Kyle Larson Sets All Star Sprint Consecutive Win Record with Seventh Victory At Knoxville Raceway

Story By: BILL WRIGHT / ALL STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS – KNOXVILLE, IA – Kyle Larson won his seventh straight Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 feature on Saturay night, setting a record with the series.

The victory came at the Knoxville Raceway, where the Elk Grove, California-native swept the World of Outlaws weekend in June. Larson earned $5,000 for the win aboard the Paul Silva wrenched #57, and even lost a contact lens along the way.

The 25-lap feature was slow to get started. On the first try, Kasey Kahne got above the turn two cushion and slowed near the wall. Aaron Reutzel did the same on the bottom of turn one. Both visited the work area and returned to action.

The second try at green was no better. AJ Moeller broke his front end after contact with another car in turn two and slid down in front of the field. Fortunately, he didn’t turn over, or collect anyone.

Once green, it was for good, and Gio Scelzi took the early advantage ahead of Lynton Jeffrey and Larson. Brian Brown passed Kerry Madsen for fourth on lap two. Larson sized up Jeffrey, and took third on the third circuit.

Rico Abreu, who started thirteenth, shot from seventh to fifth on lap five. Brown claimed third from Jeffrey on the same lap. Abreu followed him into fourth a lap later.

Up front, Larson was gaining on Scelzi, and slid across turn four to take the point on lap eight. He was in lapped traffic a lap later, and by lap 12, had a straightaway lead. Brown and Scelzi see-sawed back and forth in a battle for second that saw three passes for that position until Brown claimed the spot with ten to go.

Abreu captured third from Scelzi and passed Brown in lapped traffic on lap 16. Larson’s lead over the three-way battle for second was over seven seconds by lap 19. Scelzi and Brown would return to battle, this time for the third spot, in the late stages.

Larson won convincingly over Abreu, Scelzi, who gained third on the last lap, Brown and Shane Stewart. Kerry Madsen, Cory Eliason, Davey Heskin, Ian Madsen and Josh Schneiderman rounded out the top ten. Larson posted quick time over the 46-car field. Heskin, Brown, Schneiderman, Hunter Schuerenberg and Moeller were heat winners. Scelzi and Jeffrey won the Dashes, Ayrton Gennetten won the C main, and Aaron Reutzel claimed the B main.

“It’s really cool,” said Larson of his record breaking seventh win in a row. It was his sixth career win at Knoxville. “I did read that earlier today, and it added pressure to tonight. Qualifying well is important in every format you run. It was a good solid night You could get that diamond going in one and two a lot. Even late, I could make time following the top all around. I lost a contact, so I couldn’t see as well as I needed to, but my car was just good and I had some lines working for me. I could make runs off of two and then slide them in three and four. The contact made it difficult. I hope I have a spare set in my bathroom bag!”

What’s Next:
The Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 will conclude their four-race stretch through the Midwest with a visit to the Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, South Dakota, on Sunday evening, August 2. Celebrating the grand re-opening of the state-of-the-art facility, the All Star visit to Huset’s will award a $20,000 top prize.

Contingency Awards/Results: Knoxville Raceway – August 1, 2020:
Entries: 46
C&R Racing Warm-Ups: Aaron Reutzel – 15.384
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Kyle Larson – 15.216
Ford Performance Heat #1 Winner: Davey Heskin
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2 Winner: Brian Brown
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3 Winner: Josh Schneiderman
Mobil 1 Heat #4 Winner: Hunter Schuerenberg
Kistler Racing Products Heat #5 Winner: AJ Moeller
Computer Man C-Main Winner: Ayrton Gennetten
Kear’s Speed Shop Dash #1 Winner: Gio Scelzi
Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts Dash #2 Winner: Lynton Jeffrey
Classic Ink USA Screenprinting & Embroidery B-Main Winner: Aaron Reutzel
Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: Tim Kaeding
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet A-Main Winner: Kyle Larson
Hercules Tire A-Main Hard Charger: Rico Abreu (+11)

Qualifying

Group (A)
1. 71-Shane Stewart, 15.364; 2. 9-Kasey Kahne, 15.487; 3. 17-Josh Baughman, 15.537; 4. 56N-Davey Heskin, 15.682; 5. 2KS-Brooke Tatnell, 15.704; 6. 44-Chris Martin, 15.955; 7. 35-Zach Hampton, 16.025; 8. 55m-McKenna Haase, 16.039; 9. 14K-Victoria Knutson, 16.622; 10. 56-Joe Simbro, 16.712

Group (B)
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 15.246; 2. 26-Cory Eliason, 15.398; 3. 21-Brian Brown, 15.534; 4. 24-Rico Abreu, 15.628; 5. 17W-Shane Golobic, 15.705; 6. 70-Cale Thomas, 15.743; 7. 99-Skylar Gee, 16.012; 8. O7-Gerard McIntyre, 16.189; 9. 50-Mike Ayers, 16.595

Group (C)
1. 2M-Kerry Madsen, 15.326; 2. 49-Josh Schneiderman, 15.521; 3. W20-Greg Wilson, 15.553; 4. 44S-Trey Starks, 15.814; 5. 5-Ian Madsen, 15.890; 6. 3-Tim Kaeding, 15.998; 7. 27-Tucker Klaasmeyer, 16.018; 8. 35P-Skylar Prochaska, 16.029; 9. 3p-Sawyer Phillips, 16.220

Group (D)
1. 83-Lynton Jeffrey, 15.548; 2. O9-Matt Juhl, 15.608; 3. 41S-Dominic Scelzi, 15.722; 4. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 15.767; 5. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 15.784; 6. 13-Paul McMahan, 15.846; 7. 7-Justin Henderson, 15.862; 8. 3X-Ayrton Gennetten, 15.941; 9. 7Taz-Tasker Phillips, 18.316

Group (E)
1. 57-Kyle Larson, 15.216; 2. 18-Gio Scelzi, 15.510; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr., 15.606; 4. 20-AJ Moeller, 15.608; 5. 4-Terry McCarl, 15.634; 6. 17A-Austin McCarl, 15.783; 7. 11-Zeb Wise, 15.966; 8. 9W-Ryan Giles, 16.051; 9. 15-Bobby Mincer, 16.619

Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 56N-Davey Heskin [1]; 2. 71-Shane Stewart [4]; 3. 9-Kasey Kahne [3]; 4. 17-Josh Baughman [2]; 5. 2KS-Brooke Tatnell [5]; 6. 44-Chris Martin [6]; 7. 56-Joe Simbro [10]; 8. 35-Zach Hampton [7]; 9. 14K-Victoria Knutson [9]

Heat #2 – Group (B) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 21-Brian Brown [2]; 2. 24-Rico Abreu [1]; 3. 26-Cory Eliason [3]; 4. 17W-Shane Golobic [5]; 5. 70-Cale Thomas [6]; 6. 99-Skylar Gee [7]; 7. O7-Gerard McIntyre [8]; 8. 50-Mike Ayers [9]; 9. 87-Aaron Reutzel [4]

Heat #3 – Group (C) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 49-Josh Schneiderman [3]; 2. 2M-Kerry Madsen [4]; 3. 5-Ian Madsen [5]; 4. 44S-Trey Starks [1]; 5. 3-Tim Kaeding [6]; 6. 27-Tucker Klaasmeyer [7]; 7. 3P-Sawyer Phillips [9]; 8. W20-Greg Wilson [2]; 9. 35P-Skylar Prochaska [8]

Heat #4 – Group (D) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [1]; 2. 41S-Dominic Scelzi [2]; 3. 83-Lynton Jeffrey [4]; 4. O9-Matt Juhl [3]; 5. 7-Justin Henderson [7]; 6. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [5]; 7. 13-Paul McMahan [6]; 8. 3X-Ayrton Gennetten [8]; 9. 7TAZ-Tasker Phillips [9]

Heat #5 – Group (E) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 20-AJ Moeller [1]; 2. 57-Kyle Larson [4]; 3. 18-Gio Scelzi [3]; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. [2]; 5. 17A-Austin McCarl [6]; 6. 4-Terry McCarl [5]; 7. 11-Zeb Wise [7]; 8. 15-Bobby Mincer [9]; 9. 9W-Ryan Giles [8]

Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 18-Gio Scelzi [4]; 2. 57-Kyle Larson [5]; 3. 9-Kasey Kahne [1]; 4. 26-Cory Eliason [6]; 5. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [3]; 6. 20-AJ Moeller [2]

Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 83-Lynton Jeffrey [1]; 2. 2M-Kerry Madsen [3]; 3. 21-Brian Brown [5]; 4. 49-Josh Schneiderman [2]; 5. 71-Shane Stewart [6]; 6. 56N-Davey Heskin [4]

C-Main (8 Laps) – Top 2 Transfer
1. 3X-Ayrton Gennetten [1]; 2. 7TAZ-Tasker Phillips [8]; 3. 35P-Skylar Prochaska [5]; 4. 9W-Ryan Giles [6]; 5. 15-Bobby Mincer [4]; 6. 35-Zach Hampton [2]; 7. 50-Mike Ayers [3]; 8. 14K-Victoria Knutson [7]

B-Main (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel [1]; 2. 2KS-Brooke Tatnell [3]; 3. 7-Justin Henderson [6]; 4. 17A-Austin McCarl [5]; 5. 3-Tim Kaeding [7]; 6. 4-Terry McCarl [8]; 7. 13-Paul McMahan [13]; 8. 70-Cale Thomas [4]; 9. 3P-Sawyer Phillips [16]; 10. 99-Skylar Gee [11]; 11. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [9]; 12. 7TAZ-Tasker Phillips [19]; 13. 44-Chris Martin [10]; 14. 11-Zeb Wise [14]; 15. W20-Greg Wilson [2]; 16. O7-Gerard McIntyre [15]; 17. 56-Joe Simbro [17]; 18. 27-Tucker Klaasmeyer [12]; 19. 3X-Ayrton Gennetten [18]

A-Main (25 Laps)
1. 57-Kyle Larson [3]; 2. 24-Rico Abreu [13]; 3. 18-Gio Scelzi [1]; 4. 21-Brian Brown [6]; 5. 71-Shane Stewart [10]; 6. 2M-Kerry Madsen [4]; 7. 26-Cory Eliason [7]; 8. 56N-Davey Heskin [12]; 9. 5-Ian Madsen [15]; 10. 49-Josh Schneiderman [8]; 11. 83-Lynton Jeffrey [2]; 12. 87-Aaron Reutzel [21]; 13. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [9]; 14. 41S-Dominic Scelzi [14]; 15. 7-Justin Henderson [23]; 16. O9-Matt Juhl [18]; 17. 17A-Austin McCarl [24]; 18. 2KS-Brooke Tatnell [22]; 19. 17W-Shane Golobic [19]; 20. 13-Paul McMahan [25]; 21. 17-Josh Baughman [16]; 22. 9-Kasey Kahne [5]; 23. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. [17]; 24. 44S-Trey Starks [20]; 25. 11-Zeb Wise [26]; 26. 20-AJ Moeller [11] Lap Leaders: Gio Scelzi (1-7), Kyle Larson (8-25)