America’s World of Outlaws sprint car series has resumed competition with the first event having been run on Friday night in Knoxville.

It was won by Knoxville Nationals champion David Gravel, with Australian Ian Madsen claiming second.

A total of four Aussies competed in the event, with Lynton Jeffrey classified seventh, Brooke Tatnell 17th, and Kerry Madsen 18th.

The invitation only event, which attracted $10,000 for the victor, was run behind closed doors. Teams were limited to five staff, and had their temperature scanned upon entry to the venue.

It also saw the return of dumped Chip Ganassi NASCAR driver Kyle Larson who ended the feature race in 10th.

The next race on the programme, set to take part on May 22-23 in Missouri (I-55), will take place “in front of a limited, socially distanced crowd in events paying $6,000-to-win on the Friday night and $10,000-to-win on Saturday night.”

Field sizes have been capped at 48 entries for Knoxville and I-55 events while individual circuit capacity determines the field size for others, with teams housed in every other pit stall.

The nine event competition is set to continue until mid-May with events at Lake Ozark Speedway, River Cities Speedway, Granite City Speedway, before a return for back-to-back nights at Knoxville on June 12-13.

The originally scheduled races on May 29 at Jacksonville Speedway and May 30 at Tri-State Speedway have been postponed.