Slade first appeared at a national level racing in the 2003 Australian Formula Ford Championship. During the 2004 Australian Formula 3 Championship, Slade, in his rookie season with Team BRM, won his first race when making a one-off appearance at the penultimate round of the series. Slade returned to Formula 3 for the following season, beginning a long-running partnership with businessman James Rosenberg, who owned the car. However, after having scored just 25 points after the first four races, compared to the 57 points of joint series leaders Chris Alajajian and Michael Trimble, Slade was dropped from the team. Taking a step backwards, Slade competed in his first full season at national level in 2006, racing for Sonic Motor Racing Services in the 2006 Australian Formula Ford Championship. Slade narrowly lost a season-long battle with John Martin for the title.
Supercars Championship
Development Series
Turning his back on open wheelers, Slade moved into the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series for the 2007 season, starting the season with ANT Racing in a Ford BA Falcon. However, Slade's season was blighted by a team shift to MW Motorsport mid-season and he finished ninth in the points. The highlight of his season was a second-place finish in the reverse grid race at Queensland Raceway. In 2008 Slade renewed his partnership with Rosenberg, who purchased Slade a Holden VZ Commodore from Perkins Engineering, which ran under the banner of 'Slade Sport'. Early in the season Slade won the Wakefield Park round, but poor results at Queensland Raceway and at Mount Panorama, plus the limited resources available, restricted Slade to seventh in the series results.
Early in 2009, Slade was announced as the replacement driver for the retiring Paul Morris at his eponymous team to graduate into V8 Supercars. The drive was once again backed by Rosenberg. Driving a Holden VE Commodore sponsored by Supercheap Auto, Slade finished 23rd in the championship.
In 2010, Slade moved teams to the newly formed James Rosenberg Racing, driving the #47 Wilson Security-backed Ford FG Falcon as a satellite entry of Stone Brothers Racing. His best results of the year were a pair of fifth places at Hidden Valley Raceway and at the Phillip Island 500, with co-driver Jack Perkins. For 2011, Slade remained with the team, with a new title sponsor, Lucky 7, and improved to ninth in the championship standings including three podium positions at Queensland Raceway. He had his breakout year in 2012 aboard the Lucky 7 Falcon, where he finished fifth in the championship. Stone Brothers Racing was then sold at the end of 2012 to Erebus Motorsport, who brought in the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG to V8 Supercars under the new Car of the Future regulations in 2013. However, the Erebus package struggled and Slade could only manage 22nd in the championship.
Slade moved to Walkinshaw Racing for the 2014, driving his team's #47 VF Commodore. This also marked a return to Supercheap Auto colours for Slade and a move away from his association with James Rosenberg, who coincidentally ended up running a sister car to Slade at Walkinshaw Racing for Nick Percat. He finished the year in 17th position. He remained with the team for the 2015 season, finishing 13th in the championship.
In 2016, Walkinshaw Racing downsized to two cars and Slade moved to Brad Jones Racing. After a slow start to the season, Slade won the first two races of his career at the 2016 Woodstock Winton SuperSprint.
