By T.J. Buffenbarger
ROSSBURG, OH (September 20, 2025) — The busiest day in short track, open wheel racing is in the history books and the 43rd edition of the 4-Crown Nationals at Eldora Speedway will be remembered for two driver’s standout performances on one of the sport’s biggest stages.
Here are my takeaways from what has moved back up into one of my favorite event on the racing calendar.
• Daison Pursley joined Jack Hewitt, Kyle Larson, and Logan Seavey as drivers who were victorious in all three USAC divisions at the 4-Crown in a single evening. Pursley made his trifecta stand out by winning all three races handily.
I was a witness in person to all of these 4-Crown sweeps except for Larson’s, and the thing that will stand out to me about Pursley how commanding all of his victories were.
Daison Pursley didn’t just sweep the USAC Portion of the 4-Crown and ended up with a Great Lakes Super Sprints victory in the process, he won all four of his feature events this weekend at Eldora Speedway in commanding fashion.
Friday night at Eldora Pursley came out of nowhere in the GLSS feature blasting around the top of the racetrack as if his last name was Hewitt or Haudenschild running eighth on lap 11 and ended up winning by 4.368 seconds.
Pursley continued to show that kind of speed on Saturday leading every lap of the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Series feature, 42 of the 50 laps in the USAC Silver Crown feature and was never seriously challenged. Kevin Thomas Jr. put up a good fight with Pursley in the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Car series main, but Pursley took command by lap 14 and won by 3.536 seconds.
The dominance Pursley showed winning all three of those non-wing races after focusing on the High Limit tour all season was quite a statement for his continuing evolution as a driver.
• Chad Boat and his race team clearly have a knack for making cars go fast around Eldora Speedway. Boat’s midgets were the cars to beat with Chris Windom behind the wheel at Eldora Speedway and Spencer Bayston continued that trend by winning on Saturday.
Boat also fielded the non-wing sprint car and a winged 360 sprint car Bayston drove to victory that was just as dominant as the midget. The performance of the winged sprint car caught my interest as Boat’s entries in this realm have been very fast with such a small sample size.
With Boat’s proclivity for making cars fast at Eldora I would love to see his race team take a shot at winning the Kings Royal. Boat’s effort with Ty Gibbs early in the season showed how talented Boat’s race team is showing speed immediately. Friday’s 360 sprint car race was eye opening as much for Pursley putting the car on the fence over the last half of the race, but also for how fast Boat’s car was for how little they run a winged sprint car.
People coming from the midget racing seem to have speed with winged sprint cars, and I think Boat’s race team with a fun ringer could be a fun addition to a major winged sprint car race.
• I’m not sure if Rico Abreu could draw up a better weekend of racing to book end a huge week for the 33 year old driver from St. Helena, California where he announced a move to Tony Stewart Racing for the 2026 season.
Coming off his win at Lawrenceburg Speedway on Thursday, Abreu appeared to be set to double up on feature wins Friday at Eldora Speedway with the High Limit Racing series until losing the lead on a restart with two laps to go to Aaron Reutzel.
Abreu bounced back driving an incredibly patient race on Saturday where he was boxed in sixth position by some intense racing that was taking place in front of him. Rather than force the issue Abreu waited for the right moment, let his car come in, and once he got to second position on lap 20 it seemed invadable Abreu would end up winning the race.
We are witnessing Abreu hit his prime as a driver right now and with his move to Tony Stewart Racing essentially using the same equipment and personnel he’s using currently, and it could be the difference that helps tip the scales towards him winning the Kings Royal or Knoxville Nationals next season.
• Eldora Speedway, the United States Auto Club, and High Limit Racing series need to be commended in coming up with a format Saturday night at the 4-Crown that appears to have fixed the problem in what was becoming one of the longest nights in short track open wheel racing.
Even 10 years ago I would have considered it unfathomable that either sprint car division would forgo qualifying on Saturday at the 4-Crown. The expansion to a three-day format, using the Thursday and Friday programs to line up the “qualifiers” for Saturday’s finale, High Limit forgoing their dash, all contributed to a much more efficient program.
The racetrack was in as good of shape for Saturday at the 4-Crown as I’ve seen in a decade for the 50 lap USAC Silver Crown finale on Saturday, the last event on a very busy day of racing during the 4-Crown.
The addition of the Great Lakes Super Sprints on Friday night also gives that division another race date at Eldora, which teams responded to with a strong field of cars turning up for the program.
Hopefully everyone can work together again to create the same kind of program for next year, as my enthusiasm for what was one of my favorite events each season has been restored.