Posted on 12/30/2025 8:45:23 AM PST by WhiteHatBobby0701
The NASCAR champion was solid, if not overly spectacular, over the first two nights of the three-night contest.
He came alive when it mattered, though, with a late charge to deny local hero Dayne Kingshott and form man Michael "Buddy" Kofoid for the $110,000 bounty on Tuesday night.
It was Kingshott that led the very early running ahead of Kofoid with Larson settling into third.
That was until a lap 6 caution, the restart from which saw Kofoid bolt into the lead.
At the same time Larson was shuffled back to fourth by Jock Goodyer, where he would stay until the a lap 14 caution, called when Australian champion James McFadden crashed out of contention.
The restart from that saw Larson start his charge to the front, quickly leaping to the front of the field with quick moves on Kofoid and Kingshott.
Initially it was Kingshott that provided the most pressure until the final eight laps when Corey Day became a genuine factor at the front.
He looked to be the fastest driver in the field and narrowly lead with three laps to go – only for a caution to appear at the exact moment he got past Larson.
The Day threat quickly evaporated on the next restart when he suffered a puncture, prompting another nervy restart for Larson.
By that point Kingshott was carrying significant damage from contact with a spun Rico Abreu, Larson able to control the final three laps to go back-to-back at the Motorplex.
“You can never count yourself out,” Larson told Flo Racing.
“I’m just proud of [crew chief’] Trevor Canales and [car owner] Jason Pryde, everybody on this car for giving me great equipment and never quitting to work on it.
“I had trouble execute there, and I feel like I did that. I don’t know if I was the fastest at times, but when I had to step up and hammer it, I was able to do that.”
The wounded Kingshott came home second, and best of the Aussies, ahead of US drivers Kofoid and Cole Macedo.
Luke Oldfield was sixth from Carson Macedo, while Goodyer slipped back to seventh ahead of Callum Williamson, Daniel Harding and Brock Zearfoss.
Western Australian regular Callum Williamson will spend his winter in Pennsylvania racing as part of the legendary Pennsylvania Posse.
And next year they're making it $13,000 to win (20000 AUD) the features before the big money.
Who would have imagined a NASCAR champion would tell Australia's best sprint car racers to race a six-figure Australian dollar race and pays five times the National Championship (which is a closed event, no foreigners allowed), and pays nearly twice what the Grand Annual (Australia's traditional big race next month, also gets a slew of Americans and is called their National Open) pays.
According to reports, the grandstands and pits were full because fans are encouraged to purchase pit passes along with tickets.
The nearly $75,000 to win race is on par with some of the best sprint car races in America (not the Kings' Royal, Knoxville Nationals, et al, but it pays just as much as the National Open in Williams Grove).
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