David Gravel sits second in the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series points, 66 behind leader Donny Schatz, but his victory at Lincoln Speedway in Abbottstown, PA, on Wednesday night allowed him to close ground. 

For the second straight night, Gravel led the field to green. Instead of falling back like he did at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, IN, on May 15, he held the advantage start to finish and led all 35 laps at Lincoln. When the checkers waved, he had amassed a 6.5-second lead over Daryn Pittman.

"You never know when your next win will be and it's been a couple weeks, so it's good to get another one and keep clicking them off," Gravel said. "Hopefully this momentum carries on to Williams Grove." 

Gravel should have had an inkling that he would win Wednesday night, however, after coming off a second-place finish at Tri-State. Those two strong results have allowed him to shave 26 points off Schatz's lead. An accumulation of great finishes during the past 60 days has given him the lead in the FloRacing Sprint Car Power Rankings.

"It's definitely huge," Gravel said. "World of Outlaws guys do not win many Outlaw shows in PA, so to win here is great, at a track that I haven't really been good at in the past. To do that is awesome. To get our sixth win is awesome." 

Second place went to another Outlaw. Racing with his car owner Kasey Kahne in the field, Pittman trailed in third until the final lap, when the Pennsylvania driver Danny Dietrich slipped out of the groove trying to get around lapped traffic. 

"I got to second and couldn't get any help at all from lapped cars," Dietrich said. "It's unfortunate because I thought we were fast enough to run with Gravel but never got the opportunity.



"I was just trying to make something happen," Dietrich said of his last-lap move. "I felt like if I couldn't get by the lapped cars, I was going to get passed anyways. I should have just probably settled in, but that's hard to do when you're running second for a World of Outlaws win."

Pittman agreed, saying, "Lapped traffic was hairy. I don't know that they were really doing anything wrong, but they were just racing hard side by side and using up the whole track. Dietrich kind of got held up behind one of them and gave me a run to get back by him."

Dietrich finished third, the highest among the Pennsylvania Posse. 

Schatz rebounded from a disappointing run at Tri-State to finish fourth. On Sunday, he finished 11th on the Indiana track and snapped a five-race top five streak. Schatz was one of the hard chargers at Lincoln; however, he started the night 15th and gained 11 spots.  

Brian Montieth rounded out the top five.

For the second straight night, Sheldon Haudenschild did a complete 360 spin during the middle of the race and continued without incident (at the 2:45-minute mark of the highlight reel). At Tri-State, it cost him the lead before finishing sixth. At Lincoln, he crossed under the checkers eighth for his third consecutive top 10.

Kahne started his fourth Outlaws race of the season and finished 15th, keeping his third car warm for the future.

Top 10 Finishers

1. David Gravel
2. Daryn Pittman
3. Danny Dietrich
4. Donny Schatz
5. Brian Montieth
6. Jason Johnson
7. Brad Sweet
8. Sheldon Haudenschild
9. Dale Blaney
10. Greg Hodnett
Complete Results

Season Winners:

Donny Schatz: 9 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 19, Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 19, LoneStar Speedway on March 3, The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 9, The Dirt Track at Las Vegas on March 10, Thunderbowl Raceway on March 18, Missouri State Fair Speedway on May 5, 81 Speedway on May 6, Eldora Speedway on May 13)
David Gravel: 6 (Thunderbowl Raceway on March 17, Placerville Speedway on March 29, Perris Auto Speedway on April 1, Gator Motorplex on April 13, Plymouth on April 28, Lincoln on May 17)
Jason Johnson: 2 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 17, Devil's Bowl on April 14)
Brad Sweet: 2 (Stockton Dirt Track on March 25, Devil's Bowl on April 15)
Logan Schuchart: 2 (Keller Auto Speedway, Eldora Speedway on May 12)
Brian Brown: 1 (Cocopah Speedway)
Rico Abreu: 1 (Arizona Speedway on April 8)
Parker Price-Miller: 1 (Tri-State Speedway May 14)