![Rico Abreu strapped in for hot laps as crew chief Ricky Warner takes a final look over the race car. (T.J. Buffenbarger Photo) Rico Abreu strapped in for hot laps as crew chief Ricky Warner takes a final look over the race car. (T.J. Buffenbarger Photo)](https://tjslideways.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/abreuricky-678x381.jpg)
(July 20, 2024) — After another tremendous night of racing at Eldora here are my takeaways from the 2024 edition of the Knight Before the Kings Royal.
- Rico Abreu’s driving Friday night in the later stages of the Knight Before the Kings Royal was the best closing performance I’ve seen from him. There was a time when Abreu losing the lead to David Gravel during a three-lap exchange with 10 laps would be the end of his contention for the win. Instead, Abreu kept his cool and found a way to drive back by Gravel with three laps to go to capture the victory.Abreu not letting his emotions get to him in that moment and finding a way to get by Gravel didn’t instantly happen overnight. Talking with some of the folks that are around Abreu as he was signing autographs hundreds of fans, it’s the byproduct of the work he has put in to keep his moxie in those moments and be able to rally and capitalize.
Abreu running Gravel back down in traffic, making the pass, then holding Gravel at bay over the final three laps may not be the most spectacular driving performance in Abreu’s career, but possibly the most mature one I’ve witnessed.
The performance sent the Eldora crowd into an absolute frenzy. I’ve been coming to Eldora since I was a small child and throughout all those years, I’ve never heard the crowd there collectively chant a driver’s name with vigor that we heard “Ri-co! Ri-co! Ri-co” fill Eldora’s amphitheater setting. ‘
Abreu has seemingly slotted into the category of Eldora’s favorite sprint car hero since Jac Haudenschild retired, which Abreu assisted by fielding a car for Haudenschild for a portion of his final season. Abreu’s aggressive driving style and personality is well suited for this title.
While Friday’s victory is a great story, now we get to see on Saturday if Abreu can close out the biggest win of his career and sit on the throne in front of thousands of adoring fans as a Kings Royal champion.
- While Abreu’s win was spectacular, I felt David Gravel, Donny Schatz, and Logan Schuchart had the best shot at winning on Saturday before the weekend started are the same drivers I feel are the favorites going into Saturday.Gravel has been strong every night at Eldora and already has a six-figure paycheck to leave Darke county with after Thursday’s feature victory, but Gravel wants nothing more right now than to fill the void on his resume with a Kings Royal crown.
It’s felt all week like Gravel and his race team are as locked in as they have ever been for a Kings Royal. Other than giving up the lead late on Friday to Abreu, Gravel has managed to go where others are not, through the bottom and middle of the racetrack and has made that work this week.
Typically, I’m not a fan of provisional starters in any way, shape or form, but if you give me Donny Schatz starting 25th I become intrigued. Schatz did not disappoint driving up to fourth position at the finish after a abysmal qualifying effort sunk most of the night for him.
One of the most impressive things Schatz’s run through the field on Friday was improving his position by one car for five consecutive laps in the closing stages of the main event. I’m not reading too much into Schatz’s stumble on Friday, and if you happened to ready my article about hacking the Kings Royal format earlier in the week if Schatz ends up in the early 20’s in qualifying it could put him towards the front of a heat race and off to a much better start than the defending Kings Royal champion had on Friday.
Schuchart is the only sprint car driver in Eldora history to collect a $1,000,000 check for winning a main event, but even with that win and other success at the Big E he has yet to score a Kings Royal crown. Schuchart has a win on Wednesday but has been hanging around the front the rest of the week.
- After struggling with new clay off and on the past couple of seasons, the Eldora Speedway track crew deserves a tip of the hat for contributing to the great racing we have seen all week. Even heavy rain on Wednesday, which a year ago would have wreaked havoc and caused a wild swing in track conditions, could not derail the great racing we managed to witness.Preparing the racing surface at a track with the reputation of Eldora is often a no-win situation. You won’t make everyone happy and there is always the pressure to live up to the high expectations. So far this week the racing conditions have surpassed them. While pointing this out means they didn’t quite meet the goal of not being part of the story, but I felt it was worth noting due to the on track action we have seen the past three nights.