No matter what the future holds, Brad Sweet has cemented himself amongst the all-time greats in World of Outlaws history by closing out on a fifth consecutive championship in winning the World Finals at the Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday night.
The victory was his 11th of 2023 and gives him 90 wins in the Greatest Show on Dirt. That is five short of Dave Blaney at 95 for eighth on the all-time wins list. This was also his first win at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Dirt Track in 38 attempts.
His fifth straight championship is one away from a consecutive championships record tie with Steve Kinser but Sweet will not pursue that distinction. Instead, he and business partner Brad Sweet will lead the creation of a rival series that intends to compete with World of Outlaws next season.
The win came at the expense of fan favorite Rico Abreu, which probably explains a lot of the boos he received upon climbing out of his Kasey Kahne Racing No. 49.
“I finally made it now that I am getting booed” Kahne said. “Getting cheers and boos means you made it. Glad to finally get a victory here. We have been trying here for a long time. I was able to be conservative on the bottom and keep my tires under me and there at the end I was just able to sneak under Rico and get the win.
“Really neat to cap it off with a win like this. It is like a walk off homer. It feels really good and we are going to celebrate. … I’m just super happy. It’s just such a relief. These seasons are so long and so grueling and so hard. It’s just unbelievable that we’ve been able to accomplish what we’ve been able to accomplish.”
Final World of Outlaws standings
Brad Sweet
David Gravel -60
Carson Macedo -168
Gio Scelzi -500
Logan Schuchart -538
Donny Schatz -562
Sheldon Haudenschild -618
Spencer Bayston -842
Brock Zearfoss -1438
James McFadden -1824
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.