Larson Tops Insane Stoops Pursuit At The Dirt Track At IMS

By Dan Margetta

Speedway, Ind., Sept. 4—The second edition of the DrivenToSaveLives BC39 powered by NOS Energy Drink got off to a crazy start Wednesday night as Kyle Larson topped the preliminary Stoops Pursuit race in thrilling fashion over Michael Pickens and Justin Grant.

The 25-lap race, which was divided into five lap segments with the last place driver and any driver that lost a position during each segment being eliminated, highlighted the opening night of the BC39 event and kicked off the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard weekend.

Larson, Pickens, and Grant survived the eliminations during the opening segments and were the only three of the 25 starters remaining for the final five laps. Larson and Pickens traded the lead numerous times in the final laps while Grant remained glued in their tracks. Larson led at the white flag as Pickens set himself up for a strong run off turn two down the backstretch. Pickens threw a slider entering turn three and nearly cleared Larson but his right rear barely clipped Larson’s left front which turned his car sideways. Pickens car dug into the track and he bicycled over upside down as Grant rocketed around the outside of both cars momentarily taking the lead before hitting the turn four fence and turning over upside down as well. Meanwhile Larson, who spun completely around, kept his foot on the throttle and charged to the finish line to win.

The evening also featured USAC National Midget heat race action as the 90 entries for the BC39 were placed into ten heat races through a special draft the night before in order to set the passing points standings for the BC39 main event races on Thursday night.

Brady Bacon scored the victory in the first heat race over Chris Windom and Robert Dalby while Kevin Thomas Jr. edged Karsyn Elledge and Holly Hollan to win the second heat race. Zeb Wise claimed victory in heat race number three over Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Jerry Coons Jr and Dillon Welch won the fourth heat race over Justin Grant and C.J. Leary. Gio Scelczi topped Jason McDougal and Tucker Klaasmeyer to win the fifth heat race while Zach Daum took top honors in heat race number six over Tanner Carrick and Billy Wease. Andrew Laser took a nasty tumble in the sixth heat race as he landed upside down in turn four before escaping the incident without injury. Jake Neuman won the seventh heat race over Michael Pickens and Christopher Bell and Chad Boat was the winner of the eighth heat race over Logan Seavey in a photo finish. Alex Bright finished third. Thomas Meseraull started deep in the field in heat race nine and charged to the win over Kyle Larson and Ethan Mitchell. Spencer Bayston topped the tenth and final heat race over Matt Westfall and Jesse Colwell.

Dan Margetta