Longtime NASCAR competitor Ryan Newman claimed the Superstar Racing Experience championship as the six-week all-star series brought back ESPN’s “Thursday Night Thunder.”
After two seasons of Saturday night racing on CBS, SRX action moved to a Thursday evening time slot on ESPN, reviving a brand that brought live short-track racing into living rooms across the country during the 1990s.
The roster of full-time competitors for SRX’s third season included Newman, inaugural series champion Tony Stewart, 2022 champ Marco Andretti, NASCAR Cup Series owner/driver Brad Keselowski, Ken Schrader, Bobby Labonte and Hailie Deegan.
The schedule opened with a pair of races at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway.
Mother Natured played a role in the series’ Thursday night debut when rain stopped the feature short of the scheduled distance. Denny Hamlin was on point when the moisture began to fall and he snared his first SRX triumph with Newman second.
Vermont’s Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl was slated to host the series during week two, but severe flooding in the state forced the series back to Stafford for a second consecutive week.
The fans cheered as local hero Ryan Preece fired off to an early lead, but his night eventually ended against the outside wall. 2013 Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan then led briefly before his brakes failed on a late-race restart.
From there, Newman held off Cup Series regular Daniel Suarez to score his second SRX triumph.
Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch had a perfect scorecard in his first foray into SRX competition as he won back-to-back races.
Starting at Virginia’s Motor Mile Speedway, the Richard Childress Racing driver wheeled his NHL-themed Florida Panthers race car to victory on the quarter-mile oval. Busch held off Clint Bowyer and Stewart to hoist the winner’s trophy.
Busch was back to his winning ways a week later at Michigan’s Berlin Raceway as the 38-year-old outdueled Michigan native Keselowski.
The final two races were run on dirt at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway and Lucas Oil Speedway in Missouri.
A multi-car pileup during heat race action at Eldora’s half-mile track sent series officials scrambling to repair cars before the feature. Kanaan and Cup Series driver Austin Dillon were unable to compete in the main after their cars suffered serious damage.
Track owner Stewart put on a show at Eldora, leading all 75 laps of the feature. Hailie Deegan thrilled the crowd as she vaulted to the runner-up spot by race’s end.
The season finale at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo., saw dirt late model superstar Jonathan Davenport score a dramatic and entertaining victory.
Davenport held off Bowyer’s attempted slide job during a late-race restart, and he drove to the checkered flag ahead of Keselowski and Schrader.
With a fourth-place finish, Newman secured the SRX championship. Keselowski settled for second in the final standings with Andretti third. Stewart struggled during the finale, dropping him to fourth in points.
This & That
■ Three-time NHRA Funny Car champion Ron Capps became the first drag racer to compete in the all-star series as he wheeled a car at Eldora. Capps ran out front in the first heat before ultimately having to pull his car behind the wall in the feature due to damage sustained in the second heat.
■ Five of the six races during the summer series were won by drivers with stock car backgrounds.
Hamlin is a 51-time Cup Series winner, while Newman earned 18 Cup Series victories. Busch is a two-time Cup Series champion and has won 229 races across NASCAR’s three national touring series. Finally, Stewart is a three-time Cup Series champion.
■ Paul Tracy, who competed full time in the first two seasons of SRX, was suspended after a run-in with Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden during the feature at Motor Mile Speedway.
The following week, 1995 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Johnny Benson Jr. was tapped to replace Tracy at Berlin Raceway. Benson faded late in the feature and ended up 12th.
■ With Helio Castroneves, Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Kenny Wallace, Ernie Francis Jr. and Chase Briscoe among the participants, the series showcased a variety of racing backgrounds.
■ SRX has announced four of its six events for next season with races scheduled at Stafford, Thunder Road, Berlin and Slinger Speedway in Wisconsin.
This story appeared in the Dec 27, 2023 edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
