PUEBLO, Colo. – With the 2023 PBR World Finals set to kick off on May 12-21 in Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, every ride matters.

Not just in the race for the world title but in the race to earn a spot in the draw.

With six of the Top 35 riders set to miss the World Finals due to injury or ineligibility, the last man in is currently No. 42 in the Unleash The Beast standings.

Heading into the PBR Ariat Invitational, presented by Cooper Tires, in Tacoma, Washington, Chase Dougherty held the No. 45 spot and was on the outside looking in.

It’s been a rollercoaster of a season for the Oregon native. After a solid 2022 season that saw him finish in the No. 16 spot, he missed almost the entire PBR Team Series for the Arizona Ridge Riders due to a neck injury, going 0-for-3.

That had him starting 2023 on the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour. He wasted no time there, winning his first event – the Denver PBR Chute Out at the National Western Stock Show in early January – to secure a spot back on the premier series.

Dougherty competed in a few more Velocity Tour events in March, securing two more Top-3 finishes. But success has been harder to find for him on the premier series – in 10 events, he placed in only four, his best finish a seventh-place showing in Billings, Montana, earlier this month.

With Tacoma the second-to-last UTB event before the World Finals, time was running out.

In Round 1, Dougherty tied for seventh place with 84.5 points on Don Juan. He followed that up with 87.5 points on Whiplash to win Round 2 and enter the championship round in the top spot.

“I’ve been leaving my wife and my baby at home for two weeks, and finally I got something done,” Dougherty told CBS Sports Network’s Kate Harrison with a laugh. “I’m just going to keep doing what I’ve been doing, and that’s try to focus on my technique and not the results, and just try to make the best bull rides I can.”

With the first pick in the championship round bull draft, Dougherty selected Short Circuit.

“Other than he’s cute, he’s just good, right there around to the left,” Dougherty said. “Joao (Ricardo Vieira) rode him last week. Man, he’s just a good bull. He’s hard not to pick.”

Even with two rides under his belt, Dougherty wasn’t breathing any easier.

“I think I’ll just go ahead and wait ‘til it’s over (for that),” he joked. “I’m still breathing short breaths and counting every step I take.”

The stress was unnecessary, as he took Short Circuit to the whistle for an event-high 89.5 points, winning the championship round and notching the first UTB event win of his career in the process.

“Congratulations to Chase Dougherty, and it’s so good to see him back, competing not just on tour, but competing at this level,” two-time World Champion Justin McBride said on CBS Sports Network. “And by that, what I mean is a guy capable of winning every time the gate opens.

“There was never any doubt about this ride. From the time the gate opened to the time the 8 seconds was up, Chase Dougherty was in total control. Great event, great finish for Chase.”

Dougherty won 148.5 UTB points for his win and is now No. 26 in the UTB standings, effectively punching his ticket to the World Finals next month.

At that, Dougherty cracked a smile.

“Work’s not done yet, though,” he said.

Plenty of work remains for the bubble riders at the regular-season finale, the PBR Cooper Tires Invitational, presented by Kubota, next weekend in Louisville, Kentucky.

Right now, Lucas Divino holds the final World Finals spot at No. 42. Divino didn’t make his season debut until Billings two weeks ago, but a third-place finish there and a fourth-place finish in Everett, Washington, have him knocking on the door.

Wyatt Rogers was one of those bubble riders who also put in work in Tacoma. Beginning the weekend at No. 38, his 86-point ride on Hard Not to Get in Round 2 earned him a seventh-place finish and helped him climb to No. 35.

“I’ve just got to get my bulls rode,” Rogers told Harrison after his ride. “I’ve done a pretty good job the last two weeks of getting them rode in the second round. Got to get that first round and championship round bull rode, though.”

The final opportunity to gain some wiggle room comes next weekend in Louisville. But in the meantime, Dougherty is enjoying his first-ever win – and in his old neck of the woods to boot.

“I’ve got a really good support team, and God’s always watching after me,” Dougherty said. “It means the world to me. I’m so glad I got to do it in the Pacific Northwest, too.”

Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media