The “Smooth Operator” is 22 points away from two consecutive Series titles in the wake of his 31st World of Outlaws win
Rocky Balboa once said, “Every champion was once a contender who refused to give up.”
In Bobby Pierce’s situation, his first career World of Outlaws World Finals Feature win on Friday night put him in contention for his second consecutive World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models championship at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
He’s now 22 points behind points leader Brandon Sheppard with one race remaining in the 2024 season.
The Oakwood, IL driver had to work hard on Friday to put himself in that position. When the Gorsuch Performance green flag flew for the 35-lap Feature, Pierce had to fire from the sixth starting position, while polesitter Cade Dillard drove away.
On Lap 5, Mooresville, NC driver Nick Hoffman’s chances for his first Series title ended when his car slowed and he was unable to continue, forcing a last-place result.
“I broke a lower shaft,” Hoffman said. “It didn’t have a whole lot of races on it. We keep up with all that stuff, try and map all of our equipment out where it needs to go, and it was just a mechanical failure. Nothing any of us could have done to change that, but it obviously sucks and basically kills your whole weekend.”
Championship implications continued to stir as Series points leader Brandon Sheppard had to slowly pick off the competition to maintain a slimming points lead from a 14th-place starting spot.
At the front, Dillard continued to lead while Winfield, TN driver Mike Marlar chased down the Robeline, LA driver. However, Pierce was on the march and passed Marlar for second before the No. 157 could contend for the lead.
Pierce then slipped up the track when he got caught in the dirty air, which opened the door for Marlar to take back second while Dillard struggled to find room around the 4/10-mile track to make any distance on the two contenders behind him.
On Lap 22, Dillard drove over the cushion in Turns 1 and 2, opening the floodgates for the “Winfield Warrior” and the “Smooth Operator” to race for the win.
For the remaining 13 circuits of the 35-lap Feature, Pierce hounded Marlar’s back bumper, then swung to the bottom in Turns 1 and 2 while Marlar slid to the bottom of Pierce through Turns 3 and 4.
The pattern continued until Marlar jumped the cushion with four laps to go, cementing Pierce’s all-important win to keep his chances for the Series title alive entering Saturday’s season finale.
“Night and day, we were a lot better with the setup,” Pierce said. “I knew right away when I got to fourth early on, then to third, then to second, I knew we had a car that could possibly win with 10 to go. I started searching around, found the top, and it was way faster so I was like ‘Here we go.’
“It was a really fun battle with Mikey, but I was just trying to keep my nose clean because I didn’t want to turn a second into a DNF, but it’s tough when you battle through lap traffic, and it got pretty hairy. I’m glad that I won. I feel like we’re getting a really good hang of this place, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Pierce’s primary objective entering Saturday night’s finale is to win at all costs if he wants to leave the weekend with the Series title.
“It’s 50 laps, so we’ll probably leave everything about the same,” he said. “We got a good car, tires will be important, so there might be some tire games out there. Nobody had a hard right rear (tire) tonight, so with 15 more laps, can it make it? I don’t know, but hopefully we have a good car where if we do go hard, hopefully the car reacts the same. We’re kind of in a must-win situation, so that’s all we can do, and we’ll see what happens.”
Dillard gained from Marlar’s late mistake to finish the night in second place. It’s his fifth podium of the season as he looks to end the season with a Feature win with the Series.
“I had a really good car as long as I was in clean air,” Dillard said. “I got within four car lengths of the lapped cars, and I was just too free there. We had those cautions, and it was helping me get back in clean air, but I got too close, lost the nose, and jumped the cushion. Regardless, those guys were a lot better at that point anyway. I just hope we find where we’re going wrong and get us a win one day.”
Marlar drove home to finish third, crediting Pierce with racing him clean while he was focused on a major points situation.
“It was an awesome race,” Marlar said. “It was a little bit of a tire game because they prepped the track, and nobody knew what to expect mostly. I went ahead and put on a soft left rear tire and it was a huge advantage early. Once I got to the lead, I was just watching that scoreboard wanting the laps to click off since it was getting slower every lap.
“I saw that Bobby was coming because of his points situation. So, he and I got to doing awesome slide jobs back and forth, and he knew having a better tire gave him a better advantage there, so he’s done an awesome job. He definitely raced me as clean as anybody would race me with the points situation he’s in. Me and him have a lot of fun racing together, the track was awesome and heck, I had a really good time.”
Chandler, AZ driver Ricky Thornton Jr. finished fourth, and Brandon, FL driver Kyle Bronson finished fifth to reclaim fourth place in the Series points.
Sheppard finished sixth to retain his points over Pierce. The New Berlin, IL driver will have to finish in 10th place or better if Pierce wins the finale on Saturday night to claim his record-breaking fifth Series title.
The top 16 drivers that have qualified for the two Dash races on Saturday through points accumulated through Thursday and Friday’s Features include: Bobby Pierce, Ricky Thornton Jr., Chris Madden, Mike Marlar, Cade Dillard, Drake Troutman, Daulton Wilson, Kyle Bronson, Ethan Dotson, Nick Hoffman, Brian Shirley, Jonathan Davenport, Dale McDowell, Brandon Sheppard, Hudson O’Neal, Jimmy Owens, Trent Ivey and Max Blair.
RECAP NOTES:
Dirt King Simulator Hottest Hot Lap: Ethan Dotson
Simpson Quick Time Award: Bobby Pierce
Heat Race Winners: Bobby Pierce, Mike Marlar, Ricky Thornton Jr., Cade Dillard, Chris Madden, Ethan Dotson
Last Chance Showdown Winners: Hudson O’Neal, Zack Mitchell, Tyler Bruening
Bilstein Pole Award: Cade Dillard
Fox Factory Hard Charger: Ryan Gustin (+11)
Up Next: The World of Outlaws CASE Late Models bookend the 2024 season at World of Outlaws World Finals on Championship Saturday, Nov. 9. Drivers will battle for 50 laps with $25,000 on the line for the night’s Feature winner.
TICKETS: bit.ly/2024WorldFinals
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all of the action on DIRTVision, either online or with the DIRTVision app.
FEATURE RESULTS:
CASE Late Mode Feature (35 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[6]; 2. 97-Cade Dillard[1]; 3. 157-Mike Marlar[4]; 4. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[3]; 5. 40B-Kyle Bronson[7]; 6. B5-Brandon Sheppard[14]; 7. 3S-Brian Shirley[13]; 8. 6-Jonathan Davenport[9]; 9. 74X-Ethan Dotson[5]; 10. 44-Chris Madden[2]; 11. 20-Jimmy Owens[11]; 12. 96-Tanner English[17]; 13. 111-Max Blair[12]; 14. 19R-Ryan Gustin[25]; 15. 71-Hudson O’Neal[19]; 16. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[18]; 17. 16-Tyler Bruening[21]; 18. 58V-Tim McCreadie[15]; 19. 16W-Ben Watkins[23]; 20. 11-Austin Smith[8]; 21. B1-Brent Larson[27]; 22. 8-Kyle Strickler[16]; 23. 57-Zack Mitchell[20]; 24. 97JR-Cody Overton[28]; 25. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[29]; 26. 19-Dustin Sorensen[26]; 27. 7-Drake Troutman[24]; 28. 22*-Max McLaughlin[22]; 29. 9-Nick Hoffman[10]
