Two straight races David Gravel had been denied a milestone moment by a single spot. But he simply refused to let it happen again on Saturday night at Williams Grove Speedway.
After claiming the Kings Royal crown at Eldora Speedway last Saturday, Gravel sat at 99 career World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car wins.
On Wednesday at BAPS Motor Speedway, an ill-timed red flag potentially took away an opportunity at reaching 100. Then two nights later as the C&D Rigging Summer Nationals kicked off at Williams Grove, Gravel made a pass on T.J. Stutts for the lead with only five laps to go but couldn’t quite hold him back as he drove back by.
And on Saturday a similar story looked to be writing itself. Gravel charged from fourth to the lead, but Donny Schatz drove back around him and looked to shut him out of Victory Lane for the third straight race. A hungry Gravel motored back into the lead on Lap 18, but Schatz didn’t make it easy. A late restart set up a duel between the two drivers leading the World of Outlaws points. Schatz stayed all over Gravel as the final laps clicked away and even showed him a nose multiple times. But Gravel dodged every punch thrown by the 10-time Series champion to prevail and claim his 100th victory with The Greatest Show on Dirt and a $20,000 payday.
“It’s pretty crazy,” Gravel said. “To achieve that milestone. Beat Donny Schatz at Williams Grove. What a place to do it. This 2 car, we haven’t been in Victory Lane here together at Williams Grove. This is a tough track to win at. It felt like I was hanging on there a little bit at the end. I saw Donny poking his nose, but I felt like doing what I was doing it would’ve been hard for him to pass me, and this feels really good.”
Gravel became the eighth driver in Series history to reach 100 victories, joining Steve Kinser (690 wins), Sammy Swindell (394), Donny Schatz (314), Mark Kinser (203), Doug Wolfgang (140), Danny Lasoski (122), and Joey Saldana (105). Gravel’s triumphs have come with seven different race teams – Big Game Motorsports (42), CJB Motorsports (32), Jason Johnson Racing (19), Roth Motorsports (4), DDR Motorsports (1), Bill Rose Racing (1), and Rod Tiner Racing (1).
His 12th World of Outlaws win of 2024 equals the second most he’s had in one season. The Summer Nationals score marked Gravel’s ninth Series win at Williams Grove, equaling him with a pair of legends – Fred Rahmer and Greg Hodnett – on that list.
The 30-lap NOS Energy Drink Feature was brought to green by Donny Schatz and Daryn Pittman. Schatz pulled narrowly ahead of Pittman to lead the opening circuit.
Throughout the first several laps Pittman stayed glued to the tail tank of the Tony Stewart/Curb Agajanian Racing No. 15. Pittman, aboard the iconic Kreitz Racing No. 69K, stalked the Fargo, ND pilot lap after lap. And then on the ninth circuit, Pittman found an opening to take a swing at the top spot. The 2013 World of Outlaws champion fired a slide job in Turns 3 and 4 that cleared, but Schatz dipped under Pittman to reclaim the lead.
Schatz managed to pull slightly ahead of Pittman after fending off the challenge, and Gravel quickly close on the No. 69K. He snatched second from Pittman on Lap 19, and the gap between himself and Schatz began to tighten.
David Gravel races ahead of Donny Schatz at Williams Grove
David Gravel had to fend off a hungry Donny Schatz in the closing laps at Williams Grove for his 100th World of Outlaws win (Trent Gower Photo)
Only two laps later Gravel got a great launch off the bottom of Turn 2 to power by Schatz down the back straightaway and lead the lap. The pass lit a fire under Schatz as he pulled off a tight slider in Turns 3 and 4 on the next circuit to take it back right before a yellow flag.
Once the restart brought the action back to life, Gravel went back to work building momentum on the cushion around the entire half mile. He remained committed to the top while Schatz rolled the low line. A massive run out of Turn 4 and down the front straightaway allowed Gravel to turn under Schatz and clear him heading into Turn 1.
The yellow flag was again displayed right when Gravel was set to encounter traffic in the closing laps. But instead of the clean air helping him on the restart, it let Schatz make one last run at the win. Schatz kept his machine glued to the bottom as low as he could and even showed Gravel a nose multiple times.
“I thought as long as I exited off of (Turn) 4 good I would be okay. And then I was kind of running the middle on entrance in (Turns) 1 and 2. I thought that was better, but they (his team) said he was running just below me, so maybe I should’ve kept going low there, but it was good enough to get the job done.”
The final laps unfolded, and Schatz let Gravel have everything he had. He searched for speed on the bottom but it wasn’t quite enough. Gravel didn’t flinch despite the pressure and went on to win with a half a second margin of victory over Schatz. 100 wins. History had been made.
Reaching the milestone caused an emotional Gravel to reflect on the journey.
“I bounced around a lot in my career and was able to win in a lot of different cars,” Gravel said. “I wouldn’t be here without all of those people giving me opportunities. As a Sprint Car driver trying to make a living, people have to take chances on you. Going out with Bill Rose and Rod Tiner and having a s****y season. And then CJB hiring me. All of those things just catapulted my career. Roth (Motorsports) gave me my first big national opportunity. It’s been a fun ride. I’m 32 years old. Hopefully we can keep getting a lot more.”
Schatz came home second for his third runner-up in the last six World of Outlaws Features. He and the Tony Stewart/Curb Agajanian Racing team continue to flex plenty of muscle as they look to hunt down Gravel in the title chase.
“We were decent,” Schatz said. “From the word go we were okay, and the longer I ran the looser I got. I tried moving the wing, and it kind of made me a little bit worse, so I kind of had to go back. I just kind of started searching around the racetrack. I tried the top. I tried the middle. It seemed like that yellow helped. It cooled the tires down and I could go for a few laps. I just couldn’t get in the racetrack the way we needed to. We were there, but I guess we’ll have to settle for second tonight.”
Brent Marks rounded out the podium aboard the Murray-Marks Motorsports No. 19. It was a strong night for the defending National Open champion on home turf.
“We just started the race off a little too tight there and just weren’t able to build momentum,” Marks explained. “But once the fuel load wore off a little bit we started coming on. I just wasn’t able to get the right momentum built up to get by Donny there for second and challenge David for the win. We just weren’t quite good enough for that, but all in all I’m really happy with a good, solid night.”
Daryn Pittman and Justin Peck completed the top five.
A 17th to 10th drive aboard the Gary Kauffman No. 48 earned Danny Dietrich the KSE Racing Hard Charger.
Brent Marks grabbed his third Simpson Quick Time of 2024 and the sixth of his career in Sea Foam Qualifying.
NOS Energy Drink Heats One, Three, and Four belonged to Brent Marks, Carson Macedo, and Daryn Pittman. Milton Hershey School Heat Two went to David Gravel.
Donny Schatz topped the Toyota Racing Dash.
Anthony Macri won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.
The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Kelby Watt.
UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars make their only New York stop of 2024 for the Empire State Challenge at Weedsport Speedway on Sunday, July 28. For tickets, CLICK HERE.
If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.
FEATURE RESULTS:
NOS Energy Drink Feature (30 Laps): 1. 2-David Gravel[4]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz[1]; 3. 19-Brent Marks[3]; 4. 69K-Daryn Pittman[2]; 5. 13-Justin Peck[7]; 6. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[8]; 7. 41-Carson Macedo[5]; 8. 12-Lance Dewease[6]; 9. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[9]; 10. 48-Danny Dietrich[17]; 11. 8-Cory Eliason[10]; 12. 83-Michael Kofoid[16]; 13. 2D-Chase Dietz[13]; 14. 27-Troy Wagaman Jr[11]; 15. 39M-Anthony Macri[21]; 16. 8R-Freddie Rahmer[23]; 17. 5-Spencer Bayston[18]; 18. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[25]; 19. 67-Justin Whittall[14]; 20. 11-TJ Stutts[19]; 21. 1S-Logan Schuchart[22]; 22. 1A-Jacob Allen[24]; 23. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[20]; 24. 6-Kelby Watt[12]; 25. 35-Austin Bishop[15]
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