From Brian Walker
KOKOMO, Ind. (April 9, 2021) — Brad Sweet seemed unstoppable on his four-race winning streak, that is until his own teammate James McFadden stepped up to deny him.
Making his 100th career World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series start on Saturday night at Kokomo Speedway, McFadden led the final 30 laps aboard his Karavan Trailers #9 and paved the path for a Kasey Kahne Racing 1-2 finish with Sweet behind him in the NAPA Auto Parts #49.
A drama-filled 40-lapper at the Kokomo, IN 1/4-mile saw David Gravel command the opening 10 laps before spinning from second with two to go, saw Donny Schatz and Logan Schuchart suffer mechanical issues, saw Tyler Courtney’s career-best run of third shattered with a flat right rear, and saw Sheldon Haudenschild roar from 21st-to-5th in the closing stages.
For McFadden, the Alice Springs, NT, AUS native banked $10,000 with his first victory of the season in only his sixth start since coming overseas to relieve Kasey Kahne of full-time duties back in March. It’s the third career victory for the 31-year-old they call J-Mac.
“I’m just pumped to be here right now, man,” an elated McFadden said in victory lane. “I gotta thank Kasey [Kahne] and this whole KKR team; it’s a pleasure to drive this car. I’m glad I can do it justice and put in victory lane. It’s good to get one on that NAPA car. He’s been laying it on us, so hopefully we can get on our little roll now.”
Nearly perfect on the night, McFadden’s Kokomo quest began with the Slick Woody’s QuickTime Award (11.243 seconds) and continued with a win in the opening Team Drydene Heat Race. He was stopped by Gravel in the DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash, but earned the outside pole position with 40 laps on tap.
Aboard the Big Game Motorsports, THE SHOWDOWN #2, Gravel paced the opening 10 circuits of Feature action before lap traffic allowed McFadden to capitalize. Moving up a lane as Gravel became mired on the bottom behind back markers, McFadden quickly swooped right by Gravel on Lap 11 and never looked back.
Hampered by six cautions, Saturday’s feature saw a Lap 2 mechanical issue for Donny Schatz (5th), Lap 21 problem for Logan Schuchart (16th), Lap 26 trouble for Tim Kaeding (17th), Lap 30 red flag for Carson Short (14th), Lap 37 spin for Jason Sides (13th), and a shocking Lap 38 infield tire incident for David Gravel (2nd).
In the end, McFadden survived a green-white-checkered restart and ran off to a 1.059-second advantage at the checkered flag.
“The track was surprisingly tough tonight, it just changed around a bunch,” McFadden noted. “I was running the top to get around David, but it go so dirty that I felt like I needed to get to the bottom. We got through lap traffic really well, and I think that was big. Being in victory lane six races in is pretty awesome.”
Chasing McFadden to the stripe was his Kasey Kahne Racing w/ Mike Curb teammate, Brad Sweet. The Big Cat rallied from 12th on lap one to finish in second, extending his career-best streak of consecutive podium finishes to a whopping nine races.
“I just shot myself in the foot during qualifying tonight,” Sweet said on getting behind the eight-ball. “Once we got to third in the Feature I think the track just moved down and we ran out of options. I tried the top on the green-white-checkered, but felt like I was gonna give up second and had to come back down. That’s what you have to do sometimes: get the best finish you possibly can. Tonight is a great testament to our team. It’s fun to be disappointed with second.”
Finishing third and landing on the podium for the first time in his World of Outlaws career was Justin Peck. The Monrovia, IN native drove from 11th-to-third aboard the Tom Buch owned #13 and kept his early-season hot streak alive; ahead of his return to Haubstadt tomorrow where he’s excelled in the past.
“Our team morale is pretty high right now, so it makes working with these guys super easy,” Peck noted on their success. “We’ve got everything hooked up right now. It’s great to be on the podium, but obviously we want to be a little better. That KKR team is just outstanding right now. We’ve got a little bit to clean up on our end.”
Coming home a season-high fourth at Kokomo was Australia’s Ian Madsen in the McGhee #11. Rounding out the top five was Sheldon Haudenschild with KSE Hard Charger honors thanks to his magnificent 21st-to-fifth bid in the NOS Energy Drink, Stenhouse Jr. Marshall Racing #17; which gives him eight-straight top five finishes.
Closing out the top ten was Jason Johnson Racing’s Carson Macedo, Bloomington, IN native Kraig Kinser, Kokomo’s own hometown hero Parker Price-Miller, Indianapolis superstar Tyler Courtney with a solid recovery, and Aaron Reutzel in the Roth Motorsports ride.
World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series
Kokomo Speedway
Kokomo, Indiana
Friday April 9, 2021
Slick Woody’s Qualifying – 1. 9-James McFadden, 11.243
2. 7S-Jason Sides, 11.281
3. 11-Ian Madsen, 11.329
4. 2-David Gravel, 11.335
5. 19-Parker Price-Miller, 11.337
6. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 11.351
7. 13-Justin Peck, 11.387
8. 83-Aaron Reutzel, 11.396
9. 14-Tim Kaeding, 11.408
10. 1A-Jacob Allen, 11.485
11. 55V-CJ Leary, 11.486
12. 15-Donny Schatz, 11.496
13. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 11.509
14. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 11.528
15. 41-Carson Macedo, 11.547
16. 35-Zach Hampton, 11.565
17. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 11.567
18. 49-Brad Sweet, 11.571
19. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 11.582
20. 26-Cory Eliason, 11.582
21. 10-Zeb Wise, 11.589
22. 15H-Sam Hafertepe, 11.631
23. 20G-Noah Gass, 11.659
24. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 11.662
25. 17B-Bill Balog, 11.685
26. 21-Carson Short, 11.75
27. 18-Giovanni Scelzi, 11.758
28. 2C-Wayne Johnson, 11.805
29. 49D-Shawn Dancer, 11.957
30. 21M-Brinton Marvel, 12.009
31. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, 12.055
32. 24-Rico Abreu, 12.129
33. 98-Clinton Boyles, 12.213
34. 33M-Mason Daniel, 12.298
35. 96-Robert Ballou, 12.422
36. 29-Brayton Lynch, 12.5
DRYDENE Heat Race ##1 (10 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer – 1. 9-James McFadden [1]
2. 19-Parker Price-Miller [2]
3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [5]
4. 14-Tim Kaeding [3]
5. 10-Zeb Wise [6]
6. 11K-Kraig Kinser [4]
7. 98-Clinton Boyles [9]
8. 17B-Bill Balog [7]
9. 49D-Shawn Dancer [8]
DRYDENE Heat Race ##2 (10 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer – 1. 7S-Jason Sides [1]
2. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [4]
3. 49-Brad Sweet [5]
4. 21-Carson Short [7]
5. 1A-Jacob Allen [3]
6. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [2]
7. 15H-Sam Hafertepe [6]
8. 21M-Brinton Marvel [8]
9. 33M-Mason Daniel [9]
DRYDENE Heat Race ##3 (10 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer – 1. 11-Ian Madsen [1]
2. 41-Carson Macedo [4]
3. 13-Justin Peck [2]
4. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [5]
5. 3-Ayrton Gennetten [8]
6. 55V-CJ Leary [3]
7. 18-Giovanni Scelzi [7]
8. 20G-Noah Gass [6]
9. 96-Robert Ballou [9]
DRYDENE Heat Race ##4 (10 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer – 1. 2-David Gravel [1]
2. 15-Donny Schatz [3]
3. 83-Aaron Reutzel [2]
4. 26-Cory Eliason [5]
5. 1S-Logan Schuchart [6]
6. 2C-Wayne Johnson [7]
7. 24-Rico Abreu [8]
8. 29-Brayton Lynch [9]
9. 35-Zach Hampton [4]
DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash (8 Laps) – 1. 2-David Gravel [2]
2. 9-James McFadden [3]
3. 7S-Jason Sides [1]
4. 19-Parker Price-Miller [4]
5. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [5]
6. 41-Carson Macedo [8]
7. 15-Donny Schatz [6]
8. 11-Ian Madsen [7]
Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer – 1. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [1][-]
2. 11K-Kraig Kinser [3][-]
3. 24-Rico Abreu [8][-]
4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe [6][-]
5. 2C-Wayne Johnson [4][$300]
6. 17B-Bill Balog [9][$250]
7. 98-Clinton Boyles [5][$225]
8. 20G-Noah Gass [11][$200]
9. 33M-Mason Daniel [14][$200]
10. 35-Zach Hampton [16][$200]
11. 21M-Brinton Marvel [10][$200]
12. 29-Brayton Lynch [12][$200]
13. 96-Robert Ballou [15][$200]
14. 49D-Shawn Dancer [13][$200]
15. 18-Giovanni Scelzi [7][$200]
16. 55V-CJ Leary [2][$200]
NOS Energy Drink Feature (40 Laps) – 1. 9-James McFadden [2][$10,000]
2. 49-Brad Sweet [10][$6,000]
3. 13-Justin Peck [11][$3,500]
4. 11-Ian Madsen [8][$2,800]
5. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [21][$2,500]
6. 41-Carson Macedo [6][$2,300]
7. 11K-Kraig Kinser [22][$2,200]
8. 19-Parker Price-Miller [4][$2,100]
9. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [9][$2,050]
10. 83-Aaron Reutzel [12][$2,000]
11. 26-Cory Eliason [16][$1,600]
12. 2-David Gravel [1][$1,400]
13. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [15][$1,200]
14. 7S-Jason Sides [3][$1,100]
15. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [5][$1,050]
16. 15H-Sam Hafertepe [24][$1,000]
17. 2C-Wayne Johnson [25][$]
18. 3-Ayrton Gennetten [19][$1,000]
19. 10-Zeb Wise [17][$1,000]
20. 1A-Jacob Allen [18][$1,000]
21. 24-Rico Abreu [23][$1,000]
22. 1S-Logan Schuchart [20][$1,000]
23. 21-Carson Short [14][$1,000]
24. 14-Tim Kaeding [13][$1,000]
25. 15-Donny Schatz [7][$1,000].
Lap Leaders: David Gravel 1-10, James McFadden 11-40.
KSE Hard Charger Award: 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[+16]