LARSON SURGES FROM SIXTH TO CLAIM JACKSONVILLE’S WIN

Last year, Kyle Larson was forced to settle for second at Jacksonville Speedway, and he simply wouldn’t allow that to happen again this time around.

It didn’t matter that a more challenging path awaited him at Friday’s Hy-Vee Perks 40. Larson began in the front row in 2024 and led most of the race until David Gravel slipped past him late. This year, “Yung Money” started from sixth position for the 40-lap World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Feature. However, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion was undeterred in his climb to the front.

Larson carefully navigated through the early restarts in the Silva Motorsports No. 57. By Lap 8, he had reached the podium, and three laps later, he advanced to second place. On Lap 16, he executed a slider on Carson Macedo to claim the lead, demonstrating why he is currently considered one of the top race car drivers in the world.

The Elk Grove, CA native dominated in traffic, skillfully maneuvering past lapped cars and extending his lead to over four seconds at times. By the time the checkered flag waved, Larson had lapped competitors up to 11th place. No second-place finish for him this year.

“For what Kyle Larson enjoys doing, yes, that was a lot of fun,” Larson said. “It was an extremely challenging racetrack throughout the night. I was just waiting for the area above the cushion in Turns 3 and 4 to loosen up. It barely did. After cautions, I could really maneuver above it in Turns 3 and 4 quite well and wanted to stay committed to it to try to clean it off up there as much as possible before encountering traffic. I felt like that allowed me to get past lapped cars a bit more easily because I could gain such momentum on the frontstretch. Just a great car, great race, all of that.”

Larson’s win was his third in six tries this year with The Greatest Show on Dirt. He’s won six of his last nine in World of Outlaws action dating back to last year. The three times he hasn’t he still finished on the podium, making for an average finish of 1.44 over those nine races competing with the best Sprint Car drivers in the world. The 32-year-old has 38 victories in 150 career Feature starts, a remarkable 25.3% winning clip. He became the sixth different winner through six Series visits to Jacksonville.

“It’s always fun to get to race the 57, especially on a small bullring like this,” Larson said. “I hope the fans enjoyed it. I know I did from my seat. Thank you guys for coming out. That was a good one.”

The second spot belonged to Brady Bacon and the TKH Motorsports crew. The Broken Arrow, OK native had speed all night and got by Carson Macedo late to secure his fifth career World of Outlaws podium. “The Macho Man” built some momentum before he goes for a three-peat at Tri-State Speedway on Saturday.

“Carson and I, I feel like we were kind of close to the same,” Bacon said. “I was kind of right on him, so I could kind of try some different stuff in lapped traffic to get the bottom working and figured out especially in (Turns) 1 and 2. I was able to sneak by him, and then I got really backed up in traffic and got a little scared he was going to get me back. Just want to thank Kelly and Lora Hinck for giving us the opportunity to come out here and run some more wing races.”

It was a nice rebound for Carson Macedo and Jason Johnson Racing as they went from their first DNF of 2025 last Saturday at Knoxville to a third place finish at Jacksonville. The Lemoore, CA native led eight laps after taking the top spot from early leader Logan Schuchart but couldn’t quite hold back Larson.

“I don’t know how Kyle does it,” Macedo said with a laugh. “It’s pretty amazing. When I was behind him, pacing him after the restart, which wasn’t very long, he was running above it (the cushion). It looked like he was wall grinding the fence. I just don’t know that I can do that for all 40 laps and hold it all together and still finish these races.”

Logan Schuchart and David Gravel completed the top five.

A 23rd to 13th outing gave Chris Windom his third KSE Racing Hard Charger of the year with Sides Motorsports.