Kyle Larson Conquers Night #2 of the Knoxville Nationals; Ryan Timms and Carson Macedo on Saturday Front Row!
By Bill Wright
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (August 7, 2025) – Kyle Larson grabbed his thirteenth career win Thursday on Toyota Qualifying Night #2 of the 64th NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals Presented by Casey’s. The Elk Grove, California driver earned $12,000 for the win, and locked himself into the fifth row of Saturday’s championship finale, where he will seek his third straight championship. Carson Macedo was the high point driver for the night and will join Wednesday’s winner, Ryan Timms, who becomes the second youngest ever pole-sitter (Kenny Weld) in the “Granddaddy of them all!” (full points are below)
Derek Hagar led the non-stop 25-lap main event early over Spencer Bayston, Giovanni Scelzi, Larson and Bill Balog. Logan Schuchart entered the top five on lap two. Bayston wrestled the lead form hagar on lap three, while Larson found his way by Scelzi for the third spot.
Larson continued his charge by passing Hagar for second on lap five, and Scelzi followed him into third a circuit later. Schuchart was up to fourth by lap seven. Bayston entered lapped traffic on lap eight.
Larson reeled in Bayston, and shot a slide job on him on lap 13 to take the lead for good. Schuchart came on late, grabbing third from Scelzi on lap 16 and second from Bayston with a slider in three with six to go. Finishing second earned him a second row starting spot for Saturday. Bayston finished third, ahead of Scelzi and Macedo. Balog, Brock Zearfoss, hard-charger Brad Sweet, Hagar and Tasker Phillips rounded out the top ten.
In preliminary action, Brad Sweet set quick time over the 49-car field, while Gage Pulkrabek, Phillips, Josh Schneiderman, Christopher Thram and Brady Bacon were heat winners. Brian Brown was third quick, but flipped hard in turn two in his heat after trying for several laps to pass JJ Hickle for the final transfer. He walked away. Matt Vandervere turned over in practice, but returned for his heat race. Jacob Hughes won the C main and Sweet claimed the B.
Friday’s “Hard Knox Night” will see all drivers not locking into Saturday’s A (16) and the B (10) start fresh. The top four finishers will qualify for Saturday’s main event, while the fifth place finisher on back will fill the eleventh starting spot in the B on back through the alphabet.
“Honestly, I’m out of breath,” said Larson in Victory Lane beside Paul Silva’s #57. “That was a fast pace for 25 laps there. The track was really slick, but against (the cushion) it was really gripped up. It just made it like really technical, and the car was dancing around a lot. I was using both feet and steering a lot. I got stuck behind (Cam Martin) for awhile, and I figured they were closing on me. I got by him with a few to go, and I felt I could rest a little easier after that. I wish we would have done better a little earlier in the night. It will be good enough to lock into the feature for sure.”
“This will be our best starting position yet,” said Schuchart of his prospects on Saturday. “I didn’t think I felt real good. I know we were catching Kyle at the end, but I don’t know if we’re as good as we need to be. We didn’t qualify that well, but we did what we needed to do in the heat race and this A main. We’re on the podium, and we’re very happy and proud of this Shark Racing Team.”
“We lacked speed early and ran into some issues,” said Bayston, who locked himself into the last available spot in Saturday’s championship (16th). “We didn’t give up. We had a bit of an issue with fueling in hot laps. We ended up with a time…I didn’t think I did a good job of qualifying. We rebounded a little bit in the heat race and started up front. We set a good pace, but started to waver a little bit. I knew I was probably going to get somebody visiting me at some point. It turned out the 57 got by me quick. I just got back to what I was doing and ran the top and the car felt really, really good.”
Join us for FVP Hard Knox Night at the 64th NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals Presented by Casey’s on Friday, August 8! For tickets, or more information on the Knoxville Raceway, visit us online at www.KnoxvilleRaceway.com!
64th NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Naitonals Presented by Casey’s Toyota Qualifying Night #2 Results
Time Trials (Qualifying Order), 2 laps: 1. 49-Brad Sweet, Grass Valley, CA, 00:15.002[3]; 2. 4C-Cameron Martin, Ankeny, IA, 00:15.285[10]; 3. 21-Brian Brown, Grain Valley, MO, 00:15.300[21]; 4. 41-Carson Macedo, Lemoore, CA, 00:15.315[18]; 5. 3L-Daryn Pittman, Owasso, OK, 00:15.341[28]; 6. 55V-Kerry Madsen, St. Mary’s, NSW, Aust., 00:15.363[42]; 7. 19-Brent Marks, Myerstown, PA, 00:15.383[16]; 8. 6B-Brandon Wimmer, Fairmount, IN, 00:15.421[1]; 9. 27B-Jake Bubak, Arvada, CO, 00:15.436[39]; 10. 3P-Sawyer Phillips, Pleasantville, IA, 00:15.454[5]; 11. 39-Lynton Jeffrey, Sydney, NSW, Aust., 00:15.479[23]; 12. 71P-Parker Price Miller, Kokomo, IN, 00:15.480[34]; 13. 1S-Logan Schuchart, Hanover, PA, 00:15.491[33]; 14. 5-Brenham Crouch, Lubbock, TX, 00:15.508[14]; 15. 57-Kyle Larson, Elk Grove, CA, 00:15.524[45]; 16. 2C-Cole Macedo, Lemoore, CA, 00:15.545[7]; 17. 17B-Bill Balog, Hartland, WI, 00:15.565[27]; 18. 19H-Kevin Thomas Jr, Cullman, AL, 00:15.606[12]; 19. 23D-Chase Dietz, York, PA, 00:15.618[2]; 20. 99-Skylar Gee, Leduc, ALB, Can., 00:15.635[17]; 21. 7BC-Giovanni Scelzi, Fresno, CA, 00:15.657[36]; 22. 85J-Logan Julien, Oconomowoc, WI, 00:15.664[4]; 23. 14-Spencer Bayston, Lebanon, IN, 00:15.671[13]; 24. 45C-Derek Hagar, Marion, AR, 00:15.693[19]; 25. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, Jonestown, PA, 00:15.699[44]; 26. 83-Michael Kofoid, Penngrove, CA, 00:15.704[43]; 27. 28M-Conner Morrell, Bradenton, FL, 00:15.749[29]; 28. 1-Sammy Swindell, Germantown, TN, 00:15.759[31]; 29. 40-Clint Garner, Sioux Falls, SD, 00:15.767[11]; 30. 23W-Scott Winters, Butterfield, MN, 00:15.770[25]; 31. G5-Gage Pulkrabek, East Grand Forks, MN, 00:15.782[48]; 32. 23L-Jimmy Light, Pittsboro, IN, 00:15.795[15]; 33. 2M-JJ Hickle, Quilcene, WA, 00:15.811[20]; 34. 11-Roger Crockett, Broken Arrow, OK, 00:15.865[24]; 35. 21H-Brady Bacon, Broken Arrow, OK, 00:15.868[38]; 36. 53-Jack Dover, Springfield, NE, 00:15.874[40]; 37. 1TAZ-Tasker Phillips, Pleasantville, IA, 00:15.887[49]; 38. 49J-Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA, 00:15.932[41]; 39. 24T-Christopher Thram, Sanborn, MN, 00:15.954[30]; 40. 33W-Cap Henry, Republic, OH, 00:15.991[47]; 41. 16G-Austyn Gossel, Fort Collins, CO, 00:15.996[46]; 42. 8-Jacob Hughes, Hartford, SD, 00:16.008[22]; 43. 4-Matt Wasmund, Jackson, MN, 00:16.015[8]; 44. 95-Tyler Drueke, Eagle, NE, 00:16.019[6]; 45. 83H-Justin Henderson, Tea, SD, 00:16.211[35]; 46. 88T-Tanner Thorson, Minden, NV, 00:16.250[32]; 47. 24-Terry McCarl, Altoona, IA, 00:16.277[37]; 48. 15J-Jack Potter, Lee’s Summit, MO, 00:16.301[26]; 49. 10W-Matt Vandervere, Burlington, WI, NT[9]
Heat one (started), 10 Laps, 3:14.0: 1. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[2]; 2. 53-Jack Dover[1]; 3. 7BC-Giovanni Scelzi[4]; 4. 39-Lynton Jeffrey[6] / 5. 83-Michael Kofoid[3]; 6. 49-Brad Sweet[8]; 7. 55V-Kerry Madsen[7]; 8. 2C-Cole Macedo[5] / 9. 16G-Austyn Gossel[9]; 10. DNS - 88T-Tanner Thorson
Heat two (started), 10 Laps, 2:58.3: 1. 1TAZ-Tasker Phillips[1]; 2. 23L-Jimmy Light[2]; 3. 28M-Conner Morrell[3]; 4. 17B-Bill Balog[5] / 5. 85J-Logan Julien[4]; 6. 71P-Parker Price Miller[6]; 7. 19-Brent Marks[7]; 8. 4C-Cameron Martin[8] / 9. 24-Terry McCarl[10]; 10. 8-Jacob Hughes[9]
Heat three (started), 10 Laps, NT: 1. 49J-Josh Schneiderman[1]; 2. 1S-Logan Schuchart[6]; 3. 14-Spencer Bayston[4]; 4. 1-Sammy Swindell[3] / 5. 2M-JJ Hickle[2]; 6. 19H-Kevin Thomas Jr[5]; 7. 6B-Brandon Wimmer[7]; 8. 15J-Jack Potter[10] / 9. 4-Matt Wasmund[9]; 10. 21-Brian Brown[8]
Heat four (started), 10 Laps, 3:03.2: 1. 24T-Christopher Thram[1]; 2. 41-Carson Macedo[8]; 3. 11-Roger Crockett[2]; 4. 45C-Derek Hagar[4] / 5. 27B-Jake Bubak[7]; 6. 23D-Chase Dietz[5]; 7. 5-Brenham Crouch[6]; 8. 40-Clint Garner[3] / 9. 10W-Matt VanderVere[9]; 10. DNS - 95-Tyler Drueke
Heat five (started), 10 Laps, 2:55.4: 1. 21H-Brady Bacon[2]; 2. 33W-Cap Henry[1]; 3. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[4]; 4. 57-Kyle Larson[6] / 5. 23W-Scott Winters[3]; 6. 3L-Daryn Pittman[8]; 7. 99-Skylar Gee[5]; 8. 83H-Justin Henderson[9] / 9. 3P-Sawyer Phillips[7]
C main (started), 10 Laps, NT: 1. 8-Jacob Hughes[3]; 2. 16G-Austyn Gossel[2]; 3. 3P-Sawyer Phillips[1]; 4. 10W-Matt VanderVere[6]; 5. 4-Matt Wasmund[4]; 6. 24-Terry McCarl[5]; 7. DNS - 21-Brian Brown; 8. 95-Tyler Drueke; 9. 88T-Tanner Thorson
B Main (started), 12 Laps, 3:38.1: 1. 49-Brad Sweet[1]; 2. 4C-Cameron Martin[2]; 3. 71P-Parker Price Miller[8]; 4. 19-Brent Marks[5] / 5. 55V-Kerry Madsen[4]; 6. 2C-Cole Macedo[10]; 7. 83-Michael Kofoid[15]; 8. 3L-Daryn Pittman[3]; 9. 27B-Jake Bubak[7]; 10. 6B-Brandon Wimmer[6]; 11. 5-Brenham Crouch[9]; 12. 2M-JJ Hickle[18]; 13. 99-Skylar Gee[13]; 14. 83H-Justin Henderson[19]; 15. 23D-Chase Dietz[12]; 16. 40-Clint Garner[16]; 17. 8-Jacob Hughes[21]; 18. 23W-Scott Winters[17]; 19. 85J-Logan Julien[14]; 20. 16G-Austyn Gossel[22]; 21. 10W-Matt VanderVere[23]; 22. 15J-Jack Potter[20]; 23. 19H-Kevin Thomas Jr[11]; DNS - 24. 3P-Sawyer Phillips
A main (started), 25 Laps, 7:40.5: 1. 57-Kyle Larson[5]; 2. 1S-Logan Schuchart[6]; 3. 14-Spencer Bayston[2]; 4. 7BC-Giovanni Scelzi[3]; 5. 41-Carson Macedo[8]; 6. 17B-Bill Balog[4]; 7. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[9]; 8. 49-Brad Sweet[21]; 9. 45C-Derek Hagar[1]; 10. 1TZ-Tasker Phillips[17]; 11. 21H-Brady Bacon[15]; 12. 71P-Parker Price Miller[23]; 13. 33W-Cap Henry[20]; 14. 19-Brent Marks[24]; 15. 39-Lynton Jeffrey[7]; 16. 4C-Cameron Martin[22]; 17. 1-Sammy Swindell[11]; 18. 53-Jack Dover[16]; 19. 49J-Josh Schneiderman[18]; 20. 24T-Christopher Thram[19]; 21. 28M-Conner Morrell[10]; 22. 23L-Jimmy Light[13]; 23. 11-Roger Crockett[14]; 24. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[12]. Lap Leaders: Hagar 1-2, Bayston 3-12, Larson 13-25. Hard-charger: Sweet.
Saturday A main Qualifiers
- 10 Ryan Timms 487
- 41 Carson Macedo 483
- 1S Logan Schuchart 471
- 49 Brad Sweet 471
- 17 Sheldon Haudenschild 469
- 14BC Corey Day 468
- 24R Rico Abreu 468
- 18 Emerson Axsom 467
- 57 Kyle Larson 463
- 26 Justin Peck 460
- 23 Garet Williamson 460
- 88 Austin McCarl 455
- 17B Bill Balog 449
- 7BC Giovanni Scelzi 448
- 4C Cameron Martin 447
- 14 Spencer Bayston 446
B main Qualifiers
- 7S Chris Windom 445
- 19 Brent Marks 444
- 17A Jack Anderson 444
- 21T James McFadden 443
- 39 Lynton Jeffrey 443
- 71P Parker Price Miller 441
- 15h Sam Hafertepe 439
- 3Z Brock Zearfoss 434
- 48 Danny Dietrich 431
- 45C Derek Hagar 429
Friday Hard Knox Field
- 18T Tanner Holmes 418
- 5W Lucas Wolfe 418
- 42 Sye Lynch 417
- 13 Daison Pursley 415
- 55V Kerry Madsen 414
- 27 Carson McCarl 414
- 3L Daryn Pittman 413
- 21H Brady Bacon 412
- 1TZ Tasker Phillips 410
- 52 Blake Hahn 410
- 27B Jake Bubak 406
- 1 Sammy Swindell 405
- 2 David Gravel 403
- 28M Conner Morrell 402
- 1K Kelby Watt 401
- 6B Brandon Wimmer 400
- 1a Ashton Torgerson 400
- 45X Landon Crawley 398
- 33W Cap Henry 395
- 24D Danny Sams 395
- G5 Gage Pulkrabek 394
- 53 Jack Dover 393
- 23L Jimmy Light 393
- 3 Ayrton Gennetten 393
- 6K Kaleb Johnson 392
- 87 Justin Sanders 391
- 44 Chris Martin 390
- 49J Josh Schneiderman 390
- 2C Cole Macedo 389
- 39m Anthony Macri 388
- 24T Christopher Thram 386
- 5 Brenham Crouch 386
- 11 Roger Crockett 384
- 32B Brandon Spithaler 384
- 22 Riley Goodno 378
- 83 Michael Kofoid 376
- 36 Jason Martin 374
- 55 Hunter Schuerenberg 372
- 23D Chase Dietz 371
- 99 Skylar Gee 370
- 15 Donny Schatz 362
- 3P Sawyer Phillips 362
- 85J Logan Julien 360
- 17GP Tim Shaffer 359
- 19H Kevin Thomas 357
- 21 Brian Brown 357
- 2M J.J. Hickle 352
- 09 Matt Juhl 347
- 23W Scott Winters 346
- 40 Clint Garner 343
- 6 Zach Hampton 340
- 74 Xavier Doney 330
- 15JR Cole Mincer 321
- 2KS Brooke Tatnell 316
- 83H Justin Henderson 315
- 25 Tim Kaeding 311
- 8 Jacob Hughes 309
- 9R Chase Randall 308
- 16g Austyn Gossel 308
- 12X Hank Davis 305
- 67 Justin Whittall 301
- 15J Jack Potter 293
- 10W Matt VanderVere 290
- 4 Matt Wasmund 284
- 44X Scotty Johnson 278
- 121 R.J. Johnson 275
- 24 Terry McCarl 274
- 95 Tyler Drueke 273
- 10V Ben Brown 268
- 71 Brandon Worthington 267
- 88T Tanner Thorson 267
- 4W Jamie Ball 267
- 11N Kasey Jedrzejek 259
- 65 Jordan Goldesberry 234
- administrator on Aug 08, 2025
- Article Date: 8/7/2025