Chase Elliott wins second SRX race at Sharon

Chase Elliott won his second Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) race in as many starts and snapped Tony Stewart’s good report on filth tracks Saturday evening at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio. The victory was additionally the second season finale received by Elliott after ending simply forward of Stewart at Nashville Fairgrounds final July.

This time they raced on filth as a substitute of asphalt, however Elliott and Stewart placed on one other nice present within the closing 10 laps, swapping the lead a number of occasions as they the maneuvered excessive, then low and threw a sequence of sliders at each other.

In the long run, Elliott made the excessive line work and edged in entrance of Stewart. With the lead established, he dropped again into the low groove and stretched his benefit whereas Stewart fell into the clutches of Matt Kenseth.

“[It was special] to sit down there and race on filth with considered one of my heroes, Tony Stewart, and throw a few sliders with him,” Elliott advised CBS Sports activities’ Matt Yocum. “Clearly this can be a little totally different than the open wheel stuff – realizing how good he’s at these things and having the ability to cube it up with him. I really thought he was higher than me on the run earlier than and I used to be capable of watch him on the highest and at last get a few issues going there.”

Stewart had a tricky time within the heats and was compelled to roll off the grid deep within the pack. When the characteristic started, few believed he would problem for the win – together with Stewart.

“I can’t run with these guys tonight for some cause,” Stewart stated earlier than the characteristic. “We had been actually good in apply, however I’ve hit the fence in Flip 2, I’ve hit the fence within the backstretch and hit every part however the tempo automobile thus far. We now have thrown the kitchen sink at it and made each adjustment, we’re allowed to make and we’ll see if we will get going ahead right here.”

His phrases had been nearly prophetic as he took the lead close to the tip of the race that was shortened by about 30 laps to suit the two-hour tv window.

Kenseth completed third to match his career-best within the sequence. He additionally completed third in his debut at Nashville two weeks in the past.

Ryan Hunter-Reay in fourth and Bobby Labonte rounded out the highest 5.

Because the leaders battled to win the race, the main focus was additionally on the 2022 championship.

Marco Andretti entered the season finale with an eight-point lead over Ryan Newman, nevertheless it appeared Newman’s filth monitor expertise would prevail. That’s till Andretti bought into Newman on a restart and crashed each vehicles. The factors’ contenders every sustained injury in that incident and in a second late-race accident.

After the race, Andretti stated the incident broke his wrist, however he powered by the ache and completed ninth, one place behind Newman within the last rundown. Andretti received the championship by two factors.

“The cool factor about that is if you happen to get injury you’ll be able to nonetheless play and keep on the lead lap,” Andretti advised Willie T. Ribbs. “I broke my wrist in that final little factor. I bought my thumb caught within the wheel, in order that was a painful couple of laps. I simply wished to cowl and end proper the place I wanted to complete, and we had been ready to try this. This [car] was fairly strong tonight.”

Final week the SRX drivers tore up nearly each piece of kit, so for the season finale at Sharon there have been no backups out there. One would possibly suppose that may make them cautious.

One could be flawed.

Barely two laps into the primary 12-minute warmth, Paul Tracy bumped into the again of Newman after which pushed up into Michael Waltrip. Tracy’s and Waltrip’s vehicles looped in entrance of the onrushing discipline. Collected within the incident had been Ryan Blaney, Kenseth, Tony Kanaan and Elliott.

Newman escaped the incident and scored his first warmth win within the SRX sequence. Elliott received Warmth 2 after racing side-by-side with Dave Blaney for a lot of the 12-minute race.

The race was billed as a battle of father versus son, very similar to final 12 months’s season-ender that featured Chase beating his father Invoice Elliott.

Ending seventh in a battered automobile, Ryan prevailed over his father Dave, when the elder statesman sustained injury late within the race. The SRX battle at Sharon was additionally a matchup between shut pals Elliott and Blaney, who flew to the race collectively after practising and qualifying for the M&Ms 400 at Pocono Raceway earlier within the day.

CHASE ELLIOTT WINS @SRXracing‘s FINAL MAIN EVENT OF THE SEASON 🏆 pic.twitter.com/r24Wwn4AoX

— CBS Sports activities (@CBSSports) July 24, 2022

Function: 1. Chase Elliott, 2. Tony Stewart, 3. Matt Kenseth, 4. Ryan Hunter-Reay, 5. Bobby Labonte, 6. Greg Biffle, 7. Ryan Blaney. 8. Ryan Newman, 9. Marco Andretti, 10. Paul Tracy, 11. Tony Kanaan, 12. Dave Blaney, 13. Michael Waltrip

Warmth 1: 1. Ryan Newman, 2. Michael Waltrip, 3. Marco Andretti, 4. Bobby Labonte, 5. Tony Kanaan, 6. Ryan Hunter-Reay, 7. Chase Elliott, 8. Tony Stewart, 9. Greg Biffle, 10. Dave Blaney, 11. Paul Tracy, 12. Ryan Blaney, 13. Matt Kenseth

Warmth 2: 1. Chase Elliott, 2. Tony Kanaan, 3. Bobby Labonte, 4. Ryan Newman, 5. Dave Blaney, 6. Marco Andretti, 7. Ryan Hunter-Reay, 8. Paul Tracy, 9. Tony Stewart, 10. Michael Waltrip, 11. Greg Biffle, DNS: Ryan Blaney and Matt Kenseth

Spherical 1: Helio Castroneves wins at Five Flags, hopes for NASCAR start
Spherical 2: Tony Stewart earns third SRX victory and first on a paved track
Spherical 3: Ryan Newman wins at Stafford as his daughters look on
Spherical 4: Bobby Labonte battles nerves and the competition for first SRX win
Spherical 5: Tony Stewart remains perfect on dirt with I-55 win