HEAVY HITTERS
There‘s no one more confident than Brad Sweet as the 2021 season gets underway. With two championships under his belt — becoming the sixth driver in series history to win multiple titles — and his name firmly etched into the record books, he has a new mentality. No longer will he let the thought of points scare him away from a daring move and lose a win. All he wants to do is win.
“Being a two-time champion, I feel like I know what we need to do to win the points,” Sweet said. “As long as we just keep doing what we‘re doing, we feel like we‘re the best team out there and we have a lot of confidence going into this season with what we were able to overcome in 2020 and even the year before.”
Last year, Sweet and his Kasey Kahne Racing team proved that if they can dodge a wrench they can dodge a bad points night. He suffered four DNF finishes in the 54-race schedule — three of them in a row. For most, that would arguably mean the end of their championship hopes. But, aside from the DNFs, Sweet‘s worst finish in 2020 was 12th. He finished outside the top-10 only eight times and collected 29 podium finishes — 11 of them runner-up finishes. With that performance, he was able to wrap up his second title during the penultimate race of the year.
Kasey Kahne Racing is currently at 185 total World of Outlaws victories. Between Sweet and James McFadden, driving the team‘s No. 9 car again, KKR could hit a milestone 200 wins in 2021.
Ten-time Series champion Donny Schatz is after his own milestone this year in his 25th year on the World of Outlaws tour. One more victory will put him at 300 career WoO wins.
And while winning is also his prime goal, Schatz is looking to reclaim his throne on top of the mountain. His third-place finish in points last year was the first time in 14 seasons he didn‘t finish first or second in points. It was also the first time since 2011 that his win count for the season didn‘t hit double digits.
Part of his struggles stemmed from the continued development of the new Ford FPS 410 engine. A foundry that made parts for the engine closed, forcing them to find a new one and having to wait the majority of the year for parts they need. Now, with everything in place, Schatz and his Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing team are geared up to challenge for another World of Outlaws title.