“I’ve always dreamed of winning this race,” Larson yelled after the win. “The atmosphere this week was unbelievable. I felt the energy all week long from you fans. It kept me excited and pumped up. I hadn’t been this nervous leading up to a race in a couple of years. I had butterflies all day and during Cup practice all I could think about is what I needed to do here at the Knoxville Nationals.”
“I was thinking about how to beat Donny all day,” Larson said. “We’re just a little California team. Paul Silva is the best there is. I’m so fortunate to be with him.”
Larson competes again on Sunday but this time at Indianapolis for the Verizon 200 NASCAR Cup Series race.
Final Results:
1. 57-Kyle Larson [3] [$176,000]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [5] [$89,000]; 3. 49-Brad Sweet [2] [$37,500]; 4. 18-Gio Scelzi [1] [$36,000]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart [8] [$21,000]; 6. 19-Brent Marks [4] [$20,000]; 7. 9-James McFadden [13] [$19,000]; 8. 83-Kasey Kahne [7] [$18,000]; 9. 41-Carson Macedo [17] [$17,000]; 10. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [20] [$16,000]; 11. 14-Kerry Madsen [18] [$15,000]; 12. O-Brooke Tatnell [11] [$14,000]; 13. 73-Justin Peck [15] [$13,000]; 14. 71-Shane Stewart [23] [$12,000]; 15. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [24] [$11,000]; 16. 49X-Ian Madsen [10] [$10,500]; 17. 39M-Anthony Macri [22] [$10,000]; 18. 2-David Gravel [6] [$10,000]; 19. 7-Justin Henderson [14] [$10,000]; 20. 21-Brian Brown [9] [$10,000]; 21. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [12] [$10,000]; 22. 26-Cory Eliason [19] [$10,000]; 23. 24R-Rico Abreu [21] [$10,000]; 24. 48-Danny Dietrich [16] [$10,000].
Check out the full race recap by Brian Walker: