KNOXVILLE, Iowa — The Sprint Car Capital of the World gave fans all they could ask for Saturday night. A wide track with multiple grooves and plenty of racing room. An early battle for the lead. Cars charging through the field. And a drag race to the checkered flag.
It was Rico Abreu who made the coveted right turn into Knoxville Raceway’s victory lane to win the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series main event.
Abreu snatched the lead from Aaron Reutzel on Lap 9 and narrowly held off Kyle Larson’s final corner Hail Mary to win the Premier Chevy Dealers Clash.
“I knew someone was coming,” Abreu admitted. “I just appreciate Ricky Warner, his critical thinking, thoughtfulness, and execution on this race car and Zack (Middlebrooks) and Brady (Forbrook). We put these packages together and come here just to race against the best guys in the business.”
Abreu’s victory was his 18th with The Greatest Show on Dirt, equaling him with Brad Doty for 33rd all-time.
The key to scoring Saturday’s main event was picking the right spots in traffic. Lapped cars became a major factor late, and Abreu negotiated them just enough to stay ahead of Larson when the checkered flag flew.
“I’m just thinking through the process and dissecting my car in lapped traffic,” Abreu explained. “I’ve really got to think about hitting my marks. I knew somebody was going to be coming with how much I had to move around on the racing surface. Knoxville Raceway is definitely becoming one of my favorite tracks in the world.”
Larson’s runner-up finish marked his eighth consecutive podium with the World of Outlaws aboard the Silva Motorsports No. 57.
“I wish I wouldn’t have had to try a Hail Mary,” Larson said. “I wish I would’ve just not made so many mistakes. Once I got to second, I could piece a couple good laps together, and then I’d push a little too hard and mess up. The bottom if you could hit it was really fast, but if you missed it, it was worth probably more than you could gain. I screwed up a few times and kind of lost touch of him but was able to piece together a really good (Turns) 1 and 2 there on the last lap. We just had that lapper in front of us and was kind of stuck. I got there, but I was just too stuck to have enough clean air on exit.”
Logan Schuchart and the Shark Racing crew rounded out the podium, logging their third consecutive top three.
“We weren’t as good as what we needed to be,” Schuchart said. “I wish I would’ve got to the top in the very beginning and just ripped around there, but it’s hard as the leader when you start like that to know where to go. I felt like we were good. We actually started catching back up to them the last few laps in traffic. It was a good run, a podium finish here at Knoxville with close to 70 cars and as good of a field as you’re going to see in August lining up on Saturday night.”
Tyler Courtney and Aaron Reutzel completed the top five.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 24A-Rico Abreu[3]; 2. 57-Kyle Larson[9]; 3. 1S-Logan Schuchart[1]; 4. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[4]; 5. 87-Aaron Reutzel[2]; 6. 2-David Gravel[10]; 7. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[5]; 8. 88-Austin McCarl[12]; 9. 49-Brad Sweet[16]; 10. 27-Emerson Axsom[7]; 11. 21-Brian Brown[6]; 12. 83-Michael Kofoid[25]; 13. 2C-Cole Macedo[13]; 14. 14-Spencer Bayston[15]; 15. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[27]; 16. 10-Ryan Timms[11]; 17. 15-Donny Schatz[28]; 18. 27M-Carson McCarl[8]; 19. 9R-Chase Randall[22]; 20. 55V-Kerry Madsen[19]; 21. 71-Parker Price Miller[17]; 22. 22-Riley Goodno[14]; 23. 2M-JJ Hickle[21]; 24. 23-Garet Williamson[18]; 25. 17B-Bill Balog[24]; 26. 7S-Chris Windom[20]; 27. 41-Carson Macedo[23]; 28. 3P-Sawyer Phillips[26]
