After making their debut appearance at Monroe, Louisiana’s newest dirt short track, one driver stole the show. In their first race in the state of Louisiana since 2004, The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series put on a heck of a show that saw three different leaders, six official lead changes, and 13 total passes for the top spot before David Gravel would pull off a win in Saturday night’s 30 Lap feature.
While all of the attention would begin on pole-sitter Kasey Kahne, who everyone was betting on to take the checkers, Gravel slid by him on the second lap to take his first lead of the 2021 season. Gravel would continue to dominate the 24-car field until fourth-place starter Brad Sweet would enter the picture on Lap 12. Lapped traffic would allow Sweet to keep a brief lead, but it would not be long before both Gravel and Sweet were racing side by side for several laps.
This battle would continue throughout this race, giving both Gravel and Sweet an opportunity to exchange the lead at least four-to-five times in 10 laps. Despite the challenges, Gravel never let the two-time and defending World of Outlaws champion lead more than one lap a time and this would give him the chance to drive to the first victory at The Rev.
“That was so much fun,” said Gravel. “This was such a great track, and a great debut for the World of Outlaws and racing Brad the way that I did was awesome! We passed back and forth like four or five times and I can’t imagine a better race than we had here with this new team.”
Along with this win Gravel also set Slick Woody’s Quick Time and established the track record at 11.582 seconds. Gravel, Kahne, and Macedo were also Team Drydene heat winners, while Kahne scored the DIRTvision Fast Pass Dash. Kraig Kinser won the Last Chance Showdown and earned KSE Hard Charger honors by driving from 19th-to-11th.
The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series will get back to racing during the Drydene Texas Two-Step, Presented by American Lube Supply, next weekend March 13th through 14th. Stay tuned to RacingJunk.com for all of your in the dirt racing coverage.
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