By Alex Nieten
After knocking down the door to his first World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car win of the season last week, Brad Sweet made sure it stayed down in Texas.
On Friday night at Devil’s Bowl Speedway, the “Big Cat” patiently waited for the right moment to pounce, and after taking the lead on Lap 10, Sweet never looked back on his way to victory on night one of the Federated Auto Parts Texas Outlaw Nationals.
The four-time and reigning Series champion now owns two straight wins after topping last Saturday’s event at Magnolia Motor Speedway, marking his first back-to-back triumphs since July of 2021. He’s now only three victories shy of equaling Stevie Smith (84 wins) for 10th on the all-time World of Outlaws win list. The Kasey Kahne Racing driver has also only missed the top two once in the last six races, giving him a 2.33 average finish over that span.
It’s clear that the dynamic between he and the KKR crew consisting of Eric Prutzman, Tye Wolfgang, and Andrew Bowman is as strong as ever as Sweet chases his fifth straight title.
“It’s an unbelievable team right now,” a grateful Sweet said in Victory Lane. “We’re just making such great decisions all night long. We didn’t unload that great. I think we threw four bars at it, changed everything under the sun. We went sixth to third in the Dash, but I still wasn’t that good, so we still even made some pretty big changes for the [Feature]. I’m just really impressed with our decision making. We’re really just working well together and trying to figure these tires out. It seems like we’ve got a good handle on it, really working for me right now. I’m just excited to keep it rolling.”
Sweet started the 25-lap Feature from row two but quickly jumped into the runner-up spot behind pole-sitter, Brent Marks, on the opening circuit.
As the early laps unfolded, Sweet made it clear he would have something for the Murray-Marks #19. The Napa Auto Parts #49 stayed glued to Marks’ tail tank, and Sweet showed him a nose a few times, making Marks aware that he had company.
Finally, a slight slip from Marks exiting Turn 2 on Lap 10 gave Sweet the run he needed. As the lead duo navigated Turns 3 and 4, Sweet ripped the cushion to take the lead as Marks rolled the bottom.
“I got Brent moving a little, and I felt like my car was way better,” Sweet explained. “I was just kind of waiting until lapped traffic or the right opportunity. I didn’t really want to show him a nose until I thought I could clear him, but he slipped up and I just didn’t quite get there but kept my cool. I honestly just felt really under control the whole time and felt like we just had a really good handling car. I could do a lot with my feet and brakes and everything.”
Once Sweet snagged the lead, it simply became a question of how far would the gap grow?
The veteran sliced through slower cars with ease as Marks and third-running Jacob Allen watched him drive away. When the checkered flag waved, Sweet’s lead was north of a whopping five seconds.
Friday banked $10,000 for Sweet and served as a strong opening statement heading into Saturday’s $20,000 to win Federated Auto Parts Texas Outlaw Nationals finale.
“This gives us a good starting point for tomorrow night, and hopefully we’ll be standing here again,” Sweet said.
Behind Sweet, last year’s Texas Outlaw Nationals champion, Brent Marks, held on to the runner-up spot after leading the first nine laps, marking his first Series podium of the year and the 28th of his career. Traffic hindered the Myerstown, PA native’s hopes of winning, but he admitted that even with a clear track, Sweet would’ve been tough to top.
“The 49 was really good, and I just couldn’t get through lapped traffic,” Marks said. “I wasn’t able to move around to try different stuff to try and catch Brad again, but they were just so good I don’t know if I was going to be able to. All in all, it was a great night. We just ended up being too tight there and just had to muscle the car into the corner a little too hard.”
Rounding out the top-three and equaling his Devil’s Bowl personal best was Shark Racing’s Jacob Allen. The Hanover, PA driver now owns 24 career World of Outlaws podiums. Like Marks, Allen found himself struggling at times with traffic.
“It was a good race,” Allen noted. “I did struggle with a couple lapped cars there. I think that kind of hurt me with maybe getting to second. Brad ran a good race, got through lapped cars and off he went.
“It feels good to have my second podium of the year. I’m feeling good on the new tires. I feel like it took a couple of races to figure that out, and it feels good to have an understanding of them and get my car adjusted to them.”
UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars are back at Devil’s Bowl Saturday, April 1, for the Federated Auto Parts Texas Outlaw Nationals finale. For tickets, CLICK HERE.
If you can’t make it to the track, catch all of the action on DIRTVision.
RESULTS
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 49-Brad Sweet[3]; 2. 19-Brent Marks[1]; 3. 1A-Jacob Allen[4]; 4. 2-David Gravel[9]; 5. 11-Michael Kofoid[5]; 6. 1S-Logan Schuchart[2]; 7. 41-Carson Macedo[7]; 8. 5-Spencer Bayston[6]; 9. 52-Blake Hahn[8]; 10. 24-Rico Abreu[10]; 11. 7S-Robbie Price[12]; 12. 15-Donny Schatz[15]; 13. 83-James McFadden[19]; 14. 9-Kasey Kahne[14]; 15. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[16]; 16. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[18]; 17. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[17]; 18. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[13]; 19. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[20]; 20. 88-Austin McCarl[21]; 21. 17B-Bill Balog[22]; 22. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[11]; 23. 20G-Noah Gass[25]; 24. 21-Brian Brown[24]; 25. 2C-Wayne Johnson[23]
Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps): 1. 83-James McFadden[3]; 2. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[1]; 3. 88-Austin McCarl[2]; 4. 17B-Bill Balog[5]; 5. 2C-Wayne Johnson[6]; 6. 21-Brian Brown[4]; 7. 20G-Noah Gass[8]; 8. 6M-Blake Mallory[11]; 9. 1J-Danny Jennings[7]; 10. 1-Brenham Crouch[9]; 11. 4-Austin Mundie[10]; 12. (DNS) 24W-Garet Williamson; 13. (DNS) 2B-Brett Becker
Toyota Dash (6 Laps): 1. 19-Brent Marks[1]; 2. 1S-Logan Schuchart[4]; 3. 49-Brad Sweet[5]; 4. 1A-Jacob Allen[2]; 5. 11-Michael Kofoid[6]; 6. 5-Spencer Bayston[3]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Michael Kofoid[1]; 2. 5-Spencer Bayston[2]; 3. 41-Carson Macedo[4]; 4. 24-Rico Abreu[3]; 5. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[5]; 6. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[6]; 7. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[7]; 8. 17B-Bill Balog[9]; 9. 1J-Danny Jennings[8]; 10. 4-Austin Mundie[10]; 11. 2B-Brett Becker[11]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1A-Jacob Allen[2]; 2. 1S-Logan Schuchart[1]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn[3]; 4. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[4]; 5. 9-Kasey Kahne[6]; 6. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[5]; 7. 83-James McFadden[9]; 8. 88-Austin McCarl[7]; 9. 20G-Noah Gass[8]; 10. 6M-Blake Mallory[10]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 19-Brent Marks[1]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet[2]; 3. 2-David Gravel[3]; 4. 7S-Robbie Price[4]; 5. 15-Donny Schatz[6]; 6. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[5]; 7. 21-Brian Brown[8]; 8. 2C-Wayne Johnson[9]; 9. 1-Brenham Crouch[7]; 10. 24W-Garet Williamson[10]
Qualifying: 1. 11-Michael Kofoid, 00:13.943[5]; 2. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 00:13.967[16]; 3. 19-Brent Marks, 00:14.014[3]; 4. 5-Spencer Bayston, 00:14.020[2]; 5. 1A-Jacob Allen, 00:14.023[18]; 6. 49-Brad Sweet, 00:14.031[8]; 7. 24-Rico Abreu, 00:14.095[28]; 8. 52-Blake Hahn, 00:14.150[1]; 9. 2-David Gravel, 00:14.182[10]; 10. 41-Carson Macedo, 00:14.188[15]; 11. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, 00:14.203[13]; 12. 7S-Robbie Price, 00:14.238[17]; 13. 18-Giovanni Scelzi, 00:14.257[4]; 14. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 00:14.259[6]; 15. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 00:14.263[25]; 16. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 00:14.289[11]; 17. 9-Kasey Kahne, 00:14.310[31]; 18. 15-Donny Schatz, 00:14.312[21]; 19. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 00:14.339[7]; 20. 88-Austin McCarl, 00:14.341[27]; 21. 1-Brenham Crouch, 00:14.351[23]; 22. 1J-Danny Jennings, 00:14.363[22]; 23. 20G-Noah Gass, 00:14.370[9]; 24. 21-Brian Brown, 00:14.391[20]; 25. 17B-Bill Balog, 00:14.401[30]; 26. 83-James McFadden, 00:14.430[26]; 27. 2C-Wayne Johnson, 00:14.446[12]; 28. 4-Austin Mundie, 00:14.475[14]; 29. 6M-Blake Mallory, 00:14.780[24]; 30. 24W-Garet Williamson, 00:14.845[19]; 31. 2B-Brett Becker, 00:15.263[29]