The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car series raced at Mississippi Thunder Speedway for the first time ever on Tuesday. The track is a popular one amongst the late model series, and I suspect the sprint car faithful loved it as well.

Bill Balog, who has now won three straight poles, led the field to green alongside Logan Schuchart. The 1S of Schuchart looked solid early and was able to capture the lead on lap four, but David Gravel was on a rail early. The Big Game Motorsports #2 took the lead on lap nine and set sail, but as the laps closed down, the 83 of Buddy Kofoid brought the heat to Gravel’s back bumper, nearly getting the lead as the two battled through lapped traffic in the final two laps. Gravel held on for his twelfth victory of the season, but was aware of how close things were, telling Conner Wade “I know the two laps before that weren’t very good” before adding “I know I got through 3 and 4 good on the last lap, and I just needed a lap like that, and luckily it was good enough to get the job done”. Buddy Kofoid finished 2nd, and Logan Schuchart rounded out the podium.

The win by Gravel extended his points lead to 172 over Kofoid with just over twenty races left on the schedule.

Bill Balog Finding success

Bill Balog finished a strong 4th in front of his home state Wisconsin fans, continuing a recent string of success. The 46-year-old veteran is finding his stride during his sophomore season with the World of Outlaws, already eclipsing his 2024 stat line and getting stronger by the week. He picked up wins at the Talladega short track in March and then added a second at Huset’s in June, and is currently on a three-race streak that has seen him win three poles and finish no worse than 4th. None of this is surprising when you consider Balog’s history; he’s a ten-time IRA champion with 140 feature wins to his credit, as well as five career wins in the All-Star Circuit of Champions.

Haudenschild out before the green flag

Sheldon Haudenschild had a solid night, going 2nd fastest in his qualifying flight and winning his feature, but as the field got back into formation after four-wide, the NOS Energy 17 car pulled off the track and into the pits and never returned, completing no laps and finishing 24th. It was later reported that a steering issue was at fault.

Looking Ahead

The NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars will race again on Friday and Saturday at Arrowhead Speedway in Oklahoma. Catch all of the action live on DirtVision.

Image Credit: Clay Guthrie/ Seriously Fast Motorsports