Brad Sweet dominates World of Outlaws at Knoxville Raceway

KNOXVILLE — As many times as the World of Outlaws has been to Knoxville Raceway, it's hard to catch the drivers who make up the 'Greatest Show on Dirt' off guard.

Racers like Donny Schatz, Shane Stewart and Brad Sweet have seemingly endless laps around the famed 1/2-mile, and they generally know what to expect with the racing surface and how it will change over the course of a race night.

But on Friday night, the first of a two-night visit, the guys wheeling their 410 Sprint Cars got a surprise.

Sweet led all 25 laps from the pole position en route to his second straight Outlaws win, but that wasn't the surprise. The rubbered up top groove was.

'It surprised me a little bit, but honestly the rubber kind of helped me, and once it came I was able to get in behind a lapped car and ride out the rest of the race,' Sweet said. 'You always want to be toward the front of these fields; they're a lot of good guys and it's so hard to pass whatever the situation.

'We were fast all night, but there's still room for improvement for sure.'

Sweet got the win ahead of David Gravel, Schatz in third, Stewart and Knoxville regular Kerry Madsen.

Both Gravel and Schatz expressed similar thoughts to Sweet at how the racing surface ended up — not in a critical way, but genuine surprise. Gravel, who started third, said the track started to lock down around Lap 15 of 25, and once it did, he didn't want to overdrive the car and cost himself a good finish.

He caught Sweet briefly in lapped traffic, but only ever got as close as a couple car-lengths away before Sweet was able to pull away again.

'My tires started shaking and I wasn't going to (be able to) pass him, so I wasn't going to push it,' Gravel said. 'Typically this place doesn't take rubber at all, but it's just the way the race turned out. Nobody ever thinks this place is going to take rubber, but it did tonight.'

Schatz started fourth in the main event, and was the fastest car on the track in the middle part of the race. Schatz having to race Stewart hard early, Sweet's running out to a big early lead and that rubber made for a too little, too late scenario for the nine-time Knoxville Nationals champion.

Sitting in his pit area after the race, Schatz said he wasn't necessarily hoping for a caution because even with about a groove and a half left to race, passing was still going to be extremely difficult.

'When it gets like that you kind of don't wish for a caution,' Schatz said. 'You never know how hard you can use your tires. It was dry today and it was really hot, so you can only expect so much out of the dirt. These guys do a great job with the racetrack, so that's why it's unheard of (to take rubber).'

Sweet's win makes four Outlaws victories in 2017 for the Kasey Kahne Racing driver and two in a row after his win at the 39th Annual Jackson Nationals in Jackson, Minn., last Saturday.

As the laps wound down, Sweet knew he was sitting in solid position, but also had that bit of doubt necessary for a racecar driver. Nothing can be taken for granted, after all, when racing against the best Sprint Car drivers in the world.

So he focused on his marks rather than paying attention to who was chasing him. It didn't really matter who it was, anyway.

'If you look up, you'll lose your concentration,' Sweet said. 'You don't want to do that with the guys you've got breathing down your throat. I've done enough of these that you never know what your lead is, either. You drive as hard as you possibly can and fill the gaps.

'It's super hard to win. We're trying to keep working hard to give these guys a run for their money.'

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