Kyle Larson completes I-55 sweep, three-peats Ironman World of Outlaws race

Before heading back to his day job in the NASCAR Cup Series, Kyle Larson mixed it up with the Outlaws at I-55 Speedway. Larson not only won the 30-lap feature on Friday night, he followed it up with his third Ironman victory in as many attempts.

Kyle Larson has won the 55-lap I-55 Ironman race three times now, 2020, 2023, and 2024. He tires Craig Dollansky for most wins all-time in the grueling Sprint Car race. In total at I-55, Larson has five career wins in seven starts. That’s pretty good I reckon.

While the Hendrick Motorsports driver didn’t have to come back from P21 in the weekend finale, he had to pass some cars. Larson qualified P12 for the event and by Lap 44, he was passing Giovanni Scelzi for the lead, and he never looked back.

Between the two races, Larson passed 31 cars and took home $37,000 for 85 laps of work. Not a bad weekend at the track.

This guy passed 31 Sprint Cars in 85 laps for $37,000 at @I55Raceway this weekend.

Not a bad two nights for @KyleLarsonRacin 🫡 pic.twitter.com/jrAgcV13Yd

— World of Outlaws (@WorldofOutlaws) August 4, 2024

“I was just fortunate enough to get a good initial start and kind of be the first one to the top to get to fifth,” Larson said, via World of Outlaws. “I was really struggling there before the open red, so that was nice to be able to get Paul (Silva) to turn some wrenches on this thing and get me freed up. That really allowed me to kind of get through the waves in (Turn) 1 and get through the middle and get pointed off of (Turn) 2 much better.

“That was a fun race. I hope all of you fans enjoyed that. Ironman 55 is probably my favorite Sprint Car race of the year. It’s tough, long. I really enjoy these long races. Cool to three-peat this.”

With the Olympic break taking place after Indianapolis, Kyle Larson took his family to Italy. He must have been itching to race again, because he put on a show Friday and Saturday.

Going from P21 to P1 in a 30-lap sprint car race is a wild feat. Even if he had finished P2 it would have been a race worthy of praise. Then to follow it up, he passed 11 more cars and won the 55-lap ain’t event.

While NASCAR took a break, Larson kept racing. He did head out to Italy for a little bit with the family. But everyone knew Larson would be back to racing sooner rather than later.

Getting his chance to race on dirt and shake off the competitive rust is massive. Kyle Larson leads the points race in the Cup Series right now. However, it’s a narrow lead of 10 points over Chase Elliott and 15 points over Tyler Reddick.

This time next week we will thankfully have NASCAR racing back in action.