FORT WORTH, Texas – During the 2025 Unleash The Beast season, one could often glimpse Dalton Kasel roaming around the back hallways of arenas, sweatshirt on, hood up.
It makes him a hard man to track down, but he’s not running or hiding.
He’ll often hole up in a spare room with friend Cort McFadden, the two sharing their own personal locker room away from the ruckus of the rest of the bunch.
“I enjoy having my own quiet space,” Kasel said. “I just enjoy kind of being by myself, not focused on everything else.”
His stepping away from the chaos of the main locker room dovetails with his decision to quit drinking a year and a half ago. Kasel is focused on doing what he knows is best for him.
“There’s been certain things in my life that I’ve had to step away from,” he said. “I’ve quit drinking and stuff like that. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, except I know that’s not what’s best for me and my family.”
So instead of partaking in the pre-event locker room chaos, it’s quiet prowling through arenas. And, of course, the hoodies that have become his signature event-day look.
“I think it just goes with trying to lay low a little bit,” Kasel said. “Not worrying about what everybody else thinks, not worrying about necessarily what I look like, if I look cool. I’m just kind of in my own world, I guess you could say.”
Whatever’s been going on in Kasel’s world lately, it’s been working.
Kasel has had a career season in 2025, going 33-for-62 (53%) with an incredible five event wins, including four in his last eight.
He holds the world No. 1 ranking heading into the PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast, which begins with Eliminations on May 8-11 in Fort Worth, Texas. Kasel takes on Good Riddance in Round 1 (8:45 p.m. ET on RidePass, the PBR App, YouTube and X; 9 p.m. ET on the Cowboy Channel).
When asked what’s been working for him lately, Kasel grins.
“Everything,” he said with a laugh. “I don’t know. Bull riding’s been so much fun, and simple, and easy. Even when I buck off, I feel like it was just simple errors. And I feel like I’ve also mentally gotten strong enough where, if I do buck off, it’s not something that bothers me as much. I think I’ve just reached a level of maturity, not just in my bull riding, but in all aspects of my life. So that’s helped.”
Kasel also had a similar, if smaller, resurgence in the second half of 2024. In his last eight events of the regular season, he earned one event win and six Top-5 finishes, compared to no event wins and three Top-5 finishes in his first 11 events. He went on to finish the season ranked No. 4.
“I’m trying to do good the whole time,” Kasel said with a laugh. “If it were up to me, I’d just try to run away with it and not have a middle-of-the-road season. But I don’t know why it’s been like that. I think I get in bull rider shape, getting on more bulls and stuff. And I think I start figuring out kind of what works for me.”
Since his Rookie of the Year season in 2019, Kasel has been building himself into a world title contender. He finished that year ranked No. 9, missed most of 2020, and was No. 14 in 2021.
In 2022, he was No. 6. In 2023, he was No. 5. And in 2024, he was No. 4.
We’ve been saying for months that 2025 could very well be Kasel’s time, and he’s done everything in his power this season to make it so.
He’s just the 20th rider in PBR history to have five event wins in a single season.
“It’s not something I really think about,” Kasel said of his achievement. “I saw it on the PBR broadcast and went, ‘Oh, cool.’ I didn’t really think nothing of it then. I love bull riding. I love the sport of bull riding, so the stats and stuff are intriguing. Like, I go and look at everybody’s riding percentage each weekend. I look at their average ride score. I do that every week. I look at everybody’s in the Top 35 or whatever. But I don’t really weigh in too much on it. It’s not something that matters a whole lot, but I love everything about it, so it’s something I look into.”
Kasel could further etch his name in the PBR history books in just a few days. The PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast – Championship takes over AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on May 17-18, and he hopes to be the one hoisting the trophy when all is said and done.
He’s the man everyone is chasing – or simply trying to find in the back hallways of arenas – but feels right at home at No. 1.
“I love, the past couple of weeks, being No. 1,” Kasel said. “I feel really comfortable there. I feel less pressure at No. 1 than I do at second or third. I don’t feel like I’m chasing anybody. I just have to do what I have to do, and it’s up to everybody else. I don’t feel like I’m trying to catch up at all.”
Photo courtesy of Bull Stock Media