Chase Randall drove from 18th to ninth in his run through the field of the Knoxville 360 Nationals on Saturday.
Although, the pass he made to secure P13 might have stuck out more than all of them put together.
Randall took away the 13th position from motorsports star and defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson in the midst of his P9 run.
“There’s nothing like it,” Randall said of passing Larson. “The feelings haven’t sunk in yet. It was our first Nationals appearance, getting rookie of the year and I think hard charger as well. I mean 18th-to-9th is pretty cool. I’m already looking forward to next year and hoping to start a little further up front.”
Randall earned a $500 bonus for winning the Jetco Rookie of the Race award, finishing the highest in the event out of 29 first-year drivers in the race.
At one point, Randall passed two cars in the same lap to put himself in the top 10 at a time in the race where passing came at a premium.
The 17 year-old put on a show.
“It gives me a lot of confidence – especially running here in the weekly series and competing for those wins,” Randall said. “Just all of the improvements being made all year is what drives that confidence. Holding onto that (for this result) is pretty cool.”
