Bradley Sweet (born December 31, 1985) is an American professional

race car driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

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 JR Motorsports (pronounced "Junior Motorsports") is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, CARS Tour, and occasionally in the NASCAR Advance Auto Par ...

development driver A driver development program (or driver development team) is a system or structure designed for young kart and race car drivers to learn and perfect their racing skills. These programmes are devised by racing teams, external companies and funded ...

in the

NASCAR Nationwide Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

Racing career

Early career

Sweet began his top-level racing career in 2008, driving for Kasey Kahne Racing in

midget car Midget cars, also speedcars in Australia, is a class of racing cars. The cars are very small with a very high power-to-weight ratio and typically use four cylinder engines. They originated in the United States in the 1930s and are raced on most ...

s and

sprint car Sprint cars are high-powered open-wheel race cars, designed primarily for the purpose of running on short oval or circular dirt or paved tracks. Sprint car racing is popular primarily in the United States and Canada, as well as in Australia, New ...

s in the

USAC National Midget Series The United States Auto Club (USAC) is one of the sanctioning bodies of auto racing in the United States. From 1956 to 1979, USAC sanctioned the United States National Championship, and from 1956 to 1997 the organization sanctioned the Indianapol ...

and

World of Outlaws The World of Outlaws (often abbreviated WoO) is an American motorsports sanctioning body. The body sanctions two major national touring series. It is best known for sanctioning the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series and the World of Outlaws Late ...

series. Sweet proved competitive, winning some of the series' top races, including the Knoxville Midget Nationals, and won at

Eldora Speedway Eldora Speedway (nicknamed "The Big E", "Auto Racing's Showcase Since 1954," and "The World's Greatest Dirt Track") is a high-banked clay dirt oval. Located north of Rossburg, Ohio in the village of New Weston, Ohio, it features permanent and ...

, one of the most famous short tracks in America, in both sprint and midget cars. Sweet also began driving stock cars, making starts in the

ARCA Racing Series The ARCA Menards Series is an American stock car series, the premier division of the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA). It is considered a minor, semi-professional league of stock car racing, used as a feeder series into the three national ...

and

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

Camping World Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...

starting in 2009. 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.

NASCAR Nationwide Series

In 2012 Sweet drove the No. 38

Nationwide Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

car, a Chevrolet sponsored by

Great Clips Great Clips is an American hair salon chain with over 4,100 locations across the United States and Canada. It is headquartered in Bloomington, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. In 2013, it had system-wide sales of $1.03 billion. History The ...

and owned by Turner Motorsports, in a limited schedule. He competed in 18 of the series' races, with

Kasey Kahne Kasey Kenneth Kahne (; born April 10, 1980) is an American dirt track racing driver and former professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2018, driving the No. 95 Dumont Jets/Procore, Procore ...

driving the car during the remainder of the year. Sweet competed for the Nationwide Series Rookie of the Year award. 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. He finished 18th in series points, before moving to

to drive the No. 5

Chevrolet Camaro The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro share ...

part-time in 2013.

World of Outlaws

Sweet currently drives the NAPA Auto Parts/Ollie's Bargain Outlet number 49 for Kasey Kahne Racing. 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. He collected his first World of Outlaws win in 2012 at the Clay County Speedway."Brad Sweet Gets Breakthrough Win"
at mrn.com In 2013, he won the

Kings Royal The Kings Royal is a major sprint car racing event held annually at Eldora Speedway near New Weston, Ohio, United States. Regarded as one of the world's most prestigious sprint car races, it awarded a $175,000 USD winner's prize since 2019. His ...

at Eldora Speedway, one of the biggest races of the year for his only win that season."Sweet Wins King's Royal"
at worldofoutlaws.com He ended 2013 ranked 18th in points. Sweet started the 2014 season by winning the season opener at

Volusia Speedway Volusia Speedway Park (formerly known as Volusia County Speedway and Barberville Speedway) is an auto racing facility located near Barberville in Volusia County, Florida. It currently operates as a 1/2-mile dirt oval and a 1/5-mile dirt oval ...

for his third career World of Outlaws win."Sweet wins opening night of 2014"
at worldofoutlaws.com Sweet has said that the World of Outlaws is more of a home than

, his previous series. Sweet won the 2018 Knoxville Nationals, the first Nationals victory for Kasey Kahne Racing; he finished second in the 2018 Kings Royal to

Donny Schatz Donald R. Schatz (born August 10, 1977) is an American professional sprint car racing driver who competes full-time in the World of Outlaws, driving the No. 15 Ford for Tony Stewart Racing. Schatz is a ten-time champion in the World of Outlaws wi ...

, but returned in 2019 to win the event for the second time. Sweet has won back to back to back World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series championships in 2019, 2020 and 2021. He took the title in 2019 over Donny Schatz with 16 wins, and repeated a title run in 2020, winning eight times and becoming the sixth driver to win multiple WoO championships.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

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

Nationwide Series

Camping World Truck Series

Season still in progress
Ineligible for series points

ARCA Re/Max Series

(

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

Personal life

Brad's sister Katelyn is married to NASCAR driver

Kyle Larson Kyle Miyata Larson (born July 31, 1992) is an American professional auto racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports. Larson is the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champ ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sweet, Brad Living people 1985 births People from Grass Valley, California Racing drivers from California NASCAR drivers World of Outlaws drivers Articles containing video clips ARCA Menards Series drivers USAC Silver Crown Series drivers JR Motorsports drivers