David Gravel Wins $100,000 at the Big E

David Gravel with his son in Victory Lane at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. (Photo: High Limit Racing Media)

ROSSBURG, Ohio — The drivers who compete with High Limit Racing are considered “high rollers” and on Thursday night, the series lived up to its name. The Joker’s Jackpot, an event with a $100,000 payday, was a memorable show at Eldora Speedway.

One of Wednesday night’s winners, Giovanni Scelzi, started on the pole next to Kyle Larson. Scelzi jumped out to the lead to kick off the 40-lap main event and Larson was right on his heels. 

Four laps later, Tyler Courtney knocked on Larson’s door, looking to get revenge on “Yung Money” from the night before when he shoved him into the wall. Courtney went low going into Turn 3 while Larson was running the high side and managed to get ahead of him in that lower lane. “Sunshine” drifted up the track to get in front of Larson to claim second from the NASCAR champion.

On a restart following Kerry Madsen getting into the wall, doing a complete 360 and keeping the car going, Larson surged up to Scelzi’s side for the lead. Larson went down to the bottom and slid up in front of him going into Turn 4, but Scelzi returned the favor exiting the corner on Lap 10.

Half-way through the race, David Gravel got in a heated battle with Brad Sweet for third. Gravel took the low side while Sweet went up high and the two of them raced side-by-side throughout the corners and down the straightaways. 

One lap later, Gravel, who had stuck to the bottom, came off of Turn 2 with a burst of momentum and got ahead of Sweet for third. Instead of sliding up in front of Sweet to cut the “Big Cat” off, Gravel stuck to the bottom to keep his lead over Sweet.

With 16 laps left, Sweet got Gravel back coming off of Turn 2, but he drifted up too high going down the back chute and gave the position back to Gravel. At that point, Gravel was running the top side and was slowly closing the gap between himself and Larson.

Two laps later, Scelzi was having a hard time getting around the lapped car of Sye Lynch, allowing Larson to catch up to Scelzi. Lynch ended up moving down the track so Scelzi could get by, but Larson was coming up fast. Scelzi took the top and so did Larson, but Larson took the top a little too high and tagged the wall slightly, giving Scelzi a major advantage.

Gravel saw this and put his foot to the floor in an effort to steal second away. And steal it away he did because Larson drifted up too high and tagged the wall once again, giving second to Gravel.

Snapshot of the red flag conditions that occurred with eight laps to go at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. (Photo: High Limit Racing Media)

With eight laps remaining, James McFadden drew a caution that ended up turning into red light conditions so the teams could work on their cars. Before the caution, Scelzi tagged the wall two times coming off of Turn 4 and damaged his right rear rim.

That tire proved to be a major problem for Scelzi coming into Turn 3 on the restart. Scelzi, who was running the top-most line, got too high and hit the wall hard, going over twice and ending up on his side. Because of this absolute heartbreak for Scelzi, Gravel took the lead for the restart. 

On Lap 37, Larson lost second to Donny Schatz when he slowed on the bottom in Turns 3 and 4. Although the slowing was not for very long, it took enough time for Schatz to squeeze by him and take the runner-up spot. Larson got his tires spinning at full speed once again and shot forward to the sprint car veteran’s bumper.

With two laps left, Larson slowed completely on the top of the backstretch, drawing a caution. With there only being a pair of laps left, Larson took the car back to the trailer, ending his night.

Gravel was able to stay ahead of Schatz to hold the lead and win the race. Rounding out the top five were Sweet, Justin Peck and Rico Abreu.

Although it is not an official High Limit Racing event, the High Limit drivers will remain at Eldora for the “Knight Before” race run by the World of Outlaws on Friday, July 19th.