Ever since Kyle Larson lost everything, the spotlight has only gotten brighter.
At a time when the world had stopped and it looked like there would be nothing to talk about, the headlines quickly shifted to Larson.
He lost his sponsors, his ride, his image – and there was nothing bigger to focus on. The attention stayed on the guy who drove the 42.
Fast forward to August 15. The attention remains, for different reasons, on the driver of the 57.
Larson captured the victory – leading all 30 laps – in Saturday’s Capitani Classic main event at Knoxville Raceway.
It was his third win in his past four World of Outlaws starts and it came against the toughest competition yet.
“That’s what makes this special for me,” Larson said. “(Paul Silva) has gone through a lot this year with everything that I’ve gone through. I put him in a spot to have to work a lot harder this year and race more than he anticipated. For us to go out there and have the season we’ve had, and to win most of the big paying races this year… it definitely means a lot to me and goes a long way like I said for him.”
The circumstances, though, have made Larson better.
He ripped through Indiana Midget Week, took the Brad Doty Classic at Attica in July, and set a record for consecutive victories in the All Star Circuit of Champions before winning his latest race this week.
Dominance is an understatement used to describe what he’s doing.
“I think (the frequency at which we’re running) is better for both Paul and I,” Larson said. “Getting more laps for him as a mechanic – he’s dangerous and he’s really really smart. It’s giving him more opportunities than he’s had in the past couple of years to get things going really really good.”
The run on dirt has changed the physique of Larson as well.
“Then I think, for myself, to stay in the rhythm of racing sprint cars definitely helps too,” Larson said. “You’ve got to be really fit to run these cars. You’re sprint car fitness is just not like anything else. I just feel like I can stay calm behind the wheel and that always helps.”
He looked calm at the helm of his car on Saturday night, if anything, holding off David Gravel after a late-race caution for James McFadden forced his hand on a green-white-checkered finish.
Behind Gravel was Logan Schuchart, who will leave Knoxville as the World of Outlaws points leader.
“It’s defenitely a positive in August,” Schuchart said. “Our team has been very consistent this year. I was trying really hard to win this, but it was still a great run.”
Schuchart holds the points lead over Brad Sweet and Donny Schatz – a largely successful driver at Knoxville Raceway since the turn of the century.
Schatz put on a show on Saturday night, but not the one the fans in the stands are used to.
After his crew had to make a complete engine change before the end of the night – their second of the week – Schatz started 17th in the C-Main before racing his way into the big show.
There, the 15 car made up ground, but ultimately got lapped by Larson.
“My thought was, I wanted to lap him really bad,” Larson said. “He’s been so good here for a couple of decades now. Anytime you see the 15 in front of you, you want to pass him, but when you are about to lap him it’s different. He had a pretty tough week and to see the adversity he had to overcome to get to the main – that was something that probably only Donny Schatz can do.”
The World of Outlaws Sprint Cars will return to the track next weekend as they head north to River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
2020 Capitani Classic Results
1. Kyle Larson
2. David Gravel
3. Logan Schuchart
4. Carson Macedo
5. Spencer Bayston
6. Brad Sweet
7. Sheldon Haudenschild
8. Austin McCarl
9. Rico Abreu
10. Daryn Pittman
11. Cory Eliason
12. Donny Schatz
13. Gio Scelzi
14. Joey Saldana
15. Danny Dietrich
16. Brian Brown
17. Matt Juhl
18. Shane Stewart
19. Brock Zearfoss
20. Jacob Allen
21. James McFadden
22. Shane Golobic
23. Terry McCarl
24. Aaron Reutzel
