VADO, N.M. — They say that patience is a virtue, but Brad Sweet was tired of waiting.
While the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series made its long-awaited debut at New Mexico’s Vado Speedway Park on Tuesday night, The Big Cat went ahead and made his long-awaited return to victory lane with the series.
Sweet led all 30 laps at the Vado three-eighths-mile but had to fend off a fury of challenges from Sheldon Haudenschild throughout lap traffic to win the inaugural race at the state-of-the-art facility.
Amazingly enough, it had been 26 races and seven months since the Kasey Kahne Racing, NAPA Auto Parts No. 49 last won a World of Outlaws race at Skagit (Wash.) Speedway. Sweet hopes this is the momentum his team needs to really begin the run for a fourth consecutive series championship.
“Yeah, it has felt like forever,” Sweet said on the length of his victory lane absence. “We just got stuck points racing last year and didn’t take those risks you need to win against these guys. As far as this year though, we’ve been fast all season and knocking on the door of getting this win. I’m happy for my guys. Eric [Prutzman], Joe [Mooney], and Andrew [Bowman] have been working hard, now we’re gonna get them the wins they deserve. This is the time to be getting better.”
The added significance in Tuesday’s triumph is that Sweet reached a milestone 75th career World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series victory. He’s now only nine wins away from tying Stevie Smith (84) for a spot inside the coveted top-10 on the all-time winners list.
After qualifying sixth and finishing second in his Heat, Sweet used a perfect DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash to put the No. 49 in prime position to capitalize come showtime. From there, he survived some brief hiccups in lap traffic to make Vado Speedway Park the 42nd track he’s won at, while New Mexico became the 21st state he’s won in.
“These are honestly some of the hardest ones to win,” Sweet added. “Track position is just so key and lap traffic is tough when the track gets like this. It was hard to time the runs, and there was one time when Sheldon (Haudenschild)came across but luckily enough, I was ready. I really didn’t want to catch any lappers, I just wanted clean air to control my own mistakes. You have to use your mind as much as you possibly can out there.”
Haudenschild briefly led on lap seven, but never could control the top spot enough to wrangle it away from Sweet. The Wooster, Ohio, native finished 0.768-seconds behind with a second-place effort for the Stenhouse Jr. / Marshall Racing, NOS Energy Drink No. 17.
“I definitely felt like we were a little quicker in open track,” Haudenschild said. “I just didn’t have enough speed to clear the slider I needed with how the track was. California was a struggle for us, but [Kyle] Ripper, Stephen [Hamm-Reilly], and Jakob [Weaver] have been working hard to get us back on track. It’s amazing how much something as simple as qualifying good and getting in the Dash can help with that extra track time to figure out the car.”
For the first time since his season-opening win on Feb. 10, Donny Schatz returned to the podium on Tuesday night. The 10-time series champion finished third in the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing, Ford Performance, Carquest Auto Parts No. 15 after taking a few shots at Sheldon for the second spot.
“These short tracks have not been our strong suit, but we’ve changed so many things that we’re getting it figured out,” Schatz mentioned. “I felt better as the race went on and thought we were catching those guys but didn’t get there quick enough to be able to capitalize on their mistakes. It’s a positive result, though, we’ll keep working hard.”
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 49-Brad Sweet [1][$10,000]; 2. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [2][$6,000]; 3. 15-Donny Schatz [3][$3,500]; 4. 83-James McFadden [5][$2,800]; 5. 2-David Gravel [7][$2,500]; 6. 5-Spencer Bayston [8][$2,300]; 7. 41-Carson Macedo [9][$2,200]; 8. 26-Cory Eliason [6][$2,100]; 9. 1S-Logan Schuchart [14][$2,050]; 10. 18-Giovanni Scelzi [11][$2,000]; 11. 1A-Jacob Allen [4][$1,600]; 12. 11K-Kraig Kinser [10][$1,400]; 13. 19AZ-Tanner Thorson [19][$1,200]; 14. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [20][$1,100]; 15. 7S-Jason Sides [13][$1,050]; 16. 6C-Logan Calderwood [17][$1,000]; 17. 20G-Noah Gass [12][$1,000]; 18. 6-Bill Rose [16][$1,000]; 19. 7-Lorne Wofford [18][$1,000]; 20. 115-Nick Parker [15][$1,000]; 21. 2B-Brett Becker [21][$1,000]. Lap Leaders: Brad Sweet 1-30. KSE Hard Charger Award: 19AZ-Tanner Thorson[+6]