ROSSBURG, Ohio — There’s a reason Eldora Speedway is called “The World’s Greatest Dirt Track.”
The historic half mile gave the sprint car world a Kings Royal they’ll never forget on Saturday night. A driver at the top of his game hungry for his first crown. A legend of Sprint Car Racing charging through the field in search of a record-tying seventh. And the two coming together to clash with racing royalty and $175,000 on the line.
David Gravel entered Saturday’s 41st running of the Kings Royal with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars as one of the clear favorites. When he earned the pole for the 40-lap Feature, it felt like even more of a foregone conclusion. But it was anything but easy for the Watertown, Conn. native to become King.
First, he had to contend with Logan Schuchart, and then Schatz came charging. The 10-time series champion roared all the way from 20th to take the lead from Gravel with eight laps remaining. But Gravel wouldn’t let it slip away. He simply refused. The 32-year-old got his elbows up and drove the Big Game Motorsports No. 2 as hard as he could right next to the Eldora fence to get back by. A tap on the wall with only a few laps to go nearly cost him, but he regrouped and held on to become King David XLI.
“Why is Donny Schatz so damn good? Damn,” Gravel said. “You can’t put that guy away no matter where he starts. I saw he was eighth on the open red, and I was like, ‘I know he’s going to be a factor.’ And when I looked down, I thought maybe it was Logan, and there he is – Donny Schatz again. I just had to drive my a** off, do my best Haud line impression, and just run the s**t out of it.
“I’ve let it be known I don’t like to ride the wall, but it’s Kings Royal and you’re in the lead and you see Donny Schatz. I always try to save a little bit of a second gear and was able to hit that second gear and plugged it in the wall, rode the wall for a little while, and luckily got out of it and didn’t hurt too much. I thought those lapped cars were going to mess with me a little bit and kind of did. Hats off to Donny for racing the right way. I try to race as clean as good as he does. Just a lot of respect for him.
“Like I said earlier, this is the coolest celebration for winning a crown jewel event, and to get that third crown jewel is just amazing.”
With the victory, Gravel secured his missing piece to complete the trio of Sprint Car Racing’s three most prestigious crown jewel events. He already owned a Knoxville Nationals and two National Opens and added the Kings Royal. He pushed his career win total with the World of Outlaws to 99 and looks destined to become the eighth to reach triple digits soon. The Kings Royal has now crowned 22 different Kings through 41 editions.
Gravel got the jump on the initial start, but a red flag for a flipping Parker Price-Miller necessitated a restart. Outside pole-sitter, Tyler Courtney, pulled ahead with the second attempt and led the opening lap.
It didn’t take Gravel long to begin searching around the wide half mile for speed as Courtney remained committed to the cushion. Sure enough, Gravel got the bottom rolling and pulled alongside and slid ahead to lead lap seven.
Schuchart then entered the discussion as he followed Gravel by “Sunshine” to take over the runner-up spot in the Shark Racing machine. Schuchart quickly closed the gap, and on the 16th circuit he rolled low under Gravel to grab the lead in pursuit of his first Kings Royal crown.
A restart with 23 laps remaining gave Gravel to opportunity he needed to regain the lead as he blasted the cushion right around Schuchart. A little way behind them, Schatz launched from eighth to fifth on the restart by the time he reached the back straightaway. He then made it three-wide Sheldon Haudenschild and Jacob Allen in Turns 3 and 4, clearing Haudenschild in the process. The Fargo, N.D. driver then moved by Allen in the next set of turns to grab third. A lap later Schatz cleared Schuchart for the runner-up spot.
Gravel easily proved to be the toughest challenge as Schatz sliced through the field. When he took the runner-up position, Gravel had over a second advantage on the Tony Stewart/Curb Agajanian Racing No. 15. But slowly but surely the gap dwindled as Schatz masterfully worked the low line.
Schatz caught up and showed Gravel his nose on Lap 31, and Gravel moved down to block. But Gravel’s choice cost him momentum on the exit of Turn 2 as Schatz rolled by down the back straightaway, sending the huge crowd into a frenzy and completing the drive from 20th to the front.
And then Gravel got up on the wheel. He put the hammer down on the top and motored back around Schatz two laps later. He would not be denied the throne.
Gravel gave Schatz one last opportunity when he hit the wall hard in Turn 4 on Lap 36. Schatz pulled alongside and gave it everything he had, but ultimately Gravel prevailed as he pulled away on the path to forever being known as King David XLI.
“Cody (Jacobs) has a lot of confidence right now. I have a lot of confidence right now,” Gravel said. “Stephen (Hamm-Reilly) and Zach (Patterson) are doing a great job. It’s just been a lot of fun. We’ve had a couple DNFs this year, but every time we’re on the racetrack and this 2 car finishes, it’s typically in a good way. Man, what a race. I just got to thank Tod Quiring for hiring me four years ago.”
Schatz settled for second after the amazing drive from 20th. After taking the lead with less than 10 laps to go, the defeat definitely left Schatz feeling disappointed, but he gave credit where credit was due.
“We’re a little short,” Schatz said. “I guess I’m happy we got there. The guys did a great job all week. We had to change a few motors to get things the way we needed. That stings a little bit to get there. I felt really good. It’s just I’ve said it a hundred million times – the last eight laps of those 40 at this race are a whole different dynamic. I got the lead and started to just slip a little bit. I didn’t let my tires slip once, or I knew I was never going to get it back. And I didn’t slip them, but just as our fuel load came off, I started struggling. David got up on there and got the job done. He got in the fence there, and I don’t know how he drove out of that. I wasn’t going to do what he did, so he won.”
Justin Peck put together a strong charge of his own to wheel the Buch Motorsports No. 13 from 15th to third to round out the Kings Royal podium. His team made some strong changes under the open red with 23 laps to go and put Peck on the path to his best career finish in the Eldora crown jewel.
“That thing was a dream to drive there after that open red,” Peck said. “It just kind of was a slot car around there. I felt like I could run the slick or the bottom or run the top.”
Schuchart and Allen completed the top five.
Feature Finish (40 Laps)
1. 2-David Gravel[1]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz[20]; 3. 13-Justin Peck[15]; 4. 1S-Logan Schuchart[4]; 5. 1A-Jacob Allen[7]; 6. 27-Emerson Axsom[13]; 7. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[5]; 8. 26-Zeb Wise[14]; 9. 19-Brent Marks[12]; 10. 83-Michael Kofoid[11]; 11. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[2]; 12. 5-Spencer Bayston[23]; 13. 39M-Anthony Macri[19]; 14. 83SR-James McFadden[10]; 15. 11-Hunter Schuerenberg[21]; 16. 99-Skylar Gee[9]; 17. 21H-Brady Bacon[22]; 18. 24-Rico Abreu[6]; 19. 21-Brian Brown[16]; 20. 7S-Landon Crawley[17]; 21. 45-Landon Brooks[18]; 22. 16T-Cole Macedo[24]; 23. 42-Sye Lynch[8]; 24. 9P-Parker Price Miller[3]