The second time in his career Kyle Larson cruised to the top spot in the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup.
In his first start with the All-Star Circuit of Champions, Larson grabbed the victory. It was his 61st top ten in 67 A-Main All-Star starts.
It was a learning lesson on a restart that helped propel Larson to the lead. An early race restart saw Justin Peck rocket around Larson using the top. However it was called back when the restart cone was hit. Larson used that lesson Peck gave him to his advantage.
🏁 @KyleLarsonRacin rips the top to win the @tezos @ASCoC Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup at @Lernerville! pic.twitter.com/tAZVRJIfYu
— FloRacing (@FloRacing) July 7, 2022
To the top of the track Larson went and he went from fourth to second on the next restart. Another caution flew and it put arguably the hottest sprint car driver on the planet, Brent Marks, to the front bumper of Larson. In no time, Larson went high in turns one and two and took over the lead. He never looked back and never relinquished the lead.
Starting sixth, Larson picked off two spots quickly in the first few laps of the feature. He was able to go around Rico Abreu and Hunter Schuerenberg on a restart then make it up to the top spot past Marks on the next restart. Larson had to work through lap traffic late.
A couple of bobbles in lap traffic allowed Marks to catch Larson. During Pennsylvania Speedweek, Marks worked over Larson and stole a couple wins from the NASCAR Champion. This night, Larson would bobble and Marks closed the gap. However, instead of being close enough to make a difference, Larson drove away from Marks.
Larson was able to pull away using both the top of the track and the bottom to grab his first All-Stars win of the year. Marks placed second and it was Justin Peck making the moves late to grab the third spot.
The All-Star Circuit of Champions points battle took a big change for the night when Tyler Courtney had an issue early on. He and Sye Lynch brought out an early caution after Courtney slowed. Lynch made contact with the No. 7BC and both had to go to the work area. Courtney was able to rejoin at the tail. Despite the problems, Courtney grabbed a top ten run and salvage a solid points night even with Peck placing third.
