SARVER, Pa. — Kyle Larson made it look relatively easy on Wednesday evening at Lernerville Speedway, taking command from row three before collecting a $25,000 payday in the 31st edition of the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup.
Impressive enough, the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion was forced to outduel one of the hottest competitors on dirt, Brent Marks, in his Silver Cup quest, powering around the PA Speedweek champion after a lap-seven restart.
The Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 victory was Larson’s first of the season and the 27th of his career. In addition, Larson is now a two-time Silver Cup champion.
Larson’s move around Marks sealed the deal, but it was his maneuver around Rico Abreu and Hunter Schuerenberg that put Larson in a position to pounce, passing each of them in the same circuit following a lap-four restart.
“I knew the top was way better down in one and two,” Larson continued. “I was able to get to second then another caution came out. I was hoping Brent (Marks) wasn’t going to move up…he didn’t and I was able to get by. From that point, I was just trying to run some really hard laps out front. Our car was really good tonight.”
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 57-Kyle Larson [6]; 2. 19M-Brent Marks [1]; 3. 13-Justin Peck [7]; 4. 19-Chris Windom [5]; 5. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [2]; 6. 10-Zeb Wise [10]; 7. 24-Rico Abreu [4]; 8. 4-Cap Henry [15]; 9. 17B-Bill Balog [14]; 10. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [3]; 11. 28-Tim Shaffer [23]; 12. 2-AJ Flick [9]; 13. 11-Parker Price Miller [18]; 14. 1AU-Marcus Dumesny [22]; 15. 22-Brandon Spithaler [20]; 16. 17-Carson Short [21]; 17. 97-Greg Wilson [16]; 18. 12-Darin Gallagher [25]; 19. 20B-Cody Bova [11]; 20. 29-Logan McCandless [17]; 21. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [19]; 22. 91T-Cale Thomas [13]; 23. 13M-Brandon Matus [24]; 24. 1-Logan Wagner [8]; 25. 42-Sye Lynch [12]