KNOXVILLE, Iowa -- Winged and non-winged sprint car hotshoe Kyle Larson of Elk Grove, California, continues to lead the Cox Design & Metal Fabrication Iowa Speed Week point championship, which awards $2,500 and the Jesse Hockett “Mr. Sprint Car” title, after night number eight. Jason Meyers won the Thursday night preliminary feature for the Goodyear Knoxville Nationals.

Night number nine of ten straight nights of sprint car racing between the Oskaloosa and Knoxville dirt tracks is Friday night at Knoxville Raceway with the third preliminary night of the Knoxville Nationals for the winged ‘410’ sprint cars. The Iowa Speed Week points-paying feature on Friday night, though, is the Speed Sport World Challenge, which will feature ten Australians and fourteen Americans in a 20-lap feature. The participating Americans qualified for the World Challenge in one of three qualifiers held in Australia and New Zealand last winter. Amongst the twenty-four Speed Sport Knoxville World Challenge participants will be such versatile racers as Kyle Larson, Tim Shaffer, Shane Stewart, Jason Johnson, Brooke Tatnell, Paul McMahan, Daryn Pittman and Jason Meyers.

The unofficial top fifteen in the 2012 Cox Design Iowa Speed Week points after eleven mains in eight nights is as follows: 1., Kyle Larson, 287 points; 2., Brian Brown, 227 points; 3., Tim Kaeding, 226 points; 4., Brady Bacon, 211 points; 5., Tim Shaffer, 190 points; 6., Shane Stewart, 179 points; 7., Jason Johnson, 168 points; 8., Danny Lasoski, Brooke Tatnell, 165 points (tied); 10., Brad Sweet, 162 points; 11., Paul McMahan, 156 points; 12., Daryn Pittman, 149 points; 13., Jason Meyers, 148 points; 14., Wayne Johnson, 146 points; 15., Dusty Zomer, 133 points.

The Cox Design & Metal Fabrication Iowa Speedweek includes ten straight nights of sprint car racing between Knoxville Raceway and the Southern Iowa Speedway. The top three places pay $2,500, $1,000, and $500, respectively, with the winner declared the Jesse Hockett “Mr. Sprint Car” titlist. Past “Mr. Sprint Car” titlists include Ricky Logan (2002) of Arkansas, Shane Stewart (2003, ’04) of Oklahoma, Billy Alley (2005) of Nebraska, Jason Johnson (2006) of Louisiana, Wayne Johnson (2007, ‘08) of Oklahoma, Terry McCarl (2009) of Iowa, and Sammy Swindell (2010, ‘11) of Tennessee.