Chase Elliott wins SRX finale, Marco Andretti takes title

Chase Elliott remains the only driver to win a Superstar Racing Experience season finale. After taking the final race of the inaugural 2021 season at the Nashville Fairgrounds, he backed it up on Saturday on the dirt of Sharon Speedway by winning Heat #2 and the Feature. Meanwhile, Marco Andretti finished a paltry ninth but it was enough to secure the championship by two points over Ryan Newman.

Race day proved to be more tumultuous than SRX had hoped, with a massive wreck occuring in Heat #1 that took out Matt Kenseth and Ryan Blaney, a situation exacerbated by a lack of backup cars available. Further cautions and a lengthy cleanup process ensued before Newman eventually won on a late restart. Such delays eventually caused the Feature to be reduced in length from 100 to 70 laps due to time constraints from broadcaster CBS.

Elliott took the lead from Tony Stewart—the only driver to win the series’ dirt races until Sharon—on the final restart with ten laps remaining and drove off to the win. Coupled with his NASCAR Cup Series victory at Pocono the following day, Elliott enjoyed a rather unorthodox “weekend sweep”. Conversely, Blaney’s SRX/Cup double saw him and father Dave get caught up in wrecks, with the younger driver also crashing in the Cup event.

Andretti, who was racing with a broken wrist, took the title by two points. There was some controversy over the championship as fans noticed Andretti had received more points for his Heat #2 finish in the season opener at Five Flags than he should have, though USAC eventually rectified the matter by clarifying he had been unfairly ordered to the pits in said race which cost him points that the series subequently (and quietly in the public eye) added.

Race results

Heat #1

Heat #2