LAS VEGAS – Just a few months ago, most PBR fans didn’t know Dalton Kasel’s name.

On June 1, Kasel had zero points in the world standings.

Kasel made his Unleash The Beast debut in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the Express Ranches Classic, presented by Osage Casino, in August as a total unknown via an invite by the PBR competition committee.

On Aug. 10, 2019, Kasel rode Sun Country for 88.75 points, good enough to win his first round at his first event.

Three months later to the day, Kasel was once again standing atop the Can-Am Cage.

This time, however, it was at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas at the 2019 PBR World Finals.

And on Sunday, he was the 2019 Rookie of the Year.

Perhaps indicative of how exactly his meteoric rise came to be, Kasel was a little on the sour side as he accepted his buckle. He went just 1-for-6 in Las Vegas, winning Rookie of the Yearhonors based on his six round wins and event win in Nampa, Idaho, to end the regular season.

It’s not how he wanted it to happen, to put it mildly.

“It was really fun. I enjoyed it,” he said of his Rookie of the Year win. “I didn’t show up how I wanted to here. I just didn’t do very good.”

Not even etching his name in the PBR history books and ending the year as the top rookie could make him feel any better.

“That’s not how I am,” Kasel said. “This was a different event, and I wanted to win this event. So no, it doesn’t ease the pain. But it is what it is.”

In the rookie race, Kasel finished ahead of No. 2 Alan de Souza, who went 5-for-6 at the World Finals, No. 3 Daylon Swearingen, No. 4 Mason Taylor and No. 5 Ezekiel Mitchell.

Kasel began his World Finals campaign strong with an 88.5-point ride on Too Dirty, tying for second place in the round with No. 3 Chase Outlaw, who rode Foghorn Leghorn.

Outlaw, who’s become a close friend of Kasel’s in the last few months, was quick to praise the rookie’s talent.

“Dalton is coming into his own,” Outlaw said at the press conference following Round 1. “Heck, he’s got a great long career ahead of him, and I pretty much call him out for winning the Rookie of the Year title this year.

“And I guarantee it, if Dalton had been here since January, he’d have been right here in the middle of this world title race.”

Kasel very nearly made it happen anyway, concluding 2019 ranked No. 8 in the world.

Though he only managed one ride in Las Vegas, it was one Kasel was pleased with.

“(Cord McCoy) told me that he’d kind of fight in the chutes, and I feed off that stuff,” Kasel said. “He was really cool right there around to the right, and I just had to keep hustling on him because a couple times he got me out of whack. I just kicked loose and got back to riding.

“I just went and rode him the way I know how to ride bulls. I didn’t do it on anything else this week, but that bull I did.”

Kasel says he thrives in adversity, particularly when bulls get nasty in the chutes.

“It gets your motor running,” he said. “Shoot, if they can’t buck you off in there, why should they be able to buck you off outside?”

Calm in the chutes, calm on the black carpet and calm in just about any other situation that he’s in, Kasel is perpetually even-keeled, displaying a wisdom beyond his 20 years.

“I’ve always been a pretty calm, relaxed person,” he said. “I can’t change anything. I just kind of do what I need to do, so there’s no reason to get worked up about anything too much.”

Even the bright lights and big stage of his first PBR World Finals didn’t get to the Muleshoe, Texas, native.

“It was special. The lights are bigger, there’s more cameras,” Kasel said. “People are a lot wilder out here. It just kind of gives off a fun vibe and makes you really enjoy what you’re doing. Makes you come out, and it’s something to strive for, and it’s not just to make World Finals. It’s to be a world champ, and that’s what everybody has their eyes set on. If you don’t have your eyes set on that, I don’t know why you’re riding bulls.

“But it’s really cool, getting to come out here. Lights are bright, but you’ve got to keep a good head on your shoulders and just do what you came here for, which is riding bulls.”

Kasel has been riding through a groin injury from the beginning of the summer, and with the season over, he’ll undergo surgery to finally get it fixed.

“It’s something I’ve been struggling with and dealing with for a while,” he said. “It’s pulled off the bone.”

However, Kasel said the injury had nothing to do with going 1-for-6 in Las Vegas.

“I’ve just been a (wuss) and didn’t stay on my bulls,” he said.

Kasel has surgery planned for next week and will be out for three or four months as he recovers.

But count him out at your own peril.

“I’m going to have surgery and then go from there, and come back stronger next year and win a World Championship,” Kasel said.

“Not done yet. I’m ready.”