NEW RICHMOND, Wis. — Not many guarantees exist in sprint car racing. Brad Sweet’s speed in Wisconsin is about as close to a lock as you can get.
On Friday night at Cedar Lake Speedway, the four-time and defending champion flexed his Badger State muscle yet again. Sweet took the lead early from Logan Schuchart and held on as the Shark Racing driver made one final run at him in the closing laps.
Sweet’s résumé in Wisconsin continues to grow to astonishing levels. He’s now up to a dozen World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car victories in the northern state. Friday was his seventh triumph in only 20 starts at Cedar Lake — equaling him with Sammy Swindell for the most all time.
The Kasey Kahne Racing pilot upped his career win total to 85 – giving him sole possession of 10th all-time and within one of former teammate – Daryn Pittman – for ninth on the list. He’s now at six victories in 2023 alone, already one more than his 2022 total.
“Seven wins here, that’s pretty special,” said Sweet. “The NAPA Auto Parts guys always bring me a good race car, and this track fits my style. Just happy to get a win. We haven’t won in a little bit, so it’s nice to get back here and get some confidence. Just a nice night for the guys.”
Sweet’s path to victory began from outside the front row. On the race’s initial start, polesitter Logan Schuchart jumped out to an early advantage. But Sweet never let him get far ahead.
“The Big Cat” moved his machine all over the three-eighths-mile surface in search of a route by the Shark Racing No. 1s. On lap six, Sweet built momentum on the exit of turn two and found the opportunity he needed. As the lead duo roared down the back straightaway, Sweet dipped to Schuchart’s inside and finished a slide job in turns three and four.
From there, Sweet began to pad his advantage and survive a handful of restarts as a few cautions plagued the race’s opening portion.
On a restart with 21 laps to go, Sweet was forced to face a challenge as third-running Rico Abreu aced the restart and surged into second as they accelerated down the front straightaway. Then in turn one, Abreu tossed a slider at Sweet and cleared him. Sweet returned the favor in the next set of corners. Abreu attempted to drive below him on the next lap in turn three but didn’t have enough momentum.
Shortly after the fight for the lead, Abreu’s right rear tire went down and took him out of contention.
Without Abreu behind him, Sweet appeared as if he may cruise away to the victory. But as the race dipped inside 10 laps to go, Sweet found himself unable to make his way through lapped traffic as quick as he had early in the race. The Grass Valley, Calif., native searched for lines to move by slower cars but didn’t have much luck.
“This place changes a lot,” Sweet explained. “It can go from the bottom to the top back to the bottom. It can even get a little bit clean into (turn) three there. You can judge yourself off the lapped cars, and the fact that Kraig (Kinser) was running back by me was making me not feel very good about what I was doing. When I tried to run the bottom, I wasn’t patient enough or just wasn’t good enough to stick down there.”
Sweet’s struggles allowed Schuchart to close quickly as the laps clicked away. As they came to the white flag, Schuchart looked to Sweet’s inside to let him know he was there. On the final circuit, Sweet protected enough to hold him off and cross the finish line with less than two tenths of a second over Schuchart.
“You know when you’re struggling to get by lapped cars that they’re coming behind you,” Sweet said. “I just tried to keep my calm as best I could and make the best last lap I could. I think it was just good enough. I could hear him off my left rear (tire).”
Schuchart’s runner up was his seventh of the campaign and his second in the last three starts.
“I kind of had the Jaws theme song in the back of my head, but it was like when they just get out of the water just in time is what it felt like,” Schuchart said with a laugh. “We were good. We were right there. This is where we got our first win, so this place is very meaningful and special.”
Rounding out the podium was David Gravel, who charged forward from sixth. The result marked his seventh podium in the last eight races aboard the Big Game Motorsports No. 2.
“This place is tricky,” Gravel said. “It gets spinny. They water the track, and it has a little bit of artificial grip to start the race. We just weren’t good early. I had a couple good things. Rico got a flat and let us get to third there and race a little bit. I found the bottom before everybody else, but it just wasn’t able to pay off.”
Sheldon Haudenschild and Spencer Bayston, who started 22nd, completed the top five.
Bill Balog was the fast qualifier.
The finish:
Feature (35 Laps): 1. 49-Brad Sweet[2]; 2. 1S-Logan Schuchart[1]; 3. 2-David Gravel[6]; 4. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[9]; 5. 5-Spencer Bayston[22]; 6. 83-James McFadden[13]; 7. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[7]; 8. 17B-Bill Balog[5]; 9. 41-Carson Macedo[10]; 10. 1A-Jacob Allen[21]; 11. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[11]; 12. 24-Rico Abreu[4]; 13. 88-Austin McCarl[18]; 14. 15-Donny Schatz[14]; 15. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[3]; 16. 7-Brooke Tatnell[19]; 17. 22-Riley Goodno[20]; 18. 20G-Noah Gass[15]; 19. 34DD-Kraig Kinser[24]; 20. (DNF) 49J-Josh Schneiderman[23]; 21. (DNF) 7S-Robbie Price[8]; 22. (DNF) 83JR-Michael Kofoid[17]; 23. (DNF) 5T-Ryan Timms[12]; 24. (DNF) 6-Bill Rose[16]