ROSSBURG, Ohio — Camping World SRX opened the night at Eldora Speedway in unprecedented territory but ended it with one of the most familiar sights in modern motorsports — Tony Stewart climbing the fence.
It was ultimately the moment that those in attendance paid to see, serenading the three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion with gratitude and applause, befitting his status as both a legendary driver and the owner of the track and series.
Everything else that preceded the moment is best described as a crisis.
It was Lap 11 in the first heat when Austin Dillon suffered a broken radiator hose and triggered a five-car melee that also involved Tony Kanaan, Chase Briscoe, Hailie Deegan and Marco Andretti. The carnage was substantial, sending Deegan and Andretti to backup cars, and placing Chase Briscoe on the sidelines.
SRX has only one prepared backup car per race and another car that is effectively a parts car. It was the worst-case scenario, damaging so many cars early in the race with almost two hours of television time to fill.
Briscoe was selected to drive the open car after the suspension of Paul Tracy, and it was intended to be a special moment for the Cup Series regular, who had always wanted to race against his idol and NASCAR boss in Stewart.
And somehow, by the end of the night, Stewart gave his most devoted fans a signature SRX moment in holding off the extremely popular Deegan. Meanwhile, after nearly two hours of thrashing, the SRX road crew even somehow got Briscoe back on the track so he could at least turn laps alongside Stewart.
Lastly, Stewart climbed the fence and sent the fans home happy.
“It’s been a long time since I could even race at Eldora, but I have mixed emotions tonight because I’m a track owner, series owner and a driver in this deal,” Stewart said after the race. “I was really proud of our track crew, the track got a major overhaul after the Million … and we saw the results of it. We had a great race track …”
And the fence climb — was that spontaneous and did the 52-year-old think he could actually do it?
“When we did the ESPN interview, they weren’t picking up the crowd and I saw how excited they were, and it was done,” Stewart said. “I told the crew chief of my car (Kevin Ridley) that we need to go do something and climb the fence and get them to come over with the mic. He told me I was crazy but we got up there.”
Deegan finishing second was a special moment too, as she took the fight to Stewart over two consecutive restarts and left the fans happy on that front. It was two consecutive top-five finishes for the ARCA winner turned Truck Series regular and that has her confidence sky high.
“That’s something I’ve been lacking, I think,” Deegan said. “It happens over time, and you don’t even realize it, you let what people say to you get in your head or you have bad races and it hurts and affects you. There’s a reason there’s mental coaches out there to keep you confident.
“But you’re right, it was awesome, and an awesome moment for me too.”
The crash left a tremendous amount of work for the SRX crew to undo over the next five days before unloading for the season finale next week at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland Missouri. But it also was a gold mine of digital content from Austin Dillon taking Sportsnaut behind the scenes of his crashed car and what happened to the radiator hose that created the crash.
Also, Brad Keselowski went under the hood of his car to help his team repair the car and get it back on the track following a crash in the second heat.
All told, SRX CEO Donald Hawk says there were a lot of positives to come away from a very chaotic night in New Weston, Ohio.
“For me, it’s great to see Tony Stewart win and its great to see Tony to win Eldora,” Hawk told Sportsnaut. “It’s exceedingly great for me to watch Hailee succeed and progress, having talked to her during the break when she was struggling to get the car driving right, and I want to be a cheerleader. She has a lot more potential than people realize.
“So, when she battles with at Eldora with this crowd, finishing second is something you don’t back into, so I leave tonight thinking we had two winners but only one trophy.”
As for the crashed cars, Hawk says he just comes away with appreciation for the road crew and their work, knowing the cars will be ready to go next week at Wheatland.
“Sometimes, things just happen in racing,” Hawk said. “It wasn’t that someone took someone else out in anger. We had an unbelievable circumstance, where the radiator hose blew up, and I haven’t seen anything like that in I don’t know how long.
“This crew did an unbelievable job to take us from five and a half cars to nine running at the end. Here’s the thing, we’ll have 12 great cars at Lucas Oil, and then they’ll have all winter to fix them, too.”
SRX Eldora results
Tony Stewart
Hailie Deegan
Ryan Newman
Bobby Labonte
Matt Kenseth
Marco Andretti
Chase Briscoe
Ken Schrader
Brad Keselowski
Ron Capps
Austin Dillon
Tony Kanaan
SRX Standings
Ryan Newman 183
Tony Stewart 144
Marco Andretti 136
Brad Keselowski 133
Bobby Labonte 129
Hailie Deegan 124
Ken Schrader 117
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.