By DDR Motorsports PR
Watertown, Conn.—July 5, 2012 — Every time that David Gravel has competed with the World of Outlaws this season he has had one the fastest cars. He has led laps, been quickest in time trials and been near the front just about every time he has taken to the track with the series. Bad luck in the form of some mechanical failures, as well as getting caught up in a couple of accidents have kept him out of Victory Lane so far this season with the World of Outlaws. He looks to continue his consistency with the series when competing against the best sprint car drivers in the world this weekend in a pair of races in Wisconsin.
The weekend opens for Gravel on Friday, July 6, at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wis., with the FVP Outlaw Showdown, and continues on Saturday, July 7, with the Third Annual Jim Boyd Memorial at Beaver Dam Raceway. The native of Watertown, Conn., will be making his debut at the both the tracks in the Badger State.
“We’ve run really well this year with the Outlaws, and I always enjoy racing with them,” said Gravel. “We struggled last week during Ohio Speedweek, so we look to go up to Wisconsin and get our confidence back. We’ll looking to get a couple of good finishes, and get out of the rut we are in right now.”
Gravel has competed on a number of three-eighths-mile tracks this season, which is the size of Cedar Lake Speedway. He has earned six Top-10 finishes on ovals that size in 2012. The World of Outlaws have been making the trek to Cedar Lake since 1983, which was three full years before Gravel was born.
“You have to treat tracks the same way, whether you’ve been to them before or not,” noted the 20-year-old. “Even tracks you have been to, they change from the last time you were there and change throughout the night. Being aggressive in hot laps is important to get a good feel for the car, and also having a crew chief like Tyler (Swank), who has been around and knows a lot of tracks is a big key.”
Beaver Dam Raceway is a high-banked one-third-mile and Gravel has a pair of Top-10 finishes on tracks that size this season. The race will mark the fifth track that he is visiting for the first time this year, with three of those starts coming with the World of Outlaws.
Gravel has racked up six Top-10 finishes with the World of Outlaws this season, with four of those being Top-Five performances in a limited number of starts. He was fastest in qualifying at the famed Eldora Speedway both nights back in early May, and has raced his way into the dash with the series nine times in 12 races.
“I kind of wish I knew what made us so good against the Outlaws,” stated Gravel. “It may be that we get more pumped up and that brings out the best in us, I don’t know. Hopefully we can continue to do that this weekend. Qualifying well and making it into the dash with the Outlaws is the first objective each night. You have to put yourself in a good position to be in the dash and qualifying is a big part of that. If we can get in the dash both nights this weekend and come away with a couple of Top-10 runs that would be great.”
Gravel recently competed in Ohio Speedweek with the UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions. The 2010 Ohio Speedweek champion, set a new track record in qualifying at Hilltop Speedway, where he would finish eighth in the main event, which marked his best finish of the week. He also finished among the Top-10 at Waynesfield Raceway Park. The East Coast racer wrapped up the eight-race stretch 10th in Ohio Speedweek points.
“The last few races of Ohio Speedweek we found some things that help us down the road,” he said. “We made a few mistakes during the week that we learned from, and we’ll move forward. The best way to fix things is to race and race some more. We’ll race this weekend and then we have the Brad Doty Classic and Kings Royal next week, so hopefully we get back on track.”
Gravel is currently fifth in the standings with the UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions on the strength of 12 Top-10 finishes. He has been fastest in qualifying four times with the series and also has won the dash twice to earn pole positions in main events.
David Gravel and DDR Motorsports would like to thank: J&J Chassis, JRC Transportation, Kistler Engines, Musco Fuels and P&M Transportation for their continued support.
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Follow David Gravel on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DavidGravel89g and receive live updates from the track each and every race night. Results are also posted to the David Gravel Racing site on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/David-Gravel-Racing/143538695709198.
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