Only twice in the history of the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series has a driver been able to win the Kings Royal, the Knoxville Nationals, and the National Open in the same season.
Doug Wolfgang swept the three events in 1985 and Donny Schatz did it during his 2007 season.
On Saturday night, Kyle Larson will attempt to become the third, and his weekend at Williams Grove is off to a good start.
“It’s been since Knoxville since I was in a sprint car, so it felt pretty fast at the start,” Larson said on DirtVision. “I didn’t think I’d have the chance to race here this year, but luckily I’ve got a great team in NASCAR that lets me.”
A field of 49 cars took to the historic track on Friday night for the preliminary night of the weekend and watched Larson drive his No. 57 car away from the field.
Logan Schuchart kept Larson close and even slid past him on a play where the 57 bobbled, but would end up settling for second place on the night.
“Yeah I started sniffing some dirty air,” Larson said on DirtVision. “It was hard to see the cushion. I just got over it. We really just caught a lot of breaks tonight.”
Donny Schatz ended the night in third, but said in victory lane that, “tonight was the night to try stuff.”
The night wasn’t missing the action though, either.
Brad Sweet spun early after starting P26 in the A-Main, and it looked like David Gravel would wind up in a prime spot to take a bite out of his points lead.
Instead, Gravel succumbed to mechanical issues, ending his night with a DNF about midway through the race while he was running ninth.
The series will get ready to do the whole thing again Saturday, and all eyes will be on the No. 57 car.
Larson’s just hopeful that they’ll be looking ahead for his car and not behind.
“I’m thankful,” Larson said. “Hopefully we can get a couple more wins this weekend.”
