During the World of Outlaws Awards Celebration on Sunday following his failed to bid win a back-to-back World of Outlaws title due to a flat tire in Saturday night’s feature of the World Finals at the Dirt Track on Charlotte, Bobby Pierce did not commit to running with the World of Outlaws for the 2025 season.
Bobby Pierce suffers a flat right rear tire at the 2024 World Finals.
In a discussion with Pierce, World of Outlaws Late Model announcer Ruben Mireles said, “There’s a lot of positives still going into next year, momentum. I know you’re going to have a fire under your seat going into next year to get the Championship.”
Pierce replied, “Oh yeah. We’re going to go into it-. Hopefully, we do even better. But like I said, you can’t ask for a much better year. We’ll see what we do next year still kind of open right now, but we’re just looking forward to it.”
Bobby Pierce via DirtVision.com
Rumors are swirling that Pierce is unlikely to return to the World of Outlaws to chase a Championship next year, but will instead chase big money races.
On Tuesday night’s Rippin’ the Lip show, hosted by dirt late model insider Racin’ Jason, he brought up Pierce’s comments at the banquet and said, “Pierce, I don’t know how many of y’all watched the banquet Sunday night, he didn’t sound too enthused about joining the Outlaws next year.”
One of the guests, Tim Snipes, responded, “I heard he’s going to money race.” Racin’ Jason replied, “He might. Yeah, he probably might.” Snipes then reiterated, “I heard he’s money racing next year. … He could make a million dollars next year.”
Bobby Pierce leads Dale McDowell on the last lap of the World 100 at Eldora Speedway
It’s likely that Pierce still does not like the way that the World of Outlaws penalized him earlier in the year. On March 12th, World Of Outlaws officials suspended and fined Pierce after he failed a tire test for the series’ February 16th race at Volusia Speedway Park.
In a blog post, World of Outlaws stated, “A tire sample was taken after completion of the Feature at the event and sent to an independent laboratory for testing of chemically altering substances in the tires in a comparative analysis. The test revealed the tire did not match or conform to the benchmarks provided by Hoosier Tire Company. Additional analysis verified the primary laboratory findings.”
It added, “Due to the violation, Pierce has been disqualified from the event and fined, in total $8,400 — $1,000 fine, $400 tire analysis fee, and loss of $7,000 in prize money from that event — and suspended from all World Racing Group events for 30 days or the next four completed events in the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Late Model Series schedule (whichever occurs last), and the loss of 294 Series Owner and Driver points for the 2024 season.”
After an appeal, the fine was increased from $1,000 to $2,000 and the point loss was reduced from 294 to 144. The suspension was also lifted.
Jonathan Davenport, Bobby Pierce, and Dale McDowell via FloRacing.com
Pierce denied the ruling in a post to Facebook after the initial penalty, “I’m proud to say I’ve become the # 1 ranked late model driver, & with a legal car. No tire dope, no traction control, no trick RR shock, no trick suspension. And I’m not saying anybody else does it either— all of our livelihoods depend on running a legal car. We just work hard with what we got and make it work better than anybody else most of the time. The simple way. The people that know, they just know how we do it.”
He also noted that his attempt to win a Championship with the World of Outlaws had been ruined due to the penalty and he was not sure if he would continue with the series, “Our chase for a consecutive Outlaw championship is ruined. The remaining outlaw races will now be tbd. I hate that for the fans who wanted to see us put a show on at several tracks across the country, but business decisions will have to be made where it makes the most sense.”
Obviously, he did continue with the World of Outlaws for the 2024 season, but the penalty was still clearly still weighing on him during the banquet when he informed Mireles, “We were dealt a pretty bad hand at the beginning of the year. And we just kinda took it with what it was and tried to do the best with it.”
Bobby Pierce passes Dale McDowell with 5 laps to go in the World 100 at Eldora Speedway
What do you make of Pierce not committing to the World of Outlaws for the 2025 season?