Kyle Larson Wins Justin Snyder Salute To The Troops All Star Event Sunday At Sharon

Story By: TYLER ALTMEYER / ALL STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS – HARTFORD, OH – For the third time during Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Hercules Tires, and for the seventh time in 2020, Elk Grove, California’s Kyle Larson is an Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 main event winner, doing so during Justin Snyder’s Salute to the Troops Speedweek finale at Sharon Speedway on Sunday, July 12.

‘Yung Money’ led the final 21 circuits to claim the $6,000 payday, eventually holding off a late surge by two-time and defending All Star champion, Aaron Reutzel.

Skylar Gee, who started from the pole position after winning the first of two All Star dashes, led the first several circuits of the 30-lap contest before losing command to the familiar No. 57. Hard contact with the outside retaining wall just before the flagstand on lap nine resulted in a flat right-rear tire forcing the Leduc, Alberta, Canada-native to retire, ultimately allowing Larson to inherit the top spot. At the time, Reutzel was battling in the third position, followed by Cory Eliason and Dave Blaney.

Restarting on the point, Larson shot out of a cannon, driving off on a very narrow cushion with Reutzel and Eliason still in tow. Although a caution on lap 16 would stack the field and keep Larson in clean air and out of traffic longer, Reutzel eventually chipped away at Larson’s near-two second advantage and powered within just a few car lengths, utilizing a wall tap by Larson on lap 27 and a three-wide pack of lappers to his advantage. A last minute slider by Larson on lap 29 to put a lapped car between himself and Reutzel sealed the deal for the Paul Silva-owned entry.

“I hit the wall and kinda got stuck in it, so I figured I was going to get a flat tire or something. I was just trying to stay calm. I guess I lost focus a little bit right there,” Kyle Larson said of his brush with the wall, driver of the Paul Silva-owned/Durst/Lucas Oil/Tarlton and Sons/No. 57 sprint car. “I knew Aaron (Reutzel) was probably running pretty hard behind me. I didn’t know where he was, but I figured he was going to be right there. I felt like I hadn’t made any mistakes up until that point, but you never know where they’re at.

“This place is awesome,” Larson continued. “Especially when it gets glass slick to the fence. I thought I could maybe shortcut three and four, but I wasn’t as good as what Skylar (Gee) was up against the wall. Once I got the lead, I knew I needed to commit up there as long as I didn’t see Aaron poke to my inside. I never really saw his nose other than that restart.

“I really enjoy coming to Ohio and running Ohio Speedweek. A big thanks to all of the fans for coming out and supporting your local dirt track racing.”

Reutzel held on to finish second on Sunday evening, solidifying a first-ever Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Hercules Tires speedweek championship. The overall Speedweek title earned the two-time All Star champion and Clute, Texas-native a $4,000 payday.

“We’ve been consistent, so we’ve definitely accomplished that, but I feel like we need to get back on the winning part. If we keep doing what we are doing, the wins will come. Or if we can get Kyle (Larson) to go away, the wins will come. He’s just unreal.” Aaron Reutzel said, driver of the Baughman-Reutzel Motorsports/Fischer Body Shop/Hollywood Coating and Blasting/Folkens Brothers Trucking/No. 87 sprint car. “To watch him run that close to the wall and make contact and keep going is just crazy. I think I needed a caution-free run and additional traffic if I was going to get by Larson. I think I was a little better than he was in those long runs.

“A big thanks to everyone who came out. It was a fun week, but we still have more work to do.”

What’s Next:
Tony Stewart’s Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 will continue their 2020 campaign with a three-race sweep in the Keystone State on Friday through Sunday, July 17-19. The traveling All Stars will kick-off the weekend with a visit to Williams Grove Speedway on Friday, July 17, followed by back-to-back nights at the Port Royal Speedway ‘Speed Palace’ on Saturday and Sunday, July 18-19.

Contingency Awards/Results: Sharon Speedway – July 12, 2020:
Event: Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Hercules Tires
Entries: 38
C&R Racing Warm-Ups: Aaron Reutzel – 16.618
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Kyle Larson – 16.313
Ford Performance Heat #1 Winner: Brock Zearfoss
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2 Winner: Gerard McIntyre
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3 Winner: Danny Dietrich
Mobil 1 Heat #4 Winner: Dave Blaney
Kear’s Speed Shop Dash #1 Winner: Skylar Gee
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Dash #2 Winner: Cory Eliason
Classic Ink USA Screenprinting & Embroidery B-Main Winner: Josh Baughman
Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: Michael Bauer
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet A-Main Winner: Kyle Larson
Hercules Tire A-Main Hard Charger: Greg Wilson (+11)

Qualifying

Group (A)
1. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 16.600; 2. 99-Skylar Gee, 16.635; 3. 70-Sye Lynch, 17.270; 4. 3C-Cale Conley, 17.322; 5. 2-AJ Flick, 17.390; 6. 28-Tim Shaffer, 17.621; 7. O8-Dan Kuriger, 17.768; 8. 19R-Jordan Ryan, 18.311; 9. 23S-Russ Sansosti, 18.392; 10. 19-Steve Haefke, 19.013

Group (B)
1. 11-Zeb Wise, 16.325; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 16.883; 3. 5K-Adam Kekich, 16.979; 4. O7-Gerard McIntyre, 17.126; 5. W20-Greg Wilson, 17.677; 6. 11B-Carl Bowser, 17.732; 7. 7k-Dan Shetler, 17.751; 8. 46-Michael Bauer, 17.885; 9. 21N-Frankie Nervo, 18.064; 10. 23p-Darren Pifer, 18.407

Group (C)
1. 57-Kyle Larson, 16.313; 2. 24-Rico Abreu, 16.490; 3. 48-Danny Dietrich, 17.015; 4. 17-Josh Baughman, 17.217; 5. 40-George Hobaugh, 17.303; 6. 35-Stuart Brubaker, 17.571; 7. 22-Brandon Spithaler, 17.583; 8. 8M-TJ Michael, 17.701; 9. 81-Lee Jacobs, 18.067

Group (D)
1. 26-Cory Eliason, 17.320; 2. 23-Cole Macedo, 17.388; 3. 10-Dave Blaney, 17.447; 4. 13-Paul McMahan, 17.566; 5. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr., 18.048; 6. 33-Brent Matus, 18.128; 7. 13M-Brandon Matus, 18.595; 8. 21j-Jeffrey Neubert, 20.903; 9. 14H-Jeremy Hill, 99.990

Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [4]; 2. 3C-Cale Conley [1]; 3. 70-Sye Lynch [2]; 4. 99-Skylar Gee [3]; 5. 28-Tim Shaffer [6]; 6. O8-Dan Kuriger [7]; 7. 2-AJ Flick [5]; 8. 19R-Jordan Ryan [8]; 9. 23S-Russ Sansosti [9]; 10. 19-Steve Haefke [10]

Heat #2 – Group (B) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. O7-Gerard McIntyre [1]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel [3]; 3. 11-Zeb Wise [4]; 4. W20-Greg Wilson [5]; 5. 5K-Adam Kekich [2]; 6. 7K-Dan Shetler [7]; 7. 46-Michael Bauer [8]; 8. 11B-Carl Bowser [6]; 9. 21N-Frankie Nervo [9]; 10. 23P-Darren Pifer [10]

Heat #3 – Group (C) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 48-Danny Dietrich [2]; 2. 57-Kyle Larson [4]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu [3]; 4. 40-George Hobaugh [5]; 5. 81-Lee Jacobs [9]; 6. 8M-TJ Michael [8]; 7. 35-Stuart Brubaker [6]; 8. 22-Brandon Spithaler [7]; 9. 17-Josh Baughman [1]

Heat #4 – Group (D) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 10-Dave Blaney [2]; 2. 13-Paul McMahan [1]; 3. 26-Cory Eliason [4]; 4. 23-Cole Macedo [3]; 5. 33-Brent Matus [6]; 6. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr. [5]; 7. 13M-Brandon Matus [7]; 8. 14H-Jeremy Hill [9]; 9. 21J-Jeffrey Neubert [8]

Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 99-Skylar Gee [1]; 2. 57-Kyle Larson [4]; 3. 48-Danny Dietrich [2]; 4. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [3]; 5. 11-Zeb Wise [5]

Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 26-Cory Eliason [1]; 2. O7-Gerard McIntyre [2]; 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel [3]; 4. 10-Dave Blaney [4]; 5. 24-Rico Abreu [5]

B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 17-Josh Baughman [1]; 2. 2-AJ Flick [2]; 3. 8M-TJ Michael [3]; 4. O8-Dan Kuriger [5]; 5. 46-Michael Bauer [8]; 6. 19R-Jordan Ryan [12]; 7. 11B-Carl Bowser [11]; 8. 22-Brandon Spithaler [10]; 9. 23P-Darren Pifer [17]; 10. 23S-Russ Sansosti [15]; 11. 21N-Frankie Nervo [14]; 12. 19-Steve Haefke [18]; 13. 14H-Jeremy Hill [13]; 14. 21J-Jeffrey Neubert [16]; 15. 13M-Brandon Matus [9]; 16. 7K-Dan Shetler [4]; 17. 35-Stuart Brubaker [7]; 18. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr. [6]

A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 57-Kyle Larson [3]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel [6]; 3. 26-Cory Eliason [2]; 4. 10-Dave Blaney [8]; 5. W20-Greg Wilson [16]; 6. 24-Rico Abreu [10]; 7. 48-Danny Dietrich [5]; 8. 13-Paul McMahan [12]; 9. O7-Gerard McIntyre [4]; 10. 11-Zeb Wise [9]; 11. 40-George Hobaugh [14]; 12. 3C-Cale Conley [11]; 13. O8-Dan Kuriger [24]; 14. 23-Cole Macedo [15]; 15. 81-Lee Jacobs [19]; 16. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [7]; 17. 28-Tim Shaffer [18]; 18. 8M-TJ Michael [23]; 19. 17-Josh Baughman [21]; 20. 70-Sye Lynch [13]; 21. 2-AJ Flick [22]; 22. 5K-Adam Kekich [17]; 23. 33-Brent Matus [20]; 24. 99-Skylar Gee [1] Lap Leaders: Skylar Gee (1-9), Kyle Larson (10-30)