ROSSBURG, Ohio – Brad Sweet wore the crown in victory lane as he scored his second Kings Royal for the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway Saturday night.
Along with the crown, the Grass Valley, California native pocketed an unprecedented $175,000 with the win.
Since the inception of the prestigious event in 1984, it has always paid $50,000 – which was still one of the largest paying purses for Sprint Car racing in the country last year. But for the 36th year of the race, track owner Tony Stewart raised it to be the largest.
“Sprint car racers make money based off how they finish,” Sweet said. “When you have a race that pays $175,000 to win and basically $20,000 for second, it’s kind of all or nothing coming in here. I’m a fan of it. It’s nerve-racking. It gets the fans’ attention. It’s what we need in this sport.
“It’s intense all night long. All day. Under the red. Basically, if you don’t win the race it’s a missed opportunity. You only get so many of these opportunities. So, I’m just happy and want to cherish the moment.”
Claiming his second Kings Royal victory – not to mention his 11th series victory of the year and 45th over all – required Sweet to battle the competition and the race’s 2019 format.
He started the long night qualifying 18th, which placed him in the fourth starting position for his heat race. With a daring slide job on the first lap to go from fourth to the lead, Sweet cruised to the heat win.
With his Heat race being the first one of the night, under the event’s format, he was placed sixth in the line up for the 40-lap Feature.
On the pole was three-time Kings Royal winner Sammy Swindell, in his son Kevin Swindell’s No. 39 car. To his outside was 10-time Series champion and five-time Kings Royal winner Donny Schatz – who had also won two of the last three races at Eldora during the week. Sweet won the other race.
Leading the charge off turn four, Swindell powered to the high side on the start, while Schatz dove underneath him. Swindell had the better run on the top, though, and powered to the lead off turn two.
Behind them, Sweet split Cory Eliason and Aaron Reutzel, charging between them down the front stretch and launched to fourth-place in the first corner.
Swindell maintained his lead over Schatz for the next three laps before the first caution of the night flew for Tom Harris coming to a stop on the track. When the race went back green Sweet threw another massive slide job into turn one, going from fourth to the lead. However, another caution came out before the lap was complete – placing cars back in their starting order before the restart.
The field lined up single file and Swindell pulled away from Schatz on the start, putting about a three-car length distance between them.
While Swindell led, Schuchart was forging a strong run. By lap eight, the Drydene No. 1s car had already made its way from 12th to fourth and then bolted by Sweet for third. Two laps later he torpedoed his car into turn three, diving past Schatz and Swindell by the exit of turn four.
After not transferring into the Kings Royal last year, Schuchart was now leading and running away with the event this year.
Sweet fought his way past Schatz for second-place by lap 15, but couldn’t match Schuchart’s pace. By lap 25, Schuchart had a 2.5 second lead over Sweet and was poised to increase it riding the cushion around the track.
However, with the flash of yellow lights around the speedway, the leaders were brought back together.
Due to the long nature of the race, an open red was called, giving crews the chance to add fuel to their car, insuring it could make it to the end of the 40-lap race around the half-mile track.
On the restart, with 15 laps to go, throttled to the outside of Schuchart before the flag stand and latched on to the cushion for momentum to pull away.
Sweet left the Pennsylvanians to battle for second, while he charged to the Kings Royal victory and the big $175,000 check.
“You have to pinch me. It feels surreal,” Sweet said.
Schuchart finished in second, followed by Brent Marks in third, Sheldon Haudenschild in fourth and David Gravel in fifth.
Schatz, Swindell, Jac Haudenschild, Tim Shaffer and Kerry Madsen rounded out the top ten.
The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series returns to action on Tuesday, July 23 at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pennsylvania. For more information, visit WorldofOutlaws.com.
WoO NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series
Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, Ohio
King’s Royal – July 20, 2019
1. 49-Brad Sweet
2. 1S-Logan Schuchart
3. 19-Brent Marks
4. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild
5. 41-David Gravel
6. 15-Donny Schatz
7. 39-Sammy Swindell
8. 3-Jac Haudenschild
9. 49X-Tim Shaffer
10. 2M-Kerry Madsen
11. 12N-Joey Saldana
12. 41S-Giovanni Scelzi
13. 18-Ian Madsen
14. 5-Shane Stewart
15. 11-Dale Blaney
16. 24-Rico Abreu
17. 26-Cory Eliason
18. 91-Cale Thomas
19. 83-Daryn Pittman
20. 70-Brock Zearfoss
21. 92-Sye Lynch
22. 70X-Justin Peck
23. 84-Tom Harris
24. 87-Aaron Reutzel
