The featured post section requires JavaScript to render but currently that Javascript is executed only after all the HTML is loaded on the page (likely to prevent render blocking issues).
Currently <span data-type="recent"></span> is the only HTML present in the HTML/Javascript widget which renders the featured post section. Behind the scenes, when JavaScript detects the above HTML, it makes an Ajax call to the specific Blogger feed (/feeds/posts/default?alt=json-in-script&max-results=4) to get the posts to be shown in that section.
One way to resolve this problem is by moving the JS snippet responsible for rendering this featured section just after the HTML <span data-type="recent"></span> present in the widget. The specific JS snippet responsible for this section is -
<script>$('.featured .HTML .widget-content').each(function() { var v = $(this).find("span").attr("data-label"), box = $(this).find("span").attr("data-type"); if (box.match('recent')) { $.ajax({ url: "/feeds/posts/default?alt=json-in-script&max-results=4", type: 'get', dataType: "jsonp", success: function(e) { var u = ""; var h = '<ul>'; for (var i = 0; i < e.feed.entry.length; i++) { for (var j = 0; j < e.feed.entry[i].link.length; j++) { if (e.feed.entry[i].link[j].rel == "alternate") { u = e.feed.entry[i].link[j].href; break } } var g = e.feed.entry[i].title.$t; var s = e.feed.entry[i].category[0].term; var y = e.feed.entry[i].author[0].name.$t; var d = e.feed.entry[i].published.$t, t = d.substring(0, 4), w = d.substring(5, 7), f = d.substring(8, 10), r = month_format[parseInt(w, 10)] +''+ f +', '+ t; var c = e.feed.entry[i].content.$t; var $c = $('<div>').html(c); if (c.indexOf("//www.youtube.com/embed/") > -1) { var p = e.feed.entry[i].media$thumbnail.url; var k = p } else if (c.indexOf("<img") > -1) { var q = $c.find('img:first').attr('src'); var k = q } else { var k = no_image } h += '<li><div class="featured-inner"><a href="/search/label/'+ s +'" class="post-tag icon '+ s +'">'+ s +'</a><a class="rcp-thumb" href="'+ u +'" style="background:url('+ k +') no-repeat center center;background-size: cover"><span class="featured-overlay"/></a><div class="post-panel"><h3 class="rcp-title"><a href="'+ u +'">'+ g +'</a></h3><div class="featured-meta"><span class="featured-author idel">'+ y +'</span><span class="featured-date">'+ r +'</span></div></div></div></li>' } h += '</ul>'; $(".featured .HTML .widget-content").each(function() { $(this).html(h); $(this).find('.rcp-thumb').each(function() { $(this).attr('style', function(i, src) { return src.replace('/default.jpg', '/mqdefault.jpg') }).attr('style', function(i, src) { return src.replace('s72-c', 's1600') }) }) }) } }) } else if (box.match('label')) { $.ajax({ url: "/feeds/posts/default/-/"+ v +"?alt=json-in-script&max-results=4", type: 'get', dataType: "jsonp", success: function(e) { var u = ""; var h = '<ul>'; for (var i = 0; i < e.feed.entry.length; i++) { for (var j = 0; j < e.feed.entry[i].link.length; j++) { if (e.feed.entry[i].link[j].rel == "alternate") { u = e.feed.entry[i].link[j].href; break } } var g = e.feed.entry[i].title.$t; var s = e.feed.entry[i].category[0].term; var y = e.feed.entry[i].author[0].name.$t; var d = e.feed.entry[i].published.$t, t = d.substring(0, 4), w = d.substring(5, 7), f = d.substring(8, 10), r = month_format[parseInt(w, 10)] +''+ f +', '+ t; var c = e.feed.entry[i].content.$t; var $c = $('<div>').html(c); if (c.indexOf("//www.youtube.com/embed/") > -1) { var p = e.feed.entry[i].media$thumbnail.url; var k = p } else if (c.indexOf("<img") > -1) { var q = $c.find('img:first').attr('src'); var k = q } else { var k = no_image } h += '<li><div class="featured-inner"><a href="/search/label/'+ s +'" class="post-tag icon '+ s +'">'+ s +'</a><a class="rcp-thumb" href="'+ u +'" style="background:url('+ k +') no-repeat center center;background-size: cover"><span class="featured-overlay"/></a><div class="post-panel"><h3 class="rcp-title"><a href="'+ u +'">'+ g +'</a></h3><div class="featured-meta"><span class="featured-author idel">'+ y +'</span><span class="featured-date">'+ r +'</span></div></div></div></li>' } h += '</ul>'; $(".featured .HTML .widget-content").each(function() { $(this).html(h); $(this).find('.rcp-thumb').each(function() { $(this).attr('style', function(i, src) { return src.replace('/default.jpg', '/mqdefault.jpg') }).attr('style', function(i, src) { return src.replace('s72-c', 's1600') }) }) }) } }) }});