Superstar Racing Experience at I-55 Raceway results: Tony Stewart wins to remain perfect on dirt tracks in SRX

Stewart has now won all three of the SRX's dirt races with another coming next Saturday

Although it's hard to believe that any dirt track in America is brave enough to keep Tony Stewart out of its winner's circle, a win in a feature race at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 had eluded Smoke entering Saturday night. But even as the biggest wreckfest of the 2022 SRX season ensued, Smoke was able to preserve his spotless record in SRX on dirt and finally check an item off his bucket list.

After executing a perfect slidejob to take the win in Heat 2, Stewart started on the pole for the feature and never looked back, surviving several late restarts and holding off Marco Andretti to win at I-55. Stewart's victory marked his second of the 2022 Camping World SRX Series season, and it also kept his record in SRX races on dirt perfect. Stewart has won all three dirt races in SRX history, following up his wins at Knoxville and Eldora in 2021 with a win at I-55 this season.

SRX at I-55 results

1. #14 - Tony Stewart
2. #98 - Marco Andretti
3. #52 - Ken Schrader
   
4. #39 - Ryan Newman
   
5. #69 - Greg Biffle
6. #99 - Ernie Francis Jr.
   
7. #15 - Michael Waltrip
   
8. #3 - Paul Tracy
9. #38 - Hailie Deegan
   
10. #6 - Tony Kanaan
    
11. #18 - Bobby Labonte
    
12. #5 - Matt Kenseth
    
13. #1 - Ryan Hunter-Reay

"This place is pretty awesome. Kenny Schrader and these fans are diehard race fans, and you aren't gonna find fans that are any more diehard in this country for late models and modifieds and sprint cars than here at Pevely," Stewart told CBS Sports. "… It's hard. It's been a 90 degree day, it's sunny, windy, everything that kills dirt tracks, and their staff did an awesome job giving us an awesome racetrack there.

"I love it when it gets up close to the wall like that. That's when I'm having the most fun."

While Stewart had his fun at the front, toil and trouble found most of the field as a season-high 10 incidents occurred throughout the night. Much of the field featured torn-up cars, including multiple drivers at the front. The second-place finisher Andretti and third-place finisher Ryan Newman both suffered major damage in the heats, while other incidents saw Michael Waltrip's entire right front fender get ripped off and virtually all of the back end of Paul Tracy and Matt Kenseth's cars get torn away.

Many incidents occurred in the final 10 laps, and they ended up ensnaring SRX points leader Bobby Labonte. Labonte first went for a spin in Turn 4 and then suffered major right front damage when he got collected in a spin by Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Labonte's issues present a major blow to his championship hopes, as he plummeted from first to fourth in the standings. Marco Andretti now leads the points by eight over Ryan Newman, but Tony Stewart -- now just 13 points back -- is making a charge and poised to pounce next weekend in the final race of the year at Sharon Speedway. The SRX season finale will be next Saturday night at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.

[Jul 16, 2022 at 9:56 pm ET · Steven Taranto]

No one has anything for Tony Stewart. Stewart picks up his second win of the 2022 season and goes three-for-three in SRX on dirt!

1 - #14 - Tony Stewart
2 - #98 - Marco Andretti
3 - #39 - Ryan Newman
4 - #52 - Ken Schrader
5 - #69 - Greg Biffle
6 - #15 - Michael Waltrip
7 - #99 - Ernie Francis Jr.
8 - #3 - Paul Tracy
9 - #6 - Tony Kanaan
10 - #38 - Hailie Deegan
11 - #5 - Matt Kenseth
12 - #18 - Bobby Labonte
13 - #1 - Ryan Hunter-Reay

[Jul 16, 2022 at 9:55 pm ET · Steven Taranto]

Two laps to go. Another launch for Tony Stewart, but here comes Andretti back on him.

[Jul 16, 2022 at 9:54 pm ET · Steven Taranto]

Bobby Labonte pulls off track with his right front tire not turning. This has major implications for the SRX championship, as Labonte is set to have a terrible finish here after entering this race as the points leader.

[Jul 16, 2022 at 9:52 pm ET · Steven Taranto]

Green flag with three to go. Not much time left for Marco Andretti to do anything with Tony Stewart.

Another crash! This time is Hunter-Reay and Labonte again.

[Jul 16, 2022 at 9:50 pm ET · Steven Taranto]

Ryan Newman has come to life in these final few laps. He almost made the pass on Schrader for third and now runs fourth.

Another spin for Tony Kanaan, and another caution with just three laps to go.

[Jul 16, 2022 at 9:49 pm ET · Steven Taranto]

Green flag is back out. A much better restart for Marco Andretti, but Tony Stewart has already put several carlengths on him with five to go.

[Jul 16, 2022 at 9:48 pm ET · Steven Taranto]

Bobby Labonte's spin creates a massive opportunity here for Andretti and Newman, who entered tonight trailing him in the points standings and both of whom are in the top five now.

Don't look now, by the way, but Michael Waltrip is now up to third.

[Jul 16, 2022 at 9:46 pm ET · Steven Taranto]

Green flag is back out. Marco can't get going and he about go split by both Schrader and Michael Waltrip.

Spin in Turn 4! Bobby Labonte goes around and the yellow flag is back out.

[Jul 16, 2022 at 9:44 pm ET · Steven Taranto]

Andretti and Schrader trading slidejobs back and forth before Ernie Francis Jr. goes for a spin off Turn 2! Caution is out again.

Remember: Since the last 10 laps of SRX races must take place under green, caution flag laps in this part of the race do not count. There are still eight laps to go and will be at the restart.

[Jul 16, 2022 at 9:42 pm ET · Steven Taranto]

Green flag is out with 10 to go. An incredible launch by Stewart to hold the lead as Andretti now comes under fire from Ken Schrader for second!

[Jul 16, 2022 at 9:39 pm ET · Steven Taranto]

Caution is out! Tony Kanaan goes for a spin in Turn 2, and that completely eliminates the 2.5 second lead Tony Stewart had built up.

[Jul 16, 2022 at 9:38 pm ET · Steven Taranto]

Marco Andretti powers by both Francis and Schrader for second! The problem is, he's got two seconds to make up on Stewart and only about 12 laps to make them up.

[Jul 16, 2022 at 9:37 pm ET · Steven Taranto]

Green flag is finally back out, but a ton of laps have been burned away. Now just 17 to go.

Keep an eye on Ken Schrader. He's up to third and now challenging Francis for second.

[Jul 16, 2022 at 9:35 pm ET · Steven Taranto]

This caution was extended to try and get Hailie Deegan's car repaired, but it's led to an excessive amount of laps under yellow. You can tell the crowd is getting restless.

[Jul 16, 2022 at 9:29 pm ET · Steven Taranto]

Hailie Deegan is on pit road under this caution. Deegan had been running third, but her water temperature is over 300 degrees after her front end got clogged up with dirt and mud.

[Jul 16, 2022 at 9:26 pm ET · Steven Taranto]

Paul Tracy spun on the exit of Turn 2, and the rear end of his car tore off the rear end of Kenseth's car as Kenseth drove past.

Efforts are being made to repair both cars, and we'll see if Tracy can get back out there -- And if he ends up adding to his SRX incident total.