ROSSBURG, Ohio — The first $1 million sprint car winner will be crowned Thursday night at Eldora Speedway.
The much-anticipated event will run 50 laps of the legendary half-mile track with $1,002,023 awarded to the race winner from a $1,405,373 purse.
Eldora previously ran a pair of $1 million late model races with Jonathan Davenport winning last year and Donnie Moran claiming the original Eldora Million in 2001.
Carson Macedo was high point man on Wednesday, while Brad Sweet and Rico Abreu earned the 25-lap, $12,000 feature victories. These three — along with Kyle Larson, Donny Schatz, David Gravel and Logan Schuchart — are the leading contenders to take home the grand prize.
• Track owner Tony Stewart will not be on hand for Thursday’s Eldora Million, as he’ll be competing with the Superstar Racing Experience at Stafford Motor Speedway in Connecticut.
However, Stewart welcomed the 83-driver field on Thursday, with a vintage Stewart message.
“I’m a sprint car guy,” Stewart said. “You bet your ass I was going to pay you guys a million.”
• Shane Stewart was scheduled to start on the front row for the second feature on Wednesday, but pulled Bernie Stuebgen’s No. 71 entry to the pits prior to the green flag.
Stewart later tweeted, “I wanted to take the green but also didn’t want to crash Bernie’s car or someone else’s by being stupid. I had no brakes at all. Part of racing, timing wasn’t the best. Try again tomorrow.”
• Both Shark Racing entries, Logan Schuchart and Jacob Allen, finished in the top 12 in points on Wednesday and will start on the front row of a heat race Thursday night.
With the top-eight qualifiers inverted for heat races, many thought it would be difficult to get to the front. Schuchart, who was fast qualifier in Group A, raced from eighth to second in one lap and won the first heat.
• Cory Eliason suffered a massive crash and flip during his heat race on Wednesday night, but rolled out a backup Crouch Motorsports sprint car and made his way into the Group B feature event.
• Wednesday’s preliminary feature winners Brad Sweet (six) and Rico Abreu (eight) have now won a combined 14 features at Eldora Speedway.
• Hall of Fame racer Bobby Allen will crown the King during Saturday night’s 40th Kings Royal.