Larson wins sprint car event at Grandview
Former NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson raced to the victory Tuesday in the Pennsylvania 410 Sprint Car Speedweek event at Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville as part of the Thunder on the Hill Racing Series.
Ryan Watt of Boyertown won the 358 modified feature.
Larson was fired by Chip Ganassi Racing in April after using a racial slur during an iRacing event.
The victory was the third in four years for Larson at Grandview, and earned him $10,000 and his name on the Greg Hodnett Memorial Cup. He also won at Grandview in 2017 and 2018.
Hodnett was a six-time Thunder on the Hill champ and nine-time Thunder on the Hill feature winner who died in a racing accident in 2018.
Larson, who started third, had moved up to second place behind Freddie Rahmer on the 20th lap of the 35-lap event.
Following a restart on the 34th lap, Larson was able to slide past Rahmer and into the lead. He held on from there.
“Freddie set such a good pace on the restarts,” Larson said, as reported in a press release. “I’m surprised I could stay with him. At times we were good. It’s great to get a win.”
Rahmer finished second, followed by Sammy Swindell, Ryan Smith and Danny Dietrich.
Cup Series driver Christopher Bell, who started on the pole, made contact during an incident on the sixth lap and dropped out of the race. He finished 24th.
In the 30-lap modified event, Watt earned $3,000 for his victory.
He was followed at the finish by Jeff Strunk, Craig Von Dohren, Kevin Hirthler and Doug Manmiller.