Carson Macedo Wins at Charlotte; David Gravel Earns Title

Carson Macedo competing at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo: Trent Gower | World Racing Group)

CONCORD, N.C. — For David Gravel, the mission on Friday night was very simple: win or finish above 19th place and he had the championship in the bag for the World of Outlaws Sprint Car series.

Gravel did not end up winning the 25-lap feature, but he placed fourth, clinching the championship on night two of the World Finals.

The race kicked off with Carson Macedo and Michael “Buddy” Kofoid on the front row. At the drop of the green flag, Macedo took the lead with Kofoid right on his heels. As they exited the first corner, Kofoid pulled to Macedo’s outside and drag-raced him down the entire length of the backstretch. Kofoid could not catch up to Macedo.

As Kofoid regained his momentum, there were two consecutive cautions, both of which involved Darin Naida. After everything straightened out, the 900-horsepower engines roared to their full capacities as Gravel charged hard for the lead and barreled full bore towards Kofoid.

On Lap 15, Kofoid get another run on Macedo for the lead. The two drivers ran their respective lanes around the dirt oval as the top side proved to be superior. Kofoid caught Macedo in two laps to take the lead before they crossed the stripe.

Three laps later, Macedo challenged Kofoid for the number one spot. As they entered the corner, Macedo went down low and proved that the bottom line could also be useful. He pulled a successful slide job on his fellow California native competitor and reclaimed his original spot.

Despite their determined efforts, neither Kofoid nor Gravel could get back up to the lead to challenge Macedo. Justin Peck snookered into third ahead of Gravel. Kasey Kahne rounded out the top five.

“I was just a leader. I didn’t know where to be,” said Macedo about his first-ever win at the Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “My car was incredible. When you get passed for the lead and then come back…and take the lead back, it’s a testament to how good your car is, and I felt really solid.”

Meanwhile, Gravel, finishing in fourth, he secured his first ever sprint car championship.

“We still got one race to go, but it feels good to go into tomorrow just racing for a win,” said Gravel. “I want to touch that trophy and raise that trophy above my head because I’ve been doing this for a long time and we’ve been close a lot of years, [but] we finally got it done. There’s such a small list of World of Outlaws champions and I’m honored to be one of them.”