Unlike last year’s runaway title campaign from Brad Sweet, who had the series laurels clinched before the tour’s 2024 finale, the final two races on Kubota High Limit Racing are shaping up to be the closest Sprint Car national championship battle in recent years.

Only nine points separate Rico Abreu’s No. 24 team and Aaron Reutzel’s No. 87 Ridge & Sons Racing team in the owner’s title race, while 28 points stand between Sweet and Abreu in both the driver and owners' standings.

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In both the driver and owners' standings, Sweet shaved off eight points on Abreu’s lead with Saturday’s $25,000 victory at Lakeside Speedway. He shaved off another two points on Wednesday night at Lucas Oil Speedway heading into Friday and Saturday’s finale at Texas Motor Speedway.

“We’re certainly not out of it,” Sweet said after snapping a 27-race winless drought Saturday, the Grass Valley, Calif., veteran’s first victory since July 11 at Kentucky’s Florence Speedway. “We’re just going to try and go and win each race if we can.”

The High Limit title race could very well be the most closely-contested national championship battle since Sweet edged out 10-time champ Donny Schatz by four points on the World of Outlaws circuit in 2019. Since then, Sweet's had comfortable margins of 46 points in 2020 (over Logan Schuchart), 80 in 2021 (over Gravel), 48 in 2022 (over Gravel) and 60 in 2023 (over Gravel).

Although the six-time reigning national champ's streak is in jeopardy, he made up 46 points the last six races since falling 72 points behind Abreu following Sept. 20’s 4-Crown Nationals at Eldora Speedway. Over that span, Sweet’s finished fourth, sixth, third, first and third while Abreu’s finished fifth, 15th, ninth, third and ninth. 

Sweet could’ve closed the gap even more Sept. 27 at Path Valley, a race he started from the pole but only finished sixth on a night Abreu took a provisional after a heat race mishap hindered his 25th-to-15th performance.

On Saturday at Lakeside, “an unbelievable start” from the seventh-starting spot propelled Abreu forward to a much-needed podium finish.

“That’s what it’s going to take for us to finish the season; just work really hard and continue to do what we know how to do. That’s just racing,” said Abreu, who added that “I love racing with these guys” because “they make it intense.

“The pit area is intense right now,” Abreu said. “It’s fun to be a part of it all.”

Abreu’s primed for his first nationally touring Sprint Car title, a rewarding position for the St. Helena, Calif., superstar considering how rocky his first nationally touring campaign started last year. It wasn’t until the 16th series event last May 17 at New York’s Utica-Rome Speedway that Abreu first busted into High Limit victory lane in 2024.

He proceeded to win eight of the final 35 events on the 2024 High Limit schedule. Abreu carried that momentum and mindset cultivated over that run into this title-worthy season.


“Last year, when we signed up for the High Limit tour, Ricky Warner told me (when) we were ninth in points like halfway through the season, he just said we have to focus on finishing in front of the guys ahead of us in points,” Abreu said. “I think that’s ultimately the position we’re in right now. We have to finish in front of the 87 and 49.”

Aug. 28-30's Skagit Nationals proved as the pivotal turning point in the High Limit title race. Sweet entered the three-race weekend at the Kevin Rudeen-owned track 21 points ahead of the RSR No. 87 team in the owner standings and 75 points ahead of Abreu in the driver standings.

Abreu’s $156,000 sweep at the Skagit Nationals put him ahead by 35 points over Sweet, who finished 17th, 13th and 19th that weekend, and 21 points over the RSR No. 87 team in the owner standings. He’s held serve atop the High Limit standings ever since.

Even should Sweet win the final two races (winning is worth 77 points), Abreu can still clinch the title with a pair of fifth-place (63 points each) finishes or any combination that nets him a minimum of 126 points. Points racing for Sweet, however, “doesn’t really change anything for us at this standpoint.”

“Obviously with three races to go, it’s up to him,” Sweet said. “We have to go try and win the races, but he has the points lead, and it’s his to lose at this point. We just wanna keep pressure each and every single night, and race respectfully. And race hard.”