Tony Stewart takes his third win in the short track series he co-founded at South Boston Speedway on an eventful evening
One more highly entertaining Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) racing, this time at South Boston. The second of six races in the second SRX season saw thrilling duels for the top spot as well as a collision or two and a crash or two into the wall.
On the only 0.4 miles (644 metres) long South Boston Speedway, the main race (feature) on Saturday evening went over 100 laps. By the way: South Boston is not the southern part of the metropolis Boston in the state of Massachusetts, but a town with 8,000 inhabitants in the state of Virginia and thus in the middle of stock car country.
Fittingly, this time it was one of the former NASCAR stars who prevailed in the main race, namely SRX co-founder and defending champion Tony Stewart, a three-time NASCAR champion in his own right. At the SRX season opener a week ago in Pensacola (Florida), the IndyCar stars had still dominated.
It’s already been an impressive start to the @SRXracing main event ️ pic.twitter.com/ndjF1XZcM0
– CBS Sports (@CBSSports) June 26, 2022
Starting from pole was Marco Andretti, having completed the two heats in P3 and P2. At the start, however, Tony Stewart immediately got around Andretti on the outside lane to become the first leader. A little later Andretti regained the top spot with a slight touch. On the first restart Stewart hit back and in turn took command again.
Turn by Marco Andretti in three-way battle for the lead
Shortly after the second restart Andretti regained the lead. A little later Stewart pushed past again. In the meantime, the exciting duel had turned into a three-way fight, because Greg Biffle, who had won the first heat, got into the mix. And that went straight wrong.
“Trouble in turn four as the race for second place went sideways for Marco Andretti.” @SRXracing pic.twitter.com/gbEa2GVVuR
– CBS Sports (@CBSSports) June 26, 2022
Andretti had just lost the lead back to Stewart and had also fallen behind Biffle. In an effort to contend with Biffle in Turn 4, “The Biff” did not relent. Andretti spun on the inside lane and ultimately only finished the race in P8 in the field of twelve this time.
Tony Stewart takes his third SRX win
So Stewart was rid of his toughest opponent so far. But in the person of Biffle he immediately had a new opponent. But “Smoke” held him in check. Stewart took his first win of the season and his third victory in the race series founded by him and Ray Evernham.
“He just showed ’em how it’s done.”
Tony Stewart wins @SRXracing main event at South Boston Speedway pic.twitter.com/0u8pokzGbl
– CBS Sports (@CBSSports) June 26, 2022
Biffle finished second ahead of Bobby Labonte. Fourth through seventh went to Ryan Newman, season-opening winner Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan and Ernie Francis Jr. Guest starter Peyton Sellers, for whom South Boston Speedway is the home and home track, rounded out the top 10 behind an unfortunate Marco Andretti (8th) and behind Ryan Hunter-Reay (9th).
Heat races: Helio Castroneves turns Paul Tracy around
In the two heats known as heat races, each lasting twelve minutes, first Greg Biffle and then Helio Castroneves had prevailed. The Heat 2 win, however, came after plenty of drama.
In Heat 1, Bobby Labonte started from the front thanks to a drawn grid, but lost the lead to Biffle in the first few metres. On a restart, Marco Andretti briefly took command, but Biffle countered. The duel for P2 between Andretti and Tony Stewart was exciting. “Smoke” leaned in Turn 3 on the last lap and pushed Andretti down to P3.
In Heat 2, Paul Tracy (P12 in Heat 1) started from the front. The Canadian led for a long time, but in the final minutes he was flipped in Turn 1. The contact that led to the spin was triggered by Helio Castroneves, of all people. Tracy and Castroneves still disagree today over which of the two is the rightful winner of the Indy 500 of 20 years ago …
Tracy dropped from the lead to the back of the twelve-car field as a result of the spin triggered by Castroneves. While Castroneves took the Heat 2 win ahead of Marco Andretti and Ryan Newman, Tracy also finished last in the second heat after a wall contact happened in frustration.
Tracy and Castroneves were not the only ones to get in each other’s way in Heat 2. There were also temporary differences of opinion between Tony Stewart and Ernie Francis Jr. about a duel with Lackaustausch. Shortly afterwards, however, the two were joking together again.
And Tracy? He also crashed into the wall in the final feature race. In this case, the crash was extremely unfortunate. Tracy had no chance to swerve when Ryan Hunter-Reay got into trouble directly in front of him in a duel with guest starter Peyton Sellers. Hunter-Reay drove on after a short check in the pit lane and sent Michael Waltrip into the wall a little later. Tracy was out on the spot after the unfortunate incident with Hunter-Reay.
@SRXracing pic.twitter.com/lJtuTbnzCg
– CBS Sports (@CBSSports) June 26, 2022
The third of six races in the second SRX season will take place next Saturday evening in Stafford Springs (Connecticut). The Stafford Motor Speedway there, a 0.5-mile oval, hosted the first ever SRX race in June 2021.
