Story By: WILD WEST SHOOTOUT – VADO, NM – There weren’t many moments in the last half of Sunday’s Wild West Shootout Late Model feature where Jonathan Davenport left the top of FK Rod Ends Vado Speedway Park.
That was the place to be most of the night despite Kyle Larson mixing in the bottom groove in his attack to keep pace with the sport’s top-ranked driver.
“That was such a fun race. What an amazing racetrack,” Larson said. “We had a big cushion to lean on; had some moisture on the bottom early. My car was really good. A big thank you to Kevin Rumley and Longhorn, and everybody who helps out who tries to get me comfortable. We changed a lot of stuff the last few times we’ve had the car. I feel like maybe we are getting closer on something. Nice we get to race consecutive nights to build on the notebook. A blast racing there. I threw a handful of sliders, but I could never get squared up on exit how I needed to.”
Larson’s first slide job attempt came with 19 laps to go in turns three and four, an effort that started by cutting off the top of turn one and through the middle of turn two. The diamond maneuver happened to be inspired by Davenport, someone that Larson, needless to say, studies.
“He’s so good at doing that diamond line at almost every racetrack he runs. Trying to just match what he does because he’s the best,” Larson said. “I feel like there were times I got in there OK and could make a run on him. But most the time I feel like I wasted too much time.
“Once I got back to ripping the top, I could make up so much time through entry. … Just an awesome racetrack. Hats off to the crew. Hats off to everybody that puts on this event. Hopefully it’ll continue to get bigger and bigger after seeing all these great races here.”
