“Yung Money” equals Craig Dollansky for the most victories in the demanding event and banks $25,000
By Alex Nieten | August 4, 2024 | Trent Gower Photo
There seems to be no stopping Kyle Larson at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55.
To open Federated Auto Parts Ironman 55 weekend on Friday Larson pieced together a miraculous charge from 21st to victory in 30 laps. He punctuated that performance with a last lap, last corner pass to seal the deal. That marked the longest drive to a win with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars in 11 years.
The stage set for “Yung Money” on Saturday was a 12th place starting position with 55 laps to get the job done. Looking at the math from the night before, the task seemed like a simple one. But of course, driving through a field with the country’s best Sprint Car drivers in it two nights in a row is far from easy. But Larson managed to pull it off anyway.
The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion methodically picked his way to the front over the course of the longest race in laps on the 2024 World of Outlaws calendar. It started with a strong first rotation that saw him go from 12th to ninth. Six circuits later he cracked the top five. And then on Lap 44 he slipped under race-long leader Giovanni Scelzi to take the top spot and then sped away.
“I was just fortunate enough to get a good initial start and kind of be the first one to the top to get to fifth,” Larson said. “I was really struggling there before the open red, so that was nice to be able to get Paul (Silva) to turn some wrenches on this thing and get me freed up. That really allowed me to kind of get through the waves in (Turn) 1 and get through the middle and get pointed off of (Turn) 2 much better.
“That was a fun race. I hope all of you fans enjoyed that. Ironman 55 is probably my favorite Sprint Car race of the year. It’s tough, long. I really enjoy these long races. Cool to three-peat this.”
The three-peat Larson mentioned is due to the fact that he’s won all three Ironman 55 editions that he’s entered (2020, 2023, and 2024). The three wins ties Craig Dollansky’s record mark for the most that had stood alone since he topped three straight from 2011 to 2013. He’s now up to five wins in seven tries at I-55 with The Greatest Show on Dirt, putting him just one checkered flag away from tying Sammy Swindell and Brad Sweet for the most. It also moves the Pevely, MO bullring within one of Knoxville Raceway for the winningest track on Larson’s World of Outlaws résumé.
He passed a total of 31 Sprint Cars over the course of 85 Feature laps through the two nights and banked $37,000.
Giovanni Scelzi and Donny Schatz led the field to green for the 55-lapper. Scelzi used the pole position to pull ahead of Schatz and lead the opening lap.
Scelzi managed to stretch out the advantage a bit through the early laps. Schatz settled into second with Carson Macedo in third. A little way behind them Larson began his journey through the field.
Even once traffic became a factor Schatz struggled to find the speed necessary to catch Scelzi. One lap he’d cut into the advantage, and the next Scelzi would pad it again.
Macedo used a restart with 34 laps remaining to muscle by Schatz for second shortly before a red flag ended the night for a pair of frontrunners. Contact with a lapped car sent fourth-running Corey Day into Michael Kofoid and sent Day upside down.
The stoppage turned into an open red to allow teams to refuel, and on the restart Schatz found his way back into second as Larson jumped into third. And then a restart with 22 laps remaining gave Larson the opportunity he needed to snatch second from Schatz, leaving only Scelzi between himself and a weekend sweep.
Larson patiently worked the low and middle grooves of the racetrack as Scelzi stayed committed to the top. Little by little Larson chipped away, and on Lap 44 he pulled the trigger on a slider that stuck for the top spot. From there Larson never looked back on his way to a record-tying third Ironman 55.
“I was actually really surprised about the restart after the fuel stop,” Larson recalled. “I almost got to second into (Turn) 3 by diamonding (Turns) 1 and 2. I didn’t expect that, so I knew my car was better right away. I knew I needed to take advantage of that. I lined up third, caution came right back out, and the bottom was better. My engine took off really good, and then I just kind of paced and hoped for no caution because I didn’t want to be on the outside for a restart. It just worked out really good for us.”
Donny Schatz brought the Tony Stewart/Curb Agajanian Racing No. 15 home second. The 10-time World of Outlaws champion continues to bang on the door of an Ironman 55 as the dumbbell trophy has eluded him to this point. Saturday marked five runner-up finishes in the grueling race.
“Every time I was on the outside I was getting passed by cars on the inside,” Schatz said of restarts. “Being on the inside of the second row was probably better on those restarts. We capitalized on it, just tried to move around the racetrack. I guess I’m just glad that’s over with a decent run. It was pretty demanding. It feels like 200-degrees in the car. I’m not used to that, but that’s the way it goes. It was a good race. Kyle did a good job.”
Rounding out the Ironman 55 podium was Carson Macedo in the Jason Johnson Racing machine. The Lemoore, CA native continues to be one of the most consistent drivers at I-55 with his fifth consecutive top five run and seventh podium in the last 10 tries at the bullring.
“I think Philip Dietz, Adam Zimmerman, and Robby McQuinn gave me a great race car,” Macedo said. “I feel like I was pretty versatile. I’d get to bouncing a little bit through the middle, but I could make a lot of speed up top. I just had one big mistake on my part. I think I got a little eager on the fuel and kind of maybe got it too loaded up. Then when I went to fire off on that restart there and kind of got stuck out there and let Donny and Kyle get by.”
- Giovanni Scelzi and Logan Schuchart completed the top five.
- Larson’s run from 12th to the win also earned him back-to-back KSE Racing Hard Chargers.
- Carson Macedo claimed his Series leading ninth Simpson Quick Time of 2024 and the 42nd of his career in Sea Foam Qualifying.
- NOS Energy Drink Heats One, Three, and Four belonged to Sheldon Haudenschild, Carson Macedo, and Logan Schuchart. Milton Hershey School Heat Two went to Giovanni Scelzi.
- Giovanni Scelzi topped the Toyota Racing Dash.
- Jessie Attard won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.
- The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Brock Zearfoss.
UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars roll to Knoxville Raceway for the 63rd running of the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s on August 7-10. For tickets, CLICK HERE.
If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.
FEATURE RESULTS:
NOS Energy Drink Feature (55 Laps): 1. 57-Kyle Larson[12]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz[2]; 3. 41-Carson Macedo[3]; 4. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[1]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart[8]; 6. 2-David Gravel[10]; 7. 83-Michael Kofoid[14]; 8. 17B-Bill Balog[13]; 9. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[6]; 10. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[4]; 11. 53-Jessie Attard[21]; 12. 49J-Josh Schneiderman[19]; 13. 20G-Noah Gass[16]; 14. 34-Sterling Cling[18]; 15. 70-Kraig Kinser[11]; 16. 37B-Bryce Norris[23]; 17. 6-Kelby Watt[17]; 18. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[9]; 19. 14-Corey Day[5]; 20. 37-Ayden Gatewood[15]; 21. 21R-Gunner Ramey[20]; 22. 7A-Will Armitage[7]; 23. 50K-Thomas Meseraull[24]; 24. 24T-Christopher Thram[22]
Alex Nieten | World Of Outlaws | Trent Gower Photos
