Marco Andretti landed his first win in overtime over Slinger Nationals champ, Luke Fenhaus, in overtime! After winning heat one and then running third behind Stewart and Fenhaus for most of the feature. Andretti ran away in the last laps. Here is the SRX at Slinger recap!
Heat One
Ernie Francis Jr. Gets into Paul Tracy and causes the first wreck of the night! pic.twitter.com/nhX8nUkBNH
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) July 11, 2021
Right at the beginning of the heat, Andretti showed he had some speed at the quarter-mile oval. Running both lanes in the corners, it seemed like he would be the man to beat once the feature came. Further in the pack, Ernie Francis Jr. and Paul Tracy got into each other heading into turn three. PT left the bottom open heading into the corner and came down on Francis Jr., causing him to spin and then get stuck on the banking. Once unstuck, Tracy hunted down the yellow number two to get payback. Which damaged the right front of Tracy’s car and would bring out another caution. Once it got back to green, Andretti would take the first heat.
Heat Two
SIX ONE HUNDREDTHS OF A SECOND!! ?
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) July 11, 2021
Greg Biffle barely hangs on over Hailie Deegan to pick up the @SRXRacing Heat 2 win! pic.twitter.com/DANFJIz3CO
After the wreck from heat one, Paul Tracy got his green number 13 back on the track for heat two. But it was Hailie Deegan who would lead the majority of the heat. After a competition caution and the cars were packed up once more. Greg Biffle started to get some speed while running the top line. Deegan and Biffle would battle side-by-side for the remainder of the heat to decide the winner. Neither driver was willing to give the other an inch and in the end, it was The Biff who would come out on top. Beating Deegan by only six one-hundredths of a second!
Feature
MARCO TRIES TO THREAD THE NEEDLE!!! pic.twitter.com/n8siJAUUsL
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) July 11, 2021
The 150 lap feature was up next. Tony Stewart and Luke Fenhaus battled for almost 100 laps. Neither could pull away from the other. Once one did, the other would make their way under/over. Behind them were Marco Andretti and Bobby Labonte, who wasn’t letting the front two out of their sight. Andretti made a couple of attempts to make it three-wide. But at Slinger, that’s a no-go.
Meanwhile, near the back, Paul Tracy found Ernie Francis Jr., and it was time for some payback. Tracy got under Francis in turn three and pushed him up the track. Forcing him up into Deegan, who was battling Francis for seventh. No one spun, but it gave Tracy enough room to get by them both. That wasn’t the end of it though. Things were only heating up for those three. Deegan got into Francis a few laps later. Then when she got up to Tracy, he closed the door several times in the corner. Almost causing a caution one of the times. Finally, she had enough. Once she got back up to Tracy, Deegan got up to his left-rear quarter panel and spun him. Which would collect Michael Waltrip, Willy T. Ribbs, and Helio Castroneves.
Andretti Sneaks By in Overtime
The final lap at Slinger Speedway did not disappoint. ??
— Camping World SRX Series (@SRXracing) July 11, 2021
Marco Andretti wins his first race after holding off local legend Luke Fenhaus! pic.twitter.com/kBsf8HZ0mK
With only two laps to go, Andretti had gotten by Stewart and would start beside Fenhaus in the front row. Fenhaus had some luck in previous restarts on the bottom but Andretti was extremely fast on the top. After the first corner, it was all Marco. He pulled away from Fenhaus and claimed his first SRX win at Slinger!
My Opinion
Marco Andretti outdueled local legend Luke Fenhaus on the final lap to win his first @SRXRacing race!
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) July 11, 2021
Relive all the crazy fast 1/4 mile action! ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/TSZvviAKr2
This race was epic. It wasn’t an absolute wreck fest, at least until the closing laps. Every driver was doing anything they could to find speed. As I said in the preview, the top line was fast and gave whoever ran up there a ton of exit speed. The battle between Stewart and Fenhaus was fun to watch. Both of them were fast running either line. Neither gave the other room and in the end, we got another new winner in the series.
We only have one more race in the SRX debut season, Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway. We’ll get to see who claims the first SRX Championship. Bill and Chase Elliott compete against each other. Hailie Deegan will be running. As well as all of the Superstars! Who do you think’s gonna take it?
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