On Thursday night, fans at Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, saw two features and two winners in another classic battle of Outlaws versus the Posse. 

David Gravel won the first night of the National Open and Greg Hodnett won the rain-delayed final night of the Summer Nationals.

National Open Night One Feature

In the first event of the night, Gravel inherited the lead on lap nine after Greg Hodnett and Shane Stewart made contact while fighting for first. Hodnett and Stewart connected twice.

The first time came on lap nine and they maintained their positions only to battle even harder on the restart and collect each other — this time with more serious damage to both sprints. Gravel led the remaining 15 laps while fighting off attempts by Daryn Pittman and Lance Dewease. The podium finishers crossed the line within a second of one other.

Hodnett set the quick time over the field before winning his heat and the Craftsman Club Dash. The first of the two cautions brought out by him and Stewart came about as the duo was enter traffic for the first time. Both were able to stay out of the fence, get their cars straightened, and roll away. The second crash occurred on the restart and was the only lap led by Stewart.

Stewart and Hodnett bumped tires twice, sending both into the fence. This ended Hodnett’s run in the National Open feature.

Gravel was running near the leaders at the time of the crash and was surprised that he made it by.

“I don’t know how I didn’t crash,” Gravel said. “I can’t thank all the guys, sponsors, and everyone that makes this CJB team so strong enough.”

With Gravel in the lead, the spectators’ eyes moved to the battle for second between Pittman and Dewease. Lapped traffic gave the pair their chance to close in on the leader with both fighting for the second position. Pittman made his final attempt at a pass in the first corner on the white flag lap before Gravel squeezed him back. Team owner Kasey Kahne was in attendance for Pittman’s podium finish.

“We had a really solid night," Pittman said. “Hopefully we can qualify well tomorrow again and be up front. Saturday is where our focus is at.”

Donny Schatz finished fourth and Pennsylvania Posse member Cory Haas rounded out the top five.

Summer Nationals Makeup Feature

After going into the National Open feature with all the trauma of being involved in a wreck while leading, Hodnett was determined that his night was not over. The Pennsylvania driver rebounded and led all 30 laps of the $20,000-to-win Summer Nationals makeup feature. He was joined on the podium by local Lucas Wolfe and series champion Donny Schatz.

Hodnett started on the pole and maintained the lead over Gravel, the first feature winner, early on the lap. Gravel then had to fight to keep his spot as another Posse member, Danny Dietrich, was trying to take it away.

Dietrich made his way around Gravel and caught up to the leader. He battled hard with multiple attempts to take away the lead — that is, until lap 13. Hodnett spun Dietrich while he was trying to pass the leader on the inside. Dietrich ended up backwards and once he was stalled got hit a second time by Brian Montieth, who was running sixth.

“[I] didn’t want to crash in the first feature,” Hodnett said. “After that, the last thing I wanted to do was get together with Danny [Dietrich] in this one. I’m very fortunate to be standing here now.”

As the field went back to green Lucas Wolfe who started in eighth, made it by Schatz for second. Daryn Pittman — who finished second in the early feature — came home fourth and the Summer Nationals winner Gravel rounded out the top five.

Wolfe was happy with his podium finish but disappointed that he couldn’t use his momentum to make that final pass.

“We were able to get going up top early, but once we got to the front we couldn’t get close enough to make a run for the lead," Wolfe said. "This was a good way to end the night. Hopefully we can be back up here tomorrow.”