KNOXVILLE, Iowa – Kyle Larson ran his sprint car win streak to five in a row Saturday night by sweeping the weekend with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series at Knoxville Raceway.

Larson, who won Friday’s opener to the Brownell’s Big Guns Bash at the Marion County Fairgrounds half-mile dirt oval, repeated his feat 24 hours later after a thrilling mid-race duel with defending track champion Brian Brown.

Though Brown passed Larson on lap 11, shortly after a restart, Larson regrouped with his Silva Motorsports No. 57 and drove back past Brown three circuits later.

From there, Larson turned up the wick, masterfully knifing through slower traffic as he ran out to a 2.965-second victory over brother-in-law Brad Sweet, the defending Outlaws champion.

Saturday night marked Larson’s 11th career win with the World of Outlaws, as well as his third of the season. It was also his fifth 410 sprint car triumph at Knoxville Raceway.

“I took a glance at the big screen on that restart and I saw (Brown) was right on me,” Larson said of Brown’s challenge for the lead. “I knew (Brown) was going to run the top in three and four and thought if I could get a good three and four, he may not slide me the next corner. I didn’t get through there like I needed to, he got the run, and got by me.

“I knew my car was really good, so I just stayed patient behind him. Then Brad (Sweet) got to my inside and thankfully I cleared him off two, otherwise that could have been the deciding factor of the race,” Larson added. “I was able to block him into three and nail the bottom for a couple of laps and get back to Brown and slide him. From then on my car felt really good.”

Larson may have been the star for two-thirds of the show, but the opening nine laps were ruled by Daryn Pittman, who started on the pole in the Roth Motorsports No. 83 and was seeking his first Knoxville win with the World of Outlaws.

Pittman jetted out to the early advantage, as Sweet and Larson dueled to see who would become the second-place driver and give chase to the 2013 Outlaws champion.

Larson eventually came out on top of that battle, seizing the place position on lap four before slowly working to trim down Pittman’s 2.842-second advantage.

However, Larson would get a gift when – with nine laps scored – Pittman got tangled with David Gravel in turn two and spun, ending any shot he had at victory and handing Larson the lead on a silver platter.

Following the resumption and a subsequent yellow for the stalled No. 14 of Parker Price-Miller, Brown surged past Larson from second to take command on the 11th rotation, pulling ahead by seven car lengths as Larson regrouped and worked to defend his position from a charging Sweet.

After accomplishing that feat, Larson tracked Brown back down and made the winning slide job stick in turn one on lap 14, opening up a second over Brown in an instant and never being seriously threatened after that.

As Larson drove away in traffic, Sweet hung on to a comfortable runner-up placing, but had nothing for Larson down the home stretch of the feature.

“He did a really good job,” said Sweet of Larson. “He was driving really hard. He’s a great race car driver. He runs the car on the ragged edge and gets by lapped cars. We’ve just got to pick up our game a little coming back for the Nationals, but we had a good race car tonight compared to last night.

“We have great notes moving forward and I’m proud of our effort.”

Logan Schuchart took the final step on the podium, followed by Larson’s regular Outlaws driver, Carson Macedo. Sheldon Haudenschild placed fifth.

Brown faded to sixth at the finish, with Kerry Madsen, Rico Abreu, Ian Madsen and hard-charger Sammy Swindell completing the top 10.

The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series season continues June 19-20 at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Ind.

To view complete race results, advance to the next page.