You’ll always have an excuse for your N+1th bike 
If I were you, I’d make some inexpensive modifications to your bike. You mentioned wider tires, yup, that’s probably my #1 suggestion. I don’t know the event, but tire choice for gravel races is very important — not just width, but also when it comes to tire profile. What kind of tires did you pick?
Also, I would not spend $$$ on carbon bars or so, unless you want carbon bars for whatever other reason. Instead, I’d suggest you replace your bar tape: you could get gel inserts and cushy tape or double wrap. IMHO that makes much more of a difference.
Lastly, I’d look at gearing. Again, I don’t know the race, but you should check whether you have all the right gears you want and need. You’ll spend a looooong time on the bike, so I wouldn’t worry about the top end as much. If you have a 2x, then you probably have a 46/36 crank and 11-28 in the rear. In case you run 1x, I reckon you’ll have a 40-tooth chainring and a 11-36 cassette. Should you expect to need something closer to 1:1 gearing, I’d look into a 11-32 cassette (2x) or 11-40 or 11-42 cassette (1x).
Regarding the future, I’d see how the race goes and what kind of riding you do. If you end up doing more and more gravel rides and gravel races, sure, eventually you’d want to replace your Crockett with a dedicated gravel bike. But there are so many different types out there that it is almost impossible to make clear-cut recommendations. Get out and see what you like.
You have bikes like the Open UP, which essentially have endurance road bike geometry and clearance for 2.1" tires (this is Geoff Kabush’s weapon of choice who podiumed at the Dirty Kanza in 2018). On the other end of the spectrum, you have full suspension gravel bikes and gravel bikes with the geometry of a mountain bike hard tail, but with drop bars. Oh, and if you are really fast, 3T will be happy to sell you an aero gravel bike.