Tony Stewart proved himself the dominant force at Eldora Speedway on Thursday (Aug. 10) night when the Camping World SRX Series rolled into New Weston, Ohio.
Stewart was the fastest car throughout both heat races and the main event, rarely having to look into his rear-view mirror on his way to the first evening sweep in the young series’ history. The win is Stewart’s first of the 2023 SRX season.
“Hailie Deegan is one hell of a dirt driver,” Stewart told ESPN. “If she gets to second there, she’s going to put pressure on. Just had to try to get some clean laps on restarts, get in a rhythm again and get going.
“… It’s awesome to win here at Eldora.”
Following the No. 14 to the checkered flag were Deegan and Ryan Newman. Bobby Labonte and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top five.
Deegan was Stewart’s closest competition after climbing back to the front of the field in a Haas-branded back-up car.
Ron Capps and Ken Schrader brought out the most spectacular of the main event’s several cautions when they collided while trying to claim the same real estate on track. The resulting contact left debris strewn across the outside lane of the racing surface, though both drivers were able to continue after the caution period.
Continuing the trend of chaos throughout the feature race, Brad Keselowski, Marco Andretti brought out their own single-car cautions. Chase Briscoe‘s team managed to get his heavily damaged No. 57 machine back on track part-way through the feature event after a multi-car accident ruled the SRX debutant out of the first heat race.
Heat 1
The first heat race of the night was punctuated by a victory for Stewart, but was made memorable by a six-car pileup that caught up half of the field only nine laps into the 25-lap heat.
What appeared to be a blown engine on Austin Dillon‘s No. 33 entry saw the 2018 Daytona 500 winner plow into the turn 3 wall before collecting Deegan, Briscoe, Tony Kanaan, Andretti and Kenseth. Deegan and Andretti took to their backup cars for the second heat, while Kenseth was able to continue with minimal damage.
Heat 2
Coming from the back of a reduced field proved no problem for Stewart in the second heat race of the evening. The 2021 series champion powered his way around Kenseth on lap 18 of the second heat. In the process, Stewart became the first driver in SRX to win both heat races of a given event.
SRX Eldora Main Event Results:
- Stewart
- Deegan
- Newman
- Labonte
- Kenseth
- Andretti
- Briscoe
- Schrader
- Keselowski
- Capps
- Dillon (DNS)
- Kanaan (DNS)
About the author
Alex is the IndyCar Content Director at Frontstretch, having initially joined as an entry-level contributor in 2021. He also serves as Managing Director of The Asia Cable, a publication focused on the international affairs and politics of the Asia-Pacific region which he co-founded in 2023. With previous experience in China, Japan and Poland, Alex is particularly passionate about the international realm of motorsport and the politics that make the wheels turn - literally - behind the scenes.
A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.
If Deegan wants success she should move to dirt racing. It’s where she performs the best.
I can’t see Deegan being even slightly competitive against current Regional dirt track drivers. Tony is promoting her, she’s in the Ford family and is getting attention for sponsors but that’s as far as it goes with her limited abilities. Tired of the hype.
Is this a joke? Of course Tony won at the track he owns, lol