TULARE, Calif. — World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series point leader David Gravel put together a late-race rally to claim victory on the opening night of the Dennis Roth Classic at Thunderbowl Raceway.
Gravel started sixth, slipped back to seventh and rallied to take the lead on lap 19.
“We were not good in the dash at all, and Cody (Jacobs), Stephen (Hamm-Reilly), and Zach (Patterson) changed a bunch of stuff there for the feature,” Gravel said. “And the car was really good. Hats off to them for rebounding really well there. Just a much needed win for our team.”
The victory was Gravel’s 14th of the season with the World of Outlaws and ended a 14-race winless streak dating back to July 28 at Weedsport Speedway. His 15th overall checkered flag of 2024 puts him in a tie with Anthony Macri as the country’s winningest driver.
Giovanni Scelzi brought the field to green with Colby Copeland alongside. Scelzi jumped out to the early advantage while D.J. Netto slid ahead of Copeland on the opening lap to take second.
Scelzi opened up the advantage through the early laps while cars throughout the pack jockeyed for spots. Gravel dropped to seventh on lap six as Michael “Buddy” Kofoid and Bill Balog drove around him.
The introduction of traffic into the equation ignited a wild war for the top spot. Netto began to reel in the KCP Racing No. 18 piloted by Scelzi.
On the ninth circuit, Netto showed him a nose in turns three and four. And then one lap later he fired a slider in the same set of corners to grab the top spot.
Netto then looked to put some distance between himself and the field as he chased his first career World of Outlaws victory. Disaster nearly struck when he almost got together with a lapped car entering turn three, but he rebounded by turning under the car and clearing him exiting turn four.
The bid for his first Series win ended when Netto smacked the turn-two wall on lap 16. The contact allowed both Logan Schuchart and Kofoid to drive around him.
Behind them Gravel was suddenly on the move having gotten the Big Game Motorsports No. 2 rolling on the bottom. He was seventh on lap 13. Four trips around the track later he took third. On lap 18, he rolled by Kofoid for second.
Then on the following lap Schuchart slipped up ever so slightly exiting turn four, but it was all the space Gravel needed as he motored by the Shark Racing No. 1s.
That moved punctuated an exhilarating 10-lap stretch of swapping the top spot.
Once Gravel had the lead, there was no stopping him. He stretched the advantage to more than four seconds and crossed the finish line comfortably ahead.
“I fell back to sixth or seventh or eighth there,” Gravel recalled. “Buddy and Balog passed me with their hair on fire sliding across. I was running up there and didn’t feel that great, and then I sniffed the bottom one time in (turns) three and four and felt pretty good and then figured it out. I kind of had that lane a little bit to myself. Logan sniffed it out there. Gio started falling back and then Netto got in the wall. I just was trying to be patient, and it worked out really good.”
Schuchart brought the Shark Racing machine home second.
“I feel like the bottom was definitely the place to be,” Schuchart said. “David just did a better job than I did for a few laps there. He got underneath me in (turns) three and four, and I went in a little too hot and just didn’t stick the bottom as good as I needed to. Definitely the best I’ve felt at this place in a long time. Happy to get a podium and run up front.”
The final step of the podium belonged to Kofoid as he and Roth Motorsports continued their hot streak. They’ve now pieced together 10 consecutive finishes of fourth or better including the last six all on the podium.
“I was just really stuck on the bottom,” Kofoid said. “I figured some people were probably indecisive on where to be. And since I started on the bottom, I committed to just staying down there for a while at least until it moved around. Then it got slick and dirty, and when I moved up to try and race with Logan for the lead and get around lappers, I think the top had just gotten dirtier by that point, and I let David back by. I thought we had a really good Roth Motorsports, Mobil 1, Toyota 83. It was a hectic race. I would’ve liked a yellow. I feel like we had a car capable of winning.”
Sheldon Haudenschild and D.J. Netto completed the top five.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 2-David Gravel[6]; 2. 1S-Logan Schuchart[4]; 3. 83-Michael Kofoid[9]; 4. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[18]; 5. 88N-DJ Netto[3]; 6. 41-Carson Macedo[5]; 7. 17B-Bill Balog[7]; 8. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[1]; 9. 41S-Dominic Scelzi[11]; 10. 17W-Shane Golobic[12]; 11. 5V-Colby Copeland[2]; 12. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[15]; 13. 2X-Justin Sanders[14]; 14. 45-Landon Brooks[8]; 15. O-Tim Kaeding[19]; 16. 15-Donny Schatz[24]; 17. 10-Dominic Gorden[20]; 18. 29-Bud Kaeding[10]; 19. 57W-Jock Goodyer[13]; 20. 18T-Tanner Holmes[22]; 21. 88A-Joey Ancona[16]; 22. 7S-Landon Crawley[17]; 23. 21-Cole Macedo[21]; 24. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[23]