It had been nine races since Brad Sweet had finished on the podium with the World of Outlaws and over a month since he and his team had won.
Thursday night, his Kasey Kahne No. 49 team found its spot back home in victory lane at Burlington, Iowa’s 34 Raceway.
“We’ve been through some adversity this last month,” Sweet said. “At the beginning of the year it was like nothing could go wrong, but man lately everything has been going wrong; but, that’s racing.”
It was nothing to panic about for the No. 49 guys – they had seen stretches like this in the past. Some, like last year’s that saw him surrender the points lead to Logan Schuchart, resulted in a DNF or two.
This year, though, Sweet has maintained finishes that might have salvaged a poor performance or a pass that happened late in what could be referred to as ‘garbage time.’
It helped continue his points lead through the stretch, despite some drivers going on hot stretches like Carson Macedo.
The driver of the No. 41 car recorded his third-straight top-two finish after a pair of back-to-back wins last weekend at Knoxville.
“It feels great,” Macedo said. “It just feels good to be fast all night – really balanced, really comfortable. I think that’s half the battle. My guys have done an incredible job the last few races, and really the whole year. Hopefully we can keep the momentum rolling.”
David Gravel rounded out the podium on Thursday night, making the top three in points the finishers in the top 3 on the results board.
As the series approaches potentially its biggest week yet at Huset’s and Jackson, each of the three will be vying for top finishes night in and night out.
“You have to keep a positive mindset, and I think we have,” Sweet said. “This was big to build our confidence with all these big money races coming. Our focus is these next 10 days right now.”
World of Outlaws Sprint Car Results
34 Raceway
1. Brad Sweet
2. Carson Macedo
3. David Gravel
4. Kerry Madsen
5. Gio Scelzi
6. Aaron Reutzel
7. James McFadden
8. Sheldon Haudenschild
9. Donny Schatz
10. Brian Brown
11. Logan Schuchart
12. Brent Marks
13. Jacob Allen
14. Kraig Kinser
15. Ayrton Gennetten
16. Wayne Johnson
17. Jason Sides
18. Riley Goodno
19. Brock Zearfoss
20. Bobby Mincer
21. Chris Martin
22. Tasker Phillips
23. Josh Schneiderman
24. Noah Gass
| World of Outlaws Sprint Car Standings | ||||
| Position | Driver | Points | Behind | |
| 1 | Brad Sweet | 4338 | – | |
| 2 | David Gravel | 4284 | -54 | |
| 3 | Carson Macedo | 4274 | -64 | |
| 4 | Donny Schatz | 4186 | -152 | |
| 5 | Sheldon Haudenschild | 4184 | -154 | |
| 6 | Logan Schuchart | 4160 | -188 | |
| 7 | Aaron Reutzel ® | 4118 | -220 | |
| 8 | Kraig Kinser | 3824 | -514 | |
| 9 | James McFadden | 3760 | -578 | |
| 10 | Brock Zearfoss ® | 3624 | -704 | |
