ELDON, Mo. — Brad Sweet was in his own timeline Friday night for the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series race at Lake Ozark Speedway.
Laps clicked off when he wanted them too. Slower cars were placed where he wanted them. But that was until a red flag with 10 laps remaining in the 40-lap event at the third-mile track.
The lead was his. Only his.
Sweet’s straightaway lead on second-place David Gravel vanished with the snap of a finger. Time was no longer his to freely play with. He had to defend it.
When the green flag waved again and the thunder of the cars struck the facility, Sweet – looking for his second win of the season – tried to jolt his way back to a commanding lead. But Gravel struck just as hard.
Determined to win in his Jason Johnson Racing team’s backyard, Gravel became the mad titan of the high side. He used every inch of it to find the grip he needed to conquer his quest for the lead.
A lap after the restart, he took the lead in search of his third victory of the season.
Sweet was not going to live with second. Determined to leave hoisting the trophy, the Grass Valley, Calif., native used his years of experience to find the right line and reel Gravel back in.
With four laps to go, Sweet found his advantage. He slid under Gravel in turns one and two, clearing him on the backstretch and then changing course to the high side of the track for the final few laps.
Sweet still wasn’t invulnerable, though. Gravel tried every line he could to stay on Sweet’s bumper with Donny Schatz close behind in third.
With the checkered flag flying, Sweet saw a potential victory and defeat at the same time. One turn away from victory, a lap car blocked Sweet’s run off turn four, allowing Gravel to close through the middle of the track and Schatz to close on Gravel on the bottom.
But they were in Sweet’s endgame. He hammered the throttle off of turn four and found enough grip worthy of a strong run off the corner to claim his 36th World of Outlaws victory.
“I almost gave it away in the last corner,” Sweet said. “All that matters is we hung on to the checkers and got the win.”
While the battle with Gravel was nerve-racking, he said, the most challenging part of the night was trying to find the best line.
“The top got tricky, then I had to get the bottom going, and the bottom got slow and tricky, as well,” Sweet said. “Just trying to maneuver through lap cars, that’s key to winning these races. We’re getting better and better at managing our tires and getting through lap cars. Tonight, I thought we did a really good job and did everything perfectly until that caution.”
Gravel knew if Sweet stuck to the bottom on the restart he could get by him on the high side. But he said, with five to go, the high side just didn’t work for him anymore.
“The top got extremely tricky at the end,” Gravel said. “Our right rear tire was going low, and that doesn’t help on the cushion. A couple of little things that hurt us a little bit. Just those last three-four laps were not good laps, and paid for it.”
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