It’s Larson Over Bell In Friday Reversal At Volusia

BARBERVILLE, Fla. – The Kyle Larson vs. Christopher Bell rivalry added yet another chapter Friday night, with Larson getting one back from Bell by finally winning a Gator trophy at the Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals.

In his 19th try at Volusia Speedway Park, Larson earned the feature pole by winning the Toyota Dash, then led all 25 laps around the half-mile dirt oval for his 36th career World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series victory.

Larson made the end result a bit anti-climactic, pulling away to the checkered flag by 1.617 seconds when all was said and done, but Bell did have two restarts inside the final six circuits to keep him honest.

Just like Thursday’s feature, a three-lap sprint to the finish settled things, but in a reversal of the previous night it was Larson besting Bell and finally breaking through into Volusia victory lane with car owner Paul Silva.

“(Volusia) is a place that I feel like I’ve raced well (at),” Larson said. “I just always start so far back to where I haven’t felt like that Gator (trophy) has been close enough. We’ve been getting the night started off pretty well this week, though, and my car feels really good throughout the night. I felt really good there again.

“It’s cool to win here at Volusia. It’s cool to have a lot of our supporters here this weekend and great to see a packed house too.”

Though Larson never trailed in Friday’s main event, it was never a walk in the park, as 22-year-old Danny Sams III charged past Bell for second on the opening lap and came within a half second of Larson’s No. 57 once the leaders got into traffic on lap eight.

But Sams’ car began fading as the green-flag run went on, shuffled back to fifth at halfway and dropping further as the laps ticked down inside of 10 to go.

Meanwhile, Bell began closing back in on Larson at that point as Larson’s brother-in-law – five-time World of Outlaws sprint car champion Brad Sweet – rose to third and brought defending titlist David Gravel along with him into the top four.

Sweet and Gravel then staged a war for the final podium place, with Gravel winning that battle on lap 16 and remaining inside the top three the rest of the way.

The first of two yellow flags waved with six laps remaining, when Anthony Macri suffered a flat tire and could not continue, and that cleared the track of traffic for Larson – putting him in clean air.

Larson nailed the restart on lap 20, building a second gap after Bell stumbled slightly, but a momentary scare occurred after Brock Zearfoss spun sideways in turn three and Larson had to take quick action to avoid running into the No. 3z.

After that, there was no question about the final result, as Larson streaked away once more following the final green flag.

“It got kind of a little easy to run the top, so the lappers were just as fast as I was,” Larson said. “I felt like Bell would be closing on me, but I was able to make a couple good moves. I think the cautions probably came out at the right time for me, and I was able to have clean air to the end there.”

Not only did Larson tie his former driver, Shane Stewart, for 22nd on the all-time Outlaws win list, he also built an eight-point lead in the Big Gator point standings that he’ll carry into Saturday’s DIRTcar Nationals finale.

Runner-up Bell rued the late yellows afterward, needing the run to stay green to feel like he had a chance at besting Larson instead of settling for his fourth podium in his last five Volusia starts.

“I definitely wanted it to stay green,” Bell said. “But ultimately, he got away from me even before the yellow came out. Ultimately, on the start me not being able to fall into second and follow behind him cost me a shot at it. But the car felt really good.”

Gravel finished third for his second podium in three races, adding to a solid start to his title defense, followed by Sweet and teenager Ryan Timms.

Wednesday winner Carson Macedo, Bill Balog, 19th-starting Logan Schuchart, Sheldon Haudenschild, and Sams closed the top 10.

Schuchart’s 11-position rise netted him hard charger honors.

Sams set the overall fast time in the 49-car field during qualifying, with Macedo, Brian Brown, Larson, and Bell winning their respective heat races.

Kameron Key was the C-Main winner and Gio Scelzi grabbed the MicroLite Last Chance Showdown victory.

The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series wraps up its portion of the 54th Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park with a $20,000-to-win finale Saturday night that will also determine a 410 sprint car Big Gator champion. Every lap can be streamed live on DIRTvision.

World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series; Volusia Speedway Park; Barberville, Fla.; Feb. 7, 2025

Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying Flight-A (best of two laps): 1. 24D-Danny Sams III, 13.288; 2. 2-David Gravel, 13.330; 3. 41-Carson Macedo, 13.365[; 4. 21-Brian Brown, 13.400; 5. 18-Gio Scelzi, 13.414; 6. 71-Parker Price Miller, 13.422; 7. 17B-Bill Balog, 13.427; 8. 88-Austin McCarl, 13.428; 9. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 13.448; 10. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 13.490; 11. 13-Daison Pursley, 13.516; 12. 9-Kasey Kahne, 13.549; 13. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 13.552; 14. 5-Brenham Crouch, 13.569; 15. 26-Justin Peck, 13.610; 16. 28-Conner Morrell, 13.621; 17. 16T-Brady Bacon, 13.671; 18. 16G-Austyn Gossel, 13.712; 19. 11T-T.J. Stutts, 13.721; 20. 15K-Creed Kemenah, 13.773; 21. 12X-Kameron Key, 13.818; 22. 36-Jason Martin, 13.832; 23. 17GP-Landon Crawley, 13.898; 24. 6G-Bryan Gossel, 13.908; 25. 97UK-Ryan Harrison, 13.964.

Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying Flight-B (best of two laps): 1. 57-Kyle Larson, 13.448; 2. 49-Brad Sweet, 13.509; 3. 10-Ryan Timms, 13.537; 4. 69K-Christopher Bell, 13.539; 5. 1A-Jacob Allen, 13.590; 6. 39M-Anthony Macri, 13.619; 7. 27-Emerson Axsom, 13.624; 8. 83-Buddy Kofoid, 13.675; 9. 7S-Chris Windom, 13.679; 10. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 13.698; 11. 23-Garet Williamson, 13.770; 12. 32-Bryce Lucius, 13.791; 13. 48-Danny Dietrich, 13.806; 14. 6-Zach Hampton, 13.843; 15. 64-Andy Pake, 13.887; 16. 99-Skylar Gee, 13.929; 17. 44-Chris Martin, 13.936; 18. 2C-Cole Macedo, 13.968; 19. 15-Donny Schatz, 14.059; 20. 34-Sterling Cling, 14.099; 21. 16TH-Kevin Newton, 14.103; 22. 0-Glenn Styres, 14.150; 23. 77T-Tyeller Powless, 14.396; 24. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, NT.

Heat #1 (8 laps, top five transfer): 1. 41-Carson Macedo [2]; 2. 24D-Danny Sams III [1]; 3. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [5]; 4. 17B-Bill Balog [4]; 5. 26-Justin Peck [8] / 6. 18-Gio Scelzi [3]; 7. 16T-Brady Bacon [9]; 8. 17GP-Landon Crawley [12]; 9. 13-Daison Pursley [6]; 10. 12X-Kameron Key [11]; 11. 11T-T.J. Stutts [10]; 12. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [7]; 13. 97UK-Ryan Harrison [13].

Heat #2 (8 laps, top five transfer): 1. 21-Brian Brown [2]; 2. 2-David Gravel [1]; 3. 88-Austin McCarl [4]; 4. 9-Kasey Kahne [6]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart [5] / 6. 5-Brenham Crouch [7]; 7. 71-Parker Price Miller [3]; 8. 28-Conner Morrell [8]; 9. 15K-Creed Kemenah [10]; 10. 6G-Bryan Gossel [12]; 11. 36-Jason Martin [11]; 12. 16G-Austyn Gossel [9].

WIX Filters Heat #3 (8 laps, top five transfer): 1. 57-Kyle Larson [1]; 2. 10-Ryan Timms [2]; 3. 27-Emerson Axsom [4]; 4. 1A-Jacob Allen [3]; 5. 23-Garet Williamson [6] / 6. 7S-Chris Windom [5]; 7. 48-Danny Dietrich [7]; 8. 15-Donny Schatz [10]; 9. 64-Andy Pake [8]; 10. 44-Chris Martin [9]; 11. 16TH-Kevin Newton [11]; 12. 77T-Tyeller Powless [12].

Heat #4 (9 laps, top five transfer, extended by GWC): 1. 69K-Christopher Bell [2]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet [1]; 3. 39M-Anthony Macri [3]; 4. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [5]; 5. 99-Skylar Gee [8] / 6. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [12]; 7. 2C-Cole Macedo [9]; 8. 6-Zach Hampton [7]; 9. 32-Bryce Lucius [6]; 10. 83-Buddy Kofoid [4]; 11. 34-Sterling Cling [10]; 12. 0-Glenn Styres [11].

Toyota Dash (6 laps, sets first four rows of A-Main): 1. 57-Kyle Larson [2]; 2. 69K-Christopher Bell [1]; 3. 24D-Danny Sams III [4]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet [6]; 5. 2-David Gravel [3]; 6. 41-Carson Macedo [5]; 7. 10-Ryan Timms [7]; 8. 21-Brian Brown [8].

C-Main (10 laps, top two transfer): 1. 12X-Kameron Key [1]; 2. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [8]; 3. 44-Chris Martin [2]; 4. 6G-Bryan Gossel [3]; 5. 11T-T.J. Stutts [5]; 6. 16TH-Kevin Newton [4]; 7. 0-Glenn Styres [10]; 8. 16G-Austyn Gossel [9]; 9. 36-Jason Martin [7]; 10. 34-Sterling Cling [6]; 11. 97UK-Ryan Harrison [11].

MicroLite Last Chance Showdown (12 laps, top four transfer): 1. 18-Gio Scelzi [1]; 2. 83-Buddy Kofoid [2]; 3. 5-Brenham Crouch [3]; 4. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [6]; 5. 7S-Chris Windom [4]; 6. 71-Parker Price Miller [7]; 7. 16T-Brady Bacon [5]; 8. 48-Danny Dietrich [8]; 9. 2C-Cole Macedo [10]; 10. 15-Donny Schatz [12]; 11. 28-Conner Morrell [11]; 12. 13-Daison Pursley [13]; 13. 12X-Kameron Key [18]; 14. 6-Zach Hampton [14]; 15. 17GP-Landon Crawley [9]; 16. 64-Andy Pake [16]; 17. 15K-Creed Kemenah [15]; 18. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [19]; 19. 32-Bryce Lucius [17].

NOS Energy Drink A-Main (25 laps): 1. 1. 57-Kyle Larson [1]; 2. 69K-Christopher Bell [2]; 3. 2-David Gravel [5]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet [4]; 5. 10-Ryan Timms [7]; 6. 41-Carson Macedo [6]; 7. 17B-Bill Balog [13]; 8. 1S-Logan Schuchart [19]; 9. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [9]; 10. 24D-Danny Sams III [3]; 11. 21-Brian Brown [8]; 12. 88-Austin McCarl [11]; 13. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [16]; 14. 83-Buddy Kofoid [22]; 15. 27-Emerson Axsom [10]; 16. 1A-Jacob Allen [14]; 17. 15-Donny Schatz [25]; 18. 26-Justin Peck [17]; 19. 9-Kasey Kahne [15]; 20. 5-Brenham Crouch [23]; 21. 18-Gio Scelzi [21]; 22. 23-Garet Williamson [18]; 23. 99-Skylar Gee [20]; 24. 6-Zach Hampton [27]; 25. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [24]; 26. 39M-Anthony Macri [12]; 27. 7S-Chris Windom [26].

Lap Leader(s): Kyle Larson 1-25

Hard Charger: 1S-Logan Schuchart (+11)