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Saturday at the Knoxville Nationals Sprintcar race in Knoxville, Iowa, started with 20 of 24 positions for the Championship race locked in, with a transfer position from the B-Main the only way for racers not already qualified to make the big show.
The E-main was the first race for the night, with Australians Brooke Tatnell and Rusty Hickman in action, with Tatnell off pole.
The Race was delayed by an extended red flag period after a frightening crash involving Nationals rookie Cody Ihlen, whose car cartwheeled end-to-end down the front straight on the green flag after what appeared to be contact with another car.
Ihlen was conscious and talking to safety crews, his extraction from the car required the roll-cage structure to be cut off by emergency crews.
Ihlen was taken to the Knoxville Area Community Hospital for further evaluation.
Tatnell led for a flag-to-flag victory, with Rusty Hickman also securing a transfer position finishing in fifth.
Lockie McHugh Started on the outside of the Front row of the D Main, alongside past visitor to Australian shores Harli White with Tatnell from 16th and Hickman from 20th.
McHugh made a great start and grabbed the lead from Turn 2, with a red flag with one lap to go his only challenger in the 12-lap race.
The red flag was for a crash and subsequent fire for Matt Covington, who was awake and talking to crews but resulted in another sustained delay as safety crews extracted him from the car.
The race finished with a green-white-checker finish with McHugh taking the win followed by Kade Higday, Mark Dobmier, Zach Hampton and Kraig Kinser in the transfer positions.
Sydney’s Lynton Jeffrey Lined up on the inside of the second row for the Night’s C-Main, With Lockie McHugh from the outside of the 10th row.
With the top four moving into the B Main, there was passing aplenty throughout the field as drivers fought to keep their Knoxville Nationals dream alive.
Lynton Jeffrey was strong, taking the lead on Lap 6 but with a yellow flag flying at the same time for a stricken Christopher Thram (with a blown left-rear tyre), he would move back to second on the restart.
With 10 laps to run at the restart, Jeffrey went to work on Justin Sanders and took the lead coming out of Turn 4 and was never challenged, going on to win the race by over two seconds and continuing the theme of Australians winning every race so far on the night.
Northern Territorian James McFadden started from the outside of the front row for the Last Chance Showdown, outside of Justin Peck with Lynton Jeffrey Starting from the 21st position.
With 22 laps left to run, the drop of the green saw J-Mac stamp his authority on the race with a sweeping high to low move to shut down Justin Peck.
In a stunning turn of events, McFadden was battling hard with Peck for the lead when he lost a left rear tyre into Turn 1 while trying to run the high line, putting the right rear into the fence and a series of rolls that would end his night in the Roth Motorsports #83.
He would climb from the wrecked car under his own power, saying afterwards, “I think we’ve seen it a couple of times this week [tyre explosions]. There’s not much you can do when we are going so fast at this place”.
“You just kinda shut your eyes, and hope you come out the other side not feeling too bad.”
“Saw a few birds flying around my head for a while there but I’m not feeling too bad now”, he said.
Tyre issues were the story of the night as Austin McCarl came to the work zone to change a left rear, virtually forfeiting a transfer position.
Justin Peck would take the win, and the transferring cars to the Championship Race being Parker Price-Miller, veteran Bryan Brown and Sheldon Haudenschild.
Kyle Larson and Rico Abreu made up the front row of the biggest race on the planet for Sprintcars, the 62nd Knoxville Nationals, a 50-lap affair made up of two separate 25 lap segments.
The Madsen brothers, Kerry and Ian, along with Scott Bogucki, would be carrying the hopes of Australia, with Kerry out of position seven, Ian out of 11th and Bogucki off the back row.
At the green, Larson moved to the lead immediately as 10-time WOO Champ Donny Schatz moved into second ahead of Abreu and Macedo, with Kerry Madsen holding steady in fifth.
A long green flag run to start the race ensued, with Larson finding a grove in the high line while David Gravel was the big mover from toward the rear of the field up to 9th.
The first yellow of the race was out on Lap 15 with Chase Randall losing a right rear tyre, continuing the tyre issues prevalent throughout the field all weekend.
Under the yellow it became clear that Rico Abreu had a right rear running flat, pulling to the infield from a podium position to change it under yellow, resulting in him being sent to the rear of the field.
Gio Scelzi had his hands full with Gravel threatening for sixth position, with four-time World of Outlaws Champ Brad Sweet joining the party on Lap 24.
At the scheduled break, Larson was comfortable holding the lead and did not look under any pressure as he ran down the laps to the break, which came out on Lap 26.
During the open red flag, crews were permitted to fine tune the setup and change tyres, as well as adding fuel.
Tyres were the biggest concern of almost every team, with every car changing at least the right rear if not both rear tyres.
The Lap 27 restart was all positive for Larson who cleared out, as Schatz fund himself under attack from logan Schuchart who took the position and moved to second.
With 10 laps left, Larson had a 2.5s lead over Schuchart who appeared to lose an engine to bring out a caution, once again giving Donny Schatz a sniff of victory as he would start second on the Lap 41 restart.
Schatz, Gio Scelzi and Carson Macedo put on a show in the race for third, with the drivers going three wide on more than one occasion.
Larson was flawless, cutting through traffic to take a flag-to flag victory in his second Knoxville Nationals win with David Gravel in second having risen from his 22nd starting position, with Donny Schatz bringing home his car in third for his 20th Knoxville Nationals podium in 25 starts.
Larson is only the second driver ever to lead all 50 Laps of the Knoxville Nationals Feature race, after Donny Schatz did so in 2016.
“To win another Nationals feels amazing, when you’ve got guys like Rico and Donny and Gravel coming from deep, it’s amazing”, he said after the race.
“This place takes rubber quickly; I knew Gravel was coming there towards the end and I was praying for no cautions and it all just worked out”.
With the win Larson solidifies his place in history as one of the most versatile drivers in the modern era of motorsport, with a NASCAR Cup Series title, Knoxville Nationals Sprint Car victories as well as Chilli Bowl Midget titles.
He will also contest the 2024 Indy 500 with Arrow McLaren.
Kerry Madsen would finish the best of the Aussies in ninth.
