At times, Saturday night’s World of Outlaws race looked more comparable to a AMA Supercross event.
Cars were bouncing through the turns like a dirt bike in the whoops, but Brad Sweet was able to overcome it.
The driver of the No. 49 NAPA Auto Parts car tamed the corners better than the other 23 drivers in the field, earning his first career Jason Johnson Classic victory.
“It’s definitely one of my biggest wins,” Sweet said in victory lane over the DirtVision broadcast. “I know it’s maybe not the Knoxville Nationals – or one of those types of wins – but, when you’ve got a fallen buddy out here… we’ve missed him ever since.”
Sweet pedaled his car through the corners at the Eldon, Missouri race track.
Five laps in and a bit behind Sweet, Jacob Allen bicycled his car through turns 1 and 2, bringing out the red flag.
Luckily it was an isolated incident. The rest of the race went green the entire way.
“I was smiling a little bit, because that’s a track where Jason would have his elbows up. This car was on rails. I was afraid to go to the middle, but all of the sudden I did and I didn’t really hop around as bad as some of those other guys did. I’m not sure what we hit on there.”
The Kasey Kahne Racing car outperformed its competitors.
Sweet’s win was his third victory of the season on the World of Outlaws tour – a series best to this point of the year.
Sheldon Haudenschild continued his string of successful finishes with a runner-up spot. James McFadden rounded out the podium as he tries to get his KKR team dialed in over the next few weeks.
Logan Schuchart managed another top five and Carson Macedo rounded it out in his best career Jason Johnson Classic finish.
“That was a giddy up race track,” Sweet said on DirtVision. “All you fans came out to support him. Tonight’s really just all about honoring Jason and his legacy as a race car driver, as a father, as a husband. He was just someone that we looked up to in the pits. He really made his imprint on the sport, so we definitely want to take a moment every now and then and pause and really remember him. Tonight’s the night we get to do that.
“I just hope Jason is looking down on us smiling tonight.”
World of Outlaws Sprint Cars
Jason Johnson Classic Results
1. Brad Sweet
2. Sheldon Haudenschild
3. James McFadden
4. Logan Schuchart
5. Carson Macedo
6. Aaron Reutzel
7. David Gravel
8. Brent Marks
9. Kraig Kinser
10. Cory Eliason
11. Donny Schatz
12. Gio Scelzi
13. Ian Madsen
14. Brock Zearfoss
15. Tucker Klaasmeyer
16. Sam Hafertepe Jr.
17. Ayrton Gennetten
18. Wayne Johnson
19. Jason Sides
20. Brian Brown
21. Kyle Bellm
22. Scotty Thiel
23. Jacob Allen
24. Clinton Boyles
