One day before dirt racing's ultimate championship spectacular roars to life, two NASCAR stars - and dirt-racing enthusiasts - roared around The Dirt Track at Charlotte in a high-octane preview of the Can-Am World Finals. Clint Bowyer, who owns a dirt late model team which will compete this weekend, joined Christopher Bell - an accomplished sprint car driver in his own right - to meet with media, discuss the Can-Am World Finals and honor Alex Bergeron and Blake Matjoulis, iRacing's national champions in sprint cars and dirt late models.
In addition to Bowyer and Bell giving Bergeron and Matjoulis tips before handing over their cars for some laps, Bowyer also gave media the ride of a lifetime in his iRacing-sponsored No. 14 dirt late model. The rides provided those in attendance with a new perspective on this weekend's dirt-flying showcase of speed that features dirt racing's greatest drivers and cars from the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars, the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Models and the Super DIRTcar Series big-block modifieds.
"(World Finals) is one of the best races of the year and one of the best events of the year," Bowyer said. "It's going to be interesting. I'm certainly going to be watching. This is one of the most action-packed events anywhere in the country. You're talking hundreds of race cars competing at this race track on one weekend. It puts on one hell of a show. It's a huge weekend for dirt racing. It's a huge weekend for Charlotte."
While he'll spend the weekend continuing his drive toward a NASCAR Xfinity Series championship, Bell said that the Can-Am World Finals won't be far from his focus. The sprint car title chase features leader Brad Sweet ahead by just eight points over Donny Schatz - and the big-block modified fight for the crown has just six points separating Matt Sheppard from Mat Williamson.
"You've got the World of Outlaws late models, the World of Outlaws sprint cars and the Super DIRTcar big-block modifieds all coming to The Dirt Track to race," Bell said. "It's going to be one heck of a show."
