By T.J. Buffenbarger
(July 14, 2025) — The week of the 42nd Kings Royal at Eldora Speedway will be the busiest in event history for race teams and fans with racing throughout the start of Ohio kicking off tonight at Fremont Speedway with the High Limit Sprint Car Series, a six figure payday on national television Thursday during the Joker’s Jackpot, and culminating in the $200,000 to win finale on Saturday night at Eldora Speedway.
Throughout the busy week, here are some of the storylines we will be following.
Can David Gravel continue his stronghold on Eldora Speedway?
Last year after four nights of racing during Kings Royal weekend at Eldora speedway David Gravel left Eldora Speedway with $275,000 for a pair of victories.
Gravel, crew chief Cody Jacobs, and the rest of the Tod Quiring owned Big Game Motorsports team have established themselves as the clear favorite anytime they pull into Eldora. Along with his pair of six-figure feature wins last year Gravel won the most recent World of Outlaws event at Eldora on May 2nd. This resembles the pattern seen in 2024 when Gravel won the main event during the second night of #letsracetwo at Eldora Speedway with the World of Outlaws.
Coming into the week of competition in Ohio Gravel has only finished outside of the top five twice in World of Outlaws competition since June 1st. and has a win and two second place finishes in his last two starts. While one of those finishes was a 22nd at the Plymouth Dirt Track in Wisconsin after being caught up in an incident, the other was a sixth-place finish during the High Banked Nationals at Huset’s Speedway, which featured the highest winner’s payout for a feature win during the 2025 World of Outlaws season.
World of Outlaws and High Limit Sprint Car Series going head-to-head this weekend.
When the High Limit Sprint Car Series was created it created a scenario where only a handful of races featured competitors from both series competing against each other at the same events. Eldora Speedway this weekend at the Knoxville Nationals at Knoxville Raceway next month will contain the largest number of teams from both series in competition against each other at the same event this season.
While I expect a handful of entries to not cross pollinate the program due to saving equipment, saving restricted non-World of Outlaws event starts for platinum members, and possibly some finding other events like Knoxville Raceway’s $15,000 to win 360 sprint car event more appealing on Saturday, I expect to see a majority of the heavy hitters from both series competing all four nights.
While the focus will be on the two six figure paydays for winning Thursday and Saturday’s feature event, Eldora offers the first proving ground to see where everyone stacks up against each other. Throw in several top teams and drivers from other tracks and series and it is the first major opportunity to see where everyone stands at the midway point of the season.
Live television returns to sprint car racing on Thursday.
With the parent company of Fox Sports being one of the investors in Flosports, speculation about when the High Limit Sprint Car Series would appear on cable television again has been discussed since the series switched to a full season schedule in 2024. That moment takes place during the Jokers Jackpot Thursday night on FS1 at 7:00 P.M EST
The broadcast window is showing from 7-9:00 p.m. with a UEFA Women’s World Cup Soccer Match, so running over that time window could prove tricky. The High Limit Series has been preparing for this moment over the past two years though, running efficient programs throughout the country that leave plenty of time for fans to visit the pit area after the races and race teams to begin their post-race maintenance earlier.
One aspect that will help make that two-hour television window is the two-night format with double features on Wednesday night, leading to Thursday’s program which will consist of two C-Mains, two B-Mains, and the feature event with heat races not being part of the format this year.
Unlike past live television efforts, FS1 is using the Floracing staff to produce the broadcast including the on-air talent with the addition of Blake Anderson in the booth, essentially taking the Flo stream and putting it on FS1.
It will be interesting to see how the in-person experience is impacted by the live television as past broadcasts have often created unusual downtime and extra pace laps during the broadcast window. With the Flo team doing the production, other than some commercial windows I wouldn’t anticipate much of a difference in the FS1 broadcast.
Bell Back at Eldora
Christopher Bell has been on the sidelines during Eldora’s biggest sprint car races due to Joe Gibbs Racing/Toyota commitments NASCAR. With Gibbs loosening the reins for 2025 Bell returns to Eldora with the potent Kreitz Racing team 40 years after owner Don Kreitz won the Kings Royal in 1985.
While Bell is only competing in the Jokers Jackpot with Ryan Smith taking over driving duties for Friday and Saturday, it will be another strong car and driver added to the field Wednesday and Thursday that has experienced a considerable amount of success at Eldora.
Bell’s victory at Eldora on October 14 of 2018 driving for Tony Stewart Racing was the most dominant I’ve ever seen in World of Outlaws competition there. Bell has come close to winning Kings Royal crashing out while challenging for the lead in 2016 and experience a mechanical failure while driving to the front.
Eldora is one of Bell’s favorite patches of dirt to race on, and even though he has not circled the high banked oval in Rossburg, Ohio since 2020 I expect Bell to be a contender on Wednesday and Thursday night.
Can Kyle Larson bounce back a rough Kings Royal Weekend last year?
Kyle Larson had a unusually rough Kings Royal weekend by his standards last year at Eldora Speedway. After finishing second on his preliminary night, Larson finished 20th on Thursday night, 13th on Friday, and missed the Kings Royal on Saturday night.
This performance caused me to not name him as the favorite going into the Knoxville Nationals, and everyone saw how that turned out with Larson putting in a dominant performance. I believe Larson’s result last year at Eldora was an anomaly but will be worth tracking to see if Larson and car owner/crew chief Paul Silva return to their normal performance level at Eldora this year.
Will Jokers Jackpot reach 70 entries?
When the High Limit Sprint Car Series posted their potential pre-entry list for the Joker’s Jackpot it was north of 60 cars with several others making their intention known afterwards, they would be coming to Eldora this weekend. While it’s typical to see a pre-entry or two not show up, there is a realistic chance of seeing a 70-car field show up at Eldora. This is something we haven’t seen since the days of TNN television broadcasts the first couple of years those live programs took place.
Even if the field does not reach the 70-car mark, this weekend could end up being the stoutest field of the year outside of the Knoxville Nationals.
You can’t win the Jokers Jackpot or Kings Royal on Monday or Tuesday, but you can lose it.
The pitfalls of racing two nights before a pair of the biggest events on the sprint car calendar adds intrigue to the Kings Royal weekend. This year the week has turned into Ohio Speedweek 2.0 with Fremont Speedway having a makeup for the High Limit Series event that was rained out in the spring on Monday, the Brad Doty Classic on Tuesday for the World of Outlaws at Attica Raceway Park, leading into four straight nights of racing at Eldora.
Who we may feel is a contender for winning either of these races could be altered by misfortunes on Monday and Tuesday. If a team has a big crash or serious engine issues leading into the four days at Eldora, they could end up having to put in some extra hours to make sure spares are available for the four nights of racing at Eldora.
Additional fan activities on the calendar for Kings Royal weekend.
Eldora Speedway’s staff has added some new fan friendly activities throughout the day and into the night during the 2025 edition of Kings Royal weekend.
The newly remodeled Eldora Ballroom will be open throughout the weekend for the first time during the Kings Royal weekend. Monday and Tuesday night things get started with a watch party of the High Limit event at Fremont Speedway and the Brad Doty Classic for the World of Outlaws at Attica Raceway Park. Wednesday through Friday the Ballroom will feature a buffet 3-6:00 p.m. while Saturday a breakfast buffet is added from 8:00-11:00 a.m.
The Bear Hollow Wood Carvers will be doing work throughout the weekend along with mainstay activities such as the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum charity auction on Saturday and autograph sessions throughout the weekend.
Thursday and Friday will feature post-race entertainment with the band Naked Karate Girls on Thursday and That Arena Rock Show on Friday in the fan zone above turns three and four.