David Gravel Breaks Through with ASCS & New Team in Las Cruces

by Bryan Hulbert | Don Iverson photo

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (Nov. 2, 2013) After steering failure sidelined the Buffalo Wild Wings No. 82 on Friday night in El Paso, Texas, Watertown, Conn. shoe David Gravel was masterful in his rebound on Saturday night at the Southern New Mexico Speedway to earn his first Protect the Harvest A-Feature triumph with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV American Real.

The fifth first time winner of the season, ninth in as many features at the New Mexico oval with the Lucas Oil ASCS presented by MAVTV American Real, David Gravel is scored as the 120th different winner in National Tour competition.

Committing primarily to the cushion of the Southern New Mexico Speedway, Gravel commented that the car began getting tight in the closing laps, “I don’t know if it just got cleaned off, or started taking a little bit of rubber there in the center but I was definitely getting tight. I didn’t know where to run, high, low, middle, but it was definitely getting tricky there at the end. Hopefully it was enough to get to victory.”

Finally getting to speed on the fourth attempt, Kolt Walker and Cody Mansfield flipped violently off the top of turns three and four, collecting Jason Johnson in the mix on the initial start. All drivers were ok with Johnson returning to competition after replacing wings and parts of the suspension. Round two, saw third starting Aaron Reutzel spinning; collecting Friday night’s winner Christopher Bell with James Mosher bringing out the third restart.

Underway, Gravel captured the lead on the second round with a high-line pass on John Carney II exiting turn four before the caution again displayed for the spun No. 20z of Rick Ziehl. One more caution before the first long green-flag run, Gravel set sail with John Carney II and Matt Covington in tow.

With the leaders working to slower traffic by Lap 9, Johnny Herrera began his assault on Jeff Swindell for a spot in the top five. Swapping lines for several laps, Herrera worked past Swindell on Lap 10 with the MVT No. 94 returning in kind the following lap.

The top five remained unchanged until a caution on Lap 25. Erasing a 4.285 second advantage by Gravel, the restart yielded problems for Jeff Swindell as Herrera raced by to begin working on Matt Covington for third with caution lights blinking on for the final time for the stopped No. 93 of Dustin Morgan after contact with Brad Loyet on Lap 27 sent both drivers pit side. Three laps on the green and David Gravel went unchallenged to victory.

John Carney II turned in his best finish against the Lucas Oil ASCS presented by MAVTV American Real with a second place showing. Asked about the car and whether or not he could maneuver the bottom groove, Carney replied, “I was too free from the beginning of the race so I had to be where all the moister was to take advantage of that. The last three, four laps I could gain a little bit on Gravel coming out of four but that was it.” Commenting on his start, Carney brought up the importance of the draw, “Pill draw’s important in this deal ‘cause these guys run hard every lap. The engines are so equal, the cars, just everything’s so equal so it’s real important.”

Despite a broken frame sustained during a flip on the start of Friday night’s feature at the El Paso Speedway Park, Johnny Herrera came from eighth to claim the final podium step.

“We had a good car all night. I usually run really well here, so I had a lot of confidence coming in and that helps a lot. The longer the race ran, the better we got, well maybe not better just they started getting slower and we kind of maintained. I’ve just got to thank all the crew guys that jumped in last night to help me. Not only my own, but probably half the field jumped in there.”

Matt Covington maintained for a fourth place run with Seth Bergman clawing from sixteenth to complete the top five.

Tony Bruce, Jr. took his final Bonus Provisional into the night’s Protect the Harvest A-Feature. Gridding the Briley Trucking No. 18 twenty-third, the Kansas driver rocketed to sixth with Travis Rilat charging from twenty-first to seventh. Logan Forler from nineteenth to eighth with Jason Johnson rebounding from the tail with a broken front wing to ninth. Jeff Swindell, who ran fourth for nearly the entire race suffered mechanical problems on the final restarts and settled for tenth.

Promoter’s Provisionals were awarded to Kraig Kinser and Joshua Williams.

Heat Races numbered four with Johnny Herrera, Blake Hahn, John Carney II, and James Mosher earning wins. Ryan Linder took the night’s B-Feature win.

The Lucas Oil ASCS presented by MAVTV American Real conclude the 2013 season at the Cocopah Speedway in Yuma, Ariz. on Friday, November 8 and Saturday, November 9. For more information, log onto http://www.cocopahspeedway.com.

Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV American Real
Southern New Mexico Speedway - Las Cruces, N.M.
Saturday, September 2, 2013

Car Count: 32

Wesmar Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 45X-Johnny Herrera[1]; 2. 12M-Kolt Walker[2]; 3. 29-Brandon Hahn[4]; 4. 95-Matt Covington[7]; 5. 41X-Cody Mansfield[8]; 6. 1H-Jan Howard[3]; 7. 18W-Lorne Wofford[5]; 8. 111-Kraig Kinser[6]

Ti22 Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Blake Hahn[2]; 2. 82-David Gravel[4]; 3. 9-Ryan Linder[3]; 4. 131-Royal Jones[5]; 5. 2L-Logan Forler[7]; 6. 93-Dustin Morgan[8]; 7. 22-Jesse Baker[6]; DNS 21-Danny Lasoski

Rod End Supply Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 74B-John Carney II[1]; 2. 94-Jeff Swindell[4]; 3. 74X-Gary Taylor[3]; 4. 23-Seth Bergman[5]; 5. 41-Jason Johnson[8]; 6. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[6]; 7. 41W-Joshua Williams[7]; 8. 17W-Cole Wood[2]

BMRS Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 12-James Mosher[1]; 2. 21A-Aaron Reutzel[3]; 3. 05-Brad Loyet[4]; 4. 31B-Christopher Bell[7]; 5. 20Z-Rick Ziehl[6]; 6. 39C-Travis Rilat[5]; 7. 17H-Harli White[8]; 8. 52NM-David Burns[2]

The Joie of Seating B Feature 1 (12 Laps):
1. 9-Ryan Linder[1]; 2. 20Z-Rick Ziehl[3]; 3. 2L-Logan Forler[4]; 4. 93-Dustin Morgan[5]; 5. 39C-Travis Rilat[7]; 6. 17H-Harli White[8]; 7. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[6]; 8. 41W-Joshua Williams[10]; 9. 1H-Jan Howard[9]; 10. 22-Jesse Baker[11]; 11. 111-Kraig Kinser[13]; 12. 131-Royal Jones[2]; 13. 18W-Lorne Wofford[12]; 14. (DNF) 52NM-David Burns[14]; DNS 21-Danny Lasoski; DNS 17W-Cole Wood

Protect the Harvest A Feature (30 Laps):
1. 82-David Gravel[2]; 2. 74B-John Carney II[1]; 3. 45X-Johnny Herrera[8]; 4. 95-Matt Covington[4]; 5. 23-Seth Bergman[16]; 6. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[23]; 7. 39C-Travis Rilat[21]; 8. 2L-Logan Forler[19]; 9. 41-Jason Johnson[14]; 10. 94-Jeff Swindell[6]; 11. 74X-Gary Taylor[15]; 12. 17-Blake Hahn[7]; 13. 29-Brandon Hahn[11]; 14. 41W-Joshua Williams[24]; 15. (DNF) 93-Dustin Morgan[20]; 16. (DNF) 05-Brad Loyet[12]; 17. (DNF) 20Z-Rick Ziehl[18]; 18. (DNF) 12-James Mosher[5]; 19. (DNF) 9-Ryan Linder[17]; 20. (DNF) 111-Kraig Kinser[25]; 21. (DNF) 17H-Harli White[22]; 22. (DNF) 12M-Kolt Walker[10]; 23. (DNF) 41X-Cody Mansfield[13]; 24. (DNF) 31B-Christopher Bell[9]; 25. (DNF) 21A-Aaron Reutzel[3]

Lap Leader(s): John Carney II (1), David Gravel (2-30)
PitstopUSA.com Hard Charger: Tony Bruce, Jr. +17
Hawk Performance Products Fastest Lap of the Night: David Gravel - 13.502 seconds
Provisionals: Tony Bruce, Jr. (BP2), Kraig Kinser (Prom.), Joshua Williams (Prom.)

2013 “A” Feature Winners: Jason Johnson-8, Jeff Swindell-5, Johnny Herrera-4, Roger Crockett-3, Brian Brown-4, Danny Lasoski-3, Logan Forler-2, Brad Loyet-2, Tony Bruce, Jr.-2, Sammy Swindell-2, Kyle Bellm, Jack Dover, Seth Bergman, Jonathan Cornell, Travis Rilat, Justin Henderson, Shane Stewart, Tim Crawley, Anthony Nicholson, Christopher Bell, David Gravel

2013 Lucas Oil ASCS Driver Standings (Top 10) 1. Jason Johnson 5,063; 2. Johnny Herrera 5,007; 3. Jeff Swindell 4,837; 4. Brad Loyet 4,770; 5. Tony Bruce, Jr. 4,740; 6. Logan Forler 4,616; 7. Seth Bergman 4,502; 8. Dustin Morgan 4,220; 9. Cole Wood 3,987; 10. Brandon Hahn 3,314;

The 2013 season marks the twenty-second year of sanctioning Sprint Car racing for the American Sprint Car Series, which brings the best of Sprint Car racing to dozens of different tracks throughout the nation and into Canada. Anchored by the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series, ASCS also consists of nine different Regions throughout the nation.

Lucas Oil Products is the title sponsor of the American Sprint Car Series. More information can be found on Lucas Oil Products at www.lucasoil.com. MAVTV is the presenting sponsor of the American Sprint Car Series. Log onto www.mavtv.com for information regarding availability and listings in your area.

Associate sponsors for the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV include: Hoosier Racing Tire and Brodix

Team Lucas Sponsors for the American Sprint Car Series consist of Protect the Harvest, iON Camera, Smokey Mountain Moonshine, C&R Radiator, Hawk Performance Products, Geico, E3 Spark Plugs, and General Tire.

Product and Contingency Sponsorship provided by: K&N Filters, PitstopUSA.com, Engler Machine and Tool, Roush Yates Racing Engines, FSR Radiator and Racing Products, Schoenfeld Headers, Driverwebsites.com, Weld Wheels, Fuel Safe, Saldana Racing Products, SBI Fuel Bladders, Maxwell Industries, Print Place, Xtreme Accu-Tach, Simpson, LeJoie Seating, Ti 22 Performance, Wesmar Racing Engines, Hinchman Indy Racewear, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, DMI Rear Ends, Rod End Supply, Smiley’s Racing Products, Speedway Motors, and Hilborn Injection Systems.

Additional information regarding the American Sprint Car Series is available at www.ascsracing.com as well as Twitter (@LucasOilASCS) and Facebook. News and information can also be sent to you with the ASCS E-News by texting ASCS to 22828 with any mobile device.