From Inside Line Promotions
BRANDON, S.D. (June 21, 2021) – David Gravel climbed onto the tail tank of his sprint car, turned to the crowd and provided a few fist pumps, a wave of the checkered flag and a smile before exhaling a sigh of relief.
Gravel defended the hypothetical home turf on Monday evening at Huset’s Speedway, guiding a car owned by Tod Quiring into Victory Lane at a track that Quiring purchased last year to open one of the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series’ marquee events. Gravel’s sixth World of Outlaws victory of the season kicked off the opening night of the inaugural BillionAuto.com Huset’s 50, which featured a stout crowd led by South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem.
“We’ve been really strong here lately,” Gravel said. “We have a really, really good team together and I can’t complain. I’m in a really good position right now.”
The $30,000-to-win event finale and Round 3 of THE SHOWDOWN is Tuesday at Huset’s Speedway. The pits open at 2 p.m. and the main gates at 4 p.m. Hot laps start at 7 p.m.
Gravel bested a field of 43 drivers – the second-biggest car count of the season for the World of Outlaws – to claim Monday’s top prize. However, Donny Schatz, who captured his 300th career series triumph last weekend, stole the show early as he powered into the lead on the bottom in turn four during the opening circuit of the 35-lap main event.
Traffic appeared on Lap 8 and Gravel pounced two laps later when Schatz was slowed on the bottom in turn four while trying to lap another driver. It provided the opening Gravel needed as he hustled to the high side and into the top spot on Lap 10.
“Luckily I got Donny back there,” he said. “He was able to snooker me on Lap 1. Luckily I was able to get him back and that’s what won the race. I went to the top because I knew that’d be the fastest lane.”
A caution on Lap 11 gave Gravel a clear track for the restart, which had to be attempted twice after a crash brought out the yellow flag during the initial restart. The remainder of the race went without incident with Gravel holding off Schatz.
The track began to take rubber during the second half and traffic played a role in the final laps. Gravel had built more than a two-second advantage, but Schatz closed to approximately a half a second with eight laps remaining. Three laps later he nearly pulled side by side with Gravel in turn four. That was the closest Schatz would get as Gravel maintained the top spot en route to a victory by 0.297 of a second.
“I conserved my tire quite a bit,” Gravel said. “I got really tight when the rubber came in. I was watching Donny on the DIRTVision screen. I saw he was really close to me in (turns) one and two. Donny is one of the best rubber racers out there. I just tried to make the right moves and just get to the finish.”
Schatz settled for the runner-up result, which was his 19th top five of the season during World of Outlaws competition.
“I didn’t go in the right spot,” he said while describing the moment Gravel took the lead. “I thought the No. 19 was going to miss the bottom. That’s the way it goes. Dave got back by us. I think we had something for him at least. That’s positive.”
Kerry Madsen rounded out the podium.
“What a fun car to drive,” he said. “We really had a fast race car. It was good to go P3.”
World of Outlaws points leader Brad Sweet finished fourth and NASCAR star Kyle Larson rounded out the top five.
Madsen and Schatz set quick time during qualifying in their groups. Madsen, Gravel, Schatz and Aaron Reutzel were the heat race winners. James McFadden won the Last Chance Showdown and he was the Hard Charger Award winner in the main event after maneuvering from 21st to 12th.
World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series
Huset’s 50
Huset’s Speedway
Brandon, S.D.
Monday, June 21, 2021
Slick Woody’s Qualifying Flight-A
1. 14-Kerry Madsen, 10.706
2. 2-David Gravel, 10.753
3. 49-Brad Sweet, 10.764
4. 57-Kyle Larson, 10.806
5. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 10.811
6. 21-Brian Brown, 10.825
7. 7-Justin Henderson, 10.827
8. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 10.869
9. 27-Carson McCarl, 10.872
10. 41-Carson Macedo, 10.916
11. 101-Lachlan McHugh, 10.932
12. 83X-Lynton Jeffrey, 10.949
13. 2C-Wayne Johnson, 10.965
14. 88N-DJ Netto, 10.967
15. 13-Dominic Scelzi, 11.1
16. 22-Riley Goodno, 11.136
17. 81-Jack Dover, 11.185
18. 23-Russel Borland, 11.189
19. 14T-Tim Estenson, 11.194
20. 20A-Jordan Adams, 11.455
21. 101X-Chuck McGillivray, 11.675
22. 4-Cody Hansen, 11.796
Slick Woody’s Qualifying Flight-B
1. 15-Donny Schatz, 10.802
2. 83-Aaron Reutzel, 10.812
3. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 10.825
4. 1A-Jacob Allen, 10.938
5. 18-Giovanni Scelzi, 10.951
6. 17W-Shane Golobic, 10.952
7. 5-Parker Price-Miller, 10.965
8. 26-Cory Eliason, 10.973
9. 11-Spencer Bayston, 10.974
10. 19-Paige Polyak, 10.98
11. 9-James McFadden, 11.018
12. 16-Ian Madsen, 11.019
13. 3-Tim Kaeding, 11.021
14. 7S-Jason Sides, 11.039
15. 17A-Austin McCarl, 11.056
16. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 11.073
17. 11M-Brendan Mullen, 11.144
18. O9-Matt Juhl, 11.257
19. 14X-Jody Rosenboom, 11.332
20. O5-Colin Smith, 11.647
21. 22MM-Kaleb Johnson, NT
DRYDENE Heat Race #1 (10 Laps):
1. 14-Kerry Madsen [1]
2. 49-Brad Sweet [2]
3. 7-Justin Henderson [4]
4. 11K-Kraig Kinser [3]
5. 2C-Wayne Johnson [7]
6. 101-Lachlan McHugh [6]
7. 13-Dominic Scelzi [8]
8. 14T-Tim Estenson [10]
9. 81-Jack Dover [9]
10. 27-Carson McCarl [5]
11. 101X-Chuck McGillivray [11]
DRYDENE Heat Race #2 (10 Laps):
1. 2-David Gravel [1]
2. 57-Kyle Larson [2]
3. 1S-Logan Schuchart [4]
4. 41-Carson Macedo [5]
5. 21-Brian Brown [3]
6. 88N-DJ Netto [7]
7. 83X-Lynton Jeffrey [6]
8. 22-Riley Goodno [8]
9. 23-Russel Borland [9]
10. 20A-Jordan Adams [10]
11. 4-Cody Hansen [11]
DRYDENE Heat Race #3 (10 Laps):
1. 15-Donny Schatz [1]
2. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [2]
3. 18-Giovanni Scelzi [3]
4. 5-Parker Price-Miller [4]
5. 11-Spencer Bayston [5]
6. 9-James McFadden [6]
7. 17A-Austin McCarl [8]
8. 3-Tim Kaeding [7]
9. 11M-Brendan Mullen [9]
10. 14X-Jody Rosenboom [10]
11. 22MM-Kaleb Johnson [11]
DRYDENE Heat Race #4 (10 Laps):
1. 83-Aaron Reutzel [1]
2. 1A-Jacob Allen [2]
3. 17W-Shane Golobic [3]
4. 26-Cory Eliason [4]
5. 19-Paige Polyak [5]
6. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [8]
7. 16-Ian Madsen [6]
8. 7S-Jason Sides [7]
9. O9-Matt Juhl [9]
10. O5-Colin Smith [10]
DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash (8 Laps):
1. 2-David Gravel [1]
2. 15-Donny Schatz [4]
3. 1A-Jacob Allen [2]
4. 49-Brad Sweet [6]
5. 14-Kerry Madsen [8]
6. 57-Kyle Larson [5]
7. 83-Aaron Reutzel [3]
8. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [7]
C-Main (10 Laps):
1. 81-Jack Dover [1][-]
2. 11M-Brendan Mullen [2][-]
3. O9-Matt Juhl [4][$150]
4. 23-Russel Borland [3][$150]
5. 101X-Chuck McGillivray [7][$150]
6. 20A-Jordan Adams [5][$125]
7. O5-Colin Smith [8][$125]
8. 14X-Jody Rosenboom [6][$125]
9. 4-Cody Hansen [9][$125]
10. 22MM-Kaleb Johnson [10][$125]
Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps):
1. 9-James McFadden [2][-]
2. 27-Carson McCarl [1][-]
3. 17A-Austin McCarl [6][-]
4. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [4][-]
5. 88N-DJ Netto [5][$300]
6. 101-Lachlan McHugh [3][$250]
7. 16-Ian Madsen [8][$225]
8. 3-Tim Kaeding [10][$200]
9. 83X-Lynton Jeffrey [9][$200]
10. 13-Dominic Scelzi [7][$200]
11. 7S-Jason Sides [12][$200]
12. 22-Riley Goodno [13][$200]
13. 81-Jack Dover [14][$200]
14. 14T-Tim Estenson [11][$200]
15. 11M-Brendan Mullen [15][$200]
NOS Energy Drink Feature (35 Laps):
1. 2-David Gravel [1][$10,000]
2. 15-Donny Schatz [2][$5,500]
3. 14-Kerry Madsen [5][$3,200]
4. 49-Brad Sweet [4][$2,800]
5. 57-Kyle Larson [6][$2,500]
6. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [8][$2,300]
7. 1A-Jacob Allen [3][$2,200]
8. 1S-Logan Schuchart [11][$2,100]
9. 7-Justin Henderson [9][$2,050]
10. 11K-Kraig Kinser [13][$2,000]
11. 18-Giovanni Scelzi [10][$1,500]
12. 9-James McFadden [21][$1,200]
13. 17W-Shane Golobic [12][$1,150]
14. 5-Parker Price-Miller [14][$1,100]
15. 41-Carson Macedo [15][$1,050]
16. 2C-Wayne Johnson [17][$1,000]
17. 11-Spencer Bayston [18][$1,000]
18. 26-Cory Eliason [16][$1,000]
19. 21-Brian Brown [19][$1,000]
20. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [24][$1,000]
21. 17A-Austin McCarl [23][$1,000]
22. 19-Paige Polyak [20][$1,000]
23. 83-Aaron Reutzel [7][$1,000]
24. 27-Carson McCarl [22][$1,000]
Lap Leaders Donny Schatz 1-9, David Gravel 10-35
KSE Hard Charger Award: 9-James McFadden[+9]