In his first full-time effort in the World of Outlaws Late Model series, Bobby Pierce won 14 races, finished in the top five 25 times and finished 10th or worse just six times en route to the 2023 championship. And I made the most of the opportunity.
Pierce started 89 games in the World of Outlaws Late Model Series from 2010 to 2022, but had never played a full schedule until this year. In fact, it’s the first time Pierce has competed full-time in either of the two Premier National Late Model series since he completed 50 of 51 Lucas Oil Late Model races in 2018 and finished seventh in that title hunt. This was the second time.
more: Brad Sweet wins 2023 World of Outlaws Sprint Car title
“It was really nice to prove all the naysayers and everyone else wrong.” Pierce said in a press release.. “And not only did we prove them wrong, we were able to win everything and dominate until the end.
“I don’t doubt they have unbelief. We’ve only run the whole series once. That was a long time ago. That was in 2018. Players dropped out, You end up doing summer national championships and other things, and a lot of times it doesn’t work out. We knew we had the determination to do it.”
Pierce got off to a strong start in 2023, winning one of the four races held in February at Volusia Speedway Park in Barbourville, Florida, but has won nine of the 13 races since Round 23. He showed strong growth towards the end of the season, gaining . Twice during that streak, he won three races in a row, starting from the front row each time in the stands for one of them.
A strong inaugural campaign is nothing special. Pierce joins Billy Moyer (1988), Scott Bloomquist (2004), Brandon Shepard (2017) and Mike Marler (2018) in winning the Outlaws’ first full season. He will be the fifth driver.
“Well, it really was a goal come true,” Pierce said. “We set a goal to finish the series at Volusia (Speedway Park in January), but we realized we were pretty fast, so our goal quickly changed to winning the series. We had to make up for it, and we did it. Yes, it was a crazy effort from everyone.
“The car was really fast all year. We won a lot of races. It was just a monumental year for us. It’s pretty crazy. The ‘Outlaw’ title means to me… when will we run the national series again?” So when we did it this year, at first we didn’t even know if we were going to even win this. It was very, very special for us to come out on top. I think the history of World of Outlaws is one of the best racing series in the world. It’s so cool.”
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