PEVELY, Mo. — Nothing is slowing David Gravel right now.
Lapped traffic couldn’t slow him. Cautions that erased his lead couldn’t slow him. Even a slide job that briefly cost him the lead couldn’t slow him Friday night at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55.
Gravel started on the front row and drove a masterful 40 laps on his way to a World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car victory. Gravel sliced the Big Game Motorsports machine through traffic and held off one strong challenge from Michael “Buddy” Kofoid to secure his third win of 2024.
“What a car we had tonight,” Gravel said. “I was nervous early on. Qualifying didn’t go very good, but we were still able to get a good qualifying effort there. Cody (Jacobs) kept working on it, and in the dash I knew we had something really good. It feels good to win one here. I haven’t won here since like 2016. It’s been way too long.”
The win marked the 91st of Gravel’s career with The Greatest Show on Dirt, equaling him with Brad Sweet for ninth on the all-time win list. It also was his 33rd since joining Tod Quiring’s Big Game team, making the organization the team he’s won the most often with in World of Outlaws competition. Gravel now owns a pair of I-55 checkered flags, and the track is the 19th in which he’s won at multiple times in Series competition.
Gravel started the race in the second position dash winner Giovanni Scelzi led the field to green. Right away Gravel flexed his muscle by powering around Scelzi on the top to secure the top spot and lead the opening lap.
As they worked through the opening circuits Gravel committed to the low line while Scelzi worked to build momentum on the top.
Scelzi kept the KCP Racing No. 18 glued behind Gravel, but Buddy Kofoid began to reel them both in quickly. On the sixth lap, Kofoid slipped under Scelzi to take over the runner-up spot.
Up ahead Gravel began to negotiate lapped traffic. Kofoid started to close in for the top spot, but the race’s first caution on lap nine gave Gravel a clear track again.
On the restart Gravel moved to the topside, and Kofoid fired a slider at him aboard the Roth Motorsports No. 83. Kofoid couldn’t quite clear Gravel as Kofoid settled back into second down the back straightaway. It only took a few laps before Gravel neared the tail of the field, but it was déjà vu as the yellow lights again flashed right when the leaders were staring at traffic.
The next restart served up Gravel’s biggest challenge of the night as he again went for the cushion in turn one. Kofoid tossed another slide job and cleared him with this attempt. As they exited turn two, Gravel aimed the Huset’s Speedway No. 2 low and drove back by Kofoid down the back straightaway.
When the race entered the second half, Gravel truly began to show what his machine was capable of. He dipped and dived his way through traffic, stretching his advantage to nearly three seconds at times.
Behind him, a war between Kofoid, Scelzi, Bill Balog, and Carson Macedo broke out for positioning inside the top five. The group swapped many sliders and crossovers as they jockeyed for spots while Gravel drove away.
A late caution with seven laps remaining gave Kofoid and the rest of the frontrunners one last shot at Gravel, but he wasted no time pulling ahead on the final restart. Kofoid and Macedo went to battle for second as Gravel drove away to the win and his fifth consecutive top-two finish.
“It’s a lot of fun to drive this No. 2 car right now. I feel like we’ve kind of been there the whole year other than Cotton Bowl when we got into a crash and had to come to the work area,” Gravel said. “Everything has been going really good. We’re just going to stay focused, put our heads down, and keep working.”
Kofoid fended off Macedo’s late challenge to claim the runner-up spot, marking his best finish of his rookie season.
“I feel like we were every bit as good as them (Gravel), maybe more towards the end,” Kofoid said. “Lapped traffic is kind of where I thrive and where our car seems to be really good right now. We’d get to traffic and get to him, and then the yellow would come out. It kept repeating itself a few times. I think we definitely got a lot better throughout the night. I went from being very uncomfortable to having a chance to win.”
Completing the top three was Carson Macedo and the Jason Johnson Racing team.
“I think plugging the bottom was kind of my goal there,” Macedo said of his restarts. “I felt like a lot of guys would kind of sling around the top, and if I could hit it down there right and not grab that little lip and get my front end over, I could execute down there pretty nice, get down the back stretch, and beat them into turn three. Hats off to Philip Dietz, Adam Zimmerman, and Robby McQuinn. They worked hard all night.”
Bill Balog and Giovanni Scelzi completed the top five.
The finish:
Feature (40 Laps): 1. 2-David Gravel[2]; 2. 83-Michael Kofoid[3]; 3. 41-Carson Macedo[5]; 4. 17B-Bill Balog[4]; 5. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[1]; 6. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[6]; 7. 1S-Logan Schuchart[11]; 8. 15-Donny Schatz[7]; 9. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[13]; 10. 122-Joe B Miller[12]; 11. 70-Kraig Kinser[17]; 12. 20G-Noah Gass[24]; 13. 88-Austin McCarl[18]; 14. 24D-Danny Sams III[22]; 15. 7S-Landon Crawley[14]; 16. 23B-Brian Bell[15]; 17. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[10]; 18. 23-Garet Williamson[9]; 19. 29-Logan McCandless[21]; 20. 99-Skylar Gee[23]; 21. 21R-Gunner Ramey[16]; 22. 24T-Christopher Thram[19]; 23. 73-Scotty Thiel[20]; 24. 87-Aaron Reutzel[8]