- World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams were busy this past weekend with three nights of racing. First up was the C&D Rigging Summer Nationals at Williams Grove Speedway.
Friday night's race also served as the makeup for the Morgan Cup finale, which was rained
out earlier in the season. Here, local racer TJ Stutts started on the front row with points leader David Gravel. The two fought hard through the entire race.
Gravel executed a slide job on Stutts to take over the lead in the closing laps, but Stutts was able to get him back. From there, he held on to win the Morgan Cup and $17,000.
Gravel held on for second, followed by Carson Macedo. Anthony Macri and Freddie Rahmer rounded out the top-five.
Saturday saw Gravel put himself in position to win again, but he had to do battle this time with Donny Schatz. Schatz was able to take the lead away from
Gravel, but Gravel got it back on lap 18. From there, Gravel held on to win the C&D Rigging Summer Nationals and take his 100th career World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series victory.
Schatz ended up second, followed by Brent Marks. Daryn Pittman was fourth, while Justin Peck was fifth.
Sunday night saw the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series haul to Weedsport Speedway for the Empire State Challenge, the series' sole visit to New York for 2024. Despite the new venue, things were pretty similar to Williams Grove.
Here, Gravel started third, moved into position, then snatched
the lead away from Macedo. From there, he pulled away to take his 13th win of the season. Sheldon Haudenschild finished second, then Macedo, Stewart Friesen in a rare World of Outlaws appearance for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular, and Schatz.
A dominant weekend for Gravel expanded his points lead over Schatz to 110 points through 41 races. Macedo is third, then
Giovanni Scelzi and Buddy Kofoid.
- World of Outlaws CASE Construction Late Model Series teams were at Fairbury Speedway for one of their crown jewel events, the Prairie Dirt Classic. First up were Friday night's Prairie Dirt Classic Showdowns.
Showdown No. 1 saw Ryan Gustin use the cushion to drive up to the lead and take the win over Nick Hoffman, McKay Wenger, Kyle Bronson and former ARCA Menards Series winner Ryan Unzicker.
Showdown No. 2 saw Brandon Sheppard take the lead from Brian Shirley with a couple of laps to go and held on for the win. Shirley was second, then Tim
McCreadie, Max Blair and Devin Moran.
Showdown No. 3 saw Mike Marlar emerge victorious after a battle with Daulton Wilson when a caution solidified his lead. Marlar led from there to take the win over Wilson, Austin Smith, Chase Junghans and Trevor Gundaker.
Showdown No. 4 saw Jason Feger sweep around both Dennis Erb Jr. and Chris Simpson to take the lead. From there, he ran off to take the win. Simpson was second, then Tyler Bruening, Dustin Sorensen and Erb.
Finally, the 100-lap main feature was Saturday night. Bobby Pierce broke a driveshaft in Showdown No. 2 Friday night, which forced
him to take a provisional to start 24th.
At the front, Nick Hoffman was able to drive by the top showdown drivers from Friday night to take the lead on lap 21. He then opened up a decent gap.
Meanwhile, Pierce was slowly but surely making his way up the order and into
contention. In the final few laps of the race, Pierce caught Hoffman for the lead.
What followed was a fierce battle on the tight quarter-mile oval. On the final lap, Pierce was able to sweep around the outside of turns 1 and 2 to take the lead and the $50,000 check for winning. Hoffman ended up. 373 seconds back in second, then Wilson, Marlar and Junghans.
Through 27 races, Sheppard has a 26-point lead over Hoffman, Pierce is
third, then Cade Dillard and Bronson.
- Tyler Reddick married his longtime girlfriend Alexa over the weekend. We at Frontstretch send our congratulations to the Reddicks. 
