FORT WORTH, Texas — Six-time national sprint car champion Brad Sweet has retired from full-time racing.
Sweet made the announcement during Sunday’s High Limit Racing banquet. The California native, who co-owns High Limit with Kyle Larson, won five consecutive World of Outlaws championships before winning the 2024 High Limit title.
Sweet finished second to Rico Abreu in this year’s High Limit chase and struggled at times throughout the season, including missing some time with a concussion suffered at Eldora Speedway.
It was an emotional Sweet, who addressed the gathering.
“As many of you know, this is going to be harder than I thought, this was my final full time season,” Sweet said choking back the tears. “I’ll get it together. I have a speech that I will get through.
“I don’t know why I am so emotional. I want to say thank you to the fans, they are the heartbeat of this sport. Every time I rolled into a track, the fans remind us so much of why we do this,” the 39-year-old driver said. “Every night at the end of the night, the kids coming up to you, good bad or different, it is why we do it. My wife, she is my rock. She sees the highs, the lows, the long nights, the heartbreak, the championships and the celebrations. You gave me balance and I couldn’t have accomplished this without you.”
Sweet won the 2018 Knoxville Nationals and won 92 World of Outlaws features and 14 main events on the High Limit circuit during a long career driving for Kasey Kahne Racing.
“Kasey took a chance on a kid that was unproven and the time and I can’t thank him enough for believing in me and being more than a car owner, being a friend,” Sweet said as Kahne joined him on stage. “He helped me chase our dreams that seemed too big at the time. I will cherish our accomplishments, our memories and our friendship forever. It has been a good ride.”
Sweet stressed that while he would no longer be racing full time, he was far from through with sprint car racing.
“Racing has been my whole life. Walking away from full-time driving is not easy, but I know this: I gave it everything I had, every lap, every season, every championship,” he said. “This isn’t goodbye to racing, it is just the end of being behind the wheel full time. I will still be around supporting this sport that we all love and giving back as much as I can to the next generation.”
