FAIRFAX, Va. – Chase Outlaw had never met Dalton Kasel until this past summer at the Deadwood, South Dakota, Touring Pro Division event.
Outlaw quickly realized that this 20-year-old bull riding son of a gun was the kind of guy he wanted in his pack.
Kasel went 2-for-3 to finish third in Deadwood, and the aspiring rookie bull rider began to form a friendship with the 2019 World Champion contender.
That is why on Sunday afternoon in Fairfax, Virginia, Outlaw was not surprised one bit to see Kasel nearly get in the way of him picking up his fourth premier series event win of 2019.
Outlaw was also not shocked at all to see Kasel win the first two rounds of the U.S. Border Patrol Invitational.
The No. 3-ranked bull rider in the world knew right away this summer that Kasel was something special.
Therefore, he and Brennon Eldred quickly took Kasel under their wing once the Muleshoe, Texas, bull rider made his way to the Unleash The Beast in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“Winners want to be with winners, and when you see a young kid like that, that has the full package, you want to help him out,” Outlaw said. “We saw he’s got the whole package. Champs want to be with champs. It helps both ways for a young guy to come on and be with a veteran. It could be them showing us things, too.
“We saw he wanted to win, and shoot, we just wanted to add him to the pack.”
Kasel came up short of winning his first career premier series event after Buckeye Bill bucked him off in 7.73 seconds in the championship round.
The buckoff cost Kasel a victory, and it gave Outlaw, who rode Big Black for 90.5 points minutes earlier, a huge victory as he continues his own pursuit of a world title.
Regardless, Kasel left EagleBank Arena with the second runner-up finish of his young PBR career.
He split the Round 1 victory Saturday night with Derek Kolbaba and Marco Eguchi with 87.25 points aboard Dang It and then started Sunday strong with an impressive 88.75 points on Constant Sorrow to win Round 2.
Constant Sorrow previously bucked Kasel off in 3.31 in Belton, Texas, this past March.
Kasel is now tied with Cody Jesus for the most round wins (5) among rookies on the Unleash The Beast.
“I just had my mind right this weekend,” Kasel said. “I try to have my mind right every weekend, but I just kept doing what I needed to do. I just stayed on him and did what I needed to do. Bull riding’s as easy as you make it.”
Kasel said meeting people such as Outlaw, Eldred, Chad Berger, Riley Samford and J.W. Hart has helped him adjust to the PBR’s highest level with relatively no nerves.
“I feel like I’ve transitioned okay,” Kasel said. “I’ve been surrounding myself with good people who motivate me, and they keep me on the straight and narrow.”
Kasel picked up 350 world points, and is ranked No. 15 in the world with the UTB on break until the Minneapolis Invitational on Oct. 4-5.
He is also ranked fourth in the Rookie of the Year race. He trails No. 1 rookie Ezekiel Mitchell by only 118.75 points with three Unleash The Beast events remaining before the PBR World Finals begin on Nov. 6 in Las Vegas.
Kasel would appreciate joining the list of prestigious Rookie of the Year winners in PBR history, which includes the past two World Champions (Kaique Pacheco and Jess Lockwood), but he is hoping to achieve much more than that.
“It sounds all nice and stuff, but it’s all about the world title to me,” Kasel said. “That’s what I’m after. I’m going to try to go win every round and win every event the rest of the year and go win the world. I’m capable of it.
“If you’re not trying to be the best you can be, then don’t be here.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko