One of the major questions of what has been described as the most interesting off-season in recent Sprint Car history was answered on Wednesday night.
Rico Abreu is going full-time with High Limit Racing.
It’s a major development for several reasons. For one, while High Limit has picked up some strong full-timers in Kasey Kahne (Kasey Kahne Racing No. 9), Jacob Allen (Shark Racing No. 1S), Zeb Wise (Rudeen Racing No. 26), Cory Eliason (Ridge Sons Racing No. 8) and Brenham Crouch (Crouch Motorsports No. 1), no team is quite yet of the same caliber as Brad Sweet and the Kasey Kahne Racing No. 49.
That’s not a slight on those other teams, it’s just that they’re not the five-time reigning World of Outlaws champions.
For High Limit to work on a nightly and year-long basis, Sweet needs teams that are World of Outlaw championship caliber programs and the Rico Abreu Racing No. 24 with crew chief Ricky Warner fits that description.
Tyler Courtney in the Clauson-Marshall Racing No. 7BC is of that category and Justin Peck in the Buch Motorsports No. 13 certainly would be contenders. That’s to say nothing of publicly undecided 10-time World of Outlaws champion Donny Schatz in the Tony Stewart Racing No. 14 as well.
Abreu gives Sweet, Kyle Larson and FloRacing another layer of competitive and marketing legitimacy. After all, Abreu took the fight to Larson in the inaugural midweek big money championship and came up short by only seven points.
For Abreu, the appeal of High Limit is that he gets to chase a $100,000 championship as part of a $1 million points fund and the Midweek Money $100,000 point fund while also chasing all the big World of Outlaws sanctioned races without penalty.
World of Outlaws teams are exclusive to that series with the exception of four starts elsewhere during the season.
From an overall discipline health standpoint, Abreu has never run for a national championship before so this isn’t a defection from World of Outlaws. His decision to chase the High Limit championship raises the stature of High Limit without taking away from the established series.
Fans who attend High Limit races, and the marquee World of Outlaws races, also get to see one of the most popular stars in the industry with greater regularity.
The competition in the industry aside, this is just a win for Sprint Car racing.