MECHANICSBURG — Pennsylvania Posse sprint car driver T.J. Stutts won the biggest race of his career Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway, taking the checkered flag against a field dotted with World of Outlaws competitors in the Morgan Cup 25-lap feature on the first night of Summer Nationals weekend.
Stutts, a 44-year-old Hanover resident, started the race on the outside of the front row with 99-time World of Outlaws winner David Gravel of Watertown, Conn. sitting on the pole position.
Stutts gained the edge on Gravel at the green flag and deftly retained the lead after a caution nine laps into the race caused a re-start.
Stutts again beat Gravel to lead into the first turn on the re-start and set the pace, opening up daylight between his rivals as the race entered its 20th lap.
Gravel challenged Stutts in the final laps, briefly taking the edge on far turn into the main straightaway.
However, Stutts was able to repel the challenge as the cars raced by the grandstand and into turn one and was never headed after that.
The large crowd chanted the winner’s name as he returned to victory lane to begin a spirited celebration. The win marked the first World of Outlaws victory for Stutts, who recently broke a 19-year dry spell over the Williams Grove oval last month.
“We beat the (expletive deleted) Outlaws and not just any Outlaw, we beat David Gravel,” Stutts said. “There’s about five Outlaws that are in that league and we just got to drive with one of them and beat them.
Stutts explained just how much the Morgan Cup victory meant to him and the local racing community.
“You’ve got to understand, we go to work every day. This is our version of golf,” Stutts said. “If this was the PGA, they wouldn’t even let us play with them. So, this is beyond words. We got to stand with the World of Outlaws and we got to drive by them.”
Gravel admitted making a mistake at the start of the race by not gunning harder for the lead.
“It was a good run for us. The lapped cars slowed us up a bit,” Gravel said. “I had to maneuver around them a little bit. We got a little bit up and it was harder for us to run in the cushion of the track.”
Gravel entered Friday’s Summer Nationals as the hottest driver on the tour with 11 wins to date. He took the checkered flag in the Kings Royal at Eldora Speedway on July 20, a victory that capped off a week that produced three wins in five races.
Carson Macedo of Lemoore, CA finished third and two-time Pa. Speedweek champion Anthony Macri of Dillsburg checked in fourth. Freddie Rahmer of Salfordville rounded out the top five finishers.
Stutts took home $17,000 for the victory with a $12,000 winner’s check, plus an additional $5,000 bonus for taking down the Morgan Cup title.
The top two finishers in the four preliminary heat races competed in a six-lap dash race, which determined post position for the main event. Gravel won the dash, cementing the pole position, with T.J. Stutts second.
Earlier in the evening, Gravel took down a $300 bonus for posting the fastest qualifying time.
Summer Nationals action continues Saturday with a 30-lap Champion Racing Oil Summer finale carrying a $20,000 for the winner.
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