A SWEET WIN AT ELDORA
Brad Sweet on his way to the big prize at Eldora Speedway – Photo: Richard Hathaway
THE AURA of Brad Sweet has grown even more after his brilliant win in the world’s richest pay-to-win Sprintcar race in the USA last weekend.
By GEOFF ROUNDS
The diminutive Californian claimed his second victory in the 36th running of the prestigious Kings Royal at the Tony Stewart-owned Eldora Speedway in Iowa
Sweet who will race in Australia at Sydney’s Valvoline Speedway in late December pocketed a very cool $175,000 for his efforts driving for former NASCAR star Kasey Kahne.
Sweet is right on track for more majors in the what is dubbed “The Month of Money” right now until the end of August in American Sprintcar racing, including the world-famous Knoxville Nationals from August 7 for four nights.
“Sprintcar racers make money based off how they finish. When you have a race that pays $175,000 to win and basically $20,000 for second, it’s kind of all or nothing coming in here. I’m a fan of it. It’s nerve-racking. It gets the fans’ attention. It’s what we need in this sport,” Sweet said.
“It’s intense all night long. All-day. Under the red. Basically, if you don’t win the race it’s a missed opportunity. You only get so many of these opportunities. So, I’m just happy and want to cherish the moment.”
The win was Sweet’s 11th World of Outlaws win of the year and 45th Series win overall. He defeated Logan Schuchart and Brent Marks, who both raced from the back of the 24-car field to jump on the podium.
Sweet qualified 18th, then won his heat and started the 40-lap A-Main in sixth behind three-time Kings Royal winner 63-year-old Sammy Swindell, in his son Kevin Swindell’s car.
Defending Kings Royal champ Donny Schatz – Photo: Richard Hathaway
Next to him was the red-hot favourite and 10-time Outlaws champion and five-time Kings Royal winner Donny Schatz – who had also won two of the last three races at Eldora during the week; Sweet won the other race.
After not transferring into the Kings Royal last year, Schuchart who was in Australia last season racing led and was running away with this year’s race.
Sweet fought his way past rival Schatz for second-place by lap 15, but couldn’t match Schuchart’s pace. On lap 25, Schuchart had a 2.5 second lead over Sweet and was poised to increase it riding the cushion around the track.
With 15 to run a restart halted the field.
Sweet made his race-winning move and flew around the outside of Schuchart before the flag stand and latched on to the cushion for momentum to pull away and from there it was all over.
“I felt like I just found the top in (turns) three and four and Logan hadn’t known about it. I think I found some speed there I was going to be able to make some moves with. We didn’t touch the racecar, we put five gallons of fuel in it. I told my guys I was just going to put it to the fence and go for it,” Sweet said post race.
Schuchart said restarts had been an issue for him all week long. His car struggled to take off from the start.
“That’s part of the game,” Schuchart said. “We didn’t get the job done in that part of the race.”
Sweet left the Pennsylvanians to battle for second, while he charged to the Kings Royal victory and the big $175,000 check.
“You have to pinch me. It feels surreal,” Sweet said.
Schuchart crossed the line second with Marks two-tenths of a second behind him in third.
“Hell, we started twelfth and led the Kings Royal, that’s something to be proud about,” Schuchart said.
“To be leading this race with all of the people in this pit supporting me, it’s a great feeling. I didn’t make the show last year. We went from not making the show to out here in the top-five every single night.”
While Marks ran out of time to try and make a run at Sweet, he left with confidence in his strong run and the hard charger award.
“This car was badass tonight,” Marks said.
“That was a fun race. The track was perfect tonight. You could get up against that wall and just hold the throttle down and carry the momentum. I was trying like hell to get to second.”
Schatz who won the previous night’s feature and led every lap won car-owner Tony Stewart his 300th Outlaws win, but quickly fell from third to finish sixth with five laps to go, marking the first time he has finished there since 2015. Haudenschild finished in fourth right in front of David Gravel and the best-placed Australian was Kerry Madsen in 10th while his brother Ian was 13th .
Aussie James McFadden at Eldora – Photo: Richard Hathaway
James McFadden also driving for Kasey Kahne was the first emergency for the A-Main and admitted he struggled during the four days.
“It was a pretty tough week at Eldora. We missed the big show by one spot after finishing fifth in the B (Main). Chased speed all week and found it at the end, but I’m disappointed we couldn’t put this #9 in the show,” McFadden said.
Son of a gun Marcus Dumesny would finish seventh in the C-Main and the reigning Australian Sprintcar champion Andrew Scheuerle also made the same race.
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