NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Elliott is now two-for-two when it comes to his guest appearances in the Superstar Racing Experience.
Elliott, making his second start in the series, passed Tony Stewart with six laps to go to win Saturday night’s second season finale at Sharon Speedway in Ohio.
Elliott got the lead after roughly three laps of side-by-side race with Stewart around the dirt track.
After Elliott took the checkered flag, it was a phot finish for second as Stewart nicked Matt Kenseth at the line.
Elliott is the first driver other than Stewart to win a SRX dirt race. His other SRX win came in the 2021 season finale at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.
“Knowing how good (Stewart) is at this stuff and being able to dice it up with him, I actually thought he as better than me that run before,” Elliott told CBS. “Then I was able to watch him on the top and get a couple of things going.”
Meanwhile, Marco Andretti finished ninth and claimed the second SRX championship, edging Ryan Newman by two points for the title. While Andretti didn’t win a race this season, he finished second in three of the six races. He finished the race without a right-front fender and a broken wrist from a late crash.
“The cool thing about this is you get damage and you can still play and stay on the lead lap,” Andretti said. “I broke my wrist in the last (accident), I caught my thumb in the wheel. That was a painful last couple of laps. I just wanted to recover and finish right where I needed to finish. We were able to do that. This (car) was pretty robust tonight.”
The top five was completed by Ryan Hunder-Reay and Bobby Labonte.
Unofficial results @SharonSpdwy. Chase Elliott 2 for 2 in @SRXracing main events. #campingworldSRX pic.twitter.com/H7BcoV82s0
— Tom Bowles (@NASCARBowles) July 24, 2022
The first caution of the race, on Lap 9, was caused when Dave Blaney spun and wound up point in the wrong direction against the outside wall.
The race resumed on Lap 9 (caution laps didn’t count) as Elliott pulled into the lead ahead of Newman.
Dave Blaney would bring out the second caution on Lap 30 when he got into the outside wall and cut down his right-front tire.
The race went back green with Newman and Elliott battling side-by-side for two laps before the caution came back out for debris on the track.
The race had barely resumed when Newman was turned from behind Andretti, allowing Elliott to run away as the caution came out. At the time, Newman and Andretti were the top two drivers in the point standings. The right-front damage was enough on Andretti’s car that he had to go to the garage for repairs.
When the race resumed, Labonte was on the front row with Elliott and first in the point standings.
However, Labonte got a poor restart and slipped back as Stewart roared into second to challenge Elliott. On Lap 34, Stewart got underneath Elliott and used a slide job to take the lead.
On Lap 39, Elliott jumped the cushion and got into the wall. Around this time it was announced the race was shortened to 50 laps due to time constraints. With nine laps to go, Kanaan brought out the caution for a spin.
On the ensuing restart Stewart and Elliott swapped the lead befroe the caution quickly came back out after Ryan Hunter-Reay was spun by Dave Blaney.
In the second heat, Dave Blaney led most of the race only for Elliott to pass him near the end and take the win. Blaney brushed the wall and finished fourth behind Elliott, Kanaan, Bobby Labonte and Ryan Newman.
Ryan Newman won Heat 1 after a Lap 2 incident that sent Matt Kenseth and Ryan Blaney to the garage.
Newman started the main event form the pole thanks to his average finish in the heats.