Kyle Larson claimed the $20,000 top prize on Wednesday at Huset’s Speedway, where he captured the opening round of the 2 nd annual BillionAuto.com Huset’s High Bank Nationals presented by MENARDS.
Just as significant as the strong payout, Larson climbed atop the event standings after the first of three preliminary nights that set the stage for the $250,000-to-win finale on Saturday. It will be the biggest payout to a feature winner in World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series history.
“I’m excited to see the crowd get bigger and bigger throughout the weekend,” he said. “They do a great job with this event, this race track. We all appreciate the big money. I’m glad Tod (Quiring) did this.”
Larson led the final seven laps of the 35-lap main event on Wednesday to earn his second World of Outlaws triumph at the high-banked track.
“It was good to have a good first night,” he said. “I only get to run two of these prelim nights so I’ve got to make them count. We had a good one tonight. Hopefully we’ll have another good one tomorrow.”
A pair of cautions before the opening lap was completed forced complete restarts after Cory Eliason won the first one and Rico Abreu the second. The race stayed green on the third attempt as Abreu powered into the top spot. Four cautions between Lap 10 and Lap 15 jumbled the field with a couple of drivers capitalizing.
Larson climbed to fourth on a restart on Lap 10 and to third four laps later. Meanwhile, David Gravel, who started 12th, rallied from sixth to fourth on a restart on Lap 15. Both Larson and Gravel gained a position during the final restart – on Lap 20.
“The restarts definitely helped me,” Larson said. “The engine took off really good and I was able to get good runs there the first laps and move forward. Once I got to second there behind Rico I could pace him. I could close on him a good bit in (turns) one and two. He’d pull away a little bit in (turns) three and four. He looked like he was getting really tight when we got to traffic. I just started cheating my entry a little bit and making sure I didn’t make mistakes. I could still get good runs on exit enough to clear him into (turn) three.”
Traffic arrived on Lap 25 and Larson quickly closed the gap on Abreu. He used a slide job in turns three and four on Lap 29 to take over the top spot.
Gravel passed Abreu on the ensuing lap and made a last-ditch effort running the bottom in turns three and four that came up only a car length short of Larson as the checkered flag was waved.
“Damn, I wanted to beat Larson there,” he said. “I was definitely motivated. We had a pretty solid car there. I had great restarts there. Lapped traffic was just starting to bunch it up on that last lap.”
Abreu rounded out the podium.
“I didn’t really execute that good at the end of the race,” he said. “I felt like when I caught traffic my pace really slowed down. Just things I have to work on as a driver executing the back half of these races and keeping the speed up in my car. We have some work to do if we want to win this thing Saturday.”
Carson Macedo finished fourth and Eliason ended fifth.
Gravel opened the evening by setting quick time during qualifying out of the 54 entrants. Tim Kaeding, Brad Sweet, Mark Dobmeier, Kasey Kahne, Noah Gass and Austin McCarl were the heat race winners. Kaleb Johnson won the C Main and Sye Lynch captured the Last Chance Showdown.
Stay tuned to the World of Outlaws social media channels for the official event standings following Wednesday’s opener.
Night 2 of the BillionAuto.com Huset’s High Bank Nationals presented by MENARDS is Thursday. The grandstands open at 4 p.m. with racing at 8 p.m.
Tickets can be purchased online at https://mpv.tickets.com/schedule/?agency=JKMV_PL_MPV&orgid=55369#/?view=list&includePackages=true .
NIGHT 1 OF THE BILLIONAUTO.COM HUSET’S HIGH BANK NATIONALS PRESENTED BY MENARDS RESULTS AT HUSET’S SPEEDWAY (June 21, 2023) –
World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series
NOS Energy Drink Feature (35 Laps): 1. 57-Kyle Larson (5); 2. 2-David Gravel (12); 3. 24-Rico Abreu (1); 4. 41-Carson Macedo (9); 5. 11-Cory Eliason (2); 6. 1S-Logan Schuchart (10); 7. 18-Giovanni Scelzi (8); 8. 17B-Bill Balog (17); 9. 5-Spencer Bayston (3); 10. 3-Tim Kaeding (22); 11. 25-Lachlan McHugh (4); 12. 5X-Kerry Madsen (11); 13. 83JR-Michael Kofoid (7); 14. 13-Mark Dobmeier (14); 15. 20G-Noah Gass (18); 16. 49-Brad Sweet (24); 17. 7S-Robbie Price (20); 18. 19-Ayrton Gennetten (16); 19. 21-Brian Brown (13); 20. (DNF) 88-Austin McCarl (23); 21. (DNF) 29-Sye Lynch (21); 22. (DNF) 10-Matt Juhl (6); 23. (DNF) 14T-Tim Estenson (15); 24. (DNF) 5T-Ryan Timms (19).
Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps): 1. 29-Sye Lynch (1); 2. 3-Tim Kaeding (6); 3. 88-Austin McCarl (4); 4. 49-Brad Sweet (8); 5. 1A-Jacob Allen (3); 6. 24T-Christopher Thram (2); 7. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild (12); 8. 9R-Chase Randall (9); 9. 83H-Justin Henderson (5); 10. 9-Kasey Kahne (11); 11. 6C-Carson McCarl (7); 12. 101-Cody Maroske (16); 13. 52-Blake Hahn (17); 14. 11M-Brendan Mullen (10); 15. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr (13); 16. 7BC-Tyler Courtney (18); 17. 15-Donny Schatz (14); 18. 83-James McFadden (20); 19. 22-Riley Goodno (19); 20. 22K-Kaleb Johnson (21); 21. 3J-Dusty Zomer (22); 22. 2AG-Trent Pigdon (15).
C Feature (10 Laps): 1. 22K-Kaleb Johnson (2); 2. 3J-Dusty Zomer (3); 3. 81-Jack Dover (6); 4. 16-Brooke Tatnell (10); 5. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss (8); 6. 12-Tyler Drueke (9); 7. 17D-Ryan Bickett (13); 8. 6-Bill Rose (7); 9. 105-Cody Ihlen (4); 10. G5-Gage Pulkrabek (5); 11. 2K-Kevin Ingle (11); 12. 78-Bill Wagner (12); 13. (DNS) 11S-Parker Price Miller; 14. (DNS) 24W-Garet Williamson.
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 3-Tim Kaeding (1); 2. 11-Cory Eliason (4); 3. 83H-Justin Henderson (2); 4. 18-Giovanni Scelzi (5); 5. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild (3); 6. 52-Blake Hahn (7); 7. 2-David Gravel (6); 8. 12-Tyler Drueke (9); 9. 6-Bill Rose (8).
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 49-Brad Sweet (1); 2. 10-Matt Juhl (3); 3. 57-Kyle Larson (6); 4. 15-Donny Schatz (2); 5. 7S-Robbie Price (4); 6. 7BC-Tyler Courtney (7); 7. 29-Sye Lynch (5); 8. 16-Brooke Tatnell (9); 9. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss (8).
Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 13-Mark Dobmeier (2); 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr (1); 3. 5-Spencer Bayston (4); 4. 6C-Carson McCarl (3); 5. 83JR-Michael Kofoid (6); 6. 5T-Ryan Timms (5); 7. G5-Gage Pulkrabek (9); 8. 105-Cody Ihlen (8); 9. (DNS) 24W-Garet Williamson.
Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 9-Kasey Kahne (1); 2. 24-Rico Abreu (4); 3. 11M-Brendan Mullen (2); 4. 9R-Chase Randall (3); 5. 5X-Kerry Madsen (5); 6. 41-Carson Macedo (6); 7. 22K-Kaleb Johnson (8); 8. 11S-Parker Price Miller (7); 9. 2K-Kevin Ingle (9).
Heat 5 (10 Laps): 1. 20G-Noah Gass (2); 2. 2AG-Trent Pigdon (1); 3. 17B-Bill Balog (3); 4. 19-Ayrton Gennetten (4); 5. 21-Brian Brown (5); 6. 1S-Logan Schuchart (6); 7. 22-Riley Goodno (7); 8. 81-Jack Dover (8); 9. 78-Bill Wagner (9).
Heat 6 (10 Laps): 1. 88-Austin McCarl (2); 2. 101-Cody Maroske (1); 3. 1A-Jacob Allen (3); 4. 25-Lachlan McHugh (6); 5. 14T-Tim Estenson (5); 6. 83-James McFadden (8); 7. 24T-Christopher Thram (4); 8. 3J-Dusty Zomer (7); 9. 17D-Ryan Bickett (9).
Qualifying: 1. 2-David Gravel, 00:10.804 (23); 2. 57-Kyle Larson, 00:10.806 (31); 3. 83JR-Michael Kofoid, 00:10.841 (5); 4. 41-Carson Macedo, 00:10.848 (44); 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 00:10.860 (26); 6. 25-Lachlan McHugh, 00:10.883 (11); 7. 18-Giovanni Scelzi, 00:10.897 (8); 8. 29-Sye Lynch, 00:10.902 (15); 9. 5T-Ryan Timms, 00:10.904 (21); 10. 5X-Kerry Madsen, 00:10.905 (4); 11. 21-Brian Brown, 00:10.907 (16); 12. 14T-Tim Estenson, 00:10.929 (6); 13. 11-Cory Eliason, 00:10.931 (32); 14. 7S-Robbie Price, 00:10.935 (7); 15. 5-Spencer Bayston, 00:10.936 (24); 16. 24-Rico Abreu, 00:10.936 (40); 17. 19-Ayrton Gennetten, 00:10.949 (3); 18. 24T-Christopher Thram, 00:11.029 (14); 19. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 00:11.042 (13); 20. 10-Matt Juhl, 00:11.043 (25); 21. 6C-Carson McCarl, 00:11.044 (2); 22. 9R-Chase Randall, 00:11.054 (51); 23. 17B-Bill Balog, 00:11.062 (17); 24. 1A-Jacob Allen, 00:11.062 (53); 25. 83H-Justin Henderson, 00:11.066 (47); 26. 15-Donny Schatz, 00:11.069 (54); 27. 13-Mark Dobmeier, 00:11.074 (19); 28. 11M-Brendan Mullen, 00:11.079 (28); 29. 20G-Noah Gass, 00:11.083 (41); 30. 88-Austin McCarl, 00:11.084 (45); 31. 3-Tim Kaeding, 00:11.086 (35); 32. 49-Brad Sweet, 00:11.100 (30); 33. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 00:11.109 (18); 34. 9-Kasey Kahne, 00:11.118 (29); 35. 2AG-Trent Pigdon, 00:11.121 (1); 36. 101-Cody Maroske, 00:11.122 (37); 37. 52-Blake Hahn, 00:11.150 (34); 38. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 00:11.172 (43); 39. 24W-Garet Williamson, 00:11.176 (22); 40. 11S-Parker Price Miller, 00:11.180 (46); 41. 22-Riley Goodno, 00:11.195 (27); 42. 3J-Dusty Zomer, 00:11.198 (33); 43. 6-Bill Rose, 00:11.199 (20); 44. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 00:11.233 (48); 45. 105-Cody Ihlen, 00:11.240 (12); 46. 22K-Kaleb Johnson, 00:11.246 (10); 47. 81-Jack Dover, 00:11.290 (36); 48. 83-James McFadden, 00:11.316 (49); 49. 12-Tyler Drueke, 00:11.319 (39); 50. 16-Brooke Tatnell, 00:11.362 (42); 51. G5-Gage Pulkrabek, 00:11.707 (52); 52. 2K-Kevin Ingle, 00:11.836 (50); 53. 78-Bill Wagner, 00:12.451 (9); 54. 17D-Ryan Bickett, 00:12.451 (38).
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Thursday through Saturday for the 2 nd annual BillionAuto.com Huset’s High Bank Nationals presented by MENARDS with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series
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