KANSAS CITY, Kan. — When he needed it most, Brad Sweet came up clutch in pursuit of his seventh-straight national championship with the Kasey Kahne Racing, NAPA Auto Parts No. 49.
Ending a dry spell that dates back 28 races to July 11 at Florence Speedway, “The Big Cat” drove past fearless kids Ryan Timms and Chase Randall to win Saturday’s Heartland of America Showdown at Kansas’ Lakeside Speedway.
Coming from the fourth-starting spot, Sweet took the lead with a daring move to clear two lap cars and Timms all at once on Lap 10 of 30. From there, he survived a pair of restarts to cash in the DURST Dice Roll for lucky fan, Mike, who shared a $5,000 bonus with the Grass Valley, California native – pushing the race winnings to $17,500 on Saturday.
The score – Sweet’s fifth at Lakeside – marked his 14th career trip to Whiskey Myers Victory Lane and earned him his fourth Casm Safety Products Win Sticker of the 2025 season.
With the championship coming down to the wire, Sweet is now 30-points behind Abreu in the driver points and owner points, which pays out $250,000-to-win. The KKR No. 49 is also 10-points behind the Ridge & Sons Racing No. 87 for second in the owner fight, which is a vital position in determining the 2026 and 2027 Franchise System with Kubota High Limit Racing.
Timms led the opening 10 laps before finishing with runner-up honors at Lakeside Speedway. The Knoxville Nationals champion and Tuscarora 50 winner will be with Kubota High Limit Racing for the final three races as he and Shane Liebig chase their second-career win with the series.
Rico Abreu, who controls both championships at the moment, earned a big-time third-place finish to limit the points damage with three races remaining. His advantage is at 20 points over Ridge & Sons Racing in the owner fight and 30 points over Sweet in the driver battle.
Closing out the top 10 at Lakeside on Saturday night was Aaron Reutzel, Brent Marks, Brenham Crouch, Justin Sanders, Emerson Axsom, Brady Bacon, and Landon Crawley.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 49-Brad Sweet[4]; 2. 10-Ryan Timms[1]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu[7]; 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel[5]; 5. 19-Brent Marks[3]; 6. 5-Brenham Crouch[12]; 7. 14-Justin Sanders[15]; 8. 27-Emerson Axsom[10]; 9. 21H-Brady Bacon[11]; 10. 45X-Landon Crawley[8]; 11. 7BC-Giovanni Scelzi[13]; 12. 26-Justin Peck[18]; 13. 88-Tanner Thorson[9]; 14. 19JR-Joel Myers Jr[24]; 15. 2KS-Ian Madsen[22]; 16. 24D-Danny Sams III[17]; 17. 19H-Clinton Boyles[21]; 18. 63-JJ Hickle[19]; 19. 42-Sye Lynch[20]; 20. 74S-Sammy Swindell[14]; 21. 9-Chase Randall[2]; 22. 88W-Austin McCarl[6]; 23. 12X-Hank Davis[16]; 24. 27C-Carson McCarl[23]
