The Eldora owner led six laps in the 50-lap feature. All came in the final seven laps.
“It’s kind of embarrassing if you don’t win at your own track, to a certain degree,” said Stewart, who also won his heat race.
In addition to his two feature wins in the series, Stewart has won two of his three heat races. He’s finished no lower than third in any heat or feature. Stewart leads the point standings with 129. His closest competitors are Helio Castroneves (33 points) and Ernie Francis Jr. (39).
The six-race, all-star event puts drivers in identically prepared stock cars that crank out 700 hp. The event resembled the Prelude to the Dream, where drivers of different series competed in late models for charity. Stewart won three of those eight events, too.
The SRX series was the second most watched racing event the past two weeks, trailing only the NASCAR Cup. There were 1.3 million viewers for the first race at Stafford Speedway in Connecticut two weeks ago. Last week’s race at Knoxville Speedway drew 1.2 million viewers. Those numbers topped NASCAR’s Xfinity and Truck Series, IndyCar and Formula One.
The series features drivers from NASCAR, USAC, Formula One, ARCA, Rallycross, IndyCar and the Trans Am Series.
On Saturday, all eyes were on Stewart as he made his way through the field. He was scheduled to start on the pole alongside fellow front-row starter Paul Tracy. But Stewart accidentally hit the kill switch on his car and made a quick stop in the pits before the race took the green flag. That dropped him to the back.
With about 17 laps to go Stewart surged into third place by passing three cars on one lap following a restart. After working around Tracy, Stewart closed in on Swanson. Swanson preferred the low groove and Stewart – using what he learned watching past greats at Eldora – went high near the concrete wall.
“Jack Hewitt was probably the best I’ve ever seen here at Eldora and I learned a couple things watching him win the Four Crown one year when he won all four divisions,” Stewart said of the legendary USAC driver from Troy. “I used that line quite a bit early in the race.
“Kody is tough. To do what Kody was doing was way harder than what I was running. To run the bottom like that you have to be so easy on the throttle on the exit. I couldn’t roll the corner like he did. … The good thing was when he went (low and everyone) followed him like a parade. That left the top open.”
Swanson – piloting a backup car following a crash in the second heat – finished second. That matched the five-time USAC Silver Crown champion’s best finish at Eldora in that series. He was followed by four-time Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves, IndyCar driver Marco Andretti and Tracy.
“I felt like we were really good in the middle of the race,” Swanson said. “The bottom just kind of gave up a little bit and I got the top of (turns) one and two working. But once Tony had track position, it was hard to get back by him. I felt like I had a chance there but I just didn’t hit the bottom perfect and he got back around. It’s awful hard to beat him here at Eldora.”
Andretti won the second heat, giving the fabled Andretti family another victory at Eldora. His grandfather, Mario, won a USAC sprint feature at Eldora on Sept. 4, 1966.
The heat races provided drivers the often unforgiving Eldora Speedway Experience with those fast high-banked turns and punishing concrete walls. Seven of the 12 drivers were involved in accidents during the two heat races.
Many fans remained for the 50-lap USAC Silver Crown race. California’s Tyler Courtney turned in a dominating performance to lead every lap and beat Illinois’ Chris Windom by 7.986 seconds.
Swanson finished third, Alabama’s Kevin Thomas Jr. finished fourth and Oklahoma’s Brady Bacon fifth. Pleasant Hill’s Matt Westfall grabbed sixth and Troy’s Dallas Hewitt seventh. Westfall started eighth and Hewitt 12th.
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