LAS VEGAS – Austin Richardson woke on Sunday morning with the belief that he ultimately did not have much of a chance to qualify for the 2019 PBR World Finals.

The 19-year-old figured his Round 1 buckoff against Red Solo Cup (6.53 seconds) had put him too far behind the rest of the pack at the 2019 Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Finals.

Richardson thought the best-case scenario was heading back home to Texas with a nice pocket full of change even after he won Round 2 with 87.5 points on Tarabull and conquered Arctic Assassin for a season-high 88 points in the championship round.

Richardson’s eyes then widened in disbelief as he sat on the back of the bucking chutes halfway through the championship round at South Point Arena. He had just learned that even if his lead atop the event leaderboard did not hold up, there was still a great possibility he would qualify for the 2019 World Finals as a Velocity Wild Card winner seeing as eight of the other riders in the championship round had all already qualified.

“I do? I didn’t know that,” Richardson said shaking his head in astonishment. “That’s amazing. I’m blessed to be here and I’m blessed to have the opportunity. That’s awesome.”

Richardson (2-for-3) actually wound up finishing second overall to event winner Jose Vitor Leme for 255 world points toward the Velocity Tour standings on Sunday evening at the South Point Hotel Casino & Spa.

The Stephenville, Texas, native earned one of the five wild card spots for the World Finals by being the second highest-ranked rider in the Velocity Tour standings that had not already qualified for the Finals via the world standings.

Richardson concluded the Velocity Tour season ranked No. 6.

The 19-year-old will be the second youngest competitor when the World Finals begin on Wednesday at T-Mobile Arena. Dylan Smith is the youngest.

“My family said they would come (to Las Vegas) if I made it to the World Finals,” Richardson said. “I knew that I would have to be Top 2 or win the Velocity Finals. That’s what I thought it would take.”

Also earning invites through the Velocity Tour standings were No. 3 Ramon de Lima, No. 8 Ouncie Mitchell and No. 9 Daniel Tinsman. No riders qualified through the event average seeing as the Top 5 finishers in the event had already qualified for the World Finals through either the world or Velocity Tour standings.

LeAndro Machado (1-for-3) won the international invite with his 86.5-point ride on Hot Spots in Round 1.

This week will be Richardson’s debut inside T-Mobile Arena.

The youngster actually attended the 2014 PBR World Finals thanks to his grandfather when he was competing at the mini bull rider World Finals that year.

Richardson, who began the Velocity Tour Finals ranked 116^th in the world, remembers watching Silvano Alves win his record-setting third world title that year, and now he is hoping to create his own World Finals memories in a few days.

The No. 57-ranked rider in the world standings is 7-for-35 (20%) in 24 events. The World Finals will be Richardson’s second career premier series event after going 0-for-1 last year in Billings, Montana.

“I hurt my ankle at the beginning of this year, and I just took my time with it, just to get healthy and get right,” Richardson said. “And when I was getting ready to come back, I broke my hand inside the practice pen a little after February.”

Richardson added this week will also be special because one of his mentors – 2008 World Champion Guilherme Marchi – will be in attendance as he is being inducted into the Ring of Honor Tuesday night.

Richardson grew up 20 minutes south of Dallas on his grandparents’ farm – the BuckBranch Equestrian Center – but it was his childhood friend, Zach Laney, who convinced him to get on a mini bull when he was 12 years old.

Richardson and Laney have been friends since they were 5 or 6 years old, and they would often mess around and ride some sheep as kids.

Marchi used to live right behind Laney in Ferris, Texas, and he would often let the boys come over to train and get on practice bulls.

“I’ve been around him my whole life,” Richardson said. “He helped me out. He would show me things not to do and what to do.”

Richardson now will ride in the arena where Marchi called it a career last year.

“This is amazing,” Richardson said. “It’s a dream come true.”

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko