The World of Outlaws head to Bristol this week for one of the most anticipated race weekends of the season. Lo and behold the defending champ is ripping up the tour.
In his last race Brad Sweet had an off-night and still managed a P7 finish. It was his worst finish of the year, aside from a P11 run at the third Volusia race. The numbers are as stout as they get.
It’s the reason that the NAPA Auto Parts No. 49 team goes into the potential crown jewel with a 92-point (46 on-track positions) lead in the standings.
Ahead of the P7, Sweet rattled off a nine-race podium streak that included four-straight wins.
Don’t be surprised to see something like that continue at Bristol, after all, the back-to-back title winner earned a Knoxville Nationals win on the half-mile in 2018.
With the track at Bristol being a half-mile in length, drivers that know how to utilize straightaway speed will be under the spotlight.
2019 Knoxville Nationals champion David Gravel and 10-time tour champion Donny Schatz will be looking to continue their successes on the big tracks, however both have been a tad off of their games this year.
Gravel has just five top-5 finishes, the least of any of the first five drivers in the standings. Schatz, meanwhile, has yet to net a win this season and is still chasing his 300th career W.
All in all, those three will be expected to put on a good show, but this weekend of racing is the most unpredictable of the year.
Sprint cars have yet to test practice on the track, so Thursday’s practice night will be one where we, hopefully, learn a little bit.
On top of the rest of the 16-driver World of Outlaws roster we will see at Bristol, a plethora of others have been invited to compete in the monumental race days.
The biggest name being Kyle Larson.
The Asphalt regular and dirt racing star has already nabbed his second-straight Chili Bowl Nationals and a Lucas Oil Late Model series opener victory on top of a NASCAR Cup Series victory for HMS in 2021 alone.
That doesn’t compare with his run through sprint car racing in 2020. He’ll be a contender.
Justin Peck has been as hot as any driver in the nation, picking up a pair of Pennsylvania wins early on and nearly grabbing another during the ASCoC race at Virginia Motor Speedway.
Sam Hafertepe Jr. and Spencer Bayston have shown speed this season as well as any they’ve had in 410 competition in recent memory. Don’t forget about Jac Haudenschild taking the green for his farewell season as well. The field is stacked.
Unfortunately, Always Race Day can confirm that Brian Brown will not be making the trip to Bristol, however, he is the only known scratch to this point.
The complete entry list to the field as well as the World of Outlaws standings going into the weekend can be found below, and fans can catch all of the action away from the track live on DirtVision.com.
Oh, and if you’re headed to Bristol and have seen our social media on Tuesday, we’ll see ya there.
| World of Outlaws Sprint Car Standings | ||||
| Position | Driver | Points | Behind | |
| 1 | Brad Sweet | 1880 | – | |
| 2 | Sheldon Haudenschild | 1788 | -92 | |
| 3 | David Gravel | 1782 | -98 | |
| 4 | Carson Macedo | 1770 | -110 | |
| 5 | Logan Schuchart | 1770 | -110 | |
| 6 | Aaron Reutzel ® | 1746 | -134 | |
| 7 | Donny Schatz | 1696 | -184 | |
| 8 | Kraig Kinser | 1646 | -234 | |
| 9 | Brock Zearfoss ® | 1562 | -318 | |
| 10 | Jason Sides | 1532 | -348 | |
| 11 | Jacob Allen | 1524 | -356 | |
| 12 | Parker Price-Miller ® | 1496 | -384 | |
| 13 | Gio Scelzi | 1472 | -408 | |
| 14 | Wayne Johnson | 1452 | -428 | |
| 15 | Cory Eliason | 1446 | -434 | |
| 16 | James McFadden ® | 1422 | -458 | |
Bristol Throwdown Entry List
1A – Jacob Allen (Hanover, PA)
1S – Logan Schuchart (Hanover, PA)
2 – David Gravel (Watertown, CT)
2C – Wayne Johnson (Oklahoma City, OK)
3Z – Brock Zearfoss (Jonestown, PA)
5 – Brent Marks (Myerstown, PA)
7BC – Tyler Courtney (Indianapolis, IN)
7S – Jason Sides (Bartlett, TN)
9 – James McFadden (Alice Springs, NT, AUS)
9JR – Derek Hagar (Marion, AR)
11 – Ian Madsen (St. Mary’s, NSW, AUS)
11K – Kraig Kinser (Bloomington, IN)
13 – Justin Peck (Monrovia, IN)
15 – Donny Schatz (Fargo, ND)
15H – Sam Hafertepe Jr. (Sunnyvale, TX)
17 – Sheldon Haudenschild (Wooster, OH)
18 – Gio Scelzi (Fresno, CA)
19 – Parker Price-Miller (Kokomo, IN)
19P – Paige Polyak (Tiffin, OH)
20 – Ryan Taylor (Perkasie, PA)
23 – Paul McMahan (Nashville, TN)
24 – Rico Abreu (St. Helena, CA)
24R – Jac Haudenschild (Wooster, OH)
24M – Kerry Madsen (St. Mary’s, NSW, AUS)
26 – Cory Eliason (Visalia, CA)
27 – Tucker Klaasmeyer (Paola, KS)
33M – Mason Daniel (Springville, CA)
41 – Carson Macedo (Lemoore, CA)
44W – Austen Wheatley (Lake Stevens, WA)
49 – Brad Sweet (Grass Valley, CA)
57 – Kyle Larson (Elk Grove, CA)
71 – Spencer Bayston (Lebanon, IN)
72 – Tim Shaffer (Aliquippa, PA)
73 – Scotty Thiel (Sheboygan, WI)
83 – Aaron Reutzel (Clute, TX)
83R – Lynton Jeffrey (Sydney, NSW, AUS)
85 – Dustin Daggett (Portland, MI)
Scratched Entries
21 – Brian Brown (Grain Valley, MO)
