BARBERVILLE, Fla. — On a hot, humid night with rain clouds and lightning moving in, David Gravel barely broke a sweat in winning the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series opener at Volusia Raceway Park.
Gravel started outside row two, shot to third on the break and blew by second running Danny Dietrich on lap two. By then, dash winner and polesitter Anthony Macri had a solid lead, but the Connecticut speedster started cutting it down steadily. By lap six the leaders were lapping the back markers and three laps later Gravel had run Macri down and was ready to do some serious business.
The next time around, he hit turn three high, then did a nifty criss-cross to the bottom and put Macri away off turn four. From that point, he cruised to the win.
Behind him, cars were mostly ran single file and strung out until lap 18, when Bill Balog stalled on the backstretch to draw the race’s first yellow. Macri then shocked the huge crowd by pulling into the hot pit as the cars idled around, promoting Dietrich to second for the single file restart with Buddy Kofoid, Robbie Price and Sheldon Haudenschild behind him.
The return to action was brief, with Carson Macedo going right to the second turn wall on the restart and losing a couple of spots before Noah Gass slowed on lap 20 to draw the night’s final caution.
Gravel then shot away from the field on the ensuing restart and coasted to victory lane in his jet black Huset’s Speedway No. 2.
“I was good for most of the race,” said Gravel. “The car got a little weird near the end but it wasn’t a problem. Nobody got close at all!”
The highlight of the closing laps was Kofoid’s bottom line shot past Dietrich for second with three to go, a move that put a big smile on the youngster’s face that lasted until post-race interviews.
“I decided I was a little better than him so I tried the bottom to get into good air,” said Kofoid. “Then I sent it in there and made it stick and got second. It’s our first time here and I’m not ready to be an Outlaw yet but this was great!”
As for Pennsylvania Posse stalwart Dietrich, he offered that he “couldn’t get through the holes as well as others and was really good at one end but not the other. But this was really good for us. We just need to be a touch better. These guys are good!”
Haudenschild was fourth with Logan Schuchart a strong fifth. The second five consisted of Price in a strong run subbing for Jason Sides, Brent Marks, Zeb Wise, Macedo and Aaron Reutzel.
Schuchart, Marks, Kofoid and Gravel claimed heat wins with Spencer Bayston topping the large Last Chance, allof which were run Thursday night before the rain came and pushed the feature to Friday night. Ironically, a few minutes after the checkers flew, the skies opened up once again after a beautiful day in central Florida.
The Finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 2-David Gravel[4]; 2. 11-Michael Kofoid[3]; 3. 48-Danny Dietrich[2]; 4. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[6]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart[7]; 6. 7S-Robbie Price[5]; 7. 19-Brent Marks[8]; 8. 26-Zeb Wise[10]; 9. 41-Carson Macedo[11]; 10. 8-Aaron Reutzel[9]; 11. 9-Kasey Kahne[12]; 12. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[19]; 13. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[14]; 14. 15-Donny Schatz[17]; 15. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[16]; 16. 5-Spencer Bayston[21]; 17. 21-Brian Brown[13]; 18. 83-James McFadden[24]; 19. 49-Brad Sweet[20]; 20. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[26]; 21. 1A-Jacob Allen[23]; 22. 9P-Parker Price Miller[22]; 23. 11K-Kraig Kinser[27]; 24. 20G-Noah Gass[15]; 25. 39M-Anthony Macri[1]; 26. 17B-Bill Balog[18]; 27. 6-Bill Rose[25]; 28. 5D-Jacob Dykstra[28]. Lap Leader(s): Anthony Macri 1-10; David Gravel 11-25. KSE Hard Charger Award: Brock Zearfoss +7.
Keyword: Gravel Strikes First In Volusia Outlaws Opener