“Lap three,” interjected Sweet of the 40-lap feature.
Sweet wasn’t far off. Schatz, who started sixth, moved into third after five laps. He passed Sweet for second on lap 13. A lap later, Schatz threw a slide job at pole-sitter and Kings Royal rookie Cole Duncan for the lead. Schatz clicked off the next 27 laps practically unchallenged in front of a record crowd for the Kings Royal.
He beat runner-up Christopher Bell – who had a blistering run himself charging from 20th to second – by 3.9 seconds. The rest of the field trailed by 7.7 or more as 11 of the 24 cars were lapped by Schatz.
Schatz – who also won in 2007, 2009 and last year – became the first back-to-back champion in the Kings Royal’s 34-year history. Not even seven-time Kings Royal champ Kinser could accomplish that.
“I’m just ecstatic. He’s one of the fiercest competitors you could ever race with. He’s an icon,” Schatz said. “That was probably the best moment of the night, getting to stand next to him. He let me know he was King I.
“Anytime you can do something Steve Kinser hasn’t done, it’s pretty incredible. I’m not going to get wrapped up in all the hype of records and stats. It’s just not who I am. It’s definitely going to make that trip home a lot better.”
More than 20,000 spectators packed Eldora to witness the Kings Royal. Attendance numbers are not released, but it was announced as the largest in event history. One of those spectators took home an equally impressive $32,380 for their share of the 50/50 pot.
The 40-lapper ran without a caution. That helped Schatz with a car that dominated in dirty air. It hurt Bell, who needed the field stacked up for a late-race restart to help close the gap on Schatz. Both were racing for Eldora owner Tony Stewart and his TSR/Curb-Agajanian Racing team.
“I was trying to run smart and take my time,” Bell said of working through the field. “I knew I had a really good car. But looking back, if I’d known it was going to go green to checkered, I probably could have made a couple more moves to get through the field faster to give me a little more time to run down Donny. To come from 20th to second on a green-checkered race is something I’m pretty proud of.”
Sweet, Duncan and Ryan Smith – who started last on the grid – rounded out the top five. Lee Jacobs, Chad Kemenah, Daryn Pittman, Kraig Kinser and Sheldon Haudenschild finished in the top 10.
Schatz set fast time in qualifying with a lap of 13.197 seconds (137.4 mph) and won his heat for a clean sweep Saturday.
“You can clearly be the best car some nights and force yourself into a mistake,” said Schatz, adding he nearly did that getting a little too anxious getting around a lapped car and almost put himself in bad spot. “It’s never over until you roll under that checkered flag.”
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