Bell Nips Larson In A DIRTcar Nationals Photo Finish

BARBERVILLE, Fla. – Sprint car racing’s greatest modern-era rivalry finally resumed Thursday night, with Christopher Bell besting rival Kyle Larson in a photo finish during night two of Volusia Speedway Park’s DIRTcar Nationals.

Surviving a three-lap dash to the checkered flag, Bell kept his momentum rolling on the high side in the final set of corners, while Larson diamonded turns three and four in an effort to drive underneath his longtime foe.

In the end, it was Bell reaching the finish line a scant .050 seconds ahead of Larson, earning his first World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series win since 2019 and first since joining Kreitz Motorsports to wheel the iconic No. 69K.

Bell’s joy was palpable after he climbed from the driver’s seat, even as he struggled to find the words to describe one of the all-time classic finishes in DIRTcar Nationals history.

“When I peeled down to the bottom, I heard him (Larson) out there the entire time,” said the Norman, Okla., native in victory lane. “That was a hell of a race and I had a lot of fun!

“It’s just absolutely incredible to win one here and I’m so thankful that my (NASCAR Cup Series) boss Joe Gibbs and everyone at JGR has allowed me to come out and do this (dirt racing) again,” he continued. “Winning Outlaw races is my pride and joy. I don’t have many of them to my name … and it truly is a dream come true to be racing out here.”

Bell won the Toyota Pole Dash to start first for the 25-lap main event and led the first five laps, but the star for the majority of the race was Indiana young gun Emerson Axsom, who charged past Bell on the sixth revolution and proceeded to lead the middle chunk of the race.

Axsom worked flawlessly through traffic past the halfway point and held Bell at bay, even as Larson worked his way into third past Logan Schuchart and closed in on Bell’s tail tank.

With five to go, the duo of Bell and Larson were nose to tail, and a lap later they were closing on Axsom before heartbreak struck for the leading 20-year-old out front.

Axsom’s No. 27 snapped loose in turn three, leading to a spin for the Franklin, Ind., hotshoe and putting an end to his quest for a maiden World of Outlaws sprint car victory.

While Axsom was able to refire and finish the feature, a result showed nothing of just how close he was to victory, and Bell recognized that afterward.

“Man, all week long I’ve been struggling to know where I needed to be,” Bell admitted. “I felt like at the start of the race, I needed to commit to the top and run as many laps as I could up there … and then Emerson drove by me (down) low. He did a great job for a lot of that race.

“I knew as the top got thicker and thicker, my car just kept getting tighter and tighter, so at the end I was thinking about where I could run the smoothest lap set.”

A single-file restart set the tone for the final three laps, with Larson staying glued to Bell’s rear bumper at the green flag and nearly alongside by the time the white silk waved over the half-mile dirt oval.

Getting a good run down the backstretch, Larson pitched his Paul Silva-prepared No. 57 to the inside of turns three and four on the final lap. He couldn’t quite surge enough off the corner to nip Bell at the flagstand though and had to settle for second.

Still, it marked an improvement over Larson’s third-place run from Wednesday and tied his career-best DIRTcar Nationals finish at Volusia. The Elk Grove, Calif., native now has eight podiums in his last 10 Outlaws starts.

“I thought I did a pretty good job that last restart (of) staying with Bell on the frontstretch, and I thought I was going to be able to build enough of a run (to pass him) because this place is so wide that to run the top is a long way around,” Larson explained. “I was hoping to get enough grip and speed to the center of (turns) three and four to get lucky and get traction as I diamonded. Just came up a little bit short.”

Schuchart closed out the podium finishers, followed by defending series champion David Gravel and five-time titlist Brad Sweet. Wednesday night winner Carson Macedo was 12th in a non-descript effort.

Larson set the overall fast time (13.262 seconds) in Qualifying Flight-A, with Bell (13.293) leading the slower Flight-B. Both drivers then won their respective heat races alongside Bill Balog and Macedo.

Haudenschild won the C-Main before Ryan Timms grabbed the victory in the Last Chance Showdown.

The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series season continues with two more nights of action at Volusia Speedway Park as part of the 54th Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals. Every lap can be streamed live on DIRTvision.

World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series; Volusia Speedway Park; Barberville, Fla.; Feb. 6, 2025

Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying Flight-A (best of two laps): 1. 57-Kyle Larson, 13.262; 2. 17B-Bill Balog, 13.435; 3. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 13.445; 4. 27-Emerson Axsom, 13.493; 5. 49-Brad Sweet, 13.520; 6. 39M-Anthony Macri, 13.540; 7. 15-Donny Schatz, 13.564; 8. 26-Justin Peck, 13.566; 9. 10-Ryan Timms, 13.574; 10. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 13.581; 11. 5-Brenham Crouch, 13.582; 12. 83-Michael Kofoid, 13.587; 13. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 13.595; 14. 71-Parker Price Miller, 13.636; 15. 34-Sterling Cling, 13.666; 16. 1A-Jacob Allen, 13.694; 17. 44-Chris Martin, 13.721; 18. 97UK-Ryan Harrison, 13.818; 19. 36-Jason Martin, 13.862; 20. 16T-Brady Bacon, 13.906; 21. 15K-Creed Kemenah, 13.937; 22. 12X-Kameron Key, 13.951; 23. 12S-Adyn Schmidt, 13.996; 24. 11T-T.J. Stutts, 13.997; 25. 64-Andy Pake, 14.028; 26. 88J-Joey Amantea, 14.223.

Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying Flight-B (best of two laps): 1. 69K-Christopher Bell, 13.293; 2. 21-Brian Brown, 13.344; 3. 24D-Danny Sams III, 13.397; 4. 41-Carson Macedo, 13.455; 5. 18-Giovanni Scelzi, 13.524; 6. 2-David Gravel, 13.568; 7. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 13.584; 8. 23-Garet Williamson, 13.595; 9. 32-Bryce Lucius, 13.622; 10. 7S-Chris Windom, 13.637; 11. 88-Austin McCarl, 13.639; 12. 28-Conner Morrell, 13.669; 13. 9-Kasey Kahne, 13.679; 14. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 13.694; 15. 6-Zach Hampton, 13.736; 16. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr., 13.737; 17. 48-Danny Dietrich, 13.764; 18. 13-Daison Pursley, 13.800; 19. 2C-Cole Macedo, 13.809; 20. 16TH-Kevin Newton, 13.866; 21. 77T-Tyeller Powless, 13.924; 22. 6G-Bryan Gossel, 13.927; 23. 17GP-Landon Crawley, 13.964; 24. 16G-Austyn Gossel, 13.990; 25. 0-Glenn Styres, 13.994; 26. 99-Skylar Gee, NT.

Non-Qualifier (8 laps, top four to heats): 1. 77T-Tyeller Powless [2]; 2. 15K-Creed Kemenah [1]; 3. 12S-Adyn Schmidt [5]; 4. 11T-T.J. Stutts [7] / 5. 6G-Bryan Gossel [4]; 6. 17GP-Landon Crawley [6]; 7. 16G-Austyn Gossel [8]; 8. 64-Andy Pake [9]; 9. 0-Glenn Styres [10]; 10. 88J-Joey Amantea [11]; 11. 12X-Kameron Key [3]; 12. 99-Skylar Gee [12].

Heat #1 (8 laps, top five transfer): 1. 57-Kyle Larson [1]; 2. 1S-Logan Schuchart [2]; 3. 49-Brad Sweet [3]; 4. 15-Donny Schatz [4]; 5. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [7] / 6. 10-Ryan Timms [5]; 7. 5-Brenham Crouch [6]; 8. 36-Jason Martin [10]; 9. 34-Sterling Cling [8]; 10. 44-Chris Martin [9]; 11. 77T-Tyeller Powless [11].

Heat #2 (8 laps, top five transfer): 1. 17B-Bill Balog [1]; 2. 27-Emerson Axsom [2]; 3. 26-Justin Peck [4]; 4. 39M-Anthony Macri [3]; 5. 83-Michael Kofoid [6] / 6. 1A-Jacob Allen [8]; 7. 71-Parker Price Miller [7]; 8. 16T-Brady Bacon [10]; 9. 97UK-Ryan Harrison [9]; 10. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [5]; 11. 15K-Creed Kemenah [11].

Heat #3 (8 laps, top five transfer): 1. 69K-Christopher Bell [1]; 2. 24D-Danny Sams III [2]; 3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [4]; 4. 18-Giovanni Scelzi [3]; 5. 88-Austin McCarl [6] / 6. 9-Kasey Kahne [7]; 7. 2C-Cole Macedo [10]; 8. 32-Bryce Lucius [5]; 9. 6-Zach Hampton [8]; 10. 48-Danny Dietrich [9]; 11. 12S-Adyn Schmidt [11].

Heat #4 (8 laps, top five transfer): 1. 41-Carson Macedo [2]; 2. 21-Brian Brown [1]; 3. 2-David Gravel [3]; 4. 23-Garet Williamson [4]; 5. 7S-Chris Windom [5]; 6. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [7]; 7. 28-Conner Morrell [6]; 8. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. [8]; 9. 11T-T.J. Stutts [11]; 10. 13-Daison Pursley [9]; 11. 16TH-Kevin Newton [10].

Toyota Dash (6 laps, sets first four rows of A-Main lineup): 1. 69K-Christopher Bell [1]; 2. 1S-Logan Schuchart [2]; 3. 27-Emerson Axsom [3]; 4. 57-Kyle Larson [6]; 5. 21-Brian Brown [4]; 6. 17B-Bill Balog [8]; 7. 41-Carson Macedo [5]; 8. 24D-Danny Sams III [7].

C-Main (10 laps, top two transfer): 1. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [3]; 2. 44-Chris Martin [1]; 3. 48-Danny Dietrich [2]; 4. 13-Daison Pursley [4]; 5. 15K-Creed Kemenah [7]; 6. 17GP-Landon Crawley [10]; 7. 12X-Kameron Key [15]; 8. 99-Skylar Gee [16]; 9. 77T-Tyeller Powless [5]; 10. 0-Glenn Styres [13]; 11. 64-Andy Pake [12]; 12. 12S-Adyn Schmidt [6]; 13. 16TH-Kevin Newton [8]; 14. 6G-Bryan Gossel [9]; 15. 16G-Austyn Gossel [11]; 16. 88J-Joey Amantea [14].

MicroLite Last Chance Showdown (12 laps, top four transfer): 1. 10-Ryan Timms [1]; 2. 71-Parker Price Miller [7]; 3. 1A-Jacob Allen [3]; 4. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[6] / 5. 9-Kasey Kahne [4]; 6. 5-Brenham Crouch [5]; 7. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [17]; 8. 32-Bryce Lucius [2]; 9. 16T-Brady Bacon [11]; 10. 36-Jason Martin [9]; 11. 2C-Cole Macedo [8]; 12. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. [12]; 13. 6-Zach Hampton [14]; 14. 34-Sterling Cling [13]; 15. 11T-T.J. Stutts [16]; 16. 44-Chris Martin [18]; 17. 97UK-Ryan Harrison [15]; 18. 28-Conner Morrell [10].

NOS Energy Drink A-Main (25 laps): 1. 69K-Christopher Bell [1]; 2. 57-Kyle Larson [4]; 3. 1S-Logan Schuchart [2]; 4. 2-David Gravel [12]; 5. 49-Brad Sweet [9]; 6. 17B-Bill Balog [6]; 7. 15-Donny Schatz [13]; 8. 26-Justin Peck [11]; 9. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [10]; 10. 10-Ryan Timms [21]; 11. 83-Michael Kofoid [19]; 12. 41-Carson Macedo [7]; 13. 21-Brian Brown [5]; 14. 71-Parker Price Miller [22]; 15. 24D-Danny Sams III [8]; 16. 39M-Anthony Macri [15]; 17. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [17]; 18. 1A-Jacob Allen [23]; 19. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [25]; 20. 7S-Chris Windom [20]; 21. 27-Emerson Axsom [3]; 22. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [24]; 23. 2C-Cole Macedo [27]; 24. 23-Garet Williamson [16]; 25. 18-Gio Scelzi [14]; 26. 88-Austin McCarl [18]; 27. 6-Zach Hampton [26]; 28. 99-Skylar Gee [28].

Lap Leader(s): Christopher Bell 1-5, Emerson Axsom 6-22, Christopher Bell 23-25

Hard Charger: 10-Ryan Timms (+11)