Sweet Victory at Knoxville Raceway

World of Outlaws

Contact: Cristina Cordova
World of Outlaws PR
(704) 707-0236 | ccordova@dirtcar.com

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Sweet Battles Rubber to Take Night One at Knoxville

KNOXVILLE, IA - June 9, 2017 - Kasey Kahne Racing driver Brad Sweet scored his second consecutive win (after last week's Jackson Nationals win), second Knoxville Raceway career win, and fourth win of the season during Night One of the Brownells Big Guns Bash at Knoxville Raceway, leading all 25 laps of the Feature from green to checkers after starting on the pole.

The battle between the Outlaws and Team Knoxville began with one of each in the front row - Sweet and Brian Brown. But the unexpected challenger appeared in the form of rubber about 15 laps into the race.

"It's good to be out front when the rubber went down there. I just had to search around," said Sweet. "I made a lot of mistakes there, and honestly, we have a little bit of work to do. We were better earlier in the night and weren't that great right there, for whatever reason, but obviously good enough to hold off Donny and David Gravel. So we must have been pretty good."

Sweet quickly shot to the lead at the start of the race, leaving the battle behind him as first David Gravel and then Shane Stewart fought past Brown, exchanging slide jobs for third.

By Lap 4, Donny Schatz was in on the action, making an outside pass on Brown for fourth. But he didn't stop there. Ten laps in, Schatz sailed past Stewart, after which he began making his play for second. But Gravel wasn't having it.

With ten laps to go, Gravel closed in on Sweet, but the rubber got the better of him.

"I was just conserving my tires there," said Gravel. "Once it took rubber I knew that I didn't really have a shot. I would have liked to have seen if that didn't take rubber. I think it would have been a really good race. I thought I was gaining on [Sweet] and then kind of started taking rubber. We did the best we could tonight."

A few laps later, with seven to go, Gravel was having to fend off Schatz just to hold onto second.

"Actually, I think our car got really good there in the rubber," said Schatz. "At that point you have nothing to hold back on if you're going to try to win the race. They weren't going to make that big a mistake, but we were trying. We were trying to get around [Gravel] and just couldn't make it happen."

Despite the rubbered up top groove, the Outlaws beat out Team Knoxville in Night One, taking all three podium spots with Sweet at the helm, followed by Gravel and Schatz. Knoxville regulars Kerry Madsen and Brian Brown came in fifth and sixth respectively, followed by Hard Charger Ian Madsen, who worked his way up from 13. Last year's Knoxville Nationals Champion Jason Johnson followed I. Madsen in eighth.

The action continues Saturday night at Knoxville Raceway.

Abridged Race Results:

Feature (25 Laps) - 1. 49-Brad Sweet [1][$10,000]; 2. 5-David Gravel [3][$5,000]; 3. 15-Donny Schatz [4][$3,000]; 4. 2-Shane Stewart [5][$2,700]; 5. 2M-Kerry Madsen [6][$2,500]; 6. 21-Brian Brown [2][$2,200]; 7. 18-Ian Madsen [13][$2,000]; 8. 41-Jason Johnson [8][$1,800]; 9. 41S-Dominic Scelzi [9][$1,600]; 10. 24-Terry McCarl [10][$1,450]; 11. 19-Brent Marks [11][$1,300]; 12. 17-Joey Saldana [7][$1,200]; 13. 9-Daryn Pittman [15][$1,100]; 14. 4-Paul McMahan [17][$1,000]; 15. 3-Tim Kaeding [16][$950]; 16. 55-Brooke Tatnell [22][$900]; 17. 2KS-Austin McCarl [12][$850]; 18. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [21][$750]; 19. 11K-Kraig Kinser [18][$725]; 20. 7S-Jason Sides [23][$700]; 21. 49J-Josh Schneiderman [24][$700]; 22. O9-Matt Juhl [20][$700]; 23. 12-Lynton Jeffrey [19][$700]; 24. 1M-Danny Lasoski [14][$700]; Lap Leader: Brad Sweet 1-25; KSE Hard Charger Award: 18-Ian Madsen[+6]

Qualifying Flight-A - 1. 2M-Kerry Madsen, 15.387; 2. 19-Brent Marks, 15.508; 3. 41S-Dominic Scelzi, 15.519; 4. 2-Shane Stewart, 15.523; 5. 18-Ian Madsen, 15.526; 6. 20-A.J. Moeller, 15.592; 7. 5-David Gravel, 15.618; 8. 15-Donny Schatz, 15.633; 9. 4-Paul McMahan, 15.642; 10. 9-Daryn Pittman, 15.709; 11. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild, 15.778; 12. 12-Lynton Jeffrey, 15.808; 13. 82-Cap Henry, 15.809; 14. 44-Chris Martin, 15.877; 15. 49J-Josh Schneiderman, 15.904; 16. 71A-R.J. Johnson, 15.955; 17. 1A-Jacob Allen, 16.06; 18. W20-Greg Wilson, 16.075; 19. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 16.11; 20. 9Z-Jared Goerges, 16.286; 21. 7W-Tasker Phillips, 16.444

Qualifying Flight-B - 1. 17-Joey Saldana, 15.682; 2. 49-Brad Sweet, 15.685; 3. 24-Terry McCarl, 15.729; 4. 2KS-Austin McCarl, 15.803; 5. 21-Brian Brown, 15.852; 6. 55-Brooke Tatnell, 15.923; 7. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 16.04; 8. 41-Jason Johnson, 16.101; 9. 1M-Danny Lasoski, 16.109; 10. O9-Matt Juhl, 16.182; 11. 4X-Dakota Hendrickson, 16.195; 12. 7S-Jason Sides, 16.239; 13. 1B-Dustin Selvage, 16.244; 14. 56N-David Heskin, 16.278; 15. 22-Rager Phillips, 16.381; 16. 3-Tim Kaeding, 16.55; 17. 19P-Paige Polyak, 16.588; 18. 15X-Bobby Mincer, 16.773; 19. 19W-Bobby Weuve, 16.91; 20. 13-Clyde Knipp, 16.987; 21. 85-Chase Wanner, NT

Heat #1 - Flight (A) (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer - 1. 2M-Kerry Madsen [1]; 2. 5-David Gravel [4]; 3. 41S-Dominic Scelzi [2]; 4. 18-Ian Madsen [3]; 5. 4-Paul McMahan [5]; 6. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [6]; 7. 1S-Logan Schuchart [10]; 8. 49J-Josh Schneiderman [8]; 9. 7W-Tasker Phillips [11]; 10. 82-Cap Henry [7]; 11. 1A-Jacob Allen [9]

Heat #2 - Flight (A) (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer - 1. 2-Shane Stewart [2]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [4]; 3. 19-Brent Marks [1]; 4. 9-Daryn Pittman [5]; 5. 12-Lynton Jeffrey [6]; 6. W20-Greg Wilson [9]; 7. 44-Chris Martin [7]; 8. 20-A.J. Moeller [3]; 9. 71A-R.J. Johnson [8]; 10. 9Z-Jared Goerges [10]

Heat #3 - Flight (B) (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer - 1. 21-Brian Brown [3]; 2. 17-Joey Saldana [1]; 3. 24-Terry McCarl [2]; 4. 1M-Danny Lasoski [5]; 5. 11K-Kraig Kinser [4]; 6. 4X-Dakota Hendrickson [6]; 7. 1B-Dustin Selvage [7]; 8. 22-Rager Phillips [8]; 9. 19W-Bobby Weuve [10]; 10. 19P-Paige Polyak [9]; 11. 85-Chase Wanner [11]

Heat #4 - Flight (B) (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer - 1. 49-Brad Sweet [1]; 2. 41-Jason Johnson [4]; 3. 2KS-Austin McCarl [2]; 4. 3-Tim Kaeding [8]; 5. O9-Matt Juhl [5]; 6. 7S-Jason Sides [6]; 7. 55-Brooke Tatnell [3]; 8. 56N-David Heskin [7]; 9. 15X-Bobby Mincer [9]; 10. 13-Clyde Knipp [10]

Craftsman Club Dash (6 Laps) - 1. 49-Brad Sweet [1]; 2. 21-Brian Brown [3]; 3. 5-David Gravel [5]; 4. 15-Donny Schatz [7]; 5. 2-Shane Stewart [2]; 6. 2M-Kerry Madsen [4]; 7. 17-Joey Saldana [6]; 8. 41-Jason Johnson [8]

C-Main (10 Laps) - Top 2 Transfer - 1. 1S-Logan Schuchart [5][-]; 2. 1A-Jacob Allen [1][-]; 3. W20-Greg Wilson [3][$150]; 4. 7W-Tasker Phillips [9][$150]; 5. 15X-Bobby Mincer [4][$150]; 6. 19W-Bobby Weuve [6][$125]; 7. 19P-Paige Polyak [2][$125]; 8. 9Z-Jared Goerges [7][$125]; 9. 85-Chase Wanner [8][$125]; 10. 13-Clyde Knipp [11][$125]

Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps) - Top 4 Transfer - 1. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [3][-]; 2. 55-Brooke Tatnell [2][-]; 3. 7S-Jason Sides [6][-]; 4. 49J-Josh Schneiderman [9][-]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart [13][$300]; 6. 1B-Dustin Selvage [8][$250]; 7. 71A-R.J. Johnson [11][$225]; 8. 22-Rager Phillips [12][$200]; 9. 82-Cap Henry [5][$200]; 10. 56N-David Heskin [10][$200]; 11. 20-A.J. Moeller [1][$200]; 12. 1A-Jacob Allen [14][$200]; 13. 44-Chris Martin [7][$200]; 14. 4X-Dakota Hendrickson [4][$200]

CONTINGENCY WINNERS: MSD Ignitions ($25 cash): Jason Sides; MSD Ignitions ($50 cash): Brad Sweet; Penske Shocks ($50 cash): Donny Schatz; JE Pistons ($50 cash): Jason Johnson; VP Racing Fuels ($50 cash): Jason Johnson; Edelbrock ($50 cash): Brent Marks; Comp Cams ($50 cash): Terry McCarl; Extended Stay America ($50 cash): Brent Marks; Cometic Gasket ($50 cash): Joey Saldana; Super Flow ($50 cash): Paul McMahan; Craftsman Club Fast Five ($100 cash): Brad Sweet, David Gravel, Shane Stewart, Joey Saldana, Jason Johnson; Craftsman/Sears: Brian Brown; KSE Hard Charger: Ian Madsen; Comp Cams ($50 product certificate): Brad Sweet; JE Pistons (Set of Rings): Sheldon Haudenschild; JE Pistons (Set of Rings): Kraig Kinser.

SEASON WINNERS

Donny Schatz - 9 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 19, Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 19, LoneStar Speedway on March 3, The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 9, The Dirt Track at Las Vegas on March 10, Thunderbowl Raceway on March 18, Missouri State Fair Speedway on May 5, 81 Speedway on May 6, Eldora Speedway May 13);
David Gravel - 8 (Thunderbowl Raceway on March 17, Placerville Speedway on March 29, Perris Auto Speedway on April 1, Gator Motorplex on April 13, Plymouth Speedway on April 28, Lincoln Speedway on May 17, Williams Grove on May 19, New Egypt Speedway on May 24.)
Brad Sweet - 4 (Stockton Dirt Track on March 25, Devil’s Bowl on April 15, Jackson Motorplex on June 3, Knoxville Raceway on June 9)
Logan Schuchart - 3 (Keller Auto Speedway on March 31, Eldora Speedway on May 12, Charlotte on May 26)
Jason Johnson - 2 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 17, Devil’s Bowl on April 14)
Brian Brown – 1 (Cocopah Speedway on April 7)
Rico Abreu – 1 (Arizona Speedway on April 8)
Shane Stewart – 2 (Williams Grove Speedway on May 20, Lawrenceburg Speedway on May 29)
Parker Price-Miller – 1 (Tri-State Speedway on May 14)
Ian Madsen – 1 (Jackson Motorplex on June 1)
Kerry Madsen – 2 (Jackson Motorplex on June 2)