BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The streets of Bakersfield belonged to “The Big Cat” on Friday night as Brad Sweet dominated the Kubota High Limit Racing debut at the Bakersfield Speedway at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway.
After setting the top time in Flight B of Capitol Renegade Qualifying and then coming from fourth-to-second in BR Motorsports Heat 3, the redraw wheel put Sweet’s Kasey Kahne Racing, NAPA Auto Parts No. 49 on the pole of the FK Rod Ends Dash.
From there, he dominated the seven-lapper and led all 30 laps of the Kubota A-Main.
The win marked Sweet’s 11th of his career with Kubota High Limit Racing, one short of Rico Abreu’s series-high 12 victories. Sweet also became the third different winner in three races this season.
Extending his early-season championship lead, thanks to consecutive finishes of third, second, and first, Sweet’s triumph marked the first national win for new crew chief Tye Wolfgang.
Earning the first 1-2 finish by any team in Kubota High Limit Racing history, teammate and car owner Kasey Kahne followed Sweet to the line with the KKR No. 9 right behind the No. 49. The runner-up effort established a new career-best for the driver of the Kahne Screen Print, HendrickCars.com No. 9.
On the final step of the podium in Bakersfield was Brent Marks. The third-place effort was Marks’ first podium in the state of California, which has long been a challenging destination for the PA Posse star.
Closing out the top-five was a pair of California teams with Tanner Holmes taking the Tarlton Racing No. 21 to fourth-place – putting them third in the series standings after three races – and D.J. Netto with a career-best fifth-place outing against the High Rollers.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 49-Brad Sweet[1]; 2. 9-Kasey Kahne[2]; 3. 19-Brent Marks[5]; 4. 21-Tanner Holmes[7]; 5. 88N-DJ Netto[12]; 6. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[22]; 7. 0-Tim Kaeding[14]; 8. 88-Tanner Thorson[15]; 9. 41-Dominic Scelzi[21]; 10. 26-Justin Peck[10]; 11. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[16]; 12. 87-Aaron Reutzel[19]; 13. 73-Ryan Bernal[20]; 14. 9R-Chase Randall[4]; 15. 2X-Justin Sanders[24]; 16. 10X-Dominic Gorden[17]; 17. 17W-Shane Golobic[13]; 18. 24-Rico Abreu[9]; 19. 5-Brenham Crouch[25]; 20. 88W-Austin McCarl[8]; 21. 14-Spencer Bayston[18]; 22. 21P-Robbie Price[11]; 23. 24D-Danny Sams III[23]; 24. 42-Sye Lynch[6]; 25. 13-Daison Pursley[3]
Leave a Reply