Gravel’s Title Defense Begins At Volusia

David Gravel achieved a lifelong goal last season, earning his first World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series championship.

Piloting Big Game Motorsports’ No. 2 car, Gravel put on a clinic as he tallied 15 victories and 60 top-10 finishes in 66 races as he ran away with the title over rival Carson Macedo.

Gravel, who mired in the shadows of Brad Sweet’s title reign before Sweet darted to High Limit Racing, now has a new objective for this year — stay at the top.

The way to remain as the World of Outlaws top driver is a simple, but challenging task.

It starts with the race car itself.

“Just so dependent on how your car is handling. As far as component wise, we have everything money could buy and so do all the top teams,” Gravel began.

“It’s being prepared with your engine program, being prepared with your shock program. Making sure that’s really deep. Luckily, we have a lot of engines in our arsenal. In the engine program, we’re in very, very good shape.

“If we have a set of shocks, we like making sure we have three or four sets of them. You could tear one up. Whatever the situation is, you need to make sure you have plenty of what you like. As a race team, we’ve had fine-tuned stuff, very small things, but the last three years, everything’s about pretty much identical.”

With the equipment practically identical in years past, the rest falls on executing every night as various changes are bound to happen.

“It’s just crossing your Ts and dotting your Is and trying to be perfect and doing all the small things right,” Gravel said. “But tires change, race tracks change, so, it’s so huge on your communication with your team, giving good feedback and just adapting.

“Stuff’s going to change. What worked last year might not work this year. So, you just have to react to what the car is telling you.”

This year will perhaps be a new feeling for the Watertown, Conn., driver as he’s now made the switch from being the hunter to the hunted.

While that may be true, Gravel believes he’s already had that pressure after Sweet’s departure made him the driver to beat.

“I kind of felt like the target was on our back to start the year,” Gravel said. “I thought we were expected to win the championship. We led most of the season in the points, so I feel like the target was kind of on our back all season long.

“I don’t know if much is going to change there, but we’re going to work really hard to not get off that top step. It’s going to be tough. There’s several guys that are going to run good this year for sure.

“So, we’re just gonna put our heads down and worry about ourselves, continuing to qualify well and put ourselves in good position.”

His first opportunity to make a statement on the new season comes this week at the annual Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals at Florida’s Volusia Speedway Park, where he notched a third Big Gator title last season.