Brad Sweet capped off the World of Outlaws Sprint Car portion of the DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park with a win on Sunday night. Photo courtesy WoO Sprint Media
Kasey Kahne Racing with Mike Curb capped off a stellar 2015 DIRTcar Nationals Sunday night with a World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series feature win, the team’s third of sprint week, and the coveted ‘Big Gator.’
Brad Sweet, the 2014 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year, gave his team its final feature win of sprint week after battling Paul McMahan.
Sweet started the A-main in fifth and quickly began his ascension through the field. He drove his Ollie’s Bargain Outlet car to third following the scrum on the first lap and got past Kerry Madsen by lap five to take over the second spot. One lap later he was battling McMahan for the lead.
As the two rounded turns three and four on lap 7, Sweet took the bottom line and passed McMahan for the lead. The move was short-lived though.
“I was a little mad at myself because I passed him and then I let him pass me back,” Sweet said. “So I thought I gave it away because then I showed him the bottom and he was able to kind of get going.”
McMahan retook the lead with his CJB Motorsports car and began working his way through lapped traffic.
Farther back, Sweet’s KKR teammate Daryn Pittman was in pursuit of Madsen and the third position. Pittman caught the No. 29 car on lap 10 and began the battle for the spot. Pittman caught Madsen off of turn four and the two were side-by-side as they crossed the start/finish line. The battle continued into the first turn with Pittman taking over the third spot in his Great Clips car. After another lap of back-and-forth where Madsen attempted to use a lapped car as a pick, Pittman held him off and secured the position.
McMahan attempted to extend his lead through the middle third of the race but Sweet began bearing down on him. Using the bottom line in three and four, Sweet took over the lead from McMahan on lap 22.
“It got tight there toward the end and allowed Brad to get by,” McMahan said.
Eight laps later, Sweet added another piece of hardware to KKR’s collection from the week.
“It’s just one little mistake – the grease kept coming back in three and four and then it would go away for a few laps and then come back,” Sweet said. “So it was just searching down there to try to figure it out but my guys gave me a great car. We were knocking on the door all weekend so it’s nice to end it on a high note. Really nice to come out and start the season this strong for KKR as a whole and especially our team.”
Daryn Pittman, who came home third in the night’s feature, was crowned the 2015 DIRTcar Nationals Sprint Week champion. Pittman bested his nearest competitor Kerry Madsen by 14 points after five nights of racing that saw him take home two feature wins – the first in Thursday night’s UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions event and the second in the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series season opener on Friday night.
It was Pittman’s second DCN championship win.
“That’s a tough trophy to win and this is a tough track to come and start your season out on,” Pittman said. “It was a great week all the way around. We just put ourselves in position every night to get a good finish.”
Sweet echoed Pittman in assessing the positive impact of the week on the team’s confidence and performance moving forward.
“We started strong last year and I understand how grueling the season is going to be,” Sweet said. “I think we’re more prepared than we’ve ever been and really looking forward to trying to battle Daryn and Donny and few of those other guys for the championship this year.”
A disappointed McMahan, who closed out his DIRTcar Nationals run with a second place finish in the night’s feature, said his team had finally gotten his car where it needed to be but the finish was not what he had hoped for.
“Definitely not where I want to be,” McMahan said. “I wanted to be in victory lane tonight. Everybody here at CJB Motorsports busts their butt to give me a great racecar and I let them down tonight. It’s a positive way to end the weekend the way we started all week and as bad as we were to come back and be up here in the top two is a good day.”
The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series returns to action on March 4 and 5 at the Dirt Track at Las Vegas. The event begins a West Coast swing for the series that lasts through mid-April.
Austin Dillon (center) outran veteran racer Ken Schrader (left) and Billy Workman, Jr. (right) for the win in Sunday night’s DIRTcar UMP Modified feature. Photo courtesy DIRTcar Nationals Media
In the UMP Modified main event, Austin Dillon, who spent the day qualifying for the Daytona 500, charged from ninth to victory to win the final DIRTcar UMP Modified qualifying race for Monday’s Gator Championship event.
Ken Schrader set the early pace but Dillon was pushing hard from his ninth starting position. He eventually swept past Schrader to grab the lead and pull away to the checkered flag, giving him his second Gator trophy of the week and a prime spot for Monday’s Gator Championship showcase for UMP Modifieds.
“I just made a pool, so hopefully it will swim in it later,” said Dillon, the grandson of legendary car owner Richard Childress and driver of the famous No. 3 NASCAR Sprint Cup car. “That was fun. I want to thank my Team Dillon Racing guys. I got wrecked in that heat race and I wasn’t happy about it, as you can tell by the way I was driving. Trying to get up through there, when you get inverted to fourth it’s hard in eight laps to get back to the lead. I’m just proud of these guys. It’s been a fun weekend already. Had a good qualifying day over there at Daytona. Hit the wall in the Unlimited, so hopefully the rest of the week can keep going like this.”
On Monday night, DIRTcar UMP Modifieds will compete in their DIRTcar Nationals showcase Gator Championship while DIRTcar Late Models kick off the final week of action at the half-mile dirt oval.
For more information on the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, visit WoOSprint.com.
Nightly doubleheaders at Volusia run Saturday through Feb. 21. For more information and updates on the DIRTcar Nationals, click DIRTcarNationals.com.
(DIRTCar Nationals Event PR contributed to the DIRTcar UMP Modified portion of this story.)
DIRTcar Nationals
Volusia Speedway Park – Barberville, FL
Race Results – Feb. 14, 2015
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World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series
1. 49-Brad Sweet
2. 51-Paul McMahan
3. 9-Daryn Pittman
4. 7S-Jason Sides
5. 29-Kerry Madsen
6. 71M-Joey Saldana
7. 1-Lucas Wolfe
8. 2L-Danny Lasoski
9. 24-Terry McCarl
10. 15-Donny Schatz
11. 27-Greg Hodnett
12. 2-Shane Stewart
13. 1s-Logan Schuchart
14. 83-David Gravel
15. 10H-Chad Kemenah
16. 45-Tim Shaffer
17. 14K-Dale Blaney
18. 7-Craig Dollansky
19. 11-Steve Kinser
20. 4-Cody Darrah
21. 11K-Kraig Kinser
22. 41-Jason Johnson
23. 1A-Jacob Allen
24. 98H-Dave Blaney
25. 63-Kody Swanson
Lap Leaders: Paul McMahan 1-6, 8-22; Brad Sweet 7, 23-30.
KSE Hard Charger Award: 27-Greg Hodnett [+11]
DIRTcar UMP Modifieds
1. 3-Austin Dillon
2. 9-Ken Schrader
3. 64JR-Billy Workman, Jr.
4. 40B-Kyle Bronson
5. 1G-Devin Gilpin
6. 36-Kenny Wallace
7. 88-Matt Crafton
8. 25-Tyler Nicely
9. 9M-Dale Mathison
10. 1X-Cody Erickson
11. 85-Kent Robinson
12. 51-Justin Allgaier
13. BD4-Jackie Boggs
14. D4-Dave Jamison
15. 10-Scott Mooers
16. K9-Will Krup
17. O1-Todd Sherman
18. Z8-Max McLaughlin
19. 85S-Mike Smith
20. OO-Bobby Rose
21. 11T-Dugan Thye
22. 71-Joel Ortberg
23. 1-Andy Galgoci
24. 15-Hunter Gustafson
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