WoO News: Larson wins on the dirt in Jacksonville

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 tougher road was ahead of him at Friday’s Hy-Vee Perks 40. Larson started on the front row in 2024 and led most of the way before David Gravel snuck by late. This year “Yung Money” lined up back in sixth for the 40-lap World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series Feature. But a climb to the front wasn’t going to halt the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion.

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 races dating back to last year.

Related Article:  WoO: Larson leads flag-to-flag in winning Knoxville Nationals

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.

Heat Races went to Carson Macedo (NOS Energy Drink Heat One), Sheldon Haudenschild (Real American Beer Heat Two), Bill Balog (WIX Filters Heat Three), and Logan Schuchart (TheGreatestStoreonDirt.com Heat Four).

David Gravel topped the Toyota Dash and received the SPA Technique #1 Redraw.

Giovanni Scelzi won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.

The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Zach Hampton.

FEATURE RESULTS: