Big Game Motorsports driver David Gravel accomplished a dream last weekend when he secured his first career World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series championship.
“It’s very, very satisfying,” he said. “It’s something you go after for so long. Not that you have self doubt, but you question is it ever going to happen. I’m putting good seasons together and not able to get the job done. To check that off the list, it feels really, really satisfying.”
It was also the first World of Outlaws title for Big Game Motorsports and car owner Tod Quiring.
The team was solid throughout the World of Outlaws World Finals hosted by The Dirt Track at Charlotte, where Gravel won on Thursday, placed fourth on Friday and finished second on Saturday.
Gravel was the front runner for the title throughout the grueling season and he entered the final event of the season with a comfortable points lead. Gravel set himself up well as he established quick time during qualifying for both the Thursday and Friday programs.
“That was huge,” he said. “There was a lot of race cars. With the format being split group you’re going against two heats. If you qualify 10 th you’re in a tough spot. For us to qualify like we did was a very good feeling. The boys did a good job of giving me a fast race car.”
Gravel won a heat race, ended second in the dash and led the distance of the main event on Thursday for his 15 th World of Outlaws win of the season.
“It’s so huge to have the lead because you can control the race how you’d like to,” he said. “Being able to get into traffic and search around and control the pace is a position I like to be in for sure.”
It also marked the 50 th career World of Outlaws victory for crew chief Cody Jacobs.
“It’s a big year for milestones for everybody,” Gravel said. “It was a very, very cool moment and I’m glad he could experience one.”
Gravel was second in a heat race and third in the dash on Friday. He battled for a podium throughout the feature before placing fourth.
“I was pretty racy for some laps to try some lines,” he said. “I ran the top before other people did. I got a couple of decent runs and saw myself stall out. From there I didn’t take any risks after that. We got close to the lead at one point, but didn’t have a great opportunity to challenge for the win.”
Once Gravel signed in on Saturday the championship was official. He was the runner up in a heat race to move into the dash. Unfortunately, Gravel pulled the second-highest number and finished where he started – seventh. He capped the night by hustling from seventh to second place for his 33 rd podium of the season with the World of Outlaws.
“It was a good night,” he said. “I wanted to go off with a $25,000 win, but we ran second. (Tyler Courtney) was really, really fast and I don’t think we had anything for him. To go from seventh and pass a lot of fast race cars, really the race couldn’t have gone any better for me.”
In addition to the championship hardware accepted at the World of Outlaws banquet on Sunday, Jacobs was awarded Crew Chief of the Year for the second time and Brian Morrison, who builds the team’s engines, earned Engine Builder of the Year.
QUICK RESULTS –
Nov. 7 – The Dirt Track at Charlotte in Concord, N.C. – Qualifying: 1; Heat race: 1 (1); Dash: 2 (2); Feature: 1 (2).
Nov. 8 – The Dirt Track at Charlotte in Concord, N.C. – Qualifying: 1; Heat race: 2 (1); Dash: 3 (5); Feature: 4 (3).
Nov. 9 – The Dirt Track at Charlotte in Concord, N.C. – Heat race: 2 (1); Dash: 7 (7); Feature: 2 (7).
SEASON STATS –
70 races, 16 wins, 46 top fives, 63 top 10s, 68 top 15s, 68 top 20s
ILP PR