CONCORD, N.C. — David Gravel did everything he had to do Thursday night at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
Gravel emerged from a four-car fight for the lead on night two of the World of Outlaws World Finals and kept his championship hopes alive, reducing Brad Sweet’s point lead to 42 with two races remaining in the season.
It was Gravel’s 12th victory of the season aboard the Big Game Motorsports No. 2 and his fourth win in the last nine WoO events at the four-tenths-mile dirt track. It was his sixth victory at the track.
“We have to worry about winning races and having fun and whatever happens happens,” Gravel said. “It’s good to get those two points for winning, but it’s still a long shot.”
Gravel started third in the 25-lap feature and fell back as far as fourth as outside front row starter Rico Abreu led early.
However, Abreu got bogged down in lapped traffic and Sweet raced to the bottom and grabbed the lead on lap seven.
As Sweet, Abreu and Carson Macedo battled for the point after the midway point in the race, Gravel shot to the bottom and passed them all to grab the lead.
From there Gravel hit his marks on the bottom of the traffic perfectly and raced to the checkered flag in the non-stop main event.
The Low Line
“I’m really glad they did that track prep to the track before the feature. It worked out for us,” Gravel said. “Brad found the bottom first and then he kind of gave up on it. I don’t know why anyone ran low on exit. I kind of had the exits to myself way down low and I used that drive to push me down the straightaways.”
Abreu came home second.
“I need to do a better job of my craft in lapped traffic,” Abreu said. “When you are racing with the World of Outlaws, there is no room for error.”
Macedo came home third, while Sweet and eighth-starter Tyler Courtney rounded out the top five.
Gravel earned $15,000 for the victory.
The finish:
David Gravel, Rico Abreu, Carson Macedo, Brad Sweet, Tyler Courtney, James McFadden, Gio Scelzi, Logan Schuchart, Brent Marks, Donny Schatz, Sheldon Haudenschild, Justin Peck, Cole Macedo, Justin Henderson, Cory Eliason, Jacob Allen, Anthony Macri, Sam Hafertepe Jr., Cap Henry, Brian Brown, Noah Gass, Kasey Kahne, Sye Lynch, Tanner Holmes, Spencer Bayston, Robbie Price, Brock Zearfoss.