David Gravel (Video Highlights from DirtVison.com)
2-8-24
Volusia Speedway Park
De Leon Springs, FL
WoO
42 cars
Cars were divided into two groups for qualifying. Rico Abreu (14th car out to time) set quick time in the first group at 13.342 seconds on the 4/10-mile, followed by Corey Day (11th), Brenham Crouch (18th), Anthony Macri (1st) and Bill Balog (19th). Brian Brown (12th car out to time) set quick time overall and in the second group at 13.222 seconds. David Gravel (13th) was second quick, followed by Brent Marks (15th), Justin Peck (1st) and Brad Sweet (18th).
Heat one (started): 1. Abreu 24 (1) 2. Tyler Courtney 7BC (4) 3. Buddy Kofoid 83 (5) 4. Crouch 1 (2) 5. Ryan Timms 5T (8) / 6. Kraig Kinser 70 (7) 7. Balog 17B (3) 8. Chris Martin 44 (10) 9. Spencer Bayston 5 (6) 10. Andy Pake 64 (9) DNS – Creed Kemenah 15K
8-lap heats took the top five to the A, and the top two to the Dash. All were settled mostly in turn one. Balog and Bayston both got terrible starts. Kofoid and Timms took advantage.
Heat two (started): 1. Day 14 (1) 2. Gio Scelzi 18 (4) 3. Macri 39m (2) 4. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15H (6) 5. Danny Dietrich 48 (3) / 6. Kasey Kahne 9 (5) 7. Austin McCarl 88 (7) 8. Brendan Mullen 11m (8) 9. Bryan Gossel 6G (9) 10. Ben Brown 7B (10)
Hafertepe used a strong start to shoot by Kahne and Dietrich.
Heat three (started): 1. Marks 19 (2) 2. Brian Brown 21 (1) 3. Carson Macedo 41 (4) 4. Sweet 49 (3) 5. Logan Schuchart 1s (5) / 6. Sheldon Haudenschild 17 (6) 7. Jacob Allen 1a (7) 8. Danny Sams III 24D (8) 9. Justin Whittall 0 (10) 10. Bill Rose 6 (11) 11. Ryan Harrison 97UK (9)
Hammer down in an extremely stout heat.
Heat four (started): 1. Peck 13 (2) 2. Gravel 2 (1) 3. Brock Zearfoss 3z (4) 4. Donny Schatz 15 (5) 5. Zeb Wise 26 (3) / 6. Cory Eliason 8 (7) 7. Riley Goodno 22 (8) 8. Kevin Newton 16TH (10) 9. Austyn Gossel 16G (9) 10. Landon Crawley 7s (6)
Peck led the distance. Crawley came to a stop and exited on lap five while running sixth.
C main (started): 1. Bayston (1) 2. Whittall (2) / 3. B. Gossel (3) 4. Ben Brown (6) 5. Harrison (7) 6. Pake (5) 7. A. Gossel (4) DNS – Rose, Crawley, Kemenah
The 8-lapper took the top two to the B.
Dash (started): 1. Gravel (2) 2. Scelzi (1) 3. Abreu (4) 4. Brian Brown (6) 5. Peck (7) 6. Marks (3) 7. Courtney (8) 8. Day (5)
The 6-lapper set up the starting lineup in the feature. Not much passing after lap one.
B main (started): 1. Balog (1) 2. Haudenschild (2) 3. Eliason (4) 4. Kahne (5) / 5. Kinser (3) 6. McCarl (7) 7. Allen (6) 8. Goodno (8) 9. Bayston (13) 10. Martin (9) 11. Whittall (14) 12. Sams (10) 13. Mullen (11) 14. Newton (12)
The 12-lapper took the top four to the feature. That group was set on lap one.
A main (started): 1. Gravel (1) 2. Abreu (3) 3. Peck (5) 4. Scelzi (2) 5. Schatz (16) 6. Schuchart (18) 7. Brian Brown (4) 8. Marks (6) 9. Kofoid (9) 10. Courtney (7) 11. Haudenschild (22) 12. Macedo (10) 13. Macri (11) 14. Day (8) 15. Sweet (14) 16. Dietrich (19) 17. Wise (20) 18. Timms (17) 19. Zearfoss (12) 20. Balog (21) 21. Hafertepe (15) 22. Crawley (25, prov.) 23. Eliason (23) 24. Kahne (24) 25. Crouch (13) 26. Rose (26, prov.)
The 25-lapper saw Eliason spin before a lap could get in. Scelzi had shot out in front of Gravel, but the restart gave Gravel the opportunity to protect the middle to high line, and he led Scelzi, Abreu, Brown and Marks. Abreu slid by Scelzi for second in turn three on lap two. Gravel entered lapped traffic on lap six. Two laps later, Peck, who had dropped back a couple of spots, shot by Marks for fifth. Schatz, who started in row eight, followed him into sixth and was on the move. Peck used the low side of turn three to pass Brown for fourth on lap 12. Lap 18 saw Kahne go up in smoke, bringing the only caution. Gravel had built a 1.8 second lead over Abreu, but that was gone. Scelzi, Peck, Brown and Schatz followed the leaders. Peck grabbed third on the restart, and Schatz claimed fifth from Brown. Schuchart joined Schatz, charging through the field, taking sixth late from Brown. He was the hard-charger.