Amid a rollercoaster start to the 2024 World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models campaign, Bobby Pierce has managed to stay motivated as he looks to chase a second consecutive title.
Since facing a tire penalty at Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals in February — losing 144 points — Pierce has rebounded in the last seven races with two feature wins — one at Farmer City Raceway and the other at Path Valley Speedway — a prelim win at Ultimate Motorsports & RV Park, five podium finishes and six top 10s.
With that, the Oakwood, Ill. driver has climbed eight spots in the points since April and currently sits 112 back from the lead in seventh. Last year, he won his first World of Outlaws title with a 112-point lead over Chris Madden.
“We had a hill to get over for sure,” Pierce said. “Lately, we struggled in the northeast there, but we redeemed ourselves with the Path Valley win, which was really nice. But we did figure out a couple of small things here and there with the car. The competition we’re racing against these days is different by inches, and it can mean the difference between winning a heat race or a feature.
“We just gotta get back on it here, lots to go still. A lot left of the book to be written here, so we’ll see. I don’t wanna say turn it around, just get going and get back up in the points, win a lot of races in year two (with the World of Outlaws). There’s a lot left on the schedule; (we have) a good car, a good crew and good sponsors. So we’ll see where it takes us.”
His next challenge will be a summer sizzler with the Heartland Grand Tour, which is a swing of 11 races in 17 days – beginning with Thunderhill Raceway on Thursday, June 20, and running through the NAPA Auto Parts Gopher 50, Thursday-Saturday, July 4-6.
However, Pierce built his career with swings like that on the DIRTcar Summer Nationals Late Model tour — which runs nearly 30 races in the span of a month. And he conquered them too, claiming five Summer Nationals titles (2015, 2016, 2017, 2021 and 2022) and 49 victories overall.
“On deals like that, you just take it day by day,” Pierce said. “When you get done with one race and move to the next, it’s nice when you’ve been to places before to look back at the notes and see what you did. There’s a lot of Summer Nationals tracks here (on the schedule).”
During the swing, Pierce will return to multiple tracks he’s already found victory lane at such as Brownstown Speedway, I-94 emr Speedway and Deer Creek Speedway — where he’s the defending Gopher 50 winner.
“Brownstown, I got a lot of laps there,” Pierce said. “Almost won Ponderosa last year and ended up second because Mike Marlar wanted to go from last to the win, so that was crazy. Independence, I’ve only been there once many years ago at an Outlaw race when I was 16 years old. I’m really looking forward to Hamilton County and Norman County because I’ve never been there, so it’s exciting. I-94, I like it because I got a win there last year.
“Then it’s to Deer Creek, which is really awesome that it’s a World of Outlaws race this year, but it’ll be good with what we had last year with the photo finish with me and (Hudson O’Neal). And Dylan Scott being there is gonna be awesome. There’s a lot to look forward to for sure. A lot of the season left, but we’ll be ready for it.”