Stewart waits out rain to claim crown

ROSSBURG - After running a flawless race to capture Friday night's 30-lap World of Outlaw main event at Eldora Speedway, Shane Stewart was faced with a multitude of obstacles if he was going to sweep the weekend and capture Saturday night's Kings Royal and the $50,000 top prize.

Stewart fought through a tough heat race to finish in third place and earn the 14th starting position in the 24-car starting field, which was deeper than any other previous Kings Royal winner had ever started.

He, like the rest of the competitors and the overflow crowd, was forced to withstand a nearly four-hour rain delay when torrential rains pelted the speedway just after the first heat began.

But most of all, he had to find a way to overcome six-time Outlaw champion Donny Schatz. The two-time Kings Royal winner, who swept the Outlaws Eldora doubleheader in May and has won 20 World of Outlaw main events in 2015, was virtually everybody's favorite after earning a front row starting spot.

Stewart was up to the challenge and thrilled the estimated 20,000 fans in attendance to capture his first Kings Royal, taking the checkered flag at 4:33 a.m. on Sunday morning.

"This is an awesome, awesome weekend," Stewart said in victory lane. "I don't even know what to say. It's an unbelievable feeling."

Stewart methodically worked his way into contention through the first half of the 40-lap main event moving into the top five by lap 20. Stewart had worked his way to second when Christopher Bell's machine blew a right rear tire and crashed hard in turn one. Bell was uninjured, but the caution flag allowed Stewart to restart right next to Schatz, who had dominated the race since inheriting the lead on lap four when early leader Tim Shaffer suffered a blown engine.

Schatz quickly pulled away when Stewart's car stumbled at the start, but one lap later Cody Darrah slowed in turn two which brought out another caution flag. With only five laps remaining the field lined up single file for the ensuing restart and this time Stewart stayed right with Schatz.

On lap 36 Stewart pulled to the inside of Schatz in turns one and two and again in turns three and four but Schatz was able to hold on to the lead. Racing down the backstretch, the duo crisscrossed at nearly 130 mph with Schatz going to the bottom and Stewart around the outside of the high-banked, ½-mile. Coming off turn four, Stewart powered into the lead as Schatz's Tony Stewart Racing machine slowed, apparently out of fuel.

A lap later, Brent Marks collided with the slowing car of Schatz and spun to a stop in turn one to bring out the caution flag and set up a two-lap dash to the checkered flag and the top prize. Stewart was up to the challenge and held off rookie Jason Johnson for the win.

"I just can't thank (car owners) Kyle (Larson) and Justin (Marks) and all my guys enough. They gave me a great, great race car all weekend long and I actually thought I had a legitimate shot at Donny there," Stewart said. "I knew everyone had to be getting close on fuel. I don't know what to say.

"This is definitely the biggest win of my career. I actually told myself coming into the weekend that this is definitely the best shot I've ever had at winning a big race. I can't thank these race fans enough for sticking around. By god, this is a late night and I'm going to celebrate."

Johnson held on for second-place while Rico Abreu passed Daryn Pittman on the final restart to finish in third-place. Sammy Swindell also passed Pittman to finish in fourth-place while Pittman held on to fifth.

"Three months ago, to be able to get back in a race car was going to be a privilege," said Johnson, who broke his back in a crash in California three months ago and just recently returned to the cockpit. "To come back here and already be on the podium in a couple of weeks, it feels really good."

"I just want to thank every one of these fans tonight," Abreu said. "You all could have headed home after it started raining but this place was still packed here. I don't know what time it is, but this is pretty damn impressive… definitely my favorite race track to come to every year."

Schatz finished sixth after rallying back after adding fuel under the final caution flag. The 2013 Kings Royal winner Brad Sweet finished in sixth-place while Jac Haudenschild capped an incredible run by finishing 8th after starting 24th. Defending race winner Kerry Madsen and Paul McMahan completed the top ten. Paige Polyak joined Erin Crocker as the only females to qualify for the Kings Royal feature and finished 11th.

Sprint car legend Steve Kinser, a seven time Kings Royal champion, failed to qualify for the Kings Royal feature event for the first time after taking a nasty tumble down the backstretch on the opening lap of the first heat race just before the rains came. Kinser was transported to a local hospital where he was checked out and released and reportedly returned to the track.

Susie Barga, the sister of the late Eldora Speedway founder Earl Baltes, served as the Royal Sovereign and crowned Stewart king in the traditional victory lane ceremony following the feature.

Randy Hannagan held off Ryan Ruhl to win the entertaining National Racing Alliance 360 sprint event. Ruhl, Bell, Friday night's 360 winner Butch Schroeder and Kyle Sauder completed the top five.

The 1-800 CarCash Mudsummer Classic, the only dirt race in NASCAR, is next on the Eldora schedule. The 150-lap NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event is on Wednesday . The on-track action begins on Tuesday with the Tuesday Night Tailgate featuring the American Late Model Series.