The experimental sawtooth behaviour in neutral beam injection (NBI) heated plasmas in TEXTOR is described. It is found that the sawtooth period is minimized with a low NBI power oriented in the same direction as the plasma current. As the beam power is increased in the opposite direction to the plasma current, the sawtooth period increases to a maximum before it begins to shorten once more. Results from both magnetohydrodynamic stability modelling including toroidal flows and modelling of the kinetic effects of the fast ions resulting from NBI heating are also presented. This model combining the gyroscopic and kinetic effects upon the stability of the n = 1 internal kink mode—thought to be associated with sawtooth oscillations—qualitatively recovers the sawtooth behaviour exhibited in the experiment. It is proposed that the sawtooth period is minimized in the co-NBI direction at the point at which the stabilization of the kink mode due to rotation is weakest. This occurs when the plasma rotation induced by the NBI balances the intrinsic rotation of the plasma. The sawtooth behaviour in the counter-NBI regime is attributed to a subtle balance of the competing stabilization from the toroidal rotation and destabilization from the presence of energetic ions.