PERRIS, Calif. — David Gravel bounced back from a crash on Friday night to win Saturday’s World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series feature at Perris Auto Speedway.
The Big Game Motorsports team overcame the adversity that a junked race car at Bakersfield through at them to score the team’s second victory of the season.
“This feels really good,” Gravel said. “I feel like we’ve been in contention to win every race this year but maybe one, so to have a 15th and 23rd following that start to the season was a bit depressing. We knew we were fast every night, but the results just didn’t show for it. These guys busted their asses today to make this possible. They woke up super early, built this new car and it all paid off.”
A 7 a.m. alarm clock and all-day effort from Cody Jacobs, Trey Bowman and Zach Patterson eventually led to the new car being finished just before hot laps.
From there, Gravel took the wheel and did what he does best — timing in second, winning the heat and topping a wild 30-lapper on the half-mile track.
To seal the deal on the rewarding comeback, Gravel was forced to manage a race that featured the most lead changes this season. He and Carson Macedo swapped the top spot on five occasions, including a pair of sliders on lap 28 as things got heated.
Gravel then survived a green-white-checkered finish to bank his 71st career victory.
“When the No. 41 slid me like that I was ready to go and I was gonna give it right back at him,” Gravel commented on his battle with Macedo. “Those cautions were killing me, but it all worked out. These guys had to strip down the junked car, build this kit car today, and I’m glad I can reward them with a win. We deserved this win.”
Finishing second for the second-straight night was Corey Day, a teenager who continues to steal headlines across the nation. On Friday, he set the record for youngest runner-up in World of Outlaws history at 16 years, 3 months, 27 days.
The prodigy of two-time World of Outlaws champion Jason Meyers dealt with his own slice of adversity, too. Contact with Macedo at the start of the dash sent the No. 14 flipping before he even had a shot to race for the pole position. After repairs were made, Day started sixth in the feature and drove forward to earn his second podium in his third-career start.
“Running second against the Outlaws is cool enough, but then to do it two nights in a row is crazy,” said Corey, the son of former west coast sprint car star Ronnie Day. “I watch these guys on DIRTvision every single week and try to learn as much as possible, especially when I’m racing against them. I messed up that last restart again like I did last night, but it’s a teaching moment.”
Macedo finished third.
“To win these Outlaw races you can’t make any mistakes, and I made too many tonight,” Macedo admitted. “I felt strong early on, but definitely stalled out when I hit traffic. It’s so tough to be the leader in those situations because you just don’t know where to go. I threw a couple of things at David, but couldn’t land them right in front of him. I just need to get a little sharper.”
Brad Sweet and Sheldon Haudenschild rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Feature (31 Laps): 1. 2-David Gravel [2][$10,000]; 2. 14-Corey Day [6][$6,000]; 3. 41-Carson Macedo [1][$3,500]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet [7][$2,800]; 5. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [9][$2,500]; 6. 88N-DJ Netto [5][$2,300]; 7. 1A-Jacob Allen [11][$2,200]; 8. 5-Spencer Bayston [8][$2,100]; 9. 26-Cory Eliason [13][$2,050]; 10. 15-Donny Schatz [10][$2,000]; 11. 18-Giovanni Scelzi [12][$1,600]; 12. 1S-Logan Schuchart [19][$1,400]; 13. 24-Rico Abreu [15][$1,200]; 14. 24X-Chase Johnson [16][$1,100]; 15. 21-Mitchell Faccinto [20][$1,050]; 16. 83JR-Kerry Madsen [17][$1,000]; 17. 11K-Kraig Kinser [18][$1,000]; 18. 88-Austin McCarl [21][$1,000]; 19. 7S-Jason Sides [22][$1,000]; 20. 19AZ-Tanner Thorson [23][$1,000]; 21. 41S-Dominic Scelzi [4][$1,000]; 22. 83-James McFadden [3][$1,000]; 23. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [14][$1,000]; 24. 91R-Brody Roa [24][$1,000]. Lap Leaders: Carson Macedo 1-7, 9-12, 28; David Gravel 8, 13-27, 29-31. KSE Hard Charger Award: 1S-Logan Schuchart[+7]