Tony Stewart Wins His Home SRX Race at Eldora

It was better late than never for Tony Stewart in Thursday’s Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) event at the Stewart-owned Eldora Speedway in New Weston, Ohio.

But the man known as “Smoke” unfortunately still came up short.

Stewart had arguably the greatest single race performance in SRX history – being the first driver in the three-year-old series’ history to win both 25-lap heat races AND the 75-lap main event, all in the same evening.

Unfortunately for the three-time NASCAR Cup champ, he began his run for a second SRX title—he also won the inaugural SRX title in 2021 – a bit too late in the course of the season (the fifth race in the six-race series) and will come up short likely to Ryan Newman, who can clinch the SRX crown in next Thursday’s series finale at Lucas Oil Speedway outside Springfield, Ohio.

Stewart appeared to barely break a sweat in all three of Thursday’s races. Virtually every time he got in the lead, he literally cruised to the checkered flag.

Of course, that’s not really a surprise as the co-owner of Stewart Haas Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series purchased Eldora Speedway nearly 20 years ago and has logged countless miles in both competition and practice on the little dirt bullring since then.

What’s more, it was Stewart’s 11th career win in SRX competition (either heat races or main events), and he’s now won four of the five SRX races that have been contested on dirt tracks.

Deegan Scores Breakthrough Runner-Up Finish

Next to Stewart winning the ESPN Thursday Night Thunder, the biggest surprise of the night was the runner-up finish of budding NASCAR driver Hailie Deegan.

“That’s one thing people don’t realize, Hailie Deegan is a hell of a dirt track racer,” Stewart said. “If she gets to second, she’s going to put on pressure. I just had to try to get some clean laps on restarts, get in a rhythm and get going.”

Deegan is one of seven drivers who are racing full-time for the SRX title. Even though she’s mathematically out of contention for the championship, she definitely has improved her ability on both pavement and now dirt in the SRX series.

Deegan received a huge standing ovation and tons of cheers from fans after the race ended.

“Oh man, I don’t know what’s happened the last couple of weeks or what’s changed, but I feel a lot more confidence the last couple of months,” Deegan said with a broad smile on her face. “I feel like these last two or three races, it’s coming (together) and I’m starting to get those finishes, getting more speed and it’s all coming together.