All three champions at World of Outlaws World Finals added another championship trophy to their collection, but that single object represents more than just another title. It tells the story of their year. Their incredibly successful year.
David Gravel earned his second consecutive World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series championship, Bobby Pierce earned his second World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision title, and Mat Williamson added another chapter to his expansive career with the Super DIRTcar Series by adding a third championship.
While each had their own dirt road to travel to those titles, all three produced seasons that will be looked back upon with wonder.
Gravel, of Watertown, CT, reached 120 World of Outlaws wins with his 17th victory of the season at The Dirt Track at Charlotte, putting him two wins away from tying Danny Lasoski for sixth on the all-time wins list. He also matched records that haven’t been seen since Donny Schatz’s last championship run in 2018, reaching at least 17 wins in a season and collecting 40 podium finishes.
His second title puts him in rare company, joining the small list of drivers who have won back-to-back World of Outlaws Sprint Car championships, which includes Schatz, Steve Kinser, Sammy Swindell, Jason Meyers, and Brad Sweet.
“I think when you accomplish amazing things in the sport it is always surreal,” Gravel said. “You have to reflect, maybe when you’re older, but you’re so in the game right now and in tune with everything that is going on, just trying to compete night in and night out. It feels good to back it up. Obviously, anyone can have a magical one season, but to back it up like we did, it feels really accomplishing.”
He accomplished all of this in his fifth season driving the No. 2 car for Tod Quiring’s Big Game Motorsports team with Cody Jacobs as his crew chief. They’ve had a steady rise every season the last few years, going from a seven-win season to a 12-win season to a 15-win season to a 17-win season.
“Tod gives us everything that we need. There’s nothing that we don’t have,” Gravel said. “He doesn’t ride our butt every night in or night out, he lets us do our jobs and puts a lot of the control in Cody’s hands, in (his son) Taylor’s hands, and it just works out really, really well. He believes in us. He pays for us to do a good job, and I feel like we do that for him.”
2025 was a year of redemption for Bobby Pierce. Or as he put it: a “vengeance tour.” After losing the 2024 title, ultimately due to a penalty at the beginning of the season that cost him points, the Oakwood, IL native returned with the poise of a champion.
“Sometimes you win things for the first time and you never know if you’re going to win it again,” Pierce said. “So, to do it twice is like, ‘Alright, we’re definitely meant to be here. Now, we’ll try to go and win it a third time.”
While he may not have surpassed his record from his championship season in 2023, Pierce was just as consistent. He earned 11 wins – his third straight season with double-digit wins and the most wins of all drivers – and had an average finish of 5.8, a little shy of his 5.3 average finish in 2023. Of those 11 wins, 10 were at different tracks, eight were at tracks he had never won at before with the World of Outlaws, and three were ones he had never been to before.
“Over the last three years of running the Outlaws, and venturing out, I’m definitely more well-rounded,” Pierce said. “This is my third year racing Longhorn (Chassis). Every year since I’ve been racing Outlaws full-time, I’ve had a Longhorn, and we’ve kind of had to learn that over the last couple years, and I think we’re definitely getting more of a handle on… if it’s not what more to make it go fast, we definitely know, if you mess up, what not to do.”
His last win of the season at Arrowhead Speedway tied him with Billy Moyer Sr. for fifth on the all-time World of Outlaws Late Model wins list with 42 victories. And it only took him three seasons to get there.
Williamson won about every title available to him this year. Along with earning his third Super DIRTcar Series title, the St. Catharines, ON driver also earned his second DIRTcar 358 Modified championship, his fourth Super DIRT Week Billy Whittaker Cars 200 title, and third straight Super DIRT Week DIRTcar 358 Modified Salute to the Troops 150 title.
By winning the two Series titles this year, Williamson has become only the second driver in history to win the Super DIRTcar Series title and DIRTcar 358 Modified title in the same year. The first to do so was Danny Johnson in 1999.
“It’s pretty special,” Williamson said about winning the two Series titles. “It was something I feel like we gave up last year. We had a really good 358 program last year. This year, we turned our focus to trying to get both. The 358 deal is only [nine] races… it is the easier one of the two. I figured if we won that 358 deal, this (Super DIRTcar Series title run) was going to be the hard one.
“I thought we’d have a tough time winning the Super DIRTcar Series, but it ended up being the opposite. We were pretty good with both. Really, the points kind of just fell with the consistency, and we capped it off with an easy end to the year.”
To claim his third Super DIRTcar Series title, Williamson was a master of consistency behind the wheel of the Buzz Chew Racing No. 88 car. In 26 races, he only had one finish outside the top 10, which was an 11th-place finish at Thunder Mountain Speedway in May. Then, he went on a run of 22 top 10 finishes in a row – 19 of which were top five finishes, including his win at The Dirt Track at Charlotte to put a bow on the 2025 season.
“It’s really cool. I dreamed of this moment as a kid,” Williamson said about being on top of the world in Modified racing at the moment. “I started young, and I wanted to win one. In 2019, the first year I started driving for Buzz (Chew), we won one of these [championships]. I thought it would be a one-off. I didn’t think I’d get two. The second one was a lot tougher than the first one. Then, the third one just feels special.
“It’s a culmination of things. Between the throttle sticking at Ransomville, writing a car off, unloading a backup car and going out and winning, I mean, the guys just did a great job all year. It was a pretty special year for me, that’s for sure.”
The journey to another championship for Gravel, Pierce, and Williamson was long. And it was grueling. But they each have another piece of meaningful hardware to help tell the story of their year.
And like all champions, their focus is already on repeating in 2026.
The three series will be back in action in Florida next year. First, the World of Outlaws Late Models kick off their season at Volusia Speedway Park during DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals, Jan. 21-24. Then, Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia will host the season-openers for the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars (Feb. 4-7) and Super DIRTcar Series (Feb. 11-14).
For tickets to those events, click here.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch every World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series, World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series and Super DIRTcar Series race live on DIRTVision.
