The 2021 racing season kicked off on Friday night with the 2020 champion bringing home the winner’s trophy.
That’s at least how things started out with the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Season.
Defending champion Brad Sweet pulled away from the Shark Racing grouping of Logan Schuchart and Jacob Allen on a restart with just under 20 laps to go.
“It was high-speed. The bottom was really technical,” Sweet said on the DirtVision broadcast. “You had to miss the bottom in (turn) one, but if you ran the bottom you had to run as close to the inside wall as you could. I felt like I drove a really good race.”
The now two-timer didn’t look back as he drove away from the Shark team and a hard charging Donny Schatz – who is off to a great start this season.
The 10-time champion drove his Tony Stewart Racing No. 15 car from 18th-to-2nd before being passed back by Schuchart and finishing third, rounding out the podium behind the No. 1S.
“I think the cream rises to the top here,” Sweet said. “I think we’re going to have a hell of a battle between three or four of us this year and I think this shows. It’s night one and I think I drove my ass off here, but (Schuchart) is putting pressure on us. (Schatz) is putting pressure on us. We’re ready for tomorrow.”
It wasn’t a bad reflection of what could be the 2021 season, as the podium finishers on Friday finished in the same order in last season’s final points tally.
Both Schuchart and Schatz have had a phenomenal start to their season, but Schuchart earned the win in Wednesday night’s pre-season show.
“It’s huge (to have a good finish),” Schuchart said on the broadcast. “Obviously tonight isn’t a (World 0f Outlaws) points night, but we feel really good about what we’ve got going on.”
David Gravel and Carson Macedo rounded out the top five on Friday night with Aaron Reutzel passing Allen late to take P6 from the No. 1A.
The series will return to the track on Saturday night for the second race of the season, and while a win on night 1 is valuable, Sweet doesn’t think it means much.
“It doesn’t mean much when you win the first one,” Sweet said. “We still have 89 to go.”
There’s still two more nights in Volusia to come.
World of Outlaws Sprint Cars
DIRTCar Nationals Night 1 Results
1. Brad Sweet
2. Logan Schuchart
3. Donny Schatz
4. David Gravel
5. Carson Macedo
6. Aaron Reutzel
7. Jacob Allen
8. Brent Marks
9. Kasey Kahne
10. Joey Saldana
11. Cory Eliason
12. Justin Peck
13. Sam Hafertepe Jr.
14. Tyler Courtney
15. Sheldon Haudenschild
16. Gio Scelzi
17. Danny Dietrich
18. Kraig Kinser
19. Brock Zearfoss
20. Jason Sides
21. Parker Price-Miller
22. Mason Daniel
23. Cale Conley
24. Wayne Johnson
25. Hunter Schuerenberg
26. Craig Pellegrini
| World of Outlaws Sprint Car Standings | ||||
| Position | Driver | Points | Behind | |
| 1 | Brad Sweet | 150 | – | |
| 2 | Logan Schuchart | 146 | -4 | |
| 3 | Donny Schatz | 144 | -6 | |
| 4 | David Gravel | 142 | -8 | |
| 5 | Carson Macedo | 140 | -10 | |
| 6 | Aaron Reutzel | 138 | -12 | |
| 7 | Jacob Allen | 136 | -14 | |
| 8 | Brent Marks | 134 | -16 | |
| 9 | Joey Saldana | 130 | -20 | |
| 10 | Cory Eliason | 128 | -22 | |
