After winning the final Drydene Heat Race of the program at Eldora Speedway for the 2019 Kings Royal, Sammy Swindell will be leading the field to green in the 40-lap, $175,000-to-win main event later tonight.
Swindell qualified 32nd out of the 62 car field, but started first in his heat thanks to the invert. He held off Logan Schuchart and Joey Saldana to win the 10-lap heat race.
“Woo! What do you think,” Swindell said told DirtVision when they asked how he felt about it. “We struggled a little bit the last couple, you know? But, I haven’t gotten too many races under my belt this year. We found a couple of things every night with this and that.”
Swindell, at 63 years old, becomes the oldest driver to start on the pole in Kings Royal history.
“Hopefully we can get the setup just right,” Swindell told DirtVision. “These cars are just a little bit tricky here. It seems like now just a little bit can throw you either way.”
Swindell will share the front row of the four-wide salute with Donny Schatz, Kerry Madsen, and Aaron Reutzel.
“We’re going to give it our damndest,” Swindell said. “We’re going to go for broke.”
2019 Kings Royal Starting Lineup
1. Sammy Swindell
2. Donny Schatz
3. Kerry Madsen
4. Aaron Reutzel
5. Cory Eliason
6. Brad Sweet
7. Cale Thomas
8. Tim Shaffer
9. Sheldon Haudenschild
10. Jac Haudenschild
11. David Gravel
12. Logan Schuchart
13. Daryn Pittman
14. Dale Blaney
15. Gio Scelzi
16. Brent Marks
17. Rico Abreau
18. Joey Saldana
19. Sye Lynch*
20. Tom Harris*
21. B-Main first place
22. B-Main second place
23. B-Main third place
24. B-Main fourth place
*-denotes a driver that transferred into the main event by being one of the two fastest cars in qualifying that did not transfer from their heat races.
For more coverage of the Kings Royal, follow Connor Ferguson on twitter (@cfchangs9) as well as the Racing Vault (@RacingVault), for all of your motorsports needs from the World of Outlaws to stock car racing.
