Thursday brought the Jokers Wild, the first of the three days of the Kings Royal. The rains that swept through Ohio early in the week had ceased following a shower on Wednesday afternoon, and the sun was ablaze as a heat wave settled.
Temperatures were in the high 80s and were set to increase through the rest of the event.
Schatz had won the prelim night of the Let‘s Race Two in May before winning the makeup feature. In 2018 he had also swept the two-day event.
A five-time Kings Royal winner, including each of the last three runnings, Schatz had plenty of reason to get a confidence boost rolling into Eldora.
The stage was set for a duel between Sweet and Schatz, and on Thursday night they delivered. Schatz sat on the pole with Sweet alongside to lead the field to the green and the two swapped the lead several times in the early laps before Sweet took the point and held off Schatz‘s challenges to earn his 10th WoO win of the season.
Gravel, Schuchart and Carson Macedo rounded out the top five.
On Friday night, the Eldora crowd watched Schatz lead flag-to-flag in The Knight Before the Kings Royal to give Tony Stewart his 300th WoO win as a car owner.
Gravel chased Schatz throughout the race, but was forced to settle for the runner-up spot. Schuchart, Rico Abreu and Daryn Pittman rounded out the top five, while Sweet ended his night with a disappointing seventh-place finish.
Midway through the season, Eldora Speedway management announced a massive increase in the winner‘s check for the Kings Royal finale. The race had always paid an impressive $50,000, but the amount was increased to a whopping $175,000 winner‘s share, topping the Knoxville Nationals‘ $150,000 check as the largest paying sprint car win of the year.
The crowds had been impressive throughout the week, but a massive crowd — which Eldora announced as the largest in Kings Royal history — braved a second consecutive day of 90-degree temperatures to watch the 62 drivers who signed in for the Saturday night event.
Sye Lynch — son of racing veteran Ed Lynch Jr. and grandson of another racing veteran, Ed Lynch Sr., and Hall of Famer Jean Lynch — launched the night by earning quick time with a lap of 13.019 seconds.
Lynch towed in to make his Eldora debut with a team that dropped a 410ci engine into a car they compete in the 305ci division. He went on to put the car in the show all three nights of the Kings Royal.
Each year, the Kings Royal features an unusual format to line up the cars for the Saturday night feature. This year was no different, and included a “revenge draw” and an eight-lap “joust.”
When all was said and done, Sammy Swindell had put son Kevin‘s mount on the pole, with Schatz alongside.
When the green flag dropped, Slammin‘ Sammy jumped into the lead, with Schatz giving chase. However, Schatz never looked comfortable in the car, apparently the result of running the larger fuel cell.
THE KINGS ROYAL
(40 laps)
1 – Brad Sweet
2 – Logan Schuchart
3 – Brent Marks
4 – Sheldon Haudenschild
5 – David Gravel
6 – Donny Schat
7 – Sammy Swindell
8 – Jac Haudenschild
9 – Tim Shaffer
10 – Kerry Madsen
11 – Joey Saldana
12 – Giovanni Scelzi
13 – Ian Madsen
14 – Shane Stewart
15 – Dale Blaney
16 – Rico Abreu
17 – Cory Eliason
18 – Cale Thomas
19 – Daryn Pittman
20 – Brock Zearfoss
21 – Sye Lynch
22 – Justin Peck
23 – Tom Harris
24 – Aaron Reutze
After Tom Harris brought out the first caution of the race, a restart saw fourth-place Sweet complete a huge slider in turn one on the restart, which resulted in him leading the field down the backstretch.
However, another caution flew before the lap was completed, negating his effort and returning him to fourth in line for the next restart.
Schuchart was fast all week, finishing third each of the previous nights, and Saturday night was no different. Schuchart charged forward from his 12th place starting position to pass Sweet for third by lap eight. Sweet returned the slide to briefly retake the spot before Schuchart again passed Sweet.
On lap 11, Schuchart dove under Schatz as the two entered turn three, then powered under Swindell to pass both and take over the point before exiting turn four, as Schatz made the pass on Swindell.
Schuchart was strong out front and immediately began putting distance between himself and the rest of the field. Sweet moved passed Schatz into second, but Schuchart continued his domination.
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