Marco Andretti's SRX Title Makes Him Newest Champion From Famous Racing Family

• Marco Andretti joined his legendary grandfather, Mario, and father, Michael, as a racing champion Saturday night.

• Marco Andretti broke his wrist during the last wreck he was involved in. He took his car to the pits for work on the ride before returning to the racetrack.

• NASCAR star Chase Elliott won the race on Saturday night, beating Stewart to the finish line.

It took him his entire racing career, but Marco Andretti finally joined his legendary grandfather, Mario, and father, Michael, as a racing champion Saturday night, capturing the second Superstar Racing Experience championship at Sharon Speedway in Eastern Ohio.

It was far from easy for Andretti on the slick 3/8-mile dirt oval, though, to say the least.

The third-generation racer crossed the finish line with a ninth-place showing, his car missing virtually all of its right front fender and heavy front end damage from being involved in several wrecks.

And then, as if to add insult to injury, so to speak, the 35-year-old Andretti broke his wrist during the last wreck he was involved in. He took his car to the pits for work on the ride before returning to the racetrack.

“The cool thing about this is if you get damage, you still can play and stay on the lead lap,” Andretti said. “I broke my wrist in that last little thing, I got my thumb caught in the wheel, so it was a painful last couple laps. I just wanted to cover and finish where I needed to finish. This thing was pretty robust tonight.”

Andretti won the championship by a razor-thin two points over Ryan Newman, followed by last year’s SRX inaugural season champion Tony Stewart and Bobby Labonte.

When Andretti spun Newman on Lap 32, many thought the wreck may have ended both of their title chances, especially as Stewart worked his way to the front of the field and into a neck-and-neck battle with Chase Elliott.

Andretti went to the pits for repairs after his contact with Newman, who was able to continue. But with nine laps to go, Newman was involved in a wreck with IndyCar driver Ryan Hunter-Reay, more or less ending Newman’s title hopes. All Andretti had to do was finish the race to win the championship – and he ultimately did.

Not surprisingly, Saturday’s race at the track co-owned by former sprint car legend and NASCAR driver Dave Blaney, who is father of current NASCAR star Ryan Blaney (both Blaney’s took part in Saturday’s race, as well), was part race and part demolition derby.

Numerous cautions came out during the two heat races as well as the main event. Speaking of the latter, the championship-deciding event was shortened from its 70-lap original length to 60 laps due to all those cautions eating into the two-hour telecast window on CBS Sports.

NASCAR star Chase Elliott won the race, beating Stewart to the finish line. Elliott becomes only the second driver in SRX history to win more than once. He also won last year in Nashville, and by winning his second race in as many starts in SRX competition, now joins four-time race winner Stewart (two wins last year, two wins this year) as the only multi-race winners in SRX annals.

“To sit there and race on dirt with one of my heroes, Tony Stewart, and throw in a couple sliders with him, it’s a little bit different than the open-wheel stuff,” Elliott said. “But just knowing how good he is at this stuff and being able to dice it up with him. I was able to watch him on the top and get things going.”

Making Mario Proud

One of the coolest things Saturday night was Mario Andretti’s pre-race Twitter to cheer his grandson:

Marco’s championship was the first for the Andretti family in 31 years: Mario’s last title (in the CART Series) was in 1984, while Marco’s father and Mario’s son, team owner Michael Andretti, captured his last crown as a driver (also in CART) in 1991.

Another cool part of the night was when Kate Blaney, wife of the legendary Lou Blaney, father of Dave Blaney, and grandmother of Ryan Blaney, gave the command to start engines.

But Wait, There's More

The six-race season ends with five different winners: Stewart (two races), Ryan Newman, Chase Elliott, Bobby Labonte and Helio Castroneves. … The 2023 season schedule will likely not be released until early next year, but Stewart said on this past week’s SRX media call that he’d like to add a short road-course race to the overall six-race mix. There have also been rumors that the six-race schedule may be expanded to eight races in 2023. … The airplane flight after the race was one where we wish we could have eavesdropped on, as occupants on the plane that headed back to Pocono Raceway for Sunday’s NASCAR event included race winner Chase Elliott, his father and NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, as well as other current NASCAR stars Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano, who did color commentary on CBS’ telecast of Saturday night’s race. … Because it was the championship race, SRX decided not to have any backup cars available, so if a driver was knocked out, his night was up.

Main Event Results

1. Chase Elliott

2. Tony Stewart

3. Matt Kenseth

4. Ryan Hunter-Reay

5. Bobby Labonte

6. Greg Biffle

7. Ryan Blaney

8. Ryan Newman

9. Marco Andretti

10. Paul Tracy

11. Tony Kanaan

12. Dave Blaney

13. Michael Waltrip

Follow Autoweek contributor Jerry Bonkowski on Twitter @JerryBonkowski