Rico Abreu wins The Knight Before after a back-and-fourth battle for the lead against David Gravel.

(Courtesy of WoO PR)
When the checkered flag waved on Friday night at Eldora Speedway, residents of towns miles away from Rossburg, OH knew who topped the Knight Before the Kings Royal. The massive Eldora crowd made sure of it.

The “RICO! RICO!” chants roared from stands at “The Big E.” And for good reason. They’d just seen Rico Abreu and David Gravel put on an absolute show with Abreu coming out on top.

One lap it looked like Abreu had it in the bag. Then Gravel surged ahead. And then Abreu came roaring back to deliver the knockout blow only three laps remaining and arise victorious with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars. Eldora’s pyrotechnics provided the flames, and the fans provided a wave of cheers as Abreu celebrated with a full wing dance in Victory Lane.

“Being really patient and believing in your team,” an emotional Abreu said of what it took to win. “These guys do a really good job working on these race cars. It’s a lot of work to prepare these things. These moments get intense when you’re out there racing, and you’ve just got to be patient with your feet and be consistent and just understand the balance of your car.

“David is such a respectable race car driver. He’s going to be searching around. That’s how he got to the lead. In traffic I was probably just a little too hesitant at times and then knew I could really pick the pace up there at the end. I probably was a little resistant to the wing and just understood as the race went on I needed more of it. It’s just really incredible to be racing with Ricky Warner, Zach Middlebrooks, and Brady Forbrook. They’re relentless when it comes to this sport. They’re really passionate about it. It makes me really, really emotional.”

The victory was Abreu’s 17th with The Greatest Show on Dirt. He’s now at 10 total triumphs at Eldora Speedway, and four of them have come in World of Outlaws competition. Adding it on to his win at 81 Speedway back in March, Abreu became the second competitor that isn’t full-time with multiple Series checkered flags this season.

Tyler Courtney and Abreu led the field to green, and it was Abreu blasting around “Sunshine’s” outside to lead the opening lap.

Gravel took no time to ignite the battle for second as he rolled the bottom in the Big Game Motorsports No. 2. He pulled alongside the NOS Energy Drink No. 7BC and nosed ahead on Lap 2. But Courtney refused to go down easy and inched back in front on the following lap.

Those two continued their duel for multiple laps while Abreu established a rhythm at the front of the field. Gravel managed to wrestle away the second spot from Courtney for good on the seventh circuit.

A couple red flags interrupted Gravel’s pursuit of Abreu, but in the 30-lapper’s latter half, the battle began. Gravel built a big run out of Turn 4 that he used to dive under Abreu and take the spot on Lap 18.

One rotation later Abreu threw a huge slide job to clear Gravel in Turns 3 and 4. Gravel refused to be rattled as he ducked under Abreu and slid ahead of him exiting Turn 2. Abreu fired another slider through Turns 3 and 4 in the back-and-forth battle, but Gravel countered with a crossover and secured the top spot down the front straightaway.

The laps dwindled, and time appeared to be running out for Abreu. But with traffic slowing Gravel in the closing laps, hope was restored for the pilot of the No. 2 as he closed back in. Gravel opted for the very low side of the half mile in Turns 3 and 4 coming to three laps to go, and it allowed Abreu to get a massive run. The St. Helena, CA native sliced under Gravel heading into Turn 1 and completed the slider in the middle of the corner.

From there it was smooth sailing as Abreu pulled ahead to secure the checkered flag. The $25,000 Knight Before check was nice. But now the focus shifts to the quest to become King Rico XLI on Saturday night.

“Hats off to Tony Stewart and Eldora Speedway. I love all of you guys,” Abreu said. “Man, this place is really, really special to me. I get emotional when I come race here, and I’ll do whatever it takes to win one of these things.”

Gravel had to settle for second, falling one spot short of back-to-back Eldora wins after his Joker’s Jackpot triumph on Thursday. But the Watertown, CT native didn’t hang his head. He knows he’ll be in the running for the Kings Royal crown and $175,000 on Saturday night.

“It got really slick and technical,” Gravel said. “I felt some parts of the race I was better then some parts of the race he was better. He got his wing all the way back and started running higher up the track. I really regret going low in (Turns) 3 and 4 that one lap. That’s when he got that big run on me. I didn’t feel in a good spot in (Turns) 3 and 4 no matter where I went. It was so slick. There was really no cushion left. I got hung up with the lapped cars a little bit. I wish I just stayed up and probably would’ve dirtied him up and maybe been able to hold on. But it was a great effort tonight.”

Rounding out the podium was Logan Schuchart in the Shark Racing No. 1S. A sub-par Qualifying effort set them back early in the night, but Schuchart and company fought their way back to a strong effort heading into the Kings Royal finale.

“We started fifth in our Heat Race tonight, so it was an uphill climb from the very start,” Schuchart said. “We got ourselves in the Dash spot and went forward from there. I think we have a really good car to start out with tomorrow. The format is obviously a lot different. Hopefully we can get ourselves in a good spot because I think we have fast hotrod to go after $175,000.”

Donny Schatz and Tyler Courtney completed the top five.