Nobody loves cashing in a Kubota High Limit Racing payday more than a World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series driver, and they did it again in Thursday’s Joker’s Jackpot at Eldora Speedway.
The $100,000-to-win, 40-lap Feature was chaotic from start-to-finish with drama and misfortune coming at frontrunners from green-to-checkered.
Tyler Courtney had a flat tire running second, James McFadden suffered another flat inside the top-five, then Jacob Allen’s ignition box failed while in fifth-from-21st, then Giovanni Scelzi flipped while leading with seven to go, and the final domino was Kyle Larson’s #57 slowing while in second in the last laps.
Officially, Giovanni Scelzi led the opening 33 laps and David Gravel controlled the final seven circuits – holding off Larson, then Donny Schatz on a green-white-checkered to earn his biggest payday ever at Eldora Speedway with his seventh win at “The Big E.”
It’s his second-career win with Kubota High Limit Racing, previously cashing $50,000 at Lernerville Speedway last fall and now $100,000 tonight at Eldora – which is the highest-paying race in all of Sprint Car Racing this year, to date.
For the Big Game Motorsports #2 team, Thursday’s triumph is their 11th victory of the 2024 season and they become the 11th different winners with Kubota High Limit Racing this year.
For the second-straight night, Donny Schatz finished runner-up in the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing #15. This time, his second-place finish netted a $25,000 payday.
Brad Sweet rounded out the podium and led the High Rollers contingent with a third-place run worth $15,000 aboard the Kasey Kahne Racing, NAPA Auto Parts #49.
Closing out the top-five was Justin Peck and Buch Motorsports with a $12,500 check in fourth-place, and hard-charging Rico Abreu into fifth-from-20th to earn $10,000 for the #24 team.
Finishing out the top-10 on Thursday night was Brent Marks, Logan Schuchart, Sheldon Haudenschild, Carson Macedo, and James McFadden.
EVENT BOX SCORE
Heat #1 – (8)Laps – Top 3 Transfer
1. 15-Donny Schatz[1]; 2. 83-James McFadden[3]; 3. 39M-Anthony Macri[2]; 4. 24-Rico Abreu[4]; 5. 2KS-Chase Randall[6]; 6. 26-Zeb Wise[9]; 7. 24D-Danny Sams III[5]; 8. 1-Brenham Crouch[7]; 9. 50YR-Gary Taylor[8]; 10. 25R-Jordan Ryan[10]; 11. 28-Brian Paulaus[11]
Heat #2 – (8)Laps – Top 3 Transfer
1. 57-Kyle Larson[1]; 2. 1s-Logan Schuchart[2]; 3. 5-Spencer Bayston[3]; 4. 23-Garet Williamson[4]; 5. 99-Skylar Gee[6]; 6. 1k-Kelby Watt[5]; 7. 3z-Brock Zearfoss[7]; 8. 70-Kraig Kinser[8]; 9. 81-Lee Jacobs[10]
Heat #3 – (8)Laps – Top 3 Transfer
1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[1]; 2. 13-Justin Peck[2]; 3. 101-Kalib Henry[3]; 4. 55V-Kerry Madsen[5]; 5. 45-Landon Brooks[8]; 6. W20-Greg Wilson[10]; 7. 25-Daison Pursley[7]; 8. 5T-Ryan Timms[6]; 9. 15K-Creed Kemenah[9]; 10. 11-Hunter Schuerenberg[4]
Heat #4 – (8)Laps – Top 3 Transfer
1. 2-David Gravel[1]; 2. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[2]; 3. 83JR-Michael Kofoid[4]; 4. 1A-Jacob Allen[5]; 5. 42-Sye Lynch[3]; 6. 32-Bryce Lucius[7]; 7. 88-Tanner Thorson[6]; 8. 19H-Joel Myers Jr[9]; 9. 2MD-Darin Naida[10]; 10. 29-Logan McCandless[8]
Heat #5 – (8)Laps – Top 3 Transfer
1. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[1]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel[2]; 3. 9P-Parker Price Miller[3]; 4. 8-Cory Eliason[4]; 5. 18T-Tanner Holmes[6]; 6. 27-Emerson Axsom[5]; 7. 49X-Tim Shaffer[8]; 8. 23J-Cale Thomas[7]; 9. 55T-McKenna Haase[9]; 10. 70M-Henry Malcuit[10]
Heat #6 – (8)Laps – Top 3 Transfer
1. 49-Brad Sweet[1]; 2. 41-Carson Macedo[2]; 3. 19-Brent Marks[3]; 4. 21-Brian Brown[4]; 5. 14-Corey Day[6]; 6. 23B-Devon Borden[7]; 7. 55-Chris Windom[9]; 8. 16T-Cole Macedo[8]; 9. 9-Kasey Kahne[5]; 10. 10-Scott Bogucki[10]
C Feature – (40)Laps – Top 8 Transfer
1. 25-Daison Pursley[3]; 2. 88-Tanner Thorson[4]; 3. 24D-Danny Sams III[1]; 4. 49X-Tim Shaffer[5]; 5. 21H-Brady Bacon[8]; 6. 5T-Ryan Timms[9]; 7. 55-Chris Windom[6]; 8. 23J-Cale Thomas[11]; 9. 15K-Creed Kemenah[14]; 10. 9-Kasey Kahne[17]; 11. 1-Brenham Crouch[7]; 12. 50YR-Gary Taylor[12]; 13. 19H-Joel Myers Jr[10]; 14. 29-Logan McCandless[21]; 15. 81-Lee Jacobs[19]; 16. 25R-Jordan Ryan[18]; 17. 2MD-Darin Naida[15]; 18. 55T-McKenna Haase[16]; 19. 28-Brian Paulaus[24]; 20. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[2]; 21. 70-Kraig Kinser[13]; 22. 11-Hunter Schuerenberg[20]; 23. 70M-Henry Malcuit[22]; 24. 10-Scott Bogucki[23]
B-Feature – (15)Laps – Top 4 Transfer
1. 1A-Jacob Allen[3]; 2. 23-Garet Williamson[1]; 3. 8-Cory Eliason[4]; 4. 55V-Kerry Madsen[2]; 5. 26-Zeb Wise[11]; 6. W20-Greg Wilson[13]; 7. 45-Landon Brooks[8]; 8. 14-Corey Day[10]; 9. 21-Brian Brown[5]; 10. 18T-Tanner Holmes[9]; 11. 23J-Cale Thomas[24]; 12. 1K-Kelby Watt[12]; 13. 5T-Ryan Timms[22]; 14. 2KS-Chase Randall[6]; 15. 25-Daison Pursley[17]; 16. 88-Tanner Thorson[18]; 17. 99-Skylar Gee[7]; 18. 21H-Brady Bacon[21]; 19. 24D-Danny Sams III[19]; 20. 32-Bryce Lucius[14]; 21. 23B-Devon Borden[16]; 22. 27-Emerson Axsom[15]; 23. 49X-Tim Shaffer[20]; 24. 55-Chris Windom[23]
A-Feature – (40)Laps
1. 2-David Gravel[4]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz[5]; 3. 49-Brad Sweet[6]; 4. 13-Justin Peck[9]; 5. 24-Rico Abreu[20]; 6. 19-Brent Marks[18]; 7. 1S-Logan Schuchart[8]; 8. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[10]; 9. 41-Carson Macedo[12]; 10. 83-James McFadden[7]; 11. 1A-Jacob Allen[21]; 12. 5-Spencer Bayston[14]; 13. 8-Cory Eliason[23]; 14. 39M-Anthony Macri[13]; 15. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[3]; 16. 9P-Parker Price Miller[17]; 17. 101-Kalib Henry[15]; 18. 23-Garet Williamson[22]; 19. 42-Sye Lynch[19]; 20. 57-Kyle Larson[2]; 21. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[1]; 22. 87-Aaron Reutzel[11]; 23. 83JR-Michael Kofoid[16]; 24. 55V-Kerry Madsen[24]