Ernie Francis Jr Claims Victory in SRX Event at Lucas Oil Raceway

Ernie Francis Jr. will celebrate his victory in tonight’s Camping World SRX Series event at Lucas Oil Raceway in the back of the van. While that doesn’t sound ideal, Francis and his family will be making the five hour trip to Elkart Lake, Wisconsin to compete in the Trans Am Championship Presented by Pirelli event at Road America.

The 23-year-old road racer held off a number of late-race charges from both Bobby Labonte and Scott Speed on late-race restarts, most of which contained multiple laps of full-contact racing. On a restart with seven laps to go, Francis and Speed had an incredible battle, which saw them side-by-side and banging doors for the next five laps, before contact shuffled Speed down the order.

ERNIE!!! 👑 @ErnieFrancisJr pic.twitter.com/rmcB1MbKsW

— Camping World SRX Series (@SRXracing) July 4, 2021

Bobby Labonte finished in second-place, with Scott Speed, Marco Andretti and Bobby Santos III rounding out the top-five. Michael Waltrip, Tony Stewart, Paul Tracy, Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan, Willy T Ribbs and Bill Elliott rounded out the 12-car field.

Scott Speed was victorious in the series’ first 12-minute heat race, with the full invert allowing Helio Castroneves to claim the victory in the second heat race. By virtue of fourth and third-place finishes in the two heat races, Tony Stewart started on the pole for the feature.

Camping World SRX Series Driver Point Standings After 4 of 6 Races:

1. No. 14 – Tony Stewart
2. No. 2 – Ernie Francis Jr. (-30pts)
3. No. 3 – Helio Castroneves (-40pts)
4. No. 18 – Bobby Labonte (-45pts)
5. No. 98 – Marco Andretti (-49pts)
6. No. 15 – Michael Waltrip (-74pts)
7. No. 13 – Paul Tracy (-77pts)
8. No. 48 – Tony Kanaan (-95pts)
9. No. 41 – Scott Speed (-96pts)
10. No. 9 – Bill Elliott (-108pts)
11. No. 17 – Willy T. Ribbs (-115pts)
12. No. 10 – Doug Coby (-116pts)
13. No. 1 – Hailie Deegan (-120pts)
14. No. 69 – Greg Biffle (-125pts)
15. No. 63 – Kody Swanson (-130pts)
16. No. 22 – Bobby Santos III (-132pts)
17. No. 00 – Scott Bloomquist (-137pts)
18. No. 21 – Brian Brown (-139pts)

Camping World SRX Seires Car Point Standings After 4 of 6 Races:

1. ORANGE – STEWART – 160 POINTS
2. YELLOW – FRANCIS JR – 130 POINTS
3. PATRIOTIC CAMO – COBY | BROWN | SWANSON | SANTOS III – 123 POINTS
4. GOLD – BIFFLE | BLOOMQUIST | SPEED – 122 POINTS
5. RED – CASTRONEVES – 120 POINTS
6. TEAL – LABONTE – 115 POINTS
7. BLACK – ANDRETTI – 111 POINTS
8. PINK – KANAAN | DEEGAN – 105 POINTS
9. BLUE – WALTRIP – 86 POINTS
10. LIME GREEN – TRACY – 83 POINTS
11. PURPLE – ELLIOTT – 52 POINTS
12. NAVY BLUE – RIBBS – 45 POINTS