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BRAD SWEET WINS THE NARC SEASON OPENER AT MERCED SPEEDWAY

MERCED, CA. (2/28/26) The NARC King of the West Sprint Car Series kicked off the 2026 season with their first visit to Merced Speedway in nearly a decade. A stout field of 26 cars signed in for the first race under new ownership.

Brad Sweet set Quick Time in Kimo’s Tropical Car Wash Qualifying behind the wheel of the Works Limited W car with a lap of 10.225 seconds.

Justin Sanders picked up the win in Kaeding Performance Heat Race #1. Colby Copeland made his first appearance in the Tarlton #21 and picked up BMRS Heat Race #2. Multi-Time NARC Champion, Tim Kaeding, won Hill’s Premium Meats Heat Race #3.

The HD Titanium Dash was made up of the heat race winners and the fastest transfer car out of each heat race. Raisin City, CA native Mitchel Moles led all 6 laps of the HD Titanium Dash to secure the pole for the A-Main.

Mitchel Moles jumped out to the early lead in the 30 lap A-Main. Brad Sweet took control of the A-Main on lap 3 and didn’t look back. Justin Sanders and Shane Golobic battled hard for 2nd place as the race went on with Sanders coming home 2nd and Golobic 3rd. Dominic Gorden started 9th and moved up to finish 4th. Former NARC champion, Sean Becker, charged from 14th to 5th. John Clark earned Hard Charger honors as he advanced 10 spots from his 23rd starting position to finish 13th.

Sweet picked up his 1st win of the 2026 season and it was his first NARC victory since 2008!

Next event: March 28th at Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, CA

For more information visit NARC410.com, on X @NARC410, on Facebook facebook.com/NARCKingoftheWest and on Instagram @NARC410.

Hoosier Tire A Feature (30 Laps): 1. W-Brad Sweet[3]; 2. 2X-Justin Sanders[5]; 3. 17W-Shane Golobic[2]; 4. 10-Dominic Gorden[9]; 5. 7B-Sean Becker[14]; 6. 88N-DJ Netto[7]; 7. 41-Mitchel Moles[1]; 8. 83T-Tanner Carrick[12]; 9. 21-Colby Copeland[6]; 10. X1-Chance Grasty[19]; 11. 29-Bud Kaeding[20]; 12. 0-Tim Kaeding[4]; 13. 12J-John Clark[23]; 14. 5R-Ryan Rocha[22]; 15. 33-Dylan Bloomfield[18]; 16. 21L-Landon Brooks[17]; 17. 26-Billy Aton[16]; 18. 5K-Blaine Cory[21]; 19. 14-Mariah Ede[10]; 20. 2XM-Max Mittry[13]; 21. 121-Caeden Steele[11]; 22. 2K-Gauge Garcia[15]; 23. 2A-Austin Wood[8]; 24. 7-Seth Standley[24]

HD Titanium Dash (6 Laps): 1. 41-Mitchel Moles[1]; 2. 17W-Shane Golobic[3]; 3. W-Brad Sweet[4]; 4. 0-Tim Kaeding[2]; 5. 2X-Justin Sanders[5]; 6. 21-Colby Copeland[6]

Kaeding Performance Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 2X-Justin Sanders[1]; 2. W-Brad Sweet[4]; 3. 2A-Austin Wood[2]; 4. 14-Mariah Ede[3]; 5. 83T-Tanner Carrick[6]; 6. 2K-Gauge Garcia[7]; 7. 33-Dylan Bloomfield[5]; 8. 5K-Blaine Cory[8]; 9. 7-Seth Standley[9]

BMRS Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 21-Colby Copeland[1]; 2. 88N-DJ Netto[2]; 3. 10-Dominic Gorden[3]; 4. 41-Mitchel Moles[4]; 5. 2XM-Max Mittry[6]; 6. 26-Billy Aton[7]; 7. X1-Chance Grasty[5]; 8. 5R-Ryan Rocha[8]; 9. (DNS) 4-Burt Foland Jr

Hill Meat Company: 3 (10 Laps): 1. 0-Tim Kaeding[1]; 2. 17W-Shane Golobic[4]; 3. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[2]; 4. 121-Caeden Steele[3]; 5. 7B-Sean Becker[6]; 6. 21L-Landon Brooks[5]; 7. 29-Bud Kaeding[8]; 8. 12J-John Clark[7]

ARP Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. W-Brad Sweet, 10.225[14]; 2. 41-Mitchel Moles, 10.253[7]; 3. 17W-Shane Golobic, 10.303[4]; 4. 2X-Justin Sanders, 10.325[8]; 5. 21-Colby Copeland, 10.332[15]; 6. 0-Tim Kaeding, 10.350[13]; 7. 2A-Austin Wood, 10.488[18]; 8. 88N-DJ Netto, 10.503[21]; 9. 3-Kaleb Montgomery, 10.506[19]; 10. 14-Mariah Ede, 10.511[10]; 11. 10-Dominic Gorden, 10.520[9]; 12. 121-Caeden Steele, 10.527[22]; 13. 33-Dylan Bloomfield, 10.534[2]; 14. X1-Chance Grasty, 10.536[6]; 15. 21L-Landon Brooks, 10.540[24]; 16. 83T-Tanner Carrick, 10.559[17]; 17. 2XM-Max Mittry, 10.572[23]; 18. 7B-Sean Becker, 10.591[25]; 19. 2K-Gauge Garcia, 10.598[11]; 20. 26-Billy Aton, 10.608[16]; 21. 12J-John Clark, 10.617[20]; 22. 5K-Blaine Cory, 10.661[26]; 23. 5R-Ryan Rocha, 10.713[3]; 24. 29-Bud Kaeding, 10.716[1]; 25. 7-Seth Standley, 10.790[12]; 26. 4-Burt Foland Jr, 17.255[5]

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