Larson Looking Up After Podium In DIRTcar Nats Opener

Kyle Larson in action Wednesday at Volusia Speedway Park. (KR Poole Photos)

BARBERVILLE, Fla. – Of the many things Kyle Larson has done in his sprint car career, winning a Gator trophy from Volusia Speedway Park’s DIRTcar Nationals is not one of them.

Larson hopes to rectify that statistic this week, and came close yet again with a podium finish during Wednesday’s opener to the 54th DIRTcar Nationals at the half-mile Florida dirt track.

The Elk Grove, Calif., native raced Paul Silva’s iconic white No. 57 from 10th to third and staged a brilliant battle with reigning World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series rookie-of-the-year Buddy Kofoid in the latter stages of the 25-lapper.

After reaching the top five in just five circuits, Larson ripped the top side to take fourth on a lap-six restart, brought about after the car of his longtime rival Christopher Bell slowed on the backstretch.

From there, Larson methodically tracked down Kofoid in traffic and slid the Roth Motorsports driver for the podium place in turn four on the 18th lap. Kofoid countered on the other end, and the duo went back and forth for the next several rotations before disaster scuttled the dogfight.

Kofoid stumbled in turn four coming to three to go, losing momentum before his car darted down the track and into the side of fifth-running Logan Schuchart as the latter attempted to streak past.

The contact sent Kofoid flipping and triggered a late red flag, while Larson continued on and eventually finished 1.247 seconds back of runner-up and defending Outlaws champion David Gravel.

While Carson Macedo won the kickoff to the Outlaws season, Larson wasn’t overly disappointed with third place, though he did lament that Kofoid’s crash put a stop to their stellar duel down the stretch.

Kyle Larson (Nigel Kinrade/NKP photo)

“I think the biggest thing for us moving forward was starting on the outside lane,” Larson explained. “Starting 10th, I was able to get to sixth pretty quickly. Then (Christopher) Bell fell out. Carson, I was hoping he was going to choose the top (for the first restart) and he did, and it worked out to where I got right to fourth.

“I had a good car and had a good battle with Buddy there before he had his crash. I hated to see that,” added the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion. “I lined up third at the end, but couldn’t get going fast enough to make anything happen.”

Wednesday marked the first podium Larson has had at Volusia with the Outlaws since the 2022 DIRTcar Nationals, when he finished second on the first night of competition. In fact, that 2022 race is Larson’s only other podium in three years of DIRTcar Nationals participation.

It’s something that has Larson optimistic going into the rest of the week.

“Overall, [Wednesday] was a really good night,” Larson tipped. “This was the best we’ve qualified at a half mile in forever (third in flight B and fourth overall of 52 cars) and maybe in my career, so that was nice and a good confidence builder. If we can qualify strongly again and make things a bit easier on ourselves in the heat race, we should be alright.

“But probably the best overall night we’ve had in the (No.) 57 at Volusia in our (team’s) history.”

Larson is a _-time Outlaws race winner and has finished inside the top three in seven of his last nine main event starts. Wednesday was the 146th feature start of his career with The Greatest Show on Dirt.

World of Outlaws sprint car action during the Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals continues Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 6-8, at Volusia Speedway Park with three more complete programs. Every lap of the season can be streamed live through DIRTvision.

Following the DIRTcar Nationals, Larson will head to Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway for the kickoff to the NASCAR Cup Series season, seeking his first Harley J. Earl Trophy during the 67th Daytona 500.

Similarly to his sprint car career at Volusia, Larson’s Daytona struggles have been well documented. His best Daytona 500 result to-date is seventh twice, in both 2016 and 2019.