A night after his eight-race victory streak ended, Kyle Larson rediscovered his winning ways Saturday -- and so did his World of Outlaws sprint car team.
Larson outdueled Buddy Kofoid and Thomas Meseraull at Lawrenceburg Speedway in Indiana to win for the fourth time in five races of the 16th annual Indiana Midget Week.
With his ninth career victory at Indiana Midget Week, Larson tied a record set by the late Bryan Clauson.
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Larson, who has won eight of his past nine starts on dirt ovals over the past two weeks, also is the first driver with four victories during a single Indiana Midget Week.
“That was a fun race,” Larson said, according to Richie Murray of USACRacing.com. “You had to work for that one, and once again, (we had) a good enough car to keep us in contention. Chad Boat and everybody there, they prepare such nice cars, probably the nicest midgets in the pits.”
He will take a 57-point lead over Kofoid into Sunday’s sixth and final round at Kokomo Speedway.
But the good news didn’t end there for Larson.
About an hour earlier and 200 miles away on the western edge of the state, Kyle Larson Racing driver Carson Macdeo won at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Indiana, for his first World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink victory of the season.
Got the win tongiht! Thank you Kyle Larson, @Tarlton_Racing, @SeanDys241, @GoProMotorplex, @durst_inc, Lucas Oil, and especially my @KLRteam team for believeing in me! Had a lot of fun tongiht 👍🏻👍🏻 https://t.co/jdUjAaKai9
— Carson Macedo (@carson_macedo) June 21, 2020
The 2019 Outlaws rookie of the year beat Brad Sweet, Larson’s brother in law, by 0.064 seconds.
Macedo led the first 28 laps before being passed by Sweet. After a caution, Macedo retook the lead on the restart and held off the 2019 series champion while navigating traffic.
“I wanted to win really bad,” Macedo said in a World of Outlaws release about his sixth career victory. “When (Sweet) passed me on the restart, I basically said, ‘I was going to commit and either crash it or try to win. I felt really good. When your race car is really good, it’s easy to make those kinds of decisions.”
Larson has three Outlaws victories of his own this year while focusing on dirt racing for the past eight weeks after being suspended indefinitely by NASCAR for using a racial slur during an iRacing event.
He won eight consecutive starts on dirt in three series (All Star Circuit of Champions, World of Outlaws, USAC National Midget) across five states from June 7-18.
The streak was snapped Friday when Larson finished second to Tucker-Boat Motorsports teammate Chris Windom at Lincoln Park Speedway.
USAC INDIANA MIDGET WEEK ROUND 5 RESULTS AT LAWRENCEBURG SPEEDWAY
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Larson (3), 2. Buddy Kofoid (2), 3. Thomas Meseraull (6), 4. Chris Windom (12), 5. Tyler Courtney (1), 6. Cannon McIntosh (22), 7. Kaylee Bryson (5), 8. Cole Bodine (15), 9. Jason McDougal (8), 10. Tanner Carrick (16), 11. Jake Neuman (18), 12. Noah Gass (19), 13. Zach Daum (23), 14. Clinton Boyles (9), 15. Daison Pursley (20), 16. Ronnie Gardner (13), 17. Brady Bacon (10), 18. Maria Cofer (4), 19. Justin Grant (11), 20. Brody Roa (21), 21. Landon Simon (17), 22. Shane Golobic (14), 23. Andrew Layser (7). NT. Lap leaders: Buddy Kofoid 1-5; Thomas Meseraull 6-26. Kyle Larson 27-30.
WORLD OF OUTLAWS RESULTS AT TRI-STATE SPEEDWAY
NOS Energy Drink Feature (40 Laps)– 1. 2-Carson Macedo [1][$10,000]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet [4][$5,000]; 3. 18-Ian Madsen [3][$3,000]; 4. 83-Daryn Pittman [10][$2,700]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart [8][$2,500]; 6. 21-Carson Short [19][$2,200]; 7. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [11][$2,000]; 8. 2M-Kerry Madsen [5][$1,800]; 9. 26-Cory Eliason [7][$1,600]; 10. 71-Shane Stewart [12][$1,450]; 11. 39-Sammy Swindell [16][$1,300]; 12. 41-David Gravel [6][$1,200]; 13. 1A-Jacob Allen [2][$1,100]; 14. 3X-Ayrton Gennetten [18][$1,000]; 15. 14-Parker Price-Miller [13][$950]; 16. 15-Donny Schatz [14][$900]; 17. 7S-Jason Sides [20][$850]; 18. 5X-Justin Peck [15][$750]; 19. 3-Jac Haudenschild [23][$725]; 20. 33M-Mason Daniel [21][$700]; 21. 24-Rico Abreu [22][$700]; 22. 55-Hunter Schuerenburg [24][$700]; 23. 7-Critter Malone [17][$700]; 24. 5S-Chase Stockon [9][$700]; Lap Leaders: Carson Macedo 1-28, 30-40; Brad Sweet 29; KSE Hard Charger Award: 21-Carson Short[+13]
