By Alex Nieten
After third and second place runs on Wednesday and Thursday, Kyle Larson would not be denied on Friday night
A Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals gator was one of few pieces missing from Kyle Larson’s résumé. But there’d be no stopping him from filling that line on Friday night at Volusia Speedway Park.
He was third on Wednesday. He climbed to second on Thursday. The hunger grew and grew. And finally on Friday in his 19th attempt, Larson caught himself a gator.
“Yung Money” started on the pole of the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Feature and never looked back. Lapped traffic appeared as if it may make things interesting with Christopher Bell stalking in second, but a timely yellow gave Larson open track. He refused to watch Bell celebrate two nights in a row. They’re friends but also fierce competitors.
Larson survived a handful of late restarts and parked the Silva Motorsports No. 57 in Victory Lane at “The World’s Fastest Half Mile” for the first time.
“It’s (Volusia) a place that I feel like I’ve raced well,” Larson said. “I just always start so far back. I haven’t felt like that gator has been close enough. We’ve been getting the night started off pretty well, and my car feels really good throughout the night. I felt really good there again.
“It’s cool to win here at Volusia. It’s cool to have a lot of our supporters here this weekend and great to see a packed house too.”
It was roles reversed from the previous night when Bell narrowly fended off Larson. The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion lined up on the pole and took off right away. Danny Sams III took the second spot from Bell early on, but the Norman, OK native rallied to reclaim it on Lap 13. He closed in on Larson in traffic, but some late cautions put Larson in clean air, and he drove the Silva Motorsports No. 57 to victory.
“It got kind of a little easy to run the top, so the lappers were just as fast as I was,” Larson said. “I felt like Bell would be closing on me, but I was able to make a couple good moves. I think the cautions probably came out at the right time for me, and I was able to have clean air to the end there.”
Larson’s 36th career win with The Greatest Show on Dirt equaled him with his former driver, Shane Stewart, for 22nd all-time. Volusia is the 18th different track where he’s topped a World of Outlaws race. Larson will also enter Saturday’s finale with an eight-point lead in the Big Gator standings with a strong chance to capture the reptilian championship trophy.
Bell came up just one spot short of back-to-back Volusia victories. The current NASCAR competitor for Joe Gibbs Racing now has podiums in four of his last five races at “The World’s Fastest Half Mile.” While Bell thought he was outmatched on Friday, he found himself wishing the race would’ve went caution-free to give him a shot.
“I definitely wanted it to stay green,” Bell said. “But ultimately, he got away from me even before the yellow came out. Ultimately, on the start me not being able to fall into second and follow behind him cost me a shot at it. But the car felt really good.”
Rounding out the podium was David Gravel in the Big Game Motorsports No. 2. The defending champion continued his strong start to 2025 with his third consecutive finish of fourth or better. He’s closest to Larson in the DIRTcar Nationals standings and looking to claim a record fourth Big Gator on Saturday.
“When it got congested there, we were really good,” Gravel said. “I think our car was the best right there in the middle of the race and was able to use the bottom here in (Turns) 3 and 4 to pass those guys. I think we passed two in one corner. Another good race car just a little too late. You put Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell on the front row it’s going to be tough to beat them.”
Brad Sweet and Ryan Timms completed the top five.
Logan Schuchart drove from 19th to eighth to earn the KSE Racing Hard Charger.
Danny Sams III claimed his first career Simpson Quick Time in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying.
NOS Energy Drink Heats One, Two, and Four went to Carson Macedo, Brian Brown and Christopher Bell. WIX Filters Heat Three belonged to Kyle Larson.
Bell got the SPA Technique #1 Redraw for the second night in a row.
Kyle Larson topped the Toyota Racing Dash.
Giovanni Scelzi won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.
The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Anthony Macri.
UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car portion of Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals closes out with a $20,000-to-win/$1,500-to-start finale on Saturday, Feb. 8. For tickets, CLICK HERE.
If you can’t make it to the track, watch every lap all season long on DIRTVision.
For the entire 2025 World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car schedule, CLICK HERE.
FEATURE RESULTS:
NOS Energy Drink Feature (25 Laps): 1. 57-Kyle Larson[1]; 2. 69K-Christopher Bell[2]; 3. 2-David Gravel[5]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet[4]; 5. 10-Ryan Timms[7]; 6. 41-Carson Macedo[6]; 7. 17B-Bill Balog[13]; 8. 1S-Logan Schuchart[19]; 9. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[9]; 10. 24D-Danny Sams III[3]; 11. 21-Brian Brown[8]; 12. 88-Austin McCarl[11]; 13. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[16]; 14. 83-Michael Kofoid[22]; 15. 27-Emerson Axsom[10]; 16. 1A-Jacob Allen[14]; 17. 15-Donny Schatz[25]; 18. 26-Justin Peck[17]; 19. 9-Kasey Kahne[15]; 20. 5-Brenham Crouch[23]; 21. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[21]; 22. 23-Garet Williamson[18]; 23. 99-Skylar Gee[20]; 24. 6-Zach Hampton[27]; 25. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[24]; 26. 39M-Anthony Macri[12]; 27. 7S-Chris Windom[26]
For complete results, CLICK HERE.