Watertown, Conn.—March 24, 2013 — Sometimes in racing it’s all about being in the right place at the right time. Both races David Gravel competed in this past weekend with the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series were filled with yellow and red flag periods, with the young driver steering clear of those incidents in one event and being involved in a wild last lap in the other. When all the dust settled, Gravel recorded finishes of sixth and 13th as he continues to fill-in for the injured Bill Rose in the Firetext Response Maxim.
In his debut at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Calif., in the Mini Gold Cup on Saturday, March 23, Gravel found himself battling for the second position on the last lap, following a green-white-checker restart on the white flag lap, in a race that was thus extended one lap to a 41-lap contest. He got sideways on the last lap and spun as he was battling Tony Stewart for the runner-up spot, leaving the latter nowhere to go, which set off a chain reaction that led to several cars being involved in the incident. Gravel was able to nurse the car across the finish line in sixth.
“We had a chance on the last restart and that’s all you can ask for,” said Gravel. “I drove it hard into (turn) one and got squeezed up there. I was going for it and came up a little short. It was a good effort and I’m glad we were able to finish at the end after everything that happened.”
The 20-year-old lined up eighth for the main event and gained two spots on the start, before the first caution flag of the night flew, leading to a complete restart. On the second start, Gravel again powered his way up to sixth. Following a red flag period on the third circuit, the native of Watertown, Conn., used an exceptional restart to go all the way from sixth to third. He would run in that spot for several laps and found himself fourth at the halfway point of the race. Gravel would move into third on lap-24 and moved up to second 10 laps later, getting around Stewart. A red flag on lap-35 took the leaders out of traffic and gave Gravel a chance to battle leader and eventual winner Paul McMahan.
Gravel timed in 13th-fastest in his first race at the quarter-mile Silver Dollar Speedway, which put him on the pole of the first 10-lap heat race. He would win that heat race to earn a spot in the dash. Gravel started seventh in the dash and finished eighth, which put him on the outside of the fourth row for the 40-lap Mini Gold Cup.
“We had to thrash all night,” he noted. “We broke a U-Joint in hot laps and came back and were able to qualify in the right spot and start on the pole of a heat. We took advantage of that and won the heat to get in the dash, which is always important. We made the most of it and a sixth-place finish isn’t that bad, even though we lost a few spots at the end.”
Gravel kicked off the weekend on Friday, March 22 at the brand new Stockton 99 Dirt Track, which hosted a standing-room-only sold out crowd for the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series inaugural event at the three-eighths-mile. Gravel started 15th in the 30-lap main event and fell back as far as 21st in the early going. He endured a total of six slowdowns during the race and was able to work his way back forward. Gravel charged from 17th to 13th in the final 10 laps, including using a late race restart with two laps remaining to gain a pair of spots to take the checkered flag in 13th.
The East Coast racer began the night by turning the 11th-fastest lap in time trials, which put him in the heat race inversion. He started second in the third eight-lap heat and finished third, coming up just one spot shy of earning a spot in the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series dash.
“It just wasn’t our night at Stockton,” shared Gravel. “Someone drove over our right rear and flattened it in the heat, so we weren’t able to finish in the top-two to get into the dash. We had a good opportunity there. We were a little off at the beginning of the feature, but the car got better late in the race. It seemed like once I got it figured out, we were able to move up a little bit.”
Gravel is currently seventh in the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series championship standings after the first 10 races of the season, just two points out of sixth and 14 markers out of the top-five. He has five top-10 finishes in 10 races, with two of those being top-five performances. Gravel will return to action on Friday, March 29 at Merced Speedway in California as he continues to fill-in for Rose.
“It’s been great visiting all of these new tracks out west and getting to meet and race with new people as well,” he said. “A lot of fans that have never seen me race are getting to see me race also, which is great. The weather has been fantastic and everything seems to be going pretty good. I can’t wait to get back to the track next weekend.”
Keep up-to-date with David Gravel and DDR Motorsports by visiting www.DavidGravel89.com. Follow David on Twitter @davidgravel89gand like David on Facebook.
