KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The stars were out in full force as Shane Stewart’s Heartland of America Showdown opened on Friday night at Lakeside Speedway with Brad Sweet earning his third High Limit Racing triumph of the season.
Austin McCarl earned the pole by winning the dash and was joined by Parker Price-Miller on the front row of the 25-lap A-Main. McCarl led the opening five circuits before it became a three-way battle for the lead and things really heated up.
Third-starting Tyler Courtney officially took the lead on Lap 6 and promptly brought fifth-starting Sweet with him as the duo split McCarl and formed their own fight for control of the field.
Officially, “Sunshine” and “The Big Cat” only swapped the lead four times – but there were countless exchanges and slide jobs that won’t go down in the box score.
Courtney controlled the next three laps before Sweet edged ahead, then Country cruised back to lead another four before Sweet finally stole it for good on lap 14. The Kasey Kahne Racing, NAPA Auto Parts No. 49 ran off into traffic and won by a 2.818-second margin.
Sweet’s third win of the year ties him with Corey Day as the winningest driver with Kubota High Limit Racing.
Championship leader Tyler Courtney claimed his eighth podium win the opening 11 races as the Clauson-Marshall Racing, NOS Energy Drink No. 7bc finished P2 behind Sweet.
Kyle Larson began his double duty weekend with a strong 12th-to-third bid in Paul Silva’s No. 57. He’ll qualify his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet at Kansas Speedway Saturday, then haul back to Lakeside Speedway to chase a $50,000 win.
Brent Marks kept his streak alive with his 11th top-10 in the 11th race of the year, finishing fourth.. Marks, along with Sweet, Courtney and Larson, are locked-in for Saturday’s heat races.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 49-Brad Sweet[5]; 2. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[3]; 3. 57-Kyle Larson[12]; 4. 19-Brent Marks[7]; 5. 88A-Austin McCarl[1]; 6. 9P-Parker Price-Miller[2]; 7. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[9]; 8. 5-Spencer Bayston[23]; 9. 24-Rico Abreu[11]; 10. 9-Kasey Kahne[6]; 11. 51B-Joe B Miller[8]; 12. 1A-Jacob Allen[14]; 13. 14-Corey Day[17]; 14. 21-Brian Brown[19]; 15. 13-Justin Peck[18]; 16. 5T-Ryan Timms[24]; 17. 88-Tanner Thorson[13]; 18. 26-Zeb Wise[15]; 19. 83-James McFadden[10]; 20. 55-Chris Windom[21]; 21. 1-Brenham Crouch[25]; 22. 12X-Paul Nienhiser[20]; 23. 5B-Karter Sarff[22]; 24. 22K-Kaleb Johnson[4]; 25. 19H-Hunter Schuerenberg[16]
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