Brad Sweet swept the top-five in three World Finals races at the Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway and ended the 2023 season with his first win on that track to secure a fifth consecutive World of Outlaws championship.
Sweet entered the weekend needing to finish only seventh or better in the three races in order to clinch the title. David Gravel practically needed to sweep the series to put pressure on Sweet, who finished worse than seventh only 15 times in 71 race (21 percent). and Gravel did so on the opening night last Thursday. But Sweet finished fourth and the magic number became even more elusive.
Friday night’s victory was claimed by Brent Marks with Sweet finishing fourth again but this time he was ahead of his principal rival with Gravel in sixth. By the time the field lined up Saturday night, Sweet needed only to finish 22nd in the 26-car field. Gravel struggled throughout Saturday’s program. He failed to advance directly into the Main and started 21st after winning the Last Chace Qualifier.
Sweet’s Saturday night’s victory edged Rico Abreu, who led the most laps of the race. Gravel finished seventh.
“Just happy to be here in front of this large crowd,” Sweet said in a press release. “Happy we were able to get our NAPA Auto Parts car in Victory Lane. We’ve been trying here for a long time. I think with the points you’re always so conservative, but tonight we had a car capable of doing it. I was able to be pretty conservative on the bottom and keep my tires under me and just kind of snuck by Rico there at the end and tried to just hold him off there coming to the checkered.”
Gravel’s Thursday night win was his 12th of the season. Sweet’s victory in the finale was his 11th but greater consistency and no DNFs made the difference in 2023.
With that win, Sweet is now five victories shy of Dave Blaney for eighth on the all-time Outlaws wins list.
“It’s just really neat to cap it off with a win like this, and it’s basically like a walk-off homer,” Sweet said. “It just feels really good, and were going to celebrate. … I’m just super happy. It’s just such a relief. These seasons are so long and so grueling and so hard. It’s just unbelievable that we’ve been able to accomplish what we’ve been able to accomplish.”
Sweet’s “walk-off homer” comment comes amidst rumors that he may devote himself fulltime to the All-Star Circuit of Champions in 2024, the rival series he and his brother-in-law Kyle Larson recently purchased from Tony Stewart earlier this year.
Fresh from his pursuit of Larson to be the inaugural High Limit Sprint Car champion, Abreu finished second twice during the three-race series including Saturday night after Sweet’s late-race pass for the lead.
“I think you learn more losing these races than you do winning them,” Abreu said. “You’re racing the best in the country, so your margin for error is so minimal. You have lapped traffic running side-by-side in front of you eight laps into the race. You’re just trying to manipulate and pick and choose which lanes to run. My car was set up to run the top, and I committed up there. You win and lose those races. It’s just part of it.”
Giovanni Scelzi finished his Rookie of the Year campaign with a fourth-place finish in points, equaling both Jeff Swindell (1981) and Brad Doty (1982) for the best debut season in Outlaws’ history.
A full World of Outlaws Sprint Car schedule has not yet been announced, but the start of the 2024 season is slightly more than three months away on February 8 at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Florida.
More Dirt Track Racing
Kyle Larson still formulating plans for ASCoC
A Tale of Two Drivers: Brad Sweet, David Gravel
High Limit Sprint Car Series acquires ASCoC
Devil’s Bowl rages against the dying of its lights
Jade Avedisian makes history as first female national midget champ
Rico Abreu wins Lincoln Park but Kyle Larson takes the title
ASCoC champion Zeb Wise gets first WoO Sprints victory
Rico Abreu’s late season charge continues with Bridgeport win
Second win of the High Limit season for Rico Abreu at Huset’s
Kyle Larson dominates 62nd Knoxville Nationals
