I think i gummed up the carb. When I ran out of gas, I put the rest of the gas in from my 5 gallon plastic tank that was filled two years ago. I ran it dry again and the mower has sputtered since.
I did not pour gas into the intake by accident.. I accidently poured in in the mesh area which was just the recoil area for the hand starter.
I changed air filter and plug. I will put some stabil in and see if that will solve my gummed up carb issue.