By T.J. Buffenbarger
(July 18, 2026) — After a two-hour rain delay and some of the fastest race action I have ever witnessed at the Eldora Speedway, here are my takeaways from the Knight Before the Kings Royal.
• After making a mistake that likely cost him at least a podium finish on Thursday night, Corey Day was nearly perfect on Friday night during the Knight Before the Kings Royal at Eldora Speedway,
Day took full advantage of drawing the front row for the dash, winning that and the feature event handily.
After one challenge by Aaron Reutzel mid-race, Day was able to drive away during the restart leaving little or no doubt of who the victory would be on Friday.
Day has been lights out all week and is likely one mistake on Thursday from putting together the best week of any driver. The only reason I don’t consider Day a favorite going into Saturday is because of the curve ball the weather may throw at us on Saturday.
• After two nights of a relatively slick Eldora Speedway racing surface the weather intervened with a couple of rain showers that produced entirely different dimension of the high banked half mile.
Gone were the slide jobs and crossovers from the past two nights for white knuckle blazing speed with cars leaving vapor trails.
Eldora officials did a great job sealing off the racing surface for the inevitable incoming rain showers. That preparation mixed with the rain created a surface that was similar April of 2002 when Craig Dollansky set a track record at Eldora that once stood for 18 years.
During the heat races Tyler Courtney 12.987 lap on the final circuit of his heat race compared to the high 13/mid 14 second laps we witnessed on Wednesday night.
While those blazing fast speeds don’t produce the same kind of passing and side by side racing action witnessed on Wednesday and Thursday, it is entertaining to see the equipment and drivers pushed to the edge on that fast of a surface.
Friday’s program could prove to be an important warm-up for Saturday’s $200,000 to win Kings Royal with more rain in the forecast, it is likely we could see a high-speed duel for the crown.
• Jason Johnson Racing and Carson Macedo pulled off an extraordinary feat of work area excellence following an incident on the opening lap that put several contenders by the wayside.
Once the crumpled 41 car made it to the work area a large group of team members including Carson himself and brother Cole put an extraordinary amount of work into eight minutes to get their entry back into action with a car that was far from perfect (and missing a Jacobs ladder to position the rear end).
Rejoining the field for the restart four laps later Macedo was stopped on the backstretch with a flat front tire after Justin Peck got upside down in turn two, but the crew managed to get Macedo back out on the racetrack after second stop in the work area.
Six more cars ended up falling out of the race after the Peck crash, landing Macedo a 14th place finish. Depending on how the championship plays out at the end of the year, that Eldora effort could prove to be pivotal to JJR ends up in the 2026 point standings.
• During my takeaways on Wednesday, I stated that I did not have a strong feeling towards a driver being a favorite to win the Kings Royal crown on Saturday. After three nights of action, I stand by that statement.
With the weather being an unknown factor on Saturday, we could end up with similar track conditions that we witnessed tonight. With the Kings Royal format that featured the “wheel of doom” that sets the inversion for the heat races, where finish determines where you start the 40-lap main event from, a heavy race shower and fast racetrack could be a recipe for an upset if someone gets up front and catches cautions at the right time.
Saturday could be one of the most fascinating Kings Royals in recent memory with multiple drivers performing at a high enough level leading into the event to almost consider it wide open for who many crowned after winning.