Kyle Larson Rallies From 10th To Score Duffy Smith Memorial All Star Win At Wayne County

Story By: TYLER ALTMEYER / ALL STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS – ORRVILLE, OH – A mere-24 hours after earning the 2021 NASCAR All-Star Race victory at Texas Motor Speedway, “Yung Money” Kyle Larson was back behind the wheel of a sprint car.

Larson was joining the FloRacing All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 for round three of the 39th running of Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Hercules Tires at Wayne County Speedway in Orrville, Ohio.

The quick trip to “Orrville’s Historic Oval” proved victorious for the Elk Grove, California-native, capping the evening with an impressive rally from row five, working by second-year All Star and recent high school graduate, Zeb Wise, on lap 30 of 35 for the $6,000 payday.

Impressive enough, Larson’s Duffy Smith Memorial/Wayne County Speedway victory bumps his career win total to 25 with the Tony Stewart-owned organization, four of which in Orrville. Zeb Wise raced on to finish second to Larson, followed by Paul McMahan, Buddy Kofoid, and Cale Thomas.

“I always have fun at Wayne County. I love this place,” Kyle Larson said in victory lane, driver of Paul Silva’s Folkens Brothers Trucking/Durst/Finley Farms/MAVTV/No. 57 sprint car. “Just an awesome race car tonight. It was a night and day difference between the heat, dash, and feature. Paul Silva works really hard and he figured things out.”

Despite starting tenth on the grid, Larson made his presence known immediately, ultimately using the first five laps to push ahead to fifth before setting aim on the foursome ahead of him which included Jac Haudenschild, Buddy Kofoid, Zeb Wise, and early leader, Paul McMahan.

A series of cautions and red flag incidents between laps 14 and 23 kept the field bunched giving Larson the opportunity to advance further and at a quicker pace. Using each of the ensuing restarts to his advantage, Larson moved around Haudenschild to steal fourth on lap 18, next driving by Buddy Kofoid for third on lap 20. Three circuits later, Larson was second, sliding by Nashville’s Paul McMahan after a lap 23 caution and open red. Meanwhile, Zeb Wise was now in charge of the point, gaining the top spot over Paul McMahan with a slider of his own back on lap 16.

Jumping out to a quick lead after the aforementioned lap 23 restart, Wise did all that he could to outrun Larson’s No. 57, but the Angola, Indiana-native was eventually tracked down. Lap after lap Larson made progress, setting up his bid for the lead during early stages of traffic on lap 30. Pulling even with Wise in turn three, Larson would power through the corner and beat Wise in a drag race back to the start/finish line. Larson was now the man in charge and that is where he stayed.

“This is probably the best I’ve seen this place,” Larson continued. “I was really able to rip the fence in three and four, and I think that’s where I was stronger than Zeb. I was able to show him my nose a little bit in one and two to get him thinking which made him change his line in three and four. He just kinda spun off of the corner and I was able to get a good run.

“I think my pass on Jac Haudenschild really set the tone for the rest of my race. He’s so good here and he’s able to make a lot of momentum in any lane.”

Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Hercules Tires will resume competition on Tuesday evening, June 15, at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio. Cory Eliason, a third-year touring member of the All Star Circuit of Champions, now sits on top of the Ohio Sprint Speedweek standings, using his Wayne County finish to propel past Danny Dietrich by two markers.

Contingency Awards/Results: Wayne County Speedway | Monday, June 14, 2021:
Event: Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Hercules Tires
Entries: 49
C&R Racing Hot Laps: Jac Haudenschild | 14.880
Dixie Vodka Fast Qualifier: Tyler Courtney | 14.460
Ford Performance Heat #1 Winner: Kyle Reinhardt
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2 Winner: Cap Henry
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3 Winner: Cory Eliason
Mobil 1 Heat #4 Winner: Tim Shaffer
Kistler Racing Products Heat #5 Winner: Buddy Kofoid
Kear’s Speed Shop Dash #1 Winner: Zeb Wise
Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts Dash #2 Winner: Paul McMahan
Classic Ink USA Screenprinting & Embroidery B-Main Winner: Tyler Courtney
Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: DJ Foos
FloRacing A-Main Winner: Kyle Larson
Hercules Tires A-Main Hard Charger: Tyler Courtney (+14)

Qualifying

Group (A)
1. 16-DJ Foos, 14.759; 2. 25R-Jordan Ryan, 14.806; 3. 70-Trey Jacobs, 14.832; 4. 91-Kyle Reinhardt, 14.861; 5. 23-Chris Andrews, 15.014; 6. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr., 15.057; 7. 18J-RJ Jacobs, 15.130; 8. 35-Stuart Brubaker, 15.229; 9. 14Z-Wyatt Zimmerman, 15.266; 10. 6Z-Zach Ames, 15.699

Group (B)
1. 22-Brandon Spithaler, 14.612; 2. 57-Kyle Larson, 14.676; 3. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 14.820; 4. 4-Cap Henry, 14.899; 5. 11-Ian Madsen, 14.919; 6. 18T-Tanner Holmes, 15.055; 7. 101-Lachlan McHugh, 15.197; 8. 57X-Andrew Palker, 15.238; 9. 16M-Danny Mumaw, 15.361; 10. D12-Jason Dolick, 16.029

Group (C)
1. 24-Rico Abreu, 14.533; 2. 5-Paul McMahan, 14.753; 3. 26-Cory Eliason, 14.753; 4. 22H-Jac Haudenschild, 14.763; 5. 13-Justin Peck, 15.003; 6. O7-Skylar Gee, 15.033; 7. 3C-Cale Conley, 15.039; 8. 8M-TJ Michael, 15.141; 9. 70M-Henry Malcuit, 15.306; 10. 19-Max Stambaugh, 15.685

Group (D)
1. 10-Zeb Wise, 14.754; 2. 17B-Bill Balog, 14.900; 3. 1F-Dean Jacobs, 14.918; 4. 28-Tim Shaffer, 15.000; 5. 48-Danny Dietrich, 15.030; 6. 38K-Chris Myers, 15.136; 7. 83M-Broc Martin, 15.153; 8. 2-Ricky Peterson, 15.300; 9. 1-Nate Dussel, 15.320; 10. W20-Greg Wilson, 15.413

Group (E)
1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 14.460; 2. 49X-Cale Thomas, 14.772; 3. 5x-Buddy Kofoid, 14.879; 4. 18-Cole Macedo, 14.898; 5. 81-Lee Jacobs, 15.098; 6. 4S-Tyler Street, 15.131; 7. 24W-Garet Williamson, 15.356; 8. 7DK-Dylan Kingan, 15.728; 9. 20-Daniel Burkhart, 16.429

Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [1]; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. [6]; 3. 23-Chris Andrews [5]; 4. 25R-Jordan Ryan [3]; 5. 35-Stuart Brubaker [8]; 6. 18J-RJ Jacobs [7]; 7. 16-DJ Foos [4]; 8. 6Z-Zach Ames [10]; 9. 70-Trey Jacobs [2]; 10. 14Z-Wyatt Zimmerman [9]

Heat #2 – Group (B) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 4-Cap Henry [1]; 2. 57-Kyle Larson [3]; 3. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [2]; 4. 11-Ian Madsen [5]; 5. 22-Brandon Spithaler [4]; 6. 16M-Danny Mumaw [9]; 7. 18T-Tanner Holmes [6]; 8. D12-Jason Dolick [10]; 9. 101-Lachlan McHugh [7]; 10. 57X-Andrew Palker [8]

Heat #3 – Group (C) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 26-Cory Eliason [2]; 2. 22H-Jac Haudenschild [1]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu [4]; 4. 5-Paul McMahan [3]; 5. 13-Justin Peck [5]; 6. O7-Skylar Gee [6]; 7. 8M-TJ Michael [8]; 8. 3C-Cale Conley [7]; 9. 70M-Henry Malcuit [9]; 10. 19-Max Stambaugh [10]

Heat #4 – Group (D) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 28-Tim Shaffer [1]; 2. 17B-Bill Balog [3]; 3. 10-Zeb Wise [4]; 4. 48-Danny Dietrich [5]; 5. 1F-Dean Jacobs [2]; 6. 38K-Chris Myers [6]; 7. 2-Ricky Peterson [8]; 8. W20-Greg Wilson [10]; 9. 1-Nate Dussel [9]; 10. 83M-Broc Martin [7]

Heat #5 – Group (E) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 5X-Buddy Kofoid [2]; 2. 18-Cole Macedo [1]; 3. 49X-Cale Thomas [3]; 4. 81-Lee Jacobs [5]; 5. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [4]; 6. 4S-Tyler Street [6]; 7. 24W-Garet Williamson [7]; 8. 7DK-Dylan Kingan [8]; 9. 20-Daniel Burkhart [9]

Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 10-Zeb Wise [4]; 2. 22H-Jac Haudenschild [6]; 3. 25R-Jordan Ryan [1]; 4. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [2]; 5. 49X-Cale Thomas [5]; 6. 26-Cory Eliason [3]

Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 5-Paul McMahan [1]; 2. 5X-Buddy Kofoid [2]; 3. 4-Cap Henry [3]; 4. 24-Rico Abreu [4]; 5. 57-Kyle Larson [5]; 6. 28-Tim Shaffer [6]

C-Main (10 Laps) – Top 2 Transfer
1. 3C-Cale Conley [1]; 2. W20-Greg Wilson [2]; 3. 101-Lachlan McHugh [7]; 4. 7DK-Dylan Kingan [4]; 5. 1-Nate Dussel [9]; 6. 20-Daniel Burkhart [10]; 7. 6Z-Zach Ames [3]; 8. 14Z-Wyatt Zimmerman [13]; 9. 57X-Andrew Palker [12]; 10. 70M-Henry Malcuit [8]; 11. 19-Max Stambaugh [14]; 12. D12-Jason Dolick [5]; 13. 70-Trey Jacobs [6]; 14. 83M-Broc Martin [11]

B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [1]; 2. 13-Justin Peck [4]; 3. 22-Brandon Spithaler [2]; 4. 1F-Dean Jacobs [3]; 5. 16-DJ Foos [11]; 6. 35-Stuart Brubaker [5]; 7. 8M-TJ Michael [13]; 8. 18T-Tanner Holmes [12]; 9. 2-Ricky Peterson [14]; 10. 3C-Cale Conley [16]; 11. W20-Greg Wilson [17]; 12. 16M-Danny Mumaw [10]; 13. 4S-Tyler Street [8]; 14. 24W-Garet Williamson [15]; 15. 38K-Chris Myers [9]; 16. O7-Skylar Gee [6]; 17. 18J-RJ Jacobs [7]

A-Main (35 Laps)
1. 57-Kyle Larson [10]; 2. 10-Zeb Wise [1]; 3. 5-Paul McMahan [2]; 4. 5X-Buddy Kofoid [4]; 5. 49X-Cale Thomas [9]; 6. 24-Rico Abreu [8]; 7. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [21]; 8. 26-Cory Eliason [11]; 9. 4-Cap Henry [6]; 10. 25R-Jordan Ryan [5]; 11. 48-Danny Dietrich [19]; 12. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [7]; 13. 17B-Bill Balog [14]; 14. 28-Tim Shaffer [12]; 15. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. [15]; 16. 22-Brandon Spithaler [23]; 17. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [16]; 18. 11-Ian Madsen [18]; 19. 81-Lee Jacobs [20]; 20. 18-Cole Macedo [13]; 21. 1F-Dean Jacobs [24]; 22. 13-Justin Peck [22]; 23. 23-Chris Andrews [17]; 24. 22H-Jac Haudenschild [3] Lap Leaders: Paul McMahan (1-15), Zeb Wise (16-29), Kyle Larson (30-35)