World of Outlaws 42nd Kings Royal

The 26-year-old leads every lap of the 42nd running of the Kings Royal

Anthony Macri will forever be known as King Anthony XLII.

The Kings Royal might be an Ohio’s crown jewel of Sprint Car racing, but this year it belonged to the Pennsylvania Posse.

“Posse-Posse” chants roared from grandstands as Macri rolled into Eldora Speedway Victory Lane on Saturday night. The Dillsburg, PA native had just finalized a masterful performance at “The Big E.” He led all 40 laps of the 42nd running of the Kings Royal on his way to racing royalty and $200,000 in riches.

It was a nearly flawless drive. He leaned on the cushion where he’s most comfortable for a majority of the race but could move the Macri Motorsports No. 39M wherever he needed to negotiate traffic. The Knight Before winner, Rico Abreu, climbed to second and closes on Macri multiple times but could never construct a serious charge.

Macri took the checkered flag with a comfortable advantage and forever cemented himself as a King. And in fitting fashion, it was none other than Don Kreitz Jr. serving as Royal Sovereign. The legendary Pennsylvanian became King Don III when he won the 1986 Kings Royal, and he crowned another PA legend in the making.

“I’m about to cry,” said an emotional Macri. “This is honestly really special to be able to start where we started, me and my parents and everyone that put all the time and the effort into this thing. Never in a million years did I think I’d be standing up here winning a crown jewel that’s worth $200,000. This is badass.”

Saturday’s triumph made him the 23rd overall different Kings Royal champion and the third from Pennsylvania, joining Kreitz and Brent Marks (2022). It’s the richest win of Macri’s career as he joined Jac Haudenschild, David Gravel, Logan Schuchart, and Buddy Kofoid as the fifth competitor to win a Sprint Car race paying at least $200,000 to the winner. It was also Macri’s first victory at “The House that Earl Built,” and he couldn’t have chosen a better time.

But more important than any stat to Macri is his story. He wasn’t always the cream of the crop for the PA Posse. His early journey in racing brought many bumps in the road, but he refused to quit. Now, he’s a King forever.

“Never give up no matter how much stuff you tear up,” Macri said. “There was time when I wanted to quit and didn’t think I was going to be a good race car driver at all, but I stuck through it. Man, this is where the tears come out. It’s just I stuck through it. Never give up.”

Coming home second was Friday’s winner Rico Abreu. The St. Helena, CA native was one spot away from writing the final chapter of a storybook weekend. Abreu swept The Knight Before program and looked well on his way to running Macri down after taking over second but stalled out late as the laps dwindled. Despite a little disappointment from coming up a spot shy of his first Kings Royal crown, Abreu was all smiles after the race.

“I just have to thank my guys. They worked on this thing all weekend,” Abreu said. “We were in the top five every night, got a win last night. I just want to tell all the fans what an incredible experience to see all of you guys here. This place is packed. Sprint Car racing is just so fun right now, so badass. There’s so much energy, and it’s just cool to be a part of it.”

Kyle Larson took the Silva Motorsports No. 57 to a third place finish for the second night in a row. He briefly rose as high as second with a great restart but didn’t quite have the speed to contend with the two ahead. King Kyle XXXVII wound up a little short of becoming a two-time Kings Royal champion.

“It was a good car and a tough track, really, really slick,” Larson said “You kind of had to work on your technique a lot out there. At points I thought I started to figure it out, but I was just not as good as those two in front of me. They were really good. Congrats to Macri. That’s an awesome win.”

Brian Brown and David Gravel completed the top five.

Gravel came from 19th to earn his fifth place finish which also gave him KSE Racing Products Hard Charger honors.

Rico Abreu claimed his second straight Simpson Quick Time and fifth of 2025 in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying.

Heat Races belonged to Rico Abreu (NOS Energy Drink Heat One), Ashton Torgerson (Real American Beer Heat Two), Danny Dietrich (WIX Filters Heat Three), Brian Brown (TheGreatestStoreonDirt.com Heat Four), Anthony Macri (Toyota Heat Five), and Kasey Jedrzejek (NOS Energy Drink Heat Six).

The SPA Technique Pole Award went to Jedrzejek.

Logan Schuchart won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.

The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Sheldon Haudenschild.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars head to Pennsylvania for three battles against the PA Posse. First is the Bricker’s Bash at York Haven, PA’s BAPS Motor Speedway on Wednesday, July 23. Then the scene shifts to Mechanicsburg, PA’s Williams Grove Speedway for the C&D Rigging Summer Nationals on July 25-26 with a $20,000-to-win finale. After Pennsylvania, it’s north to New York to Weedsport Speedway on Sunday, July 27 for the only “Empire State” stop of the year. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.

FEATURE RESULTS:

NOS Energy Drink Feature (40 Laps): 1. 39M-Anthony Macri[2]; 2. 24-Rico Abreu[6]; 3. 57-Kyle Larson[8]; 4. 21-Brian Brown[3]; 5. 2-David Gravel[19]; 6. 69K-Ryan Smith[9]; 7. 41-Carson Macedo[16]; 8. 1S-Logan Schuchart[21]; 9. 1A-Ashton Torgerson[5]; 10. 48-Danny Dietrich[4]; 11. 21H-Brady Bacon[14]; 12. 21T-James McFadden[13]; 13. 83-Michael Kofoid[23]; 14. 14-Spencer Bayston[15]; 15. 10-Ryan Timms[20]; 16. 15-Donny Schatz[22]; 17. 14BC-Corey Day[10]; 18. 26-Justin Peck[18]; 19. 11N-Kasey Jedrzejek[1]; 20. 13-Daison Pursley[12]; 21. 7S-Chris Windom[24]; 22. 17GP-Tim Shaffer[11]; 23. 7N-Darin Naida[17]; 24. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[7]

For complete results, CLICK HERE.