PORT ROYAL, Pa. — After three straight runner-up finishes between Eldora Speedway and Williams Grove Speedway, Kyle Larson returned to the win column Friday night at Port Royal Speedway with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series.
Larson led all 25 laps from the pole and surged to a 1.606-second victory over Danny Dietrich.
It’s Larson’s 40th win of the season in 80 dirt-track starts, coming 20 days after his 39th score at Lincoln Speedway just down the road, the longest stretch between victories for the 27-year-old since racing resumed in May.
In all, it was his 11th World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series win this year.
“It’s good to get it,” Larson said of knocking down another milestone. “Now, we can look forward and try to get more. Our car has been really good all year. I felt like we got a little bit better here tonight at Port [Royal].”
It was a run-of-the-mill kind of night for Larson, who had everything fall his way and another sterling piece from Paul Silva and crew to capitalize.
Larson qualified third in the second flight and shot around Sheldon Haudenschild on lap one to cruise to the heat win. He then drew the pole for the dash, which set him up to start on the point in the main event.
“I felt really good in the dash and knew after that we’d be really good in the feature,” Larson said. “With it being a short race and the track just being really fast, I felt like if I could string together some good laps early, I wouldn’t have to worry much.”
Larson raced out to a 1.9-second advantage five laps in and caught the tail of the field in the process. That grew to 2.6 seconds by the halfway point, but then a five-car incident that included series point leader Brad Sweet stacked things up once again.
“I just had to hit my marks,” Larson said. “I never really had to worry, which was nice.”
In four laps, Larson regained his hefty two-second cushion and was well on his way to another win in a season of milestones. He also posted the fastest lap times of all the heats, the dash, and the feature.
“It certainly makes [the night] less stressful,” Larson said of Silva’s No. 57, which has had so much speed this year.
Haudenschild finished third, while Gio Scelzi and Brock Zearfoss rounded out the top five.
Anthony Macri placed sixth. Donny Schatz, the quick-time recipient with a lap of 15.190 seconds, finished seventh.
David Gravel, Freddie Rahmer, and Kerry Madsen completed the top 10.
To see full results, turn to the next page.