Sweet Steals The Thunder & The Money

BEAVER DAM, Wis. — Beaver Dam Raceway simply does not disappoint.

Saturday’s Jim “JB” Boyd Memorial delivered the latest piece of evidence. The Wisconsin third-mile gave fans 40 laps of non-stop battling. Action was all over the track, especially toward the front of the pack.

The $20,000 prize came down to a late duel between Californians Brad Sweet and Carson Macedo. The latter had led from the drop of the green while Sweet arose from a donnybrook to secure the second spot on Lap 25, and he wasted no time taking aim at Macedo.

“The Big Cat” stalked the Jason Johnson Racing No. 41 through traffic as the laps dwindled. All it took was for Macedo to have one slow set of corners on the bottom of Turns 1 and 2, and Sweet pounced.

The five-time World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series champion ripped around Macedo’s outside to take the top spot, and that was that. Sweet expertly navigated traffic on his way to a comfortable victory aboard the Kasey Kahne Racing No. 49.

“I just got up on the wheel,” Sweet said. “I was trying to save my tire and trying to find the right lines, but I just had to go. I’m tired of losing these races. This team is working hard. I’ve been working hard to get better. The competition level is at an all-time high.

“I just tried to stay close if any opportunity presented itself,” Sweet added of the battle with Macedo. “He made a mistake in lapped traffic. There was grip in spots and slick in spots, and he got hung in the slick and I was able to slingshot around him. Then I just told myself to calm down and not make mistakes.”

Sweet pushed his win total to 92 with The Greatest Show on Dirt.

The runner-up spot went to Anthony Macri, who charged from seventh to second.

“It’s badass,” Macri said of his initial Beaver Dam impression. “That was pretty fun right there. We haven’t exactly been doing well, but my guys haven’t given up. They worked really hard today to change a lot of stuff around, and it paid off. I can’t thank these guys enough.”

Sheldon Haudenschild made a late run aboard the NOS Energy Drink No. 17 run to climb onto the podium.

“I had a lot going on inside the cockpit,” Haudenschild said. “I had a little bit of fuel spraying on me. I had a fitting break on the high speed. It was just dumping fuel down my leg. I was making gameplans to go to the pond for a minute then I said, ‘I should probably get my wing back.’ It took me a minute to get going there. We were really good, but I was just scatterbrained there for a minute.”

David Gravel and Michael “Buddy” Kofoid completed the top five.

The finish:

Feature (40 Laps): 1. 49-Brad Sweet[2]; 2. 39M-Anthony Macri[7]; 3. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[4]; 4. 2-David Gravel[5]; 5. 83-Michael Kofoid[11]; 6. 15-Donny Schatz[10]; 7. 24-Rico Abreu[3]; 8. 41-Carson Macedo[1]; 9. 88-Tanner Thorson[13]; 10. 1S-Logan Schuchart[17]; 11. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[14]; 12. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[9]; 13. 23-Garet Williamson[25]; 14. 7S-Chris Windom[21]; 15. 9-Kasey Kahne[12]; 16. 2C-Cole Macedo[15]; 17. 17B-Bill Balog[16]; 18. 19-Joel Myers Jr[20]; 19. 37-Bryce Norris[18]; 20. 6-Zach Hampton[6]; 21. 51-Scotty Thiel[8]; 22. 27-Emerson Axsom[24]; 23. 99-Skylar Gee[22]; 24. 17GP-Tim Shaffer[23]; 25. 12X-Kameron Key[19]