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Kyle Larson dominates Knoxville Nationals: "He was in a different zip code..."
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Do what you will with the “greatest this or that” debates but make no mistake that Kyle Larson is a generational race car driver of the most historic caliber.
On Saturday night, “Yung Money” dominated the Knoxville Nationals, becoming just the second driver to lead wire-to-wire in the 50-lap format en route to his second victory over three years in the Grandaddy of Sprint Car Racing.
This came on the same day that he qualified inside the top-10 of a NASCAR road course race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a car now best articulated as an Australian Supercar-Stock Car hybrid these days.
Oh, and by the way, his first order of business on Sunday morning upon returning to Indianapolis will be the unveiling of a car he will drive next May in his Indianapolis 500 debut.
- NASCAR Cup champion
- 2x Knoxville Nationals winner
- Kings Royal winner
- 2x Chili Bowl winner
- Rolex 24 overall winner
- Dirt Late Model winner
- USAC winner in every division
This is Foyt-ian in every way.
There is a subset of racing fans either too wrapped up in their tribalism, elitism or ignorance-ism to simply appreciate what Larson is accomplishing in real time. In an era where everyone is so dang specialized, Larson does everything and does it exceptionally.
It's not lost on Donny Schatz, the 10-time World of Outlaws champion, 11-time Nationals winner and the only other driver to have won Knoxville from the pole.
“Kyle was pretty exceptional. That was pretty cool to see," Schatz said during the post-race press conference. "I'm telling you, this race is really hard to win from the pole, so I guess the only thing left for him to do is go with the Indianapolis 500 from the pole next year."
That was met with raucous applause, and not because it was so outrageous, but because it is entirely plausible.
Larson is armed with the best race cars in every arena he enters, but he's entirely deserving of it too. For Indianapolis, Larson will drive an entry prepared by Arrow McLaren, one of the top teams on the grid. He will also have an extensive testing program that leads into a week of practice prior to the race.
Are you going to bet against that?
And while Larson's dominance was certainly impressive on Saturday night, it did come with a few caveats. Rico Abreu, Logan Schuchart and Donny Schatz, Carson Macedo and David Gravel all wrestled with each other or their own decisions on Saturday.
Abreu suffered a right rear failure on lap 15 while running third. Logan Schuchart suffered an engine failure running second with 11 to go. Schatz was just wrestling.
"The stoppage, we changed tires, and I don't know if we scuffed something we shouldn't have or what but from that point, I could never pull the left rear up and I was just in a cage match with myself," Schatz said.
Gravel embodied the old adage, that if you can't win the show, be the show after driving from 22nd to second but just ran out of time. He didn't run a flawless week, dating back to corner one, lap one in his qualifying heat and Larson did.
"Hats off to Kyle," Schatz said. "He was in a different zip code."
He so often is.
So yeah, his next mission, whether it's the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard on Sunday or the subsequent Cup Series playoff races, will indeed involve a run at the Greatest Spectacle in Racing next May.
But even then, the objective greatest to do it across multiple disciplines right now, will leave his heart in Knoxville.
"I do get to run some of the biggest events, some of the biggest races in the world but the staff here at Knoxville Raceway does as good of a job, if not better of building up to the race over the course of a week," Larson said. "When we were doing the four wide (salute), that was sick.
“I was watching the big screen, and it was just way cool. They've invested a lot into this facility, and it's an amazing place for racers and fans.”
"It's the one event I most look forward to, there might be that one other in May next year, but this is the race I'm always looking forward to. It's my favorite week of the year."
And it's one where he continues to add chapters to his generational career.
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