David Gravel won the National Open prelim Friday (Tyler Carr Photo) (Video Highlights from DirtVision.com)
The two-time champ slips by Whittall in traffic to snap an 18-race winless streak
MECHANICSBURG, PA (October 2, 2026) - The drought is over for the champion.
The last two months haven’t been ideal for David Gravel and Big Game Motorsports. Sure, they’ve consistently racked up top 10 finishes and maintained a solid point lead, but this crew is accustomed to winning and winning often.
They rolled into Williams Grove Speedway’s J&S Classics National Open on an 18-race winless streak. Oddly enough, their last victory came at none other than Williams Grove, and the historic 1/2 mile ended the slump on Friday night.
Gravel fired off on the pole for the 25-lap Feature, but it was Justin Whittall sneaking by in the opening set of corners to take command early. The two-time and defending champion didn’t get rattled. He stalked the Rod Gross Motorsports No. 67G as they neared traffic and capitalized when the door opened. Whittall couldn’t clear a slider on a lapped car and lost momentum, allowing Gravel to drive by down the front straightaway. Anthony Macri worked his way into second but couldn’t erase Gravel’s gap as the No. 2 motored to Victory Lane.
“It was just kind of roles reversed from the Dash,” Gravel explained. “He (Whittall) started on the pole, and I was able crossover and get in front of him. He did the same thing to me there in the Feature. At that point, I just had to get in line and try to build some speed up and try not to lose second. When we got to lapped traffic, I knew that would be my time to pounce. Once he got somewhat close to lapped traffic, he started stalling out. The dirty air definitely affected his race car. Then he got over the cushion once off of (Turn) 4, and I was able to get the lead that way.”
Gravel’s first win in two months is his 11th of the season and the 130th of his career with the World of Outlaws. A dozen of those have come at Williams Grove for the Watertown, CT native. He padded his lead atop the standings to 128 markers over Michael “Buddy” Kofoid.
The victory also secured bragging rights for the World of Outlaws over the PA Posse in 2026 as the scoreboard now shows a 5-2 advantage for the traveling talent, an insurmountable lead with only one battle remaining.
Anthony Macri showed no signs of rust in his second race back from an injury by bringing the Macri Motorsports No. 39M home runner-up. He’ll look to give the PA Posse the National Open title on Saturday.
Rounding out the podium was Justin Peck in the Rudeen Racing No. 26, his best World of Outlaws result at the Mechanicsburg, PA oval.
Buddy Kofoid and Chase Dietz rounded out the top five.
NIGHTLY NOTES
Cameron Smith laid down the Race//Ready Hottest Lap of the Night.
Buddy Kofoid set Simpson Quick Time in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying.
Heat Races belonged to Buddy Kofoid (NOS Energy Drink Heat One), David Gravel (TheGreatestStoreonDirt.com Heat Two), Chase Dietz (WIX Filters Heat Three), and Cameron Smith (Golf Cart Services Heat Four).
The SPA Technique #1 Redraw went to Justin Whittall.
David Gravel topped the Toyota Dash.
Emerson Axsom won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.
Danny Dietrich wheeled from 26th to 18th to bag KSE Racing Hard Charger honors.
The Tub O’ Towels Seventh Place Finisher was Cameron Smith.
Emerson Axsom was the Five Star Bodies Rookie of the Race.
Justin Whittall ran the ACME Trading Company Fast Lap.
The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Logan Schuchart.
UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars battle the Pennsylvania Posse for $75,000 at Williams Grove Speedway’s 64th J & S Classics National Open on Saturday, Oct. 3. For tickets, CLICK HERE.
Where can you watch every World of Outlaws race? Live on DIRTVision.
Where can you see the World of Outlaws in 2026? Click to see the full schedule.
NOS Energy Drink Feature (25 Laps): 1. 2-David Gravel[1]; 2. 39M-Anthony Macri[3]; 3. 26-Justin Peck[4]; 4. 83-Michael Kofoid[7]; 5. 23D-Chase Dietz[5]; 6. 13-Tanner Holmes[11]; 7. 1A-Cameron Smith[6]; 8. 67G-Justin Whittall[2]; 9. 17B-Bill Balog[10]; 10. 69K-Daryn Pittman[16]; 11. 51R-Freddie Rahmer[9]; 12. 71-Logan Rumsey[12]; 13. 15-Donny Schatz[8]; 14. 41-Carson Macedo[14]; 15. 18-Sheldon Haudenschild[22]; 16. 23-Garet Williamson[15]; 17. 8-Lance Dewease[20]; 18. 48-Danny Dietrich[26]; 19. 17-Spencer Bayston[24]; 20. 17N-Dylan Norris[18]; 21. 1S-Logan Schuchart[17]; 22. 5-Kasey Jedrzejek[19]; 23. 2C-Cole Macedo[25]; 24. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[23]; 25. 27-Emerson Axsom[21]; 26. (DNF) 12-Brent Shearer[13]
MicroLite Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps): 1. 27-Emerson Axsom[1]; 2. 18-Sheldon Haudenschild[4]; 3. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[2]; 4. 17-Spencer Bayston[7]; 5. 66-Ryan Newton[3]; 6. 22-Doug Hammaker[6]; 7. 27W-Troy Wagaman Jr[5]; 8. 10-Ryan Timms[10]; 9. 48-Danny Dietrich[11]; 10. 11A-Austin Bishop[12]; 11. 19-Brent Marks[8]; 12. 2C-Cole Macedo[16]; 13. 6-Bryce Lucius[9]; 14. 7S-Chris Windom[14]; 15. 51-Steven Snyder Jr[21]; 16. 39-Lucas Wolfe[13]; 17. 16C-Skylar Gee[18]; 18. 5R-Tyler Ross[17]; 19. 11-TJ Stutts[20]; 20. 35-Buddy Schweibinz[15]; 21. 11T-Mike Thompson[22]; 22. (DNS) 55-Brady Bacon
C Feature (10 Laps): 1. 51-Steven Snyder Jr[7]; 2. 11T-Mike Thompson[1]; 3. 10C-Matt Campbell[2]; 4. 1X-Chad Trout[6]; 5. 2MD-Darin Naida[8]; 6. 97-Brie Hershey[4]; 7. 4-Ayden Hare[9]; 8. 67X-JJ Loss[12]; 9. 28M-Conner Morrell[11]; 10. 3D-Dave Grube[10]; 11. (DNF) 45S-Samuel Miller[14]; 12. (DNF) 12W-Troy Fraker[16]; 13. (DNS) 42-Sye Lynch; 14. (DNS) 88J-Joey Amantea; 15. (DNS) 17BX-Steve Buckwalter; 16. (DNS) 27S-Dylan Cisney
Toyota Dash (6 Laps): 1. 2-David Gravel[2]; 2. 67G-Justin Whittall[1]; 3. 39M-Anthony Macri[4]; 4. 26-Justin Peck[3]; 5. 23D-Chase Dietz[5]; 6. 1A-Cameron Smith[6]; 7. 83-Michael Kofoid[7]; 8. 15-Donny Schatz[8]
NOS Energy Drink Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 83-Michael Kofoid[1]; 2. 39M-Anthony Macri[3]; 3. 51R-Freddie Rahmer[4]; 4. 12-Brent Shearer[2]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart[8]; 6. 66-Ryan Newton[6]; 7. 17-Spencer Bayston[7]; 8. 27-Emerson Axsom[5]; 9. 39-Lucas Wolfe[9]; 10. 5R-Tyler Ross[11]; 11. 11T-Mike Thompson[10]
The Greatest Store on Dirt Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 2-David Gravel[1]; 2. 67G-Justin Whittall[2]; 3. 13-Tanner Holmes[3]; 4. 23-Garet Williamson[4]; 5. 5-Kasey Jedrzejek[8]; 6. 27W-Troy Wagaman Jr[5]; 7. 6-Bryce Lucius[6]; 8. 48-Danny Dietrich[9]; 9. 35-Buddy Schweibinz[7]; 10. 55-Brady Bacon[10]; 11. (DNS) 42-Sye Lynch
WIX Filters Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 23D-Chase Dietz[1]; 2. 26-Justin Peck[2]; 3. 17B-Bill Balog[4]; 4. 41-Carson Macedo[3]; 5. 17N-Dylan Norris[6]; 6. 18-Sheldon Haudenschild[9]; 7. 19-Brent Marks[7]; 8. 11A-Austin Bishop[8]; 9. 2C-Cole Macedo[10]; 10. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[5]; 11. 10C-Matt Campbell[11]
Golf Cart Services Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 1A-Cameron Smith[1]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz[2]; 3. 71-Logan Rumsey[4]; 4. 69K-Daryn Pittman[3]; 5. 8-Lance Dewease[5]; 6. 22-Doug Hammaker[6]; 7. 10-Ryan Timms[9]; 8. 7S-Chris Windom[8]; 9. 16C-Skylar Gee[7]; 10. 11-TJ Stutts[10]; 11. 97-Brie Hershey[11]
Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying Flight A (2 Laps): 1. 83-Michael Kofoid, 16.421[18]; 2. 2-David Gravel, 16.497[27]; 3. 12-Brent Shearer, 16.603[12]; 4. 67G-Justin Whittall, 16.675[17]; 5. 39M-Anthony Macri, 16.681[24]; 6. 13-Tanner Holmes, 16.713[28]; 7. 51R-Freddie Rahmer, 16.715[25]; 8. 23-Garet Williamson, 16.722[16]; 9. 27-Emerson Axsom, 16.844[22]; 10. 27W-Troy Wagaman Jr, 16.849[20]; 11. 66-Ryan Newton, 16.872[8]; 12. 6-Bryce Lucius, 16.900[14]; 13. 17-Spencer Bayston, 16.933[26]; 14. 35-Buddy Schweibinz, 16.934[6]; 15. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 16.960[4]; 16. 5-Kasey Jedrzejek, 16.963[1]; 17. 39-Lucas Wolfe, 16.964[5]; 18. 48-Danny Dietrich, 16.987[19]; 19. 11T-Mike Thompson, 17.055[9]; 20. 55-Brady Bacon, 17.099[23]; 21. 97-Brie Hershey, 17.205[13]; 22. 88J-Joey Amantea, 17.211[3]; 23. 10C-Matt Campbell, 17.247[10]; 24. 3D-Dave Grube, 17.258[2]; 25. 28M-Conner Morrell, 17.389[21]; 26. 45S-Samuel Miller, 17.514[11]; 27. 17BX-Steve Buckwalter, 17.539[7]; 28. 12W-Troy Fraker, 18.362[15]
Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying Flight B (2 Laps): 1. 23D-Chase Dietz, 16.472[7]; 2. 1A-Cameron Smith, 16.659[28]; 3. 26-Justin Peck, 16.671[9]; 4. 15-Donny Schatz, 16.691[5]; 5. 41-Carson Macedo, 16.714[16]; 6. 69K-Daryn Pittman, 16.715[14]; 7. 17B-Bill Balog, 16.724[1]; 8. 71-Logan Rumsey, 16.734[24]; 9. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 16.766[19]; 10. 8-Lance Dewease, 16.773[3]; 11. 17N-Dylan Norris, 16.804[17]; 12. 22-Doug Hammaker, 16.827[11]; 13. 19-Brent Marks, 16.876[6]; 14. 16C-Skylar Gee, 16.878[25]; 15. 11A-Austin Bishop, 16.879[26]; 16. 7S-Chris Windom, 16.886[4]; 17. 18-Sheldon Haudenschild, 16.896[8]; 18. 10-Ryan Timms, 16.938[2]; 19. 2C-Cole Macedo, 16.991[21]; 20. 11-TJ Stutts, 17.029[12]; 21. 5R-Tyler Ross, 17.055[18]; 22. 42-Sye Lynch, 17.105[13]; 23. 2MD-Darin Naida, 17.126[22]; 24. 1X-Chad Trout, 17.182[23]; 25. 51-Steven Snyder Jr, 17.215[10]; 26. 4-Ayden Hare, 17.338[15]; 27. 27S-Dylan Cisney, 17.371[20]; 28. 67X-JJ Loss, 17.443[27]