It’s honestly become mind-blowing at this point…
Kyle Larson has once again made the dirt racing scene his playground, claiming the victory in Thursday Night’s 3rd Annual BC39 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Dirt Track, after holding off a pair of hungry drivers in Justin Grant and Brady Bacon in an incredible battle of full-contact racing and typical dirt racing slidejobs.
KYLE LARSON WINS THE BC39! pic.twitter.com/OyFeLdA30d
— FloRacing (@FloRacing) August 20, 2021
The victory marks the first for Larson in the BC39, a 39-lap event dedicated to Bryan Clauson, who lost his life in a dirt racing accident in 2016. Clauson was a close friend of Larson, which makes the event and the victory monumental for the NASCAR Cup Series driver.
“Everything about this event is cool.” Larson continued. “Having a dirt track here at Indy is awesome, but for me, Bryan was a good friend of mine and a very tough competitor, and his fiancé Lauren and my wife Katelyn are best friends, so this race definitely means alot to us. We obviously hate that we lost Bryan at a really young age, but we’re able to come here to Indianapolis, a place that he had a big part in building, and honor him with 39 laps, and for me to get the win is special.”
However, the win didn’t come easily for the California-native, after starting the event from the third row the 29-year-old strategically moved his way through the top-five, not asserting his dominance in the race lead until the final restart of the race, where he held off Justin Grant, after a series of what he called ‘mistakes’.
“I just did a really bad job that last restart,” said Larson in a post-race interview. “Just put a couple bad laps together and made too many mistakes, and had to get racing Justin [Grant] there. He was really good and he’s really fast when the track is technical and up against the fence, and then Brady [Bacon] almost snuck by both of us, it was a good race.”
According to Walkapedia, Thursday Night marked the 23rd victory in 66 starts throughout 2021, equating to a 34.8-percent winning rate, while the Elk Grove, California-native has collected 70 victories in the 168 starts he’s made over the last two years – a win percentage of 41.67-percent.
$15,000 and the first-career #BC39 win for @KyleLarsonRacin!
That’s 23 victories in 66 starts in 2021. His 70th overall win in 168 races since 2020 started. pic.twitter.com/NU0v2eKflb
— ?????????? (@Walkapedia_) August 20, 2021
Now, Larson will head to Michigan International Speedway on Sunday Afternoon to tackle the NASCAR Cup Series field, in search of his sixth victory of the season, and his second in the last three events.