Brad Sweet’s results in his last nine World of Outlaws Sprint Car starts are perplexing.
It’s almost deceiving, that this stretch has been his worst of the current season, especially since it includes four wins.
However, as the series heads to Bridgeport, the defending champ is coming in with four finishes outside of the top 10 in his last five starts. The only finish inside the top 10 was his win at Lincoln Speedway last week.
That’s been the case during the stretch for Sweet. Ever since the last of two races at Bristol Motor Speedway, the NAPA No. 49 team has either been standing in victory lane or outside of the top 10 after the checkered flag flew.
It was previously unheard of for the two-time champ this season. He started the year off with 10 podiums in the first 12 races. Only once did he run outside the top 10.
This stretch has allowed David Gravel to maintain the 60-point gap in the standings that he closed up to after sweeping the action at the Last Great Colosseum.
When the tour invades Bridgeport Speedway on Tuesday night, it’ll mostly be new territory, too. The high-banked track configuration that the tour will run has never been run with the World of Outlaws.
Danny Dietrich – a Pennsylvania local – won the series’ only race at the track in 2019 and they weren’t able to return during the COVID-altered 2020 schedule.
Sweet ran seventh that night at Bridgeport, behind Gravel, Carson Macedo and Donny Schatz – who the defending champ battled with all season to upset for his first championship.
There’s no telling, though, what will be the case this week as far as where the Kasey Kahne Racing car will go. Sweet has qualified well, like his second place time trial on Friday at Williams Grove – and still ran outside the top 10.
Whatever the case may be, he goes into Bridgeport with a 60-point lead on Gravel, and there’s a plethora of drivers behind him that will want to take advantage if another run outside the top 10 comes.
Hot laps are scheduled to kick off at the track at 5:00 p.m. CT (6:00 p.m. at the track) and all of the action, as always, can be seen live on DirtVision.com.
| World of Outlaws Sprint Car Standings | ||||
| Position | Driver | Points | Behind | |
| 1 | Brad Sweet | 3240 | – | |
| 2 | David Gravel | 3180 | -60 | |
| 3 | Carson Macedo | 3138 | -102 | |
| 4 | Aaron Reutzel ® | 3114 | -126 | |
| 5 | Sheldon Haudenschild | 3094 | -146 | |
| 6 | Donny Schatz | 3090 | -150 | |
| 7 | Logan Schuchart | 3032 | -208 | |
| 8 | Kraig Kinser | 2830 | -410 | |
| 9 | Brock Zearfoss ® | 2750 | -490 | |
| 10 | James McFadden ® | 2724 | -516 | |
2021 World of Outlaws Sprint Cars Winners
Volusia | Brad Sweet
Volusia | Logan Schuchart
Volusia | Carson Macedo
East Bay | Aaron Reutzel
Magnolia | Sheldon Haudenschild
The Rev | David Gravel
Cotton Bowl | Sheldon Haudenschild (2)
Cotton Bowl | Brad Sweet (2)
Lake Ozark | Brad Sweet (3)
Pevely | Brad Sweet (4)
Pevely | Brad Sweet (5)
Kokomo | James McFadden
Haubstadt | Carson Macedo (2)
Bristol | David Gravel (2)
Bristol | David Gravel (3)
Jacksonville | Brad Sweet (6)
I-70 | Brad Sweet (7)
I-70 | Brad Sweet (8)
Eldora | Brent Marks
Eldora | Sheldon Haudenschild (3)
Lincoln | Brad Sweet (9)
Williams Grove | Carson Macedo (3)
Williams Grove | Aaron Reutzel (2)
