By T.J. Buffenbarger
ROSSBURG, OH (July 16, 2025) — After another wild night of racing in the state of Ohio, I had three takeaways from the tail of two races following rain storm that came out of nowhere to soak the evening and create contrasting parts of the opening night of Kings Royal weekend a Eldora.
- After two nights of seeing a lot of carnage during the High Limit Sprint Car Series race at Fremont Speedway Monday and Attica Raceway Park on Tuesday for the Brad Doty Classic for the World of Outlaws at Attica Raceway Park, I thought the high speeds with high risk would reduce some of the torn-up equipment we have seen throughout the week.
That seemed to be happening until a pop-up rain shower completely changed the completion of Wednesday’s event.
Four spectacular heat races took place at Eldora before the rain delay the next four heat races were totally different with how dense the cushion was becoming, how far down I was on the race track, and the bravery level it took to hammer it in a sprint car.
Before the rain the track widened out and had some potential for both the top and bottom to be competitive with the surface slowing down yet holding enough moisture for competitive racing.
After the rain Eldora’s high wire act at the top of the speedway became the dominate line, but only for those who felt it was worth tracing the treacherous cushion that became choppy at times and required a tremendous amount of skill to tackle.
Eldora officials did a great job getting the track worked back in efficiently after the shower soaked the speedway. The racing action we witnessed before and after the rain was completely different, which was fascinating to watch from the sidelines.
Thankfully the rain hit before the fifth heat race took the green flag, otherwise how sudden the rain went from a couple of sprinkles to a downpour could have created an issue with the cars at speed on the race track. The other positive is the rain hit after the first group had completed their heat races and the second group was starting their heats, so each heat race group had consistent conditions for their side of the latter.
Both Reutzel and Day had very good cars throughout their feature while others high point driver Rico Abreu, Carson Macedo (21st to 5th in the second feature), Logan Schuchart, and Kyle Larson all had cars that got better throughout the race, capitalized on other people’s mistakes, and parlayed them into solid finishes to set themselves up well for the $100,000 to win Joker’s Jackpot on Thursday.
Both styles of racing we witnessed tonight at Eldora were entertaining to witness. The first four heat races had tremendous action with drivers coming through the field and a decent amount of side-by-side racing. After the rain we were able to witness the bravery of certain drivers as they traced the treacherous cushion with surgical precision at hammer down speeds during the feature events.
- By virtue of being the high point driver after the twin features, Rico Abreu earned the pole position and another chance to take home his first career six figure payday from Eldora Speedway, a track which Abreu’s popularity one could argue matches or perhaps exceeds some of the most legendary drivers that were among the Eldora crowd favorites.
Last year after Abreu lost the lead and regained it Friday at the Knight Before the Kings Royal, I thought there was a good chance that Abreu would be crowned on Saturday. Unfortunately, mechanical issues derailed those plans.
Aberu has run well at Eldora throughout his career, but taking the next step in his career at the Big E is winning one of the two six figure payday main events. As good as Abreu has been Eldora, I’m surprised it hasn’t happened yet in his career. Thursday could be Abreu’s best chance of winning this caliber of race to further his career.
If Abreu could pull off a victory on Thursday, with a driver the caliber of Kyle Larson starting alongside him on the front row, it could end up being one of the most popular and memorable moments in sprint car history.
- David Gravel’s run for a third straight six figure Eldora Speedway payday took a major blow on Saturday when he was disqualified in post-race inspection for his front wing being too far forward on the car.
Gravel’s car appeared to be strong in the later stages of the 25-lap feature on Wednesday night, starting to cut into Corey Day’s lead by a significant amount over the final five laps working through slower traffic.
Instead of earning a starting spot near the front of Thursday’s $100,000 to win finale, Gravel now will start near the back of one of the two B-Mains, only one position away from having to run the C-Main instead.
The good news is for Gravel is he does only have to run the B and not the C-Main. Coming from the tail of a B-Main of this size at Eldora is a difficult task, but with the field being split into two B-Mains it could stretch the field out where if Gravel shows the same kind of speed through traffic he has while leading race at Eldora, then Thursday could still be salvageable for the defending champion of the event.