Kyle Larson, Brad Sweet set to bring High Limit Sprint Car Series to Grandview Speedway

When NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson and World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series driver Brad Sweet began to construct the schedule for the inaugural season of their new High Limit Sprint Car Series, the pair considered tracks from across the United States.

With 12 races on the schedule for the new national touring series, the founders and co-promoters ultimately selected Grandview Speedway, a one-third mile dirt track located outside Bechtelsville in Washington Township, to host one of the events.

“We had Grandview on our list of tracks we’d like to go to,” said Sweet, a four-time World of Outlaws champion and former NASCAR Xfinity and Truck Series driver. “We were able to do a deal together. I think it’s good for everybody.”

Larson and Sweet will bring the High Limit Sprint Car Series to the high banks of Grandview on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. in what will be the highest-paying sprint car race in the track’s 61-year history. Presented by the Thunder on the Hill Racing Series, the winner of the 40-lap feature will take home a prize of $23,023.

“I’m very happy and I’m proud that they picked us,” Grandview Speedway owner Theresa Rogers said. “We’re small — very small.”

Headlining the field of drivers expected to compete for the first-place prize is Kyle Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion. Larson has made seven winged 410 sprint car appearances at Grandview since his debut in 2017, winning four times.

Former NASCAR Cup Series and current World of Outlaws driver Kasey Kahne will be making his return to Grandview for the first time since 2018, when he finished a career-best third. Tuesday will mark Kahne’s third winged 410 sprint car appearance at the track.

The most recent winged 410 sprint car winner at Grandview, former NASCAR Truck Series driver Rico Abreu will try to defend his title after scoring his first career victory at the track last year during Pennsylvania Sprint Speedweek. Abreu has made seven appearances at the track since his debut in 2017.

“It’s extremely exciting to watch,” Thunder on the Hill Racing Series promoter Bob Miller said about winged 410 sprint cars at Grandview. “It’s quite a thrill, and to be able to see drivers like Kasey Kahne (and) Kyle Larson come in and run against some of the best of the ‘PA Posse’ makes it even better.”

Larson, Kahne and Abreu will be up against a strong field of invaders and many of the top sprint car drivers from Pennsylvania, known collectively as the “PA Posse.” Pennsylvania-based drivers Brent Marks, Lance Dewease and Freddie Rahmer will be in action, along with Elverson’s Austin Bishop and Mertztown’s Ryan Taylor.

“Brad and Kyle are doing an amazing job,” Taylor said about the High Limit series. “Every race has been really exciting, so I think (at) Grandview you’re going to get that same thing.”

Since the Thunder on the Hill Racing Series Hodnett Cup was rained out on June 27, Tuesday’s event will mark the lone winged 410 sprint car race at Grandview in 2023. Therefore, the winner will have their name engraved on the Greg Hodnett Perpetual Trophy in memory of Greg Hodnett, who died in a sprint car racing accident in 2018.

“What we didn’t want to do was skip a year where we wouldn’t have the trophy with a winner honored,” Miller said. “We’re pretty excited to remember Greg.”

With Larson currently leading the High Limit Sprint Car Series points, Grandview will host scheduled race No. 7 of the inaugural season. Along with Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pennsylvania and Bridgeport Motorsports Park in Swedesboro, New Jersey, Grandview is one of three tracks in the Northeast that will host the series in 2023.

“To be one of 12 tracks selected, it’s an honor,” Miller said. “The track has quite a mystique. It’s not an easy track to compete at.”

At one-third of a mile, Grandview is one of the smaller tracks on the schedule. Track sizes range from one-fourth of a mile to four-tenths of a mile.

“We try to do more short track racing,” said Sweet, who will not be competing on Tuesday night. “Kyle and myself believe the short track product for our cars is a little more exciting for fans, and we want to have as exciting of a race as we possibly can.”

As the series heads to Grandview, Sweet is eager to bring the new product to the race fans of Pennsylvania.

“We are making improvements (in) each and every race,” Sweet said. “We’re trying to make sprint car racing better, and trying to build bigger purses.”