Brad Sweet and Kasey Kahne Racing are back on another heater and it might be too much for David Gravel and Carson Macedo to make up in the World of Outlaws championship chase.
In winning three races in a row, Sweet buried Gravel 132 points out of the lead and kept Macedo at 140 points behind. That’s a lot to overcome, but that’s neither here nor there over the next month because the season within the season is about to begin.
It’s the month of money, highlighted by two Kings Royals at Eldora and the Knoxville Nationals from August 11-14.
The championship doesn’t matter, in part, because there are no points on the line for these two events. Instead, both Kings Royals pay $175,000-to-win and the Nationals could pay up to $200,000-to-win. When including the Lernerville Silver Cup and the Pevely Ironman 55, there’s nearly $700,000 at stake this month.
Entire seasons will be made or broken in July and August, even for the guy poised to win his third consecutive championship.
"You can win one Kings Royal and feel like you had a great season." Sweet said. "You can have a great week right there. You can feel like you had an unbelievable season if you win both Kings Royals.
"We’re in the business to make money just like anyone else. We want to make money. We want to collect the trophies. We want to put our names in the history books. You only get a certain amount of chances for those in a year. We already went to the Jackson Nationals and Huset’s and didn’t win there. That stuff stings a little bit."
Aaron Reutzel (Huset’s) and Logan Schuchart (Jackson) won those races and they're frustrated by not matching Sweet's general level of consistency this season but winning the marquee races make up for it. Specifically, Schuchart called winning a second consecutive Jackson Nationals the biggest win of his career.
"It was a big deal because it got everyone’s confidence going after the start to the season we’ve had," Schuchart said. "And I shouldn’t say we weren’t confident, because we know we’re capable, but we just needed to validate it with a big win like that.
"That’s what these big wins can do for you -- give you a successful season when the points don’t necessarily reflect it."
That’s where Sheldon Haudenschild is, and expects to be, especially returning home to Ohio.
Haudenschild denied Donny Schatz his 300th win in Night 2 of #LetsRaceTwo and finished second earlier in the afternoon before a weight infraction resulted in a disqualification. The 27-year-old took the championship lead early this season with a win at The Mag in Mississippi, but has endured bouts of inconsistency and misfortune, despite a four-win campaign so far.
That #LetsRaceTwo win was the biggest win of his career, too.
"Eldora is at the top of my list every year anyway," Haudenschild said. "To lead a bunch of laps at Attica and to come up short, that's something we want to get back at the Doty, we're ready to win this week and we have the car to do it.
"We just have to make it happen. Looking forward to Kings Royal and the Doty and it comes down to just getting off on a right foot at Attica and carrying that into Eldora. I think if a guy gets rolling at Eldora and hits on something, with four races, gosh, that's a lot of money."
That’s almost $400,000 alone that could be had in four days without even having to leave the motor home.
"It’s a good time to be a Sprint Car racer," Sweet says. "It’s a good time to be with a good team. It’s a good time to peak right now. If you can have a good run right now, I don’t think it matters what happens with the points. I think you can win these few races and feel like you had a spectacular season. It’s something that is on your mind. You can feel it when you roll into Eldora.
"With $175,000 to win, you can feel the intensity. You’ll take more chances than you typically would on a normal night. Those aren’t points races, the nights at the Kings Royals, so you can put your car in a tighter position than you would’ve on a normal night. When there’s $175,000 on the line, you’re ready to take that extra risk."
Meanwhile, there’s Donny Schatz always looming in the background, having finally won No. 300 at Dubuque. The 10-time World of Outlaws champion owns five Kings Royal crowns, second in history only to Steve Kinser – the King of Kings.
Three of those wins came in consecutive order from 2016-18 and Schatz believes his team has started to solve his engine challenges, and it shows in the results.
"We're going the right way," Schatz said. "The engine stuff is starting to feel better. We just have to get our car stuff caught up to our engine now.
"We've swapped out so many parts in trying to get this pointed in the right direction. It's just caught us in a bad spot in that it's made us start over from square one. Our guys have done a great job. I can't wait for this week because I think we have something for them."
The five other former winners confirmed to make the field are Kerry Madsen in the Tony Stewart No. 14, Daryn Pittman in the Swindell SpeedLab No. 39, Jason Sides in his family owned No. 7, Jac Haudenschild in the iconic Pennzoil No. 22 and Dave Blaney in his personally constructed No. 10.
The brightest lights portends the brightest stars, and they’re all chasing the Big Cat right now.
“I know people are chasing us,” Sweet said. “We love it.”
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July 13, 2021 at 08:41AM
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Brad Sweet In Control As World Of Outlaws Enter Month Of Money - FloRacing
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