FAIRBURY, Ill. — There was a time in the not-too-distant past when the Prairie Dirt Classic at Fairbury Speedway was a completely unknown entity to Kyle Larson.

After winning the 100-lap World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series-sanctioned race — and its record $50,000 top prize — in his first attempt, the NASCAR and open-wheel superstar admitted he had to be educated about one of the full-fender division’s crown jewels.

“Even before last year, I didn’t know that Fairbury was, like, a big deal for Late Models,” Larson said, “because I never watched Late Model racing.”

Once Larson began moonlighting in the Dirt Late Model class last August in a Longhorn Chassis fielded by engineering maven Kevin Rumley, however, he quickly became acquainted with the division. The intel he learned about Fairbury’s marquee event prompted him to put it so high on his bucket list that he asserted his great desire to run the race during an appearance on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s podcast.

Nevertheless, upon making plans to compete in the PDC thanks to a mid-summer break in the NASCAR Cup Series schedule, Larson asserted he had modest expectations despite his stupendous Dirt Late Model success (three victories, including two earlier this season).

“I honestly didn’t expect to come here and win,” Larson said while standing inside Rumley’s trailer after changing into street clothes. “I honestly was just coming here to have a good time and hopefully have a decent race.

“And especially after last night (Friday’s PDC qualifying program) … I didn’t feel very good. I think I was too erratic with my feet (on the pedals) … kind of like the same thing when we ran All-Tech (Speedway in Ellisville, Fla., on Jan. 23). We had that practice day and I was just really erratic with things I was doing, and then once I just calmed down I was a lot better (in the next evening’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event) and we won that night, too.”

Racing Saturday on his 29th birthday, Larson looked nothing like the driver whose Friday results — group fast-time honors and a runner-up finish in a 25-lap qualifying feature after starting from the pole position — were unsatisfying. He bolted forward from the seventh starting spot to grab the lead for good from race-long pacesetter Bobby Pierce of Oakwood, Ill., on lap 31.

“I got a better start than I thought I could’ve and kind of just set the tone for the race from there,” Larson said. “I worked the middle (lane) early, but I didn’t really find it because they reprepped the track so we all were kind of trying to find grip. I just found a line that worked for me, and I could run there longer. It seemed like people started migrating to the very bottom or the top and I still had the middle going, so it helped me take the lead and then I was just really patient through traffic.

“I kind of just told myself to make sure I get the car bent enough, but do it with being smooth with my feet (on the pedals). I feel like that’s when, with these cars, the suspension works properly and all that. I really just tried to think about what I needed to do.”

Larson was already in contention when the feature’s first caution flag flew.

“We got that caution like 10 laps in and I think I was running fifth, and I felt like I had a good line going,” Larson said. “I didn’t know how long we’d be able to run there, but I was like, ‘Man, my car’s real good here,’ and it just kept getting better and better. I think other people, they were chasing the track either very low or very high, and I could just go where I wanted to. Just the maneuverability in it helped me get to the lead and maintain it.”

The pass that ultimately proved to be the deciding move of the race came on lap 31 when Larson assumed command after a frenetic flurry during which he and Pierce traded sliders at both ends of the quarter-mile oval. There was contact on at least two occasions before Larson pulled ahead as Pierce was left momentarily seething due to damage — a right-rear quarterpanel ripped asunder and bent left-front bodywork — his Pierce Race Car sustained in the physical play with Larson.

“We got battling kind of hard,” Larson said. “I slid him, he slid me back. Then I slid him in the same corner that he slid me, and then he caught my left-front on the frontstretch. So then I got wide on exit (from turn two) and kind of squeezed him in the fence a little bit on the backstretch. Then his quarterpanel fell off.

“He was obviously upset (Pierce pulled alongside Larson during a lap-31 caution period to express his displeasure), but we’re both aggressive drivers. I wanted to get the lead and set my own pace and kind of get people behind me having to search. I wanted to be aggressive on that (lap-27) restart (that set up the tussle for the lead) and it all worked out.”

Rumley certainly wasn’t surprised to see Larson and Pierce racing hard for control of the A-main.

“Bobby’s a tough competitor,” Rumley said after clearing postrace technical inspection with his his familiar K&L Rumley No. 6. “Bobby races hard, and Kyle races hard. That’s exactly what I expected.”

The race’s final caution flag, on lap 78, wiped out Larson’s near straightaway edge over the 24-year-old Pierce. It wasn’t a situation Larson relished being in.

“We had that super-long green flag run (laps 31-78) and I felt like I was doing a really good job in traffic,” Larson said. “I didn’t know how big my lead was, but I felt like it had to be really big. I honestly didn’t want to see anymore cautions because I knew (Pierce) was gonna get ripping the top, and I didn’t know if in clean track he could get the top working better than I was working the middle.”

Indeed, Pierce gave everything he had circling the bullring’s thick cushion following the restart. After initially losing second to Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., when the green flag returned, Pierce regained the position and drew close to Larson by lap 84. But just as Pierce appeared primed to mount an outside charge, Larson suddenly changed his line to run the cushion off turn four.

It was a crucial lane-switch for Larson, who used his perfect view of the DIRTVision video screen — located outside turn one to provide live video stream — to his advantage.

“I was paying attention to the big screen,” Larson said when asked about how he knew to shift higher on the track. “Really, big screens are not good for dirt racing, but it’s won me a couple races this year.

“I don’t use a stick (signal) guy or anything like that, so I was able to watch the big screen as I was running the middle and I seen he was close to me. If I kept running there my exits weren’t getting good and he was probably gonna start sliding me, so I just started driving across (the middle of the turns) and just trying to choke up his momentum a little bit and make myself wide … but I still felt pretty good. I think our lap times probably picked up once I moved up because I hit the cushion right and get that better launch down the straightaways.”

Larson paused, and then added: “It was fun to get up on the wheel because I spent, you know, 85 laps just, like, barely on the throttle. It was fun to finally get aggressive.”

Rumley, 44, acknowledged the situational awareness that’s ingrained in Larson and allows him to make the correct decisions on the track.

“He’s good enough that he can drive and watch the monitor, so that’s what he was doing,” Rumley said. “You don’t have to signal him. A driver of his caliber, you gotta let him do what he needs to do and what he thinks he can do.

“I knew that if we could get away from (Pierce) the first lap (after the lap-78 restart) then Bobby was gonna ring that cushion. But he was abusing his tires so much down the back straightaway, and the cushion didn’t continue, so I knew as long as we could get away from him, Kyle would watch the monitor and know when to move up.

“He’s got a very high IQ, and he’s very talented,” he added of Larson. “This (race) is all he’s ever done, so … he’s a natural. He’s very dedicated, he’s disciplined — even with his time, with his money, everything — so it’s like he’s a 50-year-old guy maturity level.”

Rumley also credited the short-track circuits Larson turned during a recent test session at Friendship (N.C.) Motor Speedway for his first-ever WoO Late Model Series triumph, which he earned by 1.251 seconds over Pierce.

“Like all the places that I think we could possibly struggle at, we put that extra effort in to go test and it turned out really good,” said Rumley, who noted that the “really good short-track engine” in Larson’s car was the same piece his late father, Lee Roy, constructed and engine builder Jack Cornett rebuilt before it powered Larson to a Castrol FloRacing Night in America victory on May 12 at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway.

Rumley, of course, loves Fairbury — he won the 2015 PDC with Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., driving for his family — and Larson immediately developed an affinity for the place as well. From the moment he drove into Fairbury’s city limits on Friday, Larson realized he was in a unique, dirt-track-loving world.

“Just seeing all the garage sales going on and all the golf carts driving around town and the campers,” Larson said, a sense of awe in his voice. “Then we’re at a tiny quarter-mile track, too, and they pack people in here. They do an awesome job with this event, and I can see why the fans love it.

“To me, and maybe this is because I’m kind of biased to sprint cars, but Knoxville (August’s Sprint Car Nationals at the Iowa track) still has, like, the best atmosphere, but this is definitely up there. It’s just an awesome event … the crowd’s kind of right on top of the track and they’re in the corners too, so you can see them going crazy.

“When we were sitting on the backstretch waiting to get lined up (before the start of the 100-lapper) and everybody had their cell phone lights out, that was really cool. And then the fireworks (during the pace laps) and all that … when I took the lead, too, and that caution came out, I looked around at the crowd — because I know it seems like Bobby, fans either love him or they hate him — and I could see them going nuts.”

Larson embraced the down-home, cuddly feel of the PDC at Fairbury. He began by finding a parking space in a lady’s yard when he arrived and paying her $20. He sheepishly admitted that after Friday’s racing program he hung out with fellow competitors in the pit area until almost 7 a.m. He enjoyed the PDC tradition in which the winner drives their race car down the street for a photo op in the nearby bank’s drive-thru. He chatted breezily with Dirt Late Model drivers who visited Rumley’s trailer to congratulate him, including Brandon Overton and Stormy Scott. And after his latest major victory and resume-builder, he dove into the throng of fans that flocked to his team’s pit stall and was still signing autographs and talking with everyone who wanted to talk a good three hours following the checkered flag.

“Yesterday was fun, staying up all night, and then racing tonight and winning,” said Larson, who executed several celebratory burnouts and donuts before reaching victory lane as he became the first driver in history to win on both the WoO Late Model and Sprint Car tours. “The fans really get into it here and I’m glad I got the chance to come run.”

Rumley saw how much spending the weekend at Fairbury, let alone winning the race, meant to Larson.

“He really likes the camaraderie of dirt racing,” Rumley said as loud music from a speaker hooked up at his pit stall enlivened the postrace mood. “He likes that everybody stays on a two-day show, and everybody hangs out. There’s not a race to the car wash or anything like that.

“It’s just fun,” he added. “All he does is race, so he needs to have some fun.”