KING DAVID XLI: David Gravel Bests Donny Schatz in a Thriller for First Kings Royal Crown
Gravel and Schatz deliver a duel thatโll never be forgotten, and Gravel comes out on top for $175,000
ROSSBURG, OH (July 20, 2024) –ย Thereโs a reason Eldora Speedway is called โThe Worldโs Greatest Dirt Track.โ
The historic half mile located in Rossburg, OH gave the Sprint Car world aย Kings Royalย theyโll never forget on Saturday night. A driver at the top of his game hungry for his first crown. A legend of Sprint Car Racing charging through the field in search of a record-tying seventh. And the two coming together to clash with racing royalty and $175,000 on the line.
David Gravel entered Saturdayโs 41st running of theย Kings Royalย with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars as one of the clear favorites. When he earned the pole for the 40-lap Feature, it felt like even more of a foregone conclusion. But it was anything but easy for the Watertown, CT native to become King.
First, he had to contend with Logan Schuchart, and then Schatz came charging. The 10-time Series champion roared all the way from 20th to take the lead from Gravel with eight laps remaining. But Gravel wouldnโt let it slip away. He simply refused. The 32-year-old got his elbows up and drove the Big Game Motorsports No. 2 as hard as he could right next to the Eldora fence to get back by. A tap on the wall with only a few laps to go nearly cost him, but he regrouped and held on to become King David XLI.
โWhy is Donny Schatz so damn good? Damn,โ Gravel said. โYou canโt put that guy away no matter where he starts. I saw he was eighth on the open red, and I was like, โI know heโs going to be a factor.โ And when I looked down, I thought maybe it was Logan, and there he is โ Donny Schatz again. I just had to drive my a** off, do my best Haud line impression, and just run the s**t out of it.
โIโve let it be known I donโt like to ride the wall, but itโs Kings Royal and youโre in the lead and you see Donny Schatz. I always try to save a little bit of a second gear and was able to hit that second gear and plugged it in the wall, rode the wall for a little while, and luckily got out of it and didnโt hurt too much. I thought those lapped cars were going to mess with me a little bit and kind of did. Hats off to Donny for racing the right way. I try to race as clean as good as he does. Just a lot of respect for him.
โLike I said earlier, this is the coolest celebration for winning a crown jewel event, and to get that third crown jewel is just amazing.โ
With the victory, Gravel secured his missing piece to complete the trio of Sprint Car Racingโs three most prestigious crown jewel events. He already owned aย Knoxville Nationalsย and twoย National Opensย and added theย Kings Royal. He pushed his career win total with the World of Outlaws to 99 and looks destined to become the eighth to reach triple digits soon. The Kings Royal has now crowned 22 different Kings through 41 editions.
Gravel got the jump on the initial start, but a red flag for a flipping Parker Price-Miller necessitated a restart. Outside pole-sitter, Tyler Courtney, pulled ahead with the second attempt and led the opening lap.
It didnโt take Gravel long to begin searching around the wide half mile for speed as Courtney remained committed to the cushion. Sure enough, Gravel got the bottom rolling and pulled alongside and slid ahead to lead Lap 7.
Logan Schuchart then entered the discussion as he followed Gravel by โSunshineโ to take over the runner-up spot in the Shark Racing machine. Schuchart quickly closed the gap, and on the 16th circuit he rolled low under Gravel to grab the lead in pursuit of his firstย Kings Royalย crown.
A restart with 23 laps remaining gave Gravel to opportunity he needed to regain the lead as he blasted the cushion right around Schuchart. A little way behind them, Schatz launched from eighth to fifth on the restart by the time he reached the back straightaway. He then made it three-wide Sheldon Haudenschild and Jacob Allen in Turns 3 and 4, clearing Haudenschild in the process. The Fargo, ND driver then moved by Allen in the next set of turns to grab third. A lap later Schatz cleared Schuchart for the runner-up spot.
Gravel easily proved to be the toughest challenge as Schatz sliced through the field. When he took the runner-up position, Gravel had over a second advantage on the Tony Stewart/Curb Agajanian Racing No. 15. But slowly but surely the gap dwindled as Schatz masterfully worked the low line.
Schatz caught up and showed Gravel his nose on Lap 31, and Gravel moved down to block. But Gravelโs choice cost him momentum on the exit of Turn 2 as Schatz rolled by down the back straightaway, sending the huge crowd into a frenzy and completing the drive from 20th to the front.
And then Gravel got up on the wheel. He put the hammer down on the top and motored back around Schatz two laps later. He would not be denied the throne.
Gravel gave Schatz one last opportunity when he hit the wall hard in Turn 4 on Lap 36. Schatz pulled alongside and gave it everything he had, but ultimately Gravel prevailed as he pulled away on the path to forever being known as King David XLI.
โCody (Jacobs) has a lot of confidence right now. I have a lot of confidence right now,โ Gravel said. โStephen (Hamm-Reilly) and Zach (Patterson) are doing a great job. Itโs just been a lot of fun. Weโve had a couple DNFs this year, but every time weโre on the racetrack and this 2 car finishes, itโs typically in a good way. Man, what a race. I just got to thank Tod Quiring for hiring me four years ago.โ
Schatz settled for second after the amazing drive from 20th. After taking the lead with less than 10 laps to go, the defeat definitely left Schatz feeling disappointed, but he gave credit where credit was due.
โWeโre a little short,โ Schatz said. โI guess Iโm happy we got there. The guys did a great job all week. We had to change a few motors to get things the way we needed. That stings a little bit to get there. I felt really good. Itโs just Iโve said it a hundred million times โ the last eight laps of those 40 at this race are a whole different dynamic. I got the lead and started to just slip a little bit. I didnโt let my tires slip once, or I knew I was never going to get it back. And I didnโt slip them, but just as our fuel load came off, I started struggling. David got up on there and got the job done. He got in the fence there, and I donโt know how he drove out of that. I wasnโt going to do what he did, so he won.โ
Justin Peck put together a strong charge of his own to wheel the Buch Motorsports No. 13 from 15th to third to round out theย Kings Royalย podium. His team made some strong changes under the open red with 23 laps to go and put Peck on the path to his best career finish in the Eldora crown jewel.
โThat thing was a dream to drive there after that open red,โ Peck said. โIt just kind of was a slot car around there. I felt like I could run the slick or the bottom or run the top.โ
Logan Schuchart and Jacob Allen completed the top five.
Schatzโs drive from 20th to second earned him the KSE Racing Hard Charger.
In Sea Foam Qualifying, Rico Abreu picked up Simpson Quick Time honors.
NOS Energy Drink Heats One, Four, Five, and Six belonged to Rico Abreu, Parker Price-Miller, Tyler Courtney, and David Gravel. Milton Hershey School Heat Two went to Sheldon Haudenschild, and Toyota Racing Heat Three went to Logan Schuchart.
Hunter Schuerenberg won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.
UP NEXT:ย The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars head to Pennsylvania with three battles against the PA Posse in four nights. It begins on Wednesday, July 24 at York Haven, PAโs BAPS Motor Speedway. Then on July 26-27, the C&D Rigging Summer Nationals brings the tour to Williams Grove Speedway (Mechanicsburg, PA) for two nights of action capped with a $20,000-to-win finale. For tickets,ย CLICK HERE.
If you canโt make it to the track, catch every lap live onย DIRTVision.
FEATURE RESULTS:
NOS Energy Drink Feature (40 Laps): 1. 2-David Gravel[1]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz[20]; 3. 13-Justin Peck[15]; 4. 1S-Logan Schuchart[4]; 5. 1A-Jacob Allen[7]; 6. 27-Emerson Axsom[13]; 7. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[5]; 8. 26-Zeb Wise[14]; 9. 19-Brent Marks[12]; 10. 83-Michael Kofoid[11]; 11. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[2]; 12. 5-Spencer Bayston[23]; 13. 39M-Anthony Macri[19]; 14. 83SR-James McFadden[10]; 15. 11-Hunter Schuerenberg[21]; 16. 99-Skylar Gee[9]; 17. 21H-Brady Bacon[22]; 18. 24-Rico Abreu[6]; 19. 21-Brian Brown[16]; 20. 7S-Landon Crawley[17]; 21. 45-Landon Brooks[18]; 22. 16T-Cole Macedo[24]; 23. 42-Sye Lynch[8]; 24. 9P-Parker Price Miller[3]