ROSSBURG, OH (September 19, 2025) – In July during Kings Royal weekend at Eldora Speedway Aaron Reutzel left Eldora Speedway in an ambulance. Friday during opening night of the 43rd 4-Crown Nationals Reutzel pulled onto the victory stage after winning the Kubota High Limit Racing feature event.
Reutzel was able to drive by Rico Abreu with a restart with two laps go and drove away to a 1.014 second lead at the finish for his ninth feature win of the season.
Reutzel was emotional in victory lane coming back to win still on crutches recovering from the broken foot he suffered at Eldora two months earlier.
“How’s that song go? Hello, darkness, my old friend, that’s kind of what it felt like rolling into this place,” said Reutzel of pulling back into the infield at Eldora on Friday for the first time since his crash. “I thought I was going be a little nervous at first. Of course, it wasn’t nice and easy. It was rough early, and my car was not handling the ruts very good, and we went to work on it. I thought I was going to be a little nervous, but I guess I’m just too stupid to be nervous once I strapped in, I forgot all about it. Through the holes I went up against the wall and felt right back at home.”
Reutzel’s indicated after the race his decision of where to run during the restart helped propel him to take the lead during the final restart.
“I took off over here and I felt like my car took off really good,” said Reutzel of the restart. “I was kind of hoping the way the restart played out, I knew it was not as good to be low early. So, I was kind of hoping Rico would drop down early and I felt like that’s where I got the good run on him here.”
Anthony Macri and Giovanni Scelzi started on the front row for the 25-lap main event. Macri drove to lead with Scelzi, Abreu, and Aaron Reutzel keeping pace. Abreu and Macri exchanged second position before Abreu on lap three.
Abreu quickly caught up to Macri quickly as slower traffic started to factor into the race for the lead. Abreu attempted to get by Macri on lap nine, but Macri was able to counter to maintain the lead. Macri’s time at the front was short lived after that as Abreu was able to drive by Macri in turns one and two, securing the lead.
Reutzel started moving forward midway through the feature, taking third position away from Giovanni Scelzi on lap 14 and started his pursuit of the lead duo.
Macri was starting to close in on Abreu during the closing stages of the feature event when he caught the wall between turns three and four and got upside down with Parker Price-Miller with nowhere to go and slammed into Macri’s stopped car. Both drivers exited the cars under their own power.
Retuzel slide job on Abreu through turns one and two, Abreu to take the lead on the backstretch. Reutzel takes the lead through turns three and four to take the lead coming to the white flag. Reutzel held off Abreu for the victory. Abreu, Chase Randall, Justin Peck, and Brady Bacon rounded out the top five.
Afterwards Abreu was left wondering about the changes that occurred to his car during the red flag period and where he was on the track during the final restart.
“I probably should have taken off on the cushion,” said Abreu of the final restart. “My car was really good, so it’s just we got something to work on tomorrow. We made some big swings out of there for the feature after the dash. Aaron drove a great last two laps, was able to execute and break my momentum. It’s just part of racing. When you get those red flags, your tires sit, you know, the air pressures, your heights change, and your car feels a lot different. I’m just going to let that one sink in, but a podium finish is unbelievable for this team.”
Brad Sweet pulled into the infield before the feature began with ignition issues. Sweet was able to join the field for the start of main event. Sweet was then docked two position for jumping the initial start but rallied back for a ninth place finish.
43rd 4-Crown Nationals
Kubota High Limit Racing
Eldora Speedway
Rossburg, Ohio
Friday September 19, 2025
Capital Custom Trailers Qualifying A (2 Laps)
1. 24-Rico Abreu, 12.858[14]
2. 7BC-Giovanni Scelzi, 12.989[12]
3. 39M-Anthony Macri, 13.052[15]
4. 1A-Ashton Torgerson, 13.056[5]
5. 88-Tanner Thorson, 13.084[11]
6. 21H-Brady Bacon, 13.141[9]
7. 24D-Danny Sams III, 13.147[8]
8. 14-Justin Sanders, 13.149[13]
9. 19-Brent Marks, 13.171[4]
10. 10RR-Darin Naida, 13.189[7]
11. 11N-Kasey Jedrzejek, 13.336[16]
12. 17GP-Tim Shaffer, 13.377[6]
13. 15K-Creed Kemenah, 13.404[2]
14. 7A-Will Armitage, 13.405[1]
15. 23L-Jimmy Light, 13.433[10]
16. 6K-Kaleb Johnson, 13.504[17]
17. 9X-Tyler Duff, 13.676[3]
Capital Custom Trailers Qualifying B (2 Laps)
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 12.958[6]
2. 23-Chase Dietz, 13.056[4]
3. 42-Sye Lynch, 13.079[10]
4. 5-Brenham Crouch, 13.095[12]
5. 13-Daison Pursley, 13.108[15]
6. 9-Chase Randall, 13.127[5]
7. 26-Justin Peck, 13.128[8]
8. 51-JJ Hickle, 13.146[3]
9. 49-Brad Sweet, 13.146[17]
10. 71-Parker Price Miller, 13.189[11]
11. 27H-Steven Snyder Jr, 13.300[2]
12. 19JR-Joel Myers Jr, 13.430[16]
13. 64-Andy Pake, 13.492[1]
14. 5J-Jeremy Weaver, 13.543[9]
15. 14K-Keith Sheffer Jr, 13.598[7]
16. 11C-Kory Crabtree, 13.680[13]
17. W20-Greg Wilson, 13.766[14]
TJ Forged Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 39M-Anthony Macri[1]
2. 88-Tanner Thorson[2]
3. 19-Brent Marks[5]
4. 24-Rico Abreu[4]
5. 24D-Danny Sams III[3]
6. 11N-Kasey Jedrzejek[6]
7. 15K-Creed Kemenah[7]
8. 9X-Tyler Duff[9]
9. 23L-Jimmy Light[8]
DMI Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 1A-Ashton Torgerson[1]
2. 7BC-Giovanni Scelzi[4]
3. 21H-Brady Bacon[2]
4. 14-Justin Sanders[3]
5. 10RR-Darin Naida[5]
6. 6K-Kaleb Johnson[8]
7. 7A-Will Armitage[7]
8. 17GP-Tim Shaffer[6]
BR Motorsports Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 42-Sye Lynch[1]
2. 26-Justin Peck[3]
3. 49-Brad Sweet[5]
4. 87-Aaron Reutzel[4]
5. 13-Daison Pursley[2]
6. 64-Andy Pake[7]
7. 27H-Steven Snyder Jr[6]
8. W20-Greg Wilson[9]
9. 14K-Keith Sheffer Jr[8]
Rod End Supply Heat Race #4 (8 Laps)
1. 9-Chase Randall[2]
2. 71-Parker Price Miller[5]
3. 5-Brenham Crouch[1]
4. 23-Chase Dietz[4]
5. 51-JJ Hickle[3]
6. 19JR-Joel Myers Jr[6]
7. 5J-Jeremy Weaver[7]
8. 11C-Kory Crabtree[8]
FK Rod Ends Dash (7 Laps)
1. 39M-Anthony Macri[3]
2. 7BC-Giovanni Scelzi[2]
3. 24-Rico Abreu[5]
4. 87-Aaron Reutzel[7]
5. 42-Sye Lynch[1]
6. 9-Chase Randall[8]
7. 23-Chase Dietz[6]
8. 1A-Ashton Torgerson[4]
Winters Performance B-Main (12 Laps)
1. 27H-Steven Snyder Jr[2]
2. 6K-Kaleb Johnson[3]
3. 11N-Kasey Jedrzejek[1]
4. 15K-Creed Kemenah[5]
5. 19JR-Joel Myers Jr[6]
6. 5J-Jeremy Weaver[8]
7. 7A-Will Armitage[7]
8. 14K-Keith Sheffer Jr[14]
9. 23L-Jimmy Light[13]
10. W20-Greg Wilson[10]
11. 17GP-Tim Shaffer[11]
12. 64-Andy Pake[4]
13. 9X-Tyler Duff[9]
14. 11C-Kory Crabtree[12]
Kubota A-Main (25 Laps)
1. 87-Aaron Reutzel[4]
2. 24-Rico Abreu[3]
3. 9-Chase Randall[6]
4. 26-Justin Peck[9]
5. 21H-Brady Bacon[12]
6. 5-Brenham Crouch[15]
7. 19-Brent Marks[10]
8. 7BC-Giovanni Scelzi[2]
9. 49-Brad Sweet[13]
10. 88-Tanner Thorson[8]
11. 13-Daison Pursley[17]
12. 24D-Danny Sams III[16]
13. 42-Sye Lynch[5]
14. 14-Justin Sanders[14]
15. 23-Chase Dietz[7]
16. 51-JJ Hickle[19]
17. 11N-Kasey Jedrzejek[22]
18. 15K-Creed Kemenah[23]
19. 27H-Steven Snyder Jr[20]
20. 10RR-Darin Naida[18]
21. 6K-Kaleb Johnson[21]
22. 39M-Anthony Macri[1]
23. 71-Parker Price Miller[11]
24. 1A-Ashton Torgerson[24]