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Kyle Larson will start from the pole position and lead 50 lapped 62nd NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals race to the green flag.
Larson started from seventh in the fourth heat race on Thursday but he moved up the grid swiftly in the feature and finished second. He locked up the high point total for two qualifying nights and was awarded the pole position.
"The heat race was great, It worked out better than I though it would. Seventh is the worst place to start in a heat race. We got a decent row and I came off turn two in fifth. I got to third pretty quickly and I tried to be patient and Macri and Colby got to racing and I was able to get Colby," he said (via SpeedSport).
The heat race was very important for Kyle Larson. He now has surpassed 482 points and Rico Abreu 480 points, who set the fastest lap time and finished fifth in qualifying.
The winner of Saturday's race will get a whopping $185,000 in prize money and Larson is determined to win it. He said that he doesn't prefer to start on the pole but likes the challenge.
"You want to win the race on Saturday night. I don't love to start on the pole. It is sometimes good when you are able to sit back and watch things develop and sometimes you can get complacent as the leader," he added.
Larson will start the 50-lap race on Saturday night alongside Abreu. Defending National winner, Donny Schatz will start in third behind the pole-sitter.
Denny Hamlin gifts Kyle Larson an expensive gift after Pocono Crash
Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson's friendship took a strange turn when the two collided and the latter spun out while Hamlin won the race at the Pocono Raceway. Hamlin fought hard for the lead in the last seven laps and struck Kyle Larson's car, who eventually finished 20th.
Hamlin was booed by the fans for affecting Larson's race. But he didn't let the negative comments affect him and sent a gift to the Hendrick Motorsport driver as an apology.
He gave Kyle Larson a present from Michael Jordan's Grove XXIII golf club and resort.
"I appreciate the thought, but I don’t know if it’s the right thing to do all the time,” Larson told NASCAR reporter Matt Weaver.
