Sweet Steals Cotton Bowl from Pittman
PAIGE, Texas (February 26, 2016) – For the second time in four World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series action this season, Brad Sweet slid past KKR teammate Daryn Pittman in the final pair of corners to snare the $10,000 triumph.
While pole starter Joey Saldana led much of the way in the 30-lapper in the series inaugural visit to Cotton Bowl Speedway, Pittman and Sweet surged to the front in the final half dozen laps before Sweet slid by for his third victory of the season in the Razor-back Professional Tools No. 49.
“I came off the cushion in turn four and my left rear caught his left front, I sure didn’t mean to do that,” Sweet commented in victory lane. “It’s tough having to race your teammate like that but at the same time it’s great that we’re both up there racing for wins, it has been a great start to the season.”
After taking the lead away from Saldana on the 24th lap, Pittman was not pleased with the runner-up finish. “We got beat, that says it all,” Pittman said. “Second sucks. It’s my job as a driver to finish races and I didn’t do it.”
David Gravel slipped by Saldana as well in the final laps to fill out the podium with Saldana settling for fourth. Donny Schatz rallied from 13th to round out the top five while Paul McMahan picked up Hard Charger honors by advancing ten positions from 22nd to 12th.
Earlier in the night, Danny Lasoski established a new track record of 13.517 seconds over the field of 32 before Lasoski, Gravel, Logan Schuchart and Saldana topped heat race action.
Qualifying – 1. 33-Danny Lasoski, 13.517; 2. 5-David Gravel, 13.558; 3. 17W-Bryan Clauson, 13.656; 4. 83-Joey Saldana, 13.678; 5. 9-Daryn Pittman, 13.681; 6. 49-Brad Sweet, 13.746; 7. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 13.788; 8. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 13.792; 9. 2-Shane Stewart, 13.803; 10. 21T-Ray Kulhanek, 13.808; 11. 41-Jason Johnson, 13.852; 12. 2C-Wayne Johnson, 13.881; 13. 15-Donny Schatz, 13.921; 14. 7S-Jason Sides, 13.982; 15. 1-Sammy Swindell, 14.006; 16. 7-Paul McMahan, 14.020; 17. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 14.077; 18. 24-Terry McCarl, 14.096; 19. 19-Klint Angelette, 14.107; 20. 82-Dusty Zomer, 14.173; 21. 31B-Sheldon Haudenschild, 14.219; 22. 1A-Jacob Allen, 14.222; 23. 19M-Brent Marks, 14.340; 24. W20-Greg Wilson, 14.364; 25. 88-Scottie McDonald, 14.370; 26. 45X-Johnny Herrera, 14.371; 27. 17-Josh Baughman, 14.431; 28. 8M-T.J. Michael, 14.482; 29. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 14.517; 30. 33M-Jon Agan, 14.826; 31. 13-Clyde Knipp, 15.257; 32. 17X-Dustin Gates, 16.012
Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 33-Danny Lasoski [1]; 2. 9-Daryn Pittman [2]; 3. 2-Shane Stewart [3]; 4. 15-Donny Schatz [4]; 5. 31B-Sheldon Haudenschild [6]; 6. 11K-Kraig Kinser [5]; 7. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr [8]; 8. 88-Scottie McDonald [7]
Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 5-David Gravel [1]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet [2]; 3. 21T-Ray Kulhanek [3]; 4. 24-Terry McCarl [5]; 5. 7S-Jason Sides [4]; 6. 45X-Johnny Herrera [7]; 7. 1A-Jacob Allen [6]; 8. 33M-Jon Agan [8]
Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 1S-Logan Schuchart [2]; 2. 41-Jason Johnson [3]; 3. 1-Sammy Swindell [4]; 4. 17W-Bryan Clauson [1]; 5. 19M-Brent Marks [6]; 6. 19-Klint Angelette [5]; 7. 13-Clyde Knipp [8]; 8. 17-Josh Baughman [7]
Heat 4 – (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 83-Joey Saldana [1]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel [2]; 3. 2C-Wayne Johnson [3]; 4. 82-Dusty Zomer [5]; 5. 8M-T.J. Michael [7]; 6. W20-Greg Wilson [6]; 7. 7-Paul McMahan [4]; 8. 17X-Dustin Gates [8]
Dash – (6 Laps, finishing order determined first 8 starting positions of A-feature) – 1. 83-Joey Saldana [1]; 2. 5-David Gravel [3]; 3. 9-Daryn Pittman [5]; 4. 1S-Logan Schuchart [2]; 5. 49-Brad Sweet [6]; 6. 33-Danny Lasoski [4]; 7. 41-Jason Johnson [7]; 8. 87-Aaron Reutzel [8]
Last Chance Showdown – (12 Laps – Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature) – 1. 11K-Kraig Kinser [2]; 2. 7-Paul McMahan [1]; 3. W20-Greg Wilson [5]; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr [9]; 5. 45X-Johnny Herrera [7]; 6. 17-Josh Baughman [8]; 7. 1A-Jacob Allen [4]; 8. 17X-Dustin Gates [12]; 9. 19-Klint Angelette [3]; 10. 33M-Jon Agan [10]; 11. 13-Clyde Knipp [11]; 12. 88-Scottie McDonald [6]
A-Main – (30 Laps) – 1. 49-Brad Sweet [5] [$10,000]; 2. 9-Daryn Pittman [3]; 3. 5-David Gravel [2]; 4. 83-Joey Saldana [1]; 5. 15-Donny Schatz [13]; 6. 2-Shane Stewart [9]; 7. 1S-Logan Schuchart [4]; 8. 41-Jason Johnson [7]; 9. 33-Danny Lasoski [6]; 10. 87-Aaron Reutzel [8]; 11. 17W-Bryan Clauson [15]; 12. 7-Paul McMahan [22]; 13. 19M-Brent Marks [19]; 14. 1-Sammy Swindell [11]; 15. W20-Greg Wilson [23]; 16. 7S-Jason Sides [18]; 17. 2C-Wayne Johnson [12]; 18. 8M-T.J. Michael [20]; 19. 24-Terry McCarl [14]; 20. 11K-Kraig Kinser [21]; 21. 21T-Ray Kulhanek [10]; 22. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr [24]; 23. 31B-Sheldon Haudenschild [17]; 24. 82-Dusty Zomer [16]. Lap Leaders: Joey Saldana 1-23, Daryn Pittman 24-29, Brad Sweet 30. KSE Hard Charger Award: 7-Paul McMahan [+10]
