeb Wise [2]; 4. 57-Kyle Larson [4]; 5. 1B-Keith Baxter [5]; 6. 54-Danny Smith [10]; 7. 15K-Chad Kemenah [9]; 8. 22B-Ryan Broughton [8]; 9. W20-Greg Wilson [7]; 10. 28-Tim Shaffer [6]

Heat #3 – Group (C) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 4X-Jimmy Stinson [6]; 2. 59-Bryan Nuckles [7]; 3. 99-Skylar Gee [2]; 4. 22C-Cole Duncan [4]; 5. 21N-Frankie Nervo [8]; 6. O7-Gerard McIntyre [5]; 7. 22D-Josh Davis [10]; 8. 17-Josh Baughman [3]; 9. 40I-Mark Imler [9]; 10. 70-Sye Lynch [1]

Heat #4 – Group (D) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 26-Cory Eliason [4]; 2. 35-Stuart Brubaker [3]; 3. 19R-Jordan Ryan [1]; 4. A79-Brandon Wimmer [2]; 5. 23-Cole Macedo [5]; 6. 9W-Lance Webb [7]; 7. 1-Jamie Myers [8]; 8. 83X-Nate Reeser [6]

Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 57-Kyle Larson [1]; 2. 71-Shane Stewart [2]; 3. 4X-Jimmy Stinson [5]; 4. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [3]; 5. 26-Cory Eliason [4]

Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel [2]; 2. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [1]; 3. 22C-Cole Duncan [5]; 4. 35-Stuart Brubaker [3]; 5. 13-Paul McMahan [4]

B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 17-Josh Baughman [11]; 2. 12N-Joey Saldana [1]; 3. O7-Gerard McIntyre [3]; 4. 15K-Chad Kemenah [6]; 5. 54-Danny Smith [4]; 6. W20-Greg Wilson [15]; 7. 22D-Josh Davis [9]; 8. 9W-Lance Webb [5]; 9. 22B-Ryan Broughton [12]; 10. 1-Jamie Myers [8]; 11. 4-Cap Henry [10]; 12. 21-Brinton Marvel [14]; 13. 70-Sye Lynch [18]; 14. 5H-Jordan Harble [7]; 15. 40I-Mark Imler [16]; 16. 83X-Nate Reeser [13]

A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 57-Kyle Larson [1]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel [2]; 3. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [4]; 4. 71-Shane Stewart [3]; 5. 22C-Cole Duncan [6]; 6. 4X-Jimmy Stinson [5]; 7. 35-Stuart Brubaker [8]; 8. 11-Zeb Wise [12]; 9. 99-Skylar Gee [13]; 10. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [7]; 11. 13-Paul McMahan [10]; 12. 24-Rico Abreu [17]; 13. 26-Cory Eliason [9]; 14. 19R-Jordan Ryan [14]; 15. 59-Bryan Nuckles [11]; 16. 23-Cole Macedo [19]; 17. O7-Gerard McIntyre [23]; 18. 81-Lee Jacobs [15]; 19. 15K-Chad Kemenah [24]; 20. A79-Brandon Wimmer [16]; 21. 21N-Frankie Nervo [20]; 22. 12N-Joey Saldana [22]; 23. 1B-Keith Baxter [18]; 24. 17-Josh Baughman [21]; 25. 70-Sye Lynch [25]; 26. 54-Danny Smith [26] Lap Leaders: Kyle Larson (1-30)