Larson The Last One Standing in BC39 Stoops Pursuit
Larson The Last One Standing in BC39 Stoops Pursuit
Kyle Larson literally became the last man standing on the final lap of the Stoops Pursuit Wednesday at The Dirt Track at IMS.
Kyle Larson literally became the last man standing on the final lap of the Stoops Pursuit during Wednesday’s opening night.
FULL RESULTS FROM NIGHT 1 OF BC39
On the last lap of the final segment of the 25-lap event, three drivers remained on track in contention for the victory after 22 of the 25 starters had been eliminated from competition. In this unique race format, drivers were sent to the infield if they were passed or were involved in an accident.
Michael Pickens (Auckland, N.Z.), Kyle Larson (Elk Grove, Calif.) and Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) entered the back straightaway off turn two under a proverbial blanket on the last lap. Pickens dove underneath Larson entering turn three on the final lap then as both went for the same piece of real estate at the entrance of turn three, Pickens’ right rear tire climbed Larson’s left front, sending Pickens flipping wildly. Larson went into a 360 spin at the edge of the infield.
Watch Larson's wild finish:
Moments later, Grant seemed to have a clear path to victory on the top side, but instead, banged his right rear tire off the turn three wall, sending himself into a series of barrel rolls against the concrete.
With a cloud of dust kicked up from the infield and his camber askew, Larson pointed his Toyota in the right direction, tip-toed around the bottom of the fourth turn and gassed his way back to the finish line as the winner.
Rewatch the full race from night 1 below:
The unpredictable turn of events was reminiscent of a combination of both the 1976 Daytona 500 finish between Richard Petty and David Pearson, as well as Danny Sullivan’s spin-and-win on the same property at IMS back in 1985. Along with being a part of one of the wildest moments in the century-plus history of racing on the IMS grounds, Larson took home $2,100 in the win.
“That was wild,” Larson said. “I didn’t know it was going to be that crazy of a race. On the second to last stage, Justin (Grant) got by and then (Jason) McDougal got by, and I knew I needed to get back to second to be able to run that last round. I was really good up top. I knew if I got a good restart, I could get by Pickens. But this track was so racy that sliders were easy to throw. Michael (Pickens) was throwing everything he had at me. We made contact there on the back stretch. He was trying to park it on the bottom, and I was trying to do what I did the lap before, two laps before.”
Wednesday marked the first night Larson had been on track in competition at The Dirt Track at IMS after not competing in last year’s inaugural BC39 event.
“I was bummed I couldn’t make it last year,” he said. “I saw how exciting it was and said, ‘screw it, I’m going to try to make it.’ I made it to the Indy airport at 4:45 just in time for hot laps. It was worth it, though. I hope we can be up here again tomorrow.”
BC39 continues Thursday (Sept. 5) with the finale. The event will have the public gates opening at 3pm and cars on track for practice at 4:30pm, with qualifying races to follow at 5:30pm. Opening ceremonies are slated for 7pm and immediately followed by the main feature events, starting with multiple D-Mains, C-Main, the semi-feature and the 39-lap main event.