At Sharon Speedway, Chase Elliott wins the final race of the 2022 Superstar Racing Experience, while Marco Andretti controversially crowns himself champion
Marco Andretti is the champion of the 2022 Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) season. Andretti, who somewhat controversially clinched the title on Saturday night, is the second champion in history after series co-founder Tony Stewart in the inaugural 2021 season of the stock car racing series on short tracks, which was launched last year by Tony Stewart and Ray Evernham.
At Sharon Speedway, a 0.375-mile dirt track in Hartford, Ohio, victory in the main event of Saturday night’s season finale went to Chase Elliott. The 2020 NASCAR champion had already contested the SRX season finale last year (then in Nashville) as a guest starter and won outright. He has now done just that in Hartford. But that was a minor matter.
Fight for the title: Andretti turns Newman around
Ryan Newman started the feature race from pole thanks to the best results from the heat races (P1 and P4). However, Marco Andretti went into the decisive 70-lap race of the season as the overall leader. Pole setter Newman was Andretti’s first pursuer in the points’ standings.
Newman led at the start, then lost the lead to guest starter Chase Elliott, but regained it. On the third restart, Newman and Elliott were dueling for the lead when Newman was spun by Andretti, of all people, who was running third. Both the championship leader and runner-up dropped to the back of the 13-car field as a result of the collision.
Jaw-dropping moments only @SRXracing pic.twitter.com/IEfGJOL5gs
– CBS Sports (@CBSSports) July 24, 2022
While at the very front Chase Elliott took the restart after the Andretti-Newman collision alongside new leader Bobby Labonte and swiftly collected him, Tony Stewart began to make his presence felt. Passing Elliott, “Smoke” was not only in the race, but briefly in the title fight as well.
Chase Elliott wins season finale – Andretti saves title from Newman
In the battle for the race win, Elliott struck back after the final restart, passing Stewart and repeating his final win of 2021 on a different track. Stewart finished second to Matt Kenseth, but that’s not enough for him to win a second straight title.
For Marco Andretti still made it to P8 despite the collision he caused with Newman and innocent involvement in a crash between Ryan Hunter-Reay and Dave Blaney. Andretti thus just about secured the title even without a win this season.
“I broke my wrist in that last little thing, I got my thumb caught in the wheel. It was a painful last couple of laps.”
-2022 @SRXracing Points Champion @MarcoAndretti pic.twitter.com/F3G9LzYtBR
– CBS Sports (@CBSSports) July 24, 2022
When they got out of the car there were some boos, but also cheers. Involved in the late crash, Andretti injured his hand but finished the race – and took the title.
Ryan Newman, who was also involved in the crash between Hunter-Reay and Dave Blaney, finished P9 in the race directly behind Andretti. In the final standings of the title fight, the Stafford Springs winner lost out by two points. Defending champion Tony Stewart closes the second SRX season in third overall.
Heat races: five-car crash in Heat 1
The two twelve-minute heats held in advance to determine the starting grid for the main race were won by Ryan Newman and by Chase Elliott. In the very first heat (Heat 1) there was a crash involving five drivers: Paul Tracy, Tony Kanaan, Matt Kenseth and guest starters Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott.
We’ve had the first crash at Sharon Speedway @SRXracing pic.twitter.com/kqEgrc0FhO
– CBS Sports (@CBSSports) July 24, 2022
Michael Waltrip was also involved in the crash but got away. He had started from P1 in Heat 1 and eventually finished second behind Ryan Newman and ahead of Marco Andretti.
In Heat 2, Paul Tracy was again completely across the line. In this case, an incident with Ryan Hunter-Reay at the back of the field was the reason. At the front, Dave Blaney and Chase Elliott fought it out between themselves for a long time in the second heat. Elliott prevailed, the older Blaney dropped back at the last minute. P2 and P3 went to Tony Kanaan and Bobby Labonte.
With the finale at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, the second SRX season has come to an end. A race calendar for a third season of Tony Stewart and Ray Evernham’s popular stock car racing series does not yet exist.