Brad Sweet

Last updated
Brad Sweet
Brad Sweet 38 2012 Road America Sargento 200.jpg
Sweet at Road America in 2012
Born (1985-12-31) December 31, 1985 (age 38)
Grass Valley, California
Achievements2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series Champion
2018 Knoxville Nationals Winner
2013, 2019 Kings Royal Winner
2009 4-Crown Nationals Midget Winner
2008 4-Crown Nationals Wingless Sprint Car Winner
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
36 races run over 3 years
2013 position22nd
Best finish18th (2012)
First race 2010 5-Hour Energy 250 (Gateway)
Last race 2013 Ford EcoBoost 300 (Homestead)
WinsTop tens Poles
060
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
18 races run over 3 years
2011 position28th
Best finish28th (2011)
First race 2009 Lucas Oil 150 (Phoenix)
Last race 2011 O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 (Kansas)
WinsTop tens Poles
030
World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series career
Debut season2003
Current team Kasey Kahne Racing
Car number49
Starts815
Championships5
Wins90
Poles69
Best finish1st in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
Finished last season1st (2023)
Last updated on: Nov 4, 2023.

Bradley Kirk Sweet [1] (born December 31, 1985) is an American professional race car driver and a veteran of the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, driving the No. 49 for Kasey Kahne Racing, where he has earned the nickname 'The Big Cat'. Sweet was formerly a JR Motorsports development driver in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Contents

Racing career

Early career

Sweet began his top-level racing career in 2008, driving for Kasey Kahne Racing in midget cars and sprint cars in the USAC National Midget Series and World of Outlaws series. Sweet proved competitive, winning some of the series' top races, including the Knoxville Midget Nationals, and won at Eldora Speedway, one of the most famous short tracks in America, in both sprint and midget cars. [2] Sweet also began driving stock cars, making starts in the ARCA Racing Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starting in 2009. [3] [4] In 2010 and 2011 he drove partial seasons in the Camping World Truck Series for Stringer Motorsports and Turner Motorsports, finishing 28th in points in 2011. [5]

NASCAR Nationwide Series

In 2012 Sweet drove the No. 38 Nationwide Series car, a Chevrolet sponsored by Great Clips and owned by Turner Motorsports, in a limited schedule. He competed in 18 of the series' races, with Kasey Kahne driving the car during the remainder of the year. [6] Sweet competed for the Nationwide Series Rookie of the Year award. [2] In addition to driving in the Nationwide Series, he will also continue to drive for Kasey Kahne Racing in the World of Outlaws series, driving the No. 49. [7] He finished 18th in series points, before moving to JR Motorsports to drive the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro part-time in 2013. [8]

World of Outlaws

Sweet currently drives the NAPA Auto Parts/Ollie's Bargain Outlet number 49 for Kasey Kahne Racing. [9] As of November 5, 2022, Sweet has 79 career A-main wins placing him in 11th place on the prestigious Top 25 all-time wins list. [10] He collected his first World of Outlaws win in 2012 at the Clay County Speedway. [11] In 2013, he won the Kings Royal at Eldora Speedway, one of the biggest races of the year for his only win that season. [12] [13] He ended 2013 ranked 18th in points. Sweet started the 2014 season by winning the season opener at Volusia Speedway for his third career World of Outlaws win. [14] Sweet has said that the World of Outlaws is more of a home than NASCAR, his previous series. [15] Sweet won the 2018 Knoxville Nationals, [16] the first Nationals victory for Kasey Kahne Racing; [17] he finished second in the 2018 Kings Royal to Donny Schatz, but returned in 2019 to win the event for the second time. [18]

Sweet has won five World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series championships in a row, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. [19] He took the title in 2019 over Donny Schatz with 16 wins, [20] and repeated a title run in 2020, winning eight times and becoming the sixth driver to win multiple WoO championships. [21]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Nationwide Series

NASCAR Nationwide Series results
YearTeamNo.Make1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435NNSCPtsRef
2010 Braun Racing 11 Toyota DAY CAL LVS BRI NSH PHO TEX TAL RCH DAR DOV CLT NSH KEN ROA NHA DAY CHI GTY IRP IOW GLN MCH BRI CGV ATL RCH DOV KAN CAL CLT GTY
31
TEX PHO HOM 129th70 [22]
2012 Turner Motorsports 38 Chevy DAY PHO LVS BRI CAL
6
TEX RCH TAL
33
DAR IOW
13
CLT DOV
23
MCH
24
ROA
20
KEN
16
DAY
24
NHA CHI
19
IND IOW
12
GLN CGV
20
BRI ATL RCH
20
CHI KEN
10
DOV CLT
15
KAN
23
TEX
13
PHO HOM
17
18th469 [23]
2013 JR Motorsports 5 Chevy DAY PHO LVS
12
BRI
22
CAL
22
TEX RCH TAL DAR CLT DOV IOW
34
MCH
6
ROA KEN
14
DAY
28
NHA CHI
9
IND IOW
15
GLN MOH BRI ATL RCH CHI
20
KEN
30
DOV
13
KAN
8
CLT
26
TEX
10
PHO
28
HOM
31
22nd420 [24]

Camping World Truck Series

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results
YearTeamNo.Make12345678910111213141516171819202122232425NCWTCPtsRef
2009 Stringer Motorsports 90 Toyota DAY CAL ATL MAR KAN CLT DOV TEX MCH MLW MEM KEN IRP NSH BRI CHI IOW GTW NHA LVS MAR TAL TEX PHO
22
HOM
27
69th179 [25]
2010 DAY ATL
12
MAR NSH KAN DOV CLT
21
TEX MCH
19
IOW GTY
16
IRP
8
POC NSH DAR BRI
DNQ
CHI
16
KEN NHA LVS MAR TAL TEX PHO
15
HOM
25
31st911 [26]
2011 Turner Motorsports 32 Chevy DAY
21
PHO
11
DAR
36
MAR
15
NSH
28
DOV
30
CLT
10
KAN
9
TEX KEN IOW NSH IRP POC MCH BRI ATL CHI NHA KEN LVS TAL MAR TEX HOM 28th193 [27]

* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points

ARCA Re/Max Series

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

ARCA Re/Max Series results
YearTeamNo.Make123456789101112131415161718192021ARSCPtsRef
2009 Stringer Motorsports 90 Toyota DAY SLM CAR TAL KEN TOL POC MCH MFD IOW KEN
16
BLN POC ISF CHI
34
TOL DSF NJE SLM KAN CAR 107th210 [28]

Personal life

Brad's sister Katelyn is married to NASCAR driver Kyle Larson.

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References

  1. "Bradley Kirk Sweet, Born 12/31/1985 in California". CaliforniaBirthIndex.org. Retrieved May 28, 2024.
  2. 1 2 "NNS: Turner Motorsports Announces Driver Lineup". SPEED Channel. Fox Sports. January 2, 2012. Archived from the original on January 12, 2012. Retrieved 2012-01-06.
  3. "Sweet to pilot Stringer Motorsports No. 90 Toyota Camry in Series Debut". ARCA. July 16, 2009. Retrieved 2012-01-06.
  4. "Brad Sweet To Drive Stringer Motorsports No. 90 Great Clips Toyota In Select NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Races In 2010". Stringer Motorsports. November 11, 2009. Archived from the original on January 26, 2011. Retrieved 2012-01-06.
  5. "2011 Official Driver Standings: after Ford 200". NASCAR.com. NASCAR. November 21, 2011. Archived from the original on December 26, 2011. Retrieved 2012-01-06.
  6. Busbee, Jay (January 3, 2012). "Kasey Kahne, Brad Sweet to split Great Clips Nationwide ride". From the Marbles. Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved 2012-01-06.
  7. "Saldana to drive Great Clips car". World of Outlaws. January 3, 2012. Retrieved 2012-01-06.
  8. Spencer, Lee (January 1, 2013). "Kahne, Sweet take on Nationwide roles". Fox Sports. Retrieved 2013-02-25.
  9. "D R I V E R S Kasey Kahne Racing". Kasey Kahne Racing. Archived from the original on 18 April 2017. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
  10. Walker, Brian (2022-11-18). "CLIMBING THE CHARTS: Modern Stars Continue Rising On World Of Outlaws All-Time Win List". WorldofOutlaws.com. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
  11. "Brad Sweet Gets Breakthrough Win" Archived 2014-02-22 at the Wayback Machine at mrn.com
  12. Pace, Doug (July 14, 2013). "Brad Sweet Earns Crown in 30th Kings Royal at Eldora Speedway". The Spokesman-Review . Spokane, WA. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  13. "Sweet Wins King's Royal" at worldofoutlaws.com
  14. "Sweet wins opening night of 2014" Archived 2014-02-21 at the Wayback Machine at worldofoutlaws.com
  15. "Beyond the Cockpit: Brad Sweet: 'I'm Pretty Happy' in Dirt Racing". Frontstretch. 2017-06-01. Retrieved 2017-06-02.
  16. Southard, Dargan (August 11, 2018). "Brad Sweet holds off Donny Schatz for 2018 Knoxville Nationals title". Des Moines Register . Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  17. Kerchner, Mike (August 12, 2018). "Brad Sweet Conquers The Knoxville Nationals". Speed Sport . Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  18. Billing, Greg (July 21, 2019). "Kings Royal: Sweet wins $175,000 at Eldora Speedway". Dayton Daily News . Dayton, OH. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  19. Ryan, Nate (November 7, 2020). "Brad Sweet clinches second consecutive Outlaws title; focuses on team championship". NBC Sports. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  20. Ford, Walter (December 20, 2019). "Sprint car driver Brad Sweet honored for championship season". The Union . Grass Valley, CA. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  21. Graziano, Nick (November 12, 2020). "WoO Honors Sweet & Others During Virtual Banquet". Speed Sport. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  22. "Brad Sweet – 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  23. "Brad Sweet – 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  24. "Brad Sweet – 2013 NASCAR Nationwide Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  25. "Brad Sweet – 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  26. "Brad Sweet – 2010 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  27. "Brad Sweet – 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  28. "Brad Sweet – 2009 ARCA Re/Max Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved April 7, 2020.