Tyler Courtney Shines at Charlotte, Wins $25,000

Tyler Courtney competing at The Dirt Track at Charlotte in Concord, North Carolina (Photo: Trent Gower | World Racing Group)

CONCORD, N.C. — With the champion of the 2024 World of Outlaws Sprint Car series already determined on Friday night, Saturday night’s race was just that: a race. 

Before the race took place, Giovanni Scelzi took a rough tumble and landed on his side on the frontstretch during a prior race. The tumble ended up ruining his chassis, preventing “Hot Sauce” from competing in the World Finals finale, and automatically taking the last place spot.

Tyler Courtney and Brian Brown led the 26-car field to start off the 25 lap A-Main. Courtney jumped out front with Brown and Sheldon Haudenschild in his dust trail. As they exited the first set of turns, Haudenschild faded while Brown chased after Courtney. 

Haudenschild was not going to play “follow the leader” though and regained his original momentum to catch back up to Brown. Racing side-by-side, Haudenschild gave Brown a run for his money and let him know that he was there but could not stay with the Missouri native.

On Lap 11, 2024 champion David Gravel entered the chat. Going to the inside of Haudenschild through Turns 3 and 4, Gravel was able to get ahead of Haudenschild long enough to slide in front of him going into the next corner to officially enter the top three.

Two laps later, Friday night’s winner, Carson Macedo, passed Haudenschild going down the backstretch for fourth. Ryan Timms followed suit in Macedo’s draft, putting Haudenschild back in sixth. Timms then got around Macedo.

Landon Crawley slowed on the back straightaway on Lap 15, drawing a caution. On the restart, both Gravel and Courtney got great starts, with the champion trailing behind “Sunshine.” Brown got a good start as well and caught up to Timms two laps later to challenge him for third. Brown went low going into Turn 2 and slide-jobbed Timms, making the pass successfully.

After Michael “Buddy” Kofoid flipped in Turn 1 at the start of Lap 21, Macedo got by Brown for third after they mashed their gas pedals again. He now had his sights set on Gravel.

Macedo got close to Gravel and edged closer and closer with each turn, but he could not make it to the inside. They finished second and third, respectively.

Courtney finished the year off with a bang and a nice $25,000 check.

“When you’ve got a World of Outlaws champion like David [Gravel] behind ya, you can’t let up for a second,” Courtney said about the race. “It’s just an awesome way to end the season. We had a great season, and to end the year like this is awesome.”