Gravel Gets First Ever Win at US 36 Raceway; Becomes First Repeat Winner of 2024

David Gravel competing in the Wildcat Showdown at US 36 Raceway (Photo: Trent Gower | World Racing Group)

OSBORN, Mo. — The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series took a trip to US 36 Raceway for the Wildcat Showdown on Friday night.

The night started off with Hot Laps so that the cars could get warmed up, as well as get a feel for the track. This helped the drivers get their bearings in preparation for the qualifying sessions that came immediately after.

The current track record is a 9.846 second run around the ⅜ mile clay oval that was made by Paul McMahan on May 5, 2006. That record was not broken on Friday, but Flight A’s qualifying session had some intense action with five different lead changes for quick time and Anthony Macri blowing up on the last lap. The final winner and eventually the overall quick time victor of Flight A, in which 21 cars raced, was Michael “Buddy” Kofoid with a 10.782 second lap.

Flight B had three lead changes and only 20 cars. Tyler Courtney took the session’s quick time with a 10.783 second lap. By 1/1000 of a second, Kofoid beat out Courtney for the night’s overall quick time.

“It felt really good for not having stellar hot laps,” said Kofoid about his winning quick time. “We’ll see if we can continue this momentum.”

Kofoid did continue that momentum into the first of four Heat Races, winning Heat Race 1. Kofoid started on the pole with Bill Balog next to him, but Balog lost the second-place position to David Gravel due to hitting the lapped car of Austin Hartmann. Balog collided with Hartmann on the final lap and flipped over multiple times in the air before landing.

The next Heat saw Sheldon Haudenschild and Jacob Allen on the front row. The race got underway, but before it could really get underway, Kerry Madsen slowed on the first lap, bringing out the yellow flag. Once Madsen got back to the pits, the race commenced once again. Haudenschild kept the pole position for the duration, but James McFadden was able to move up from third to take second away from Allen.

The third Heat Race had the same front row for the start and throughout the entirety of the race: Courtney and Donny Schatz. Back in the pack though, the Scelzi brothers, Dominic and Giovanni, battled it out for fifth. As they were fighting for the coveted position, D. Scelzi struck younger brother G. Scelzi. This hit resulted in neither brother getting the fifth-place spot, allowing Tanner Holmes to prevail instead.

The final race began with Carson Macedo and Rico Abreu on the front row. At the conclusion of the race, Macedo and Abreu had swapped positions. This race was fairly uneventful, besides Jace Park smoking profusely throughout the whole race. Despite this, he was able to continue through the entire race.

Next up was the C-Main. Austin Hartmann and Kraig Kinser made up the front row. Kinser won the race and Aaron Reutzel raced his way up from fifth to take over second.

The Dash came next in the night’s schedule of events. The purpose of the Dash was to determine the top eight starting spots for the main event. The Dash started with Haudenschild and McFadden on the front row, but as they got underway, it was determined that McFadden jumped the start early. This automatically put McFadden back in fourth and moved Courtney up to second. This was a stroke of luck for Courtney, as he took Haudenschild for the win.

The final event of the night before the 35-lap main event was the Last Chance Showdown. The 15-car lineup consisted of Balog and G. Scelzi in the first two spots. On Lap 7 of 12, Reutzel slowed down bringing out a caution. The race quickly got under way again, but on the last lap, G. Scelzi suffered a flat right rear tire. This immediately took him out of the second-place position and gave it to Balog, who lost first place to Macri.

Tyler Courtney competing in the Wildcat Showdown at US 36 Raceway (Photo: Trent Gower | World Racing Group)

The A-Main began with a bicycle by McFadden coming out of Turn 2. As the cars came back around to begin Lap 2, Zeb Wise clipped the wall and flipped on the front stretch.

Following World of Outlaws rules, if the entire field does not make it past the start/finish line on the first lap, it is a full race restart. Since Wise flipped, a red flag was thrown, which meant that not every car made it past the line. When the green flag flew, the race began at Lap 1 again.

Haudenschild took the lead early and Courtney tried to slide job him to no avail. The two sponsor teammates battled it out for two more laps until Kinser got sideways in the middle of Turns 1 and 2, spinning out and bringing out another caution. 

Once Kinser was off the track, McFadden challenged Courtney for second on the restart. McFadden raced side-by-side with Courtney for the rest of Lap 3 and all of Lap 4.

On Lap 6, Macedo and Kofoid battled side-by-side and attempted to slide job each other. Courtney also went low to try to pass Haudenschild but could not make the pass stick.

Three laps later, Gravel passed Kofoid and came up fast on the rest of the field. Haudenschild was also moving up quickly but ran into lapped traffic on Lap 10.

It took a full lap, but Haudenschild got around the first lapped car of Park. This put some space between him and Courtney, who was right on his heels. 

A lap later, Kofoid got passed once again, this time by Schatz. On Lap 15 though, Gravel overtook Courtney for second, setting his sights on Haudenschild.

Two laps later, Schatz passed again for fourth, putting McFadden in fifth. As the drivers hit Turn 3, Schatz passed Courtney for third, finally putting his name in the top three.

Lap 20 saw Haudenschild’s chances of winning the race get thrown out the window. As they raced into Turn 1, Haudenschild collided with Chris Windom, spinning himself and Windom out. Gravel got by the two drivers sitting in Turns 1 and 2, automatically giving him the lead.

On the restart, Haudenschild came back out even though he had nose wing damage, and Courtney and Schatz went at it for second. For the time being, Courtney pulled away to hold second place.

Lap 23 saw Abreu lose a battle with Macedo, but Abreu did not quit. He continued battling with Macedo for fifth into the next lap. Unfortunately, the two drivers made contact in Turn 2. Abreu spun around and ended up facing the opposite direction after both cars bounced like bouncy balls. Macedo drove away after the incident, though.

Due to the amount of cautions the night had thus far, the race was placed under red flag conditions. This allowed teams to come out and perform basic maintenance on the cars, including filling up with fuel.

Once Abreu was back in the pits and all the teams were back in the infield, McFadden came back to challenge Schatz, but Schatz shut the door.

On Lap 26, Kofoid came back by passing McFadden. Two laps later, Schatz got right on Gravel’s coattails and gave him a run for his money for two laps.

Lap 31 saw Ryan Timms and Balog wreck in Turns 1 and 2, with Timms flipping. Timms hit the cushion and flipped and since Balog was coming up fast, he spun to avoid making contact with the wrecked car. This allowed Balog to get his spot back.

Two laps later, McFadden lost a spot to Courtney and two laps after that, Gravel prevailed and became the first repeat winner of 2024. Schatz finished second and Kofoid crossed the line in third.

“It was a roller-coaster,” Gravel said on his first win at US 36 Raceway. “Luckily, we were able to get a redo and we were able to move around. I liked my chances. Feels good to get another win and hopefully we can keep this going.”