David Gravel Ready for Another ‘Hard Knox’ Fight

Column By: JORDAN DELUCIA / WORLD OF OUTLAWS SPRINT CARS – KNOXVILLE, IA –

David Gravel has faced tough situations at the Knoxville Nationals before. For the second time in three years, the defending World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series champion finds himself in another one heading into FVP “Hard Knox” Night at Knoxville Raceway.

The Watertown, CT-native is on the entry list for Friday’s preliminary event, needing a top-four finish in the Feature to earn himself a spot in the 64th running of the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s on Saturday. Should he fail to reach the top four by the checkered flag, he’ll be forced to run through the lower mains Saturday afternoon to try for one of the final remaining spots.

His circumstance comes in the wake of an incident on the opening lap of Wednesday’s first Heat Race, when he and Hunter Schuerenberg came together going into Turn 1, sending Gravel’s car into the outside wall and tumbling over before coming to rest.

“After watching the video, I don’t think anything was done intentionally, like why would anyone do anything intentional,” Gravel said. “But I think, in my opinion, Hunter overdrove the corner and got in dirty air, and his car went straight.

“But I just don’t know where he was going. I was there the whole time, I was in front of him, I know he saw me.”

Gravel climbed from the heavily damaged Big Game Motorsports No. 2 uninjured and met DIRTVision reporter Conner Wade for a brief discussion of the incident from his point of view. His words were predominantly met with a shower of loud boos and jeers from the thousands in attendance, as well as an onslaught of online discussion between fans on social media.

Recently, Gravel has been one of the most talked-about topics in Sprint Car racing and has thus seen an uptick in his mentions on social media, largely stemming from past on-track incidents and online interactions with three-time and defending Knoxville Nationals champion Kyle Larson.

“It’s all good. We’ve won a lot of races over the years and have been stinking up the Outlaws a little bit, and I don’t think people like that,” Gravel said. “There’s things that have been going on behind the scenes, and we’re not gonna let people push us around, we’re gonna stand our ground. You can either choose to like me, or you don’t, and we’ll race it out on the track.”

The loud boos from the crowd may persist, but they have hardly broken the spirits of the 2019 Knoxville Nationals winner. Fellow World of Outlaws champions Steve Kinser and Donny Schatz can recall enduring similar treatment at the heights of their winning ways, getting booed by crowds at tracks across the country as they dominated the circuit and cashed the biggest checks in dirt track racing history.

While Gravel has yet to match the two titans’ accolades and immortal status in Sprint Car racing, he acknowledged that it may be something he encounters more of on his journey upward.

“I haven’t done it long enough to dominate these series like Steve and Donny have, but I remember Donny getting booed a lot,” Gravel said. “Every Kings Royal or Knoxville Nationals, he’d have more boos than cheers, and he’s the cleanest racecar driver out there. So, for him to get booed, it just shows that there’s a lot of jealousy.”

In the minutes following the Gravel and Schuerenberg incident, the Big Game Motorsports crew began working furiously to make repairs and ready the car to try and make a run through Wednesday’s lower mains. However, Gravel came up four spots short of a transfer spot into the Feature and was forced to watch from the pits as his competition got a head start on locking into Saturday’s $195,000-to-win main event.

“It was a bummer,” Gravel said. “We were in such good position after getting a terrible pill draw to go fourth quick. All I had to do was finish that Heat Race, not even transfer through the Heat, and we’d have been locked in the A-Main. It’s very frustrating, the guys work hard to give you a capable race car. You do everything right, and then it gets taken away from you. It definitely stings.”

Now, his attention turns to the most difficult preliminary night known to the racetrack — “Hard Knox” Night. Sixteen drivers have been locked into Saturday’s main event, while another 10 have been seeded by points totals into the first five rows of the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown. That means all other drivers will take to the track on Friday — approximately 30 more than the Wednesday/Thursday preliminary fields — vying for a top-four finish in the main event.

“You kinda eliminate at least 20 of the top contenders in the race, and then you’ll still have some really good guys in the Hard Knox night,” Gravel said. “We believe in what we can do. It’s a fresh slate. We’ll be able to qualify, and this invert is a lot smaller in the Heat Races on Hard Knox night.”

It’s a big field and a big challenge, but not one that Gravel hasn’t seen and had success in conquering before. During the 2023 Knoxville Nationals, he navigated a near identical situation on his preliminary night, crashing on the opening lap of his Heat, winning the C-Main and making a charge through the Last Chance Showdown field before falling short by a handful of spots.

Come “Hard Knox” Night, Gravel started seventh in the Feature and finished second, setting him up for an epic 22nd-to-second charge in the main event on Saturday and his second-consecutive Knoxville Nationals runner-up finish.

“It’s definitely a hard thing to do. It used to be easy, and then the last three years or whatever have been hard,” Gravel said. “It seems like the prelim nights always went my way. Got through my Heat Race and had a good Feature race, and it always turned out in good shape. But here lately, I’ve wrecked twice in a Heat Race. Last year, I had to come from the B-Main on the prelim night and on Saturday. Definitely been a lot more hard work here the last three years.”

Watch Gravel and the Big Game Motorsports team take on FVP “Hard Knox” Night at Knoxville Raceway tonight — Friday, Aug. 8. Tickets are on sale in advance at the link below and will also be sold at the track.

If you can’t be there to watch in person, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.