FORT WORTH, Texas – Back in 2019, Dalton Kasel made his premier-series debut in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as a special invite from the PBR competition committee.

It was a move that raised a few eyebrows, considering he’d only competed in 15 Touring Pro Division events up to that point. But of those events, he’d won two and had ten Top 10 finishes, and the experts saw something they liked.

Turns out, the experts know what they’re doing.

Kasel showed up in Tulsa five years ago and walked away with a seventh-place finish in his Unleash The Beast debut, and he hasn’t stopped blowing us away ever since.

He finished No. 8 in the world that year while locking down Rookie of the Year honors. After competing in just six events in 2020 and finishing the year ranked No. 40, it’s been a steady – remarkably consistent – climb.

In 2021, he got back up to No. 14. In 2022, he was No. 6. In 2023, No. 5. And in 2024 – you guessed it – he finished the year ranked No. 4.

Kasel is a career 144-for-355 (40%) on the premier series with a whopping 41 90-point rides. Removing 2020, when he recorded only one in his injury-shortened season, that’s an average of eight 90-point rides per year – well above the league average.

Then there’s the PBR Camping World Team Series, where Kasel has become a star for the Austin Gamblers. This past season, he was 9-for-20 (45%) despite missing six weeks due to a lacerated kidney and was a crucial piece in the Gamblers winning their first PBR Teams Championship.

At the 2024 PBR Camping World Team Series Championship in Las Vegas, Kasel was blanked on the first night of competition but then locked in. He went 3-for-3 across the last two days, including 90-point rides in both the semifinal and the championship game to secure the title for Austin.

It was Kasel's first major championship win, and we have to wonder if this propels him to another in 2025.

Almost exactly a month after the champagne celebration on the dirt in Las Vegas, the best bull riders in the world were back at it to begin the 2025 Unleash The Beast season in Tucson, Arizona. Kasel was not only among them but, for a good chunk of time, leading them.

He began his weekend in Round 1 with 88.75 points on Dangerous Medicine and followed that up with 89.25 points on All Hat No Rattle in Round 2, leaving him atop the leaderboard heading into the championship round.

“This is another one away from his hand,” 2016 World Champion Cooper Davis said on RidePass on Pluto TV and the PBR’s YouTube channel. “He hangs him up and makes him look really, really good right there. I think it’s worth every penny of 89.25. This is what Dalton Kasel does – he just sits on him and makes a good bull ride right there, away from his hand. He gets off good. We talk about guys maturing – Dalton Kasel has matured into an excellent bull rider.”

There, Kasel finally blinked, bucking off Always Been Crazy in 6.2 seconds and losing out on his seventh UTB event win to John Crimber, who went 3-for-3.

Still, Kasel earned a second-place finish in Tucson, which leaves him sitting pretty at No. 2 in the extremely early Unleash The Beast Global standings.

“I’m more comfortable,” Kasel told sideline reporter Kate Harrison of his mindset this season. “I’m relaxed, and I know how to ride bulls. So I’m just allowing myself to do so. I’ve just been really blessed with this opportunity.”

When confronted with the fact that “relaxing” and “bull riding” really don’t go together, Kasel laughs.

“It really doesn’t, but we practice and put in the work that we know how to do this, and we just have to let the Lord take control of everything,” he said.

Kasel is back in action this weekend at the PBR Ontario in Ontario, California, on Nov. 23-24. Action begins for Round 1 on Saturday, Nov. 23, at 10 p.m. ET, free and live on RidePass on Pluto TV and the PBR’s YouTube channel.

If past is prologue, Kasel could be in for one hell of a season.

Photo courtesy of Josh Homer/Bull Stock Media