The tight steer wrestling race is on the line in Round 10 of the National Finals Rodeo

As the tenth and final round of the National Finals Rodeo approaches Saturday night in Las Vegas, the steer wrestling event is the race all eyes will be on.

Six different Bulldogs won a round at the 2024 NFR and all participants placed at least in the top six and took home a prize. It’s been a close race all year and now the NFR has brought the field together with several athletes within striking distance of not only the NFR average championship but also a world championship.

The world rankings currently look like this before the final round:

1. Dakota Eldridge, $287,797.95
2. JD Struxness, $274,446.48
3. Will Lummus, $237,621.80
4. Jesse Brown, $224,865.45
5. Dalton Massey, $217,956.41
6. Rowdy Parrott, $216,955.75
7. Cash Robb, $201,152.35

The winner of each NFR round receives $33,687. The average champion earns $86,391 per event.

Of the athletes listed above, Parrott, Lummus and Robb all occupy the top three spots in this year’s average championship. A round win on Saturday night could very easily catapult the winner to the top of the average, for a total nightly winnings of $120,078.

For someone like Parrott, Lummus or Robb, that could very well end up being at the top of the world rankings.

Of course, the top six round and average winners will all walk away with a win, but the race is so close across the board that each man needs a little help from his fellow competitors to cement his status as world champions.

This steer wrestling event is one of the NFR’s closest races of the year and the back-and-forth in the rankings each night was a spectacle.

Parrott is arguably the hottest athlete on the dirt right now, as he leads the average race (38.30 on nine-head), has placed finishes on six of nine nights and won Round 2.

Lummus is well positioned having won two rounds so far, but has struggled to place in recent nights. He is still in second place in the average race (38.70). He is also currently second in the world rankings and the one of the three athletes mentioned who comes closest to number one in the world.

Robb, third in average (39.10), has been steady, placing in six of nine nights, but to really compete he needs a round win on Saturday night.

This event will be a dogfight right to the end and given how the last nine laps went, it will probably be one of the most exciting finishes of any event.