Category: SRX

Skip Barber Racing School acquires Superstar Racing Experience

The Skip Barber Racing School announced today that it has acquired Superstar Racing Experience (SRX). Founded in 1975, the Skip Barber Racing School is the largest in the world with over 400,000 alumni including Sergio Perez, Josef Newgarden, Jeff …

The Skip Barber Racing School announced today that it has acquired Superstar Racing Experience (SRX).

Founded in 1975, the Skip Barber Racing School is the largest in the world with over 400,000 alumni including Sergio Perez, Josef Newgarden, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. It currently operates racing schools and safe driving academies at nine different venues across the country.

Since the inaugural season of SRX in 2021, the Skip Barber Racing School has served as the official logistics partner for the series, responsible for the care, maintenance, and transport of all series vehicles throughout the season. Many of the regular competitors in SRX graduated from the Skip Barber Racing School including Ryan Newman, Bobby Labonte, Ken Schrader, and Marco Andretti.

“This is an exciting time for the entire SBRS team,” Dan DeMonte, Chief Marketing Officer said. “We take great pride in providing valuable and exciting events to the motorsports community and now have the opportunity to continue that with the SRX series.”

Don Hawk, the former CEO of SRX, joined the Skip Barber Racing School as its Chief Strategy Officer yesterday.

“For years I watched the Skip Barber Racing School and its graduates as well as those that just stopped in for a refresher course in road racing, now I have the opportunity to join the senior management team of Anthony DeMonte, Dan DeMonte and Joe Monitto at the Skip Barber Racing School where we will bring SRX back to its fans and tracks while also helping them with the overall vision and business across the USA and beyond,” Hawk said.

“Over the years I’ve worked with many great families for which I’m very grateful,” Hawk added. “That’s part of what intrigued me here, the opportunity to work with Anthony and Dan to help execute a plan for the long-term future with SBRS, SRX and so many other projects under this umbrella.”

In addition to operating over 200 days of racing schools and safe driving academies each year, the Skip Barber Racing School owns and operates the Skip Barber Race Series, a training-focused Formula 4 series. The Skip Barber Racing School also competes in professional racing under the Skip Barber Racing banner with entries in a variety of series including IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, TC America powered by the Skip Barber Racing School, and Toyota GR Cup North America.

Plans for the 2024 season are currently being formed and more information will be revealed in the coming weeks.

SRX postpones plans for fourth season

Superstar Racing Experience has “postponed” its fourth season, which was scheduled to begin this summer. “It is with deep disappointment that we announce the postponement of SRX’s fourth season,” read a statement issued by the series. “We entered …

Superstar Racing Experience has “postponed” its fourth season, which was scheduled to begin this summer.

“It is with deep disappointment that we announce the postponement of SRX’s fourth season,” read a statement issued by the series. “We entered the next phase of our racing series with great anticipation and excitement for what was ahead. Our expectations, however, have been tempered by market factors that have proven to be too much to overcome. Time has run out to put forth the kind of events our fans, partners, drivers and tracks deserve.

“We are actively exploring strategic options for the series’ long-term potential. We made the announcement now to allow our partners the time and flexibility to best serve their interests.”

The news comes just days after SRX co-founder Ray Evernham, who ended his day-to-day involvement with the series after the inaugural season, announced that he had partnered with Rob Kauffman to revive the IROC brand — the original version of which closed down in 2006, and later formed the template for SRX.

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The Tony Stewart-owned SRX series enjoyed a rapid rise with a concept based around identical cars, short tracks, a compact summer schedule and big names behind the wheel, all propelled by a primetime broadcast deal with CBS for its first two seasons before moving to ESPN’s “Thursday Night Thunder” last year. Stewart, Marco Andretti and Ryan Newman all won titles during the SRX’s three years of operation.

SRX enters partnership with iRacing

iRacing and the Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) have entered into a long-term partnership to have the SRX car and series in iRacing. iRacing is already making plans to scan the SRX car and gather data for an expected 2024 release. “We’re excited …

iRacing and the Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) have entered into a long-term partnership to have the SRX car and series in iRacing. iRacing is already making plans to scan the SRX car and gather data for an expected 2024 release.

“We’re excited to welcome SRX into iRacing in a future release,” said iRacing president Tony Gardner. “The SRX car has been a big request from our customers, and many of their past and present tracks are already on the service, which will allow for a quick and seamless integration. We’re looking forward to a release sometime next year, and can’t wait for our iRacers to get their hands on it!”

“We’ve heard the fans on social media, and we are thrilled that race fans will have the opportunity to get behind the wheel of an SRX car in iRacing,” said SRX Chief Executive Officer, Don Hawk. “We think that the SRX car, schedule, and race format will produce incredible action in the virtual world as in the real one, and the series should prove to be a popular addition to iRacing in 2024. We are excited for iRacers around the world to get to experience what we’ve built firsthand in the coming months.”

Established by a group headlined by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart, SRX brings a unique mix of racing legends, current superstars, and up-and-coming talent to both paved and dirt short tracks across America. The 2023 season saw the series partner with ESPN to revive the historic “Thursday Night Thunder” branding that was a staple of the network’s motorsports programming in its early years. SRX debuted in 2021, and Series champions have included Stewart, Marco Andretti, and Ryan Newman, while dozens of other top stock car, open-wheel, and dirt oval racers have also lined up over the past three years of action.

Late model ace Davenport wins SRX finale as Newman takes title

Three-time Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model champion Jonathan Davenport survived an onslaught of sliders on the final restart and to complete a wire-to-wire victory in the main event of the Camping World SRX Series season finale on Thursday night at Lucas …

Three-time Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model champion Jonathan Davenport survived an onslaught of sliders on the final restart and to complete a wire-to-wire victory in the main event of the Camping World SRX Series season finale on Thursday night at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo., while Ryan Newman secured the summer short track series championship in the opening heat.

Davenport was joined on the podium by Brad Keselowski and Kenny Schrader but the driver that gave him the biggest challenge on the night was Clint Bowyer. Much of the 90-lap main event featured Davenport and Bowyer running nose-to-tail, three seconds ahead of the field, simply waiting for the figurative pay window to open before implementing the moves that would decide the race.

Bowyer made multiple attempts at the lead, one bump into Turn 1 on lap 74, and an epic slider into Turn 1 on a restart with 10 laps remaining. Contact between the No. 99 of Ernie Francis Jr. and the No. 6 of Keselowski set up Bowyer taking the bottom as opposed to the outside that he had chosen for much of the night. The slider was thrown in vain, though, as Davenport threw one right back and drove away to a multi-car lead.

“I really didn’t think he could slide all the way across there and get in front of me, but he did a good job not going out of the park and I just barely hit him enough to get him messed up, so I could get a run going back the other way,” related Davenport. “Then everybody was on his tail in (Turns) 3 and 4, so I don’t know if we were three- or four-wide coming off there, but it was definitely fun.

“I’m sure the fans enjoyed it. We’re out here to have fun — they don’t want nobody just ruining the show. We had a great car, the guys did an excellent job on it from the tore-up stuff they had last week. I figured a caution would come late but we were ready for it. This is something I’ll definitely remember for a long time; hopefully they’ll invite me back some time.”

Newman celebrated his championship alongside the podium trio, having clinched the title based on the results of the first heat.

“It’s really special, racing against the greatest drivers in the world, in my opinion… then to win the championship in equal cars says something — it’s a feather in my cap I guess you could say,” said Newman. “The (SRX) guys slaved six days for six weeks in a row getting everything ready to do what we’re doing. (It’s) just an honor to be a part of it, to be a champion.

“Ending up fourth was pretty special in itself — I never finished outside of the top 4 in a feature in all six races. Consistency was obviously very important. I wish we could’ve had the original Stafford, the rain-shortened one, I think that was going to be a really special start to the season, then to back it up the next week. Either way, like I said, proud to be part of it — so many great people and friends. I’m no youngster, so a lot of people that have been around and to be apart of this, it’s unique and a lot of fun. If they’ll have me next year, I’ll be here.”

Although the final standings show Newman winning the championship by 45 points over Keselowski and Marco Andretti, Tony Stewart — who wound up fourth, 48 points back — was the only other driver championship-eligible entering the night, but was eliminated with a 10th-place finish in the opening heat.

Main event results:

  1. Jonathan Davenport #49 (0) 
  2. Brad Keselowski #6 (+6)
  3. Ken Schrader #52 (+3) 
  4. Ryan Newman #39 (+5) 
  5. Clint Bowyer #07 (-3) 
  6. Marco Andretti #1 (-3) 
  7. Tony Stewart #14 (+4) 
  8. Kenny Wallace #36 (-3) 
  9. Helio Castroneves #06 (+3) 
  10. Hailie Deegan #5 (0) 
  11. Ernie Francis Jr #99 (-4) 
  12. Bobby Labonte #18 (-8) 

Stewart wins on SRX return to Eldora

Tony Stewart held off Hailie Deegan over a pair of late restarts at Eldora Speedway to claim his first Camping World SRX victory of the season. For much of the night, the battle was for second place with Deegan, Ryan Newman and Ken Schrader all …

Tony Stewart held off Hailie Deegan over a pair of late restarts at Eldora Speedway to claim his first Camping World SRX victory of the season.

For much of the night, the battle was for second place with Deegan, Ryan Newman and Ken Schrader all taking turns hounding “Smoke” throughout the 75-lap main event. With his feature victory, Stewart completed a clean sweep of the night following his victories in the first heat from the third starting position and winning the second heat after a complete inversion of the first heat’s running order.

“I have so many mixed emotions because I see tonight from a driver standpoint, a track owner standpoint and a series standpoint,” said Stewart. “It’s special to race here, much less win here, because I haven’t even raced here in a long time. So when we did our ESPN interview, I wanted them to pick off the crowd, the fans, so I told my crew chief that we were going to climb the fence. He told me I was crazy, but I told him that’s exactly what we’re going to do, and we dragged TV over there and they were going nuts for it. This was a special win and a special night for me.”

For Deegan, the runner-up finish testified to her growing confidence in amongst the oval racing veterans.

“It was special. I have gained a lot of confidence the past two weeks especially, racing against these guys, and I think I had started to lose some of it this year,” she said. “It’s been a challenging year on the Truck Series side, and I needed some races like this to remind me that I can get on the wheel, be aggressive, and continue to get better. I really feel like we were all racing for second but that was intense racing with Ryan too. Everyone is just so good in these cars.”

With a third-place finish in the feature, Newman inched closer to a series championship, needing only a top five in the final feature of the season at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo., to seal the accomplishment. He could also claim the championship though heat race points next week. Stewart is second, 39 points behind, while reigning champion Marco Andretti is third, 47 points back.

“The championship really does matter to me and I think you see it in my results with top-fives in each race, a couple of podiums, and it’s something I have really put a lot into after last year,” Newman said. “I’m proud of my consistency this year especially when you think of the caliber of drivers that have come in here this year and to compete at that level. Winning the championship would mean a lot to me next week and I just hope we can add a win at Lucas Oil. That would be the perfect way to close out and send our season home, climbing the top step of the podium.”  

The feature was also a survival race as Schrader, Brad Keselowski and Ron Capps all raced their way into the top-five at various points of the night only to find trouble around one of the treacherous dirt corners. The Camping World SRX road crew was challenged early in the night when a five-car crash terminally damaged two of the competitor’s cars. That crash began when Austin Dillon ruptured a radiator hose due to engine overheating, sending his car into the wall, and dropping so much water on the backstretch of the Turn 3 clay half-mile that several others just piled into the melee. Deegan, Marco Andretti, Tony Kanaan and Chase Briscoe were all collected in the ordeal.

Andretti and Deegan, full-time championship drivers, were placed in backup cars for the rest of the night while Kanaan was sidelined for the evening.

Briscoe, making his Camping World SRX debut, had been excited to race against his hero and NASCAR boss Stewart, and still got to accomplish the goal by the end of the night, as the road crew was able to repair the No. 57 by halfway through the feature. Briscoe completed the race and was able to go side-by-side with Stewart at least once in the night.

Busch beats Keselowski again for SRX win at Berlin

Kyle Busch drove away over the course of three restarts to take his second consecutive Camping World SRX Series win Thursday night at Berlin Raceway in Marne, Mich. Also for the second straight week, his win came at the expense of NASCAR rival Brad …

Kyle Busch drove away over the course of three restarts to take his second consecutive Camping World SRX Series win Thursday night at Berlin Raceway in Marne, Mich. Also for the second straight week, his win came at the expense of NASCAR rival Brad Keselowski, who finished second in the main, having been spun out of the lead by Busch last week at Pulaski County Motorsports Park. Ryan Newman took third.

Busch is no stranger to Berlin Raceway, having raced a variety of cars at the venerable legendary 7/16th bullring, including an ASA start in 2002, a Benson Speed Equipment Outlaw Late Model, and a Super Late Model under the Kyle Busch Motorsports banner over the past decade and a half.

“This place is so tough, so challenging with all the things you have to do here — rolling into the gas and rolling out of the gas, the steering wheel and keeping the tires underneath you,” said Busch. “Berlin is one of the toughest short tracks we go to. Brad was really good and I wasn’t sure I had anything for him until [Helio] Castroneves got up there and ran him really hard. Then I saw Brad start to slip his tires and I’m like, ‘OK, he’s right on the edge so I might have something too.’”

Keselowski led the most laps in the final after starting second but felt he used up his front tires in trying to battle Castroneves for the top spot in the final.

“I pushed a little too hard and just used up the front end a little too much. That was on me,” Keselowski said. “We had a good race, won a heat race, that was good, drove from the back to second, and that was good, led that the most laps and that was good and just overdrove it a bit and didn’t have enough by the end of the race.”

Castroneves led the main event early but faded to eighth by the finish, having used up his tires trying to keep Keselowski behind him. Busch methodically ran consistent, low-intensity laps, and had the most grip available approaching the final laps. Three competition cautions waved over the final 30 laps, but Busch pulled away comfortably on each restart.

Marco Andretti finished fourth after starting 10th in the main but spent most of the race riding nearly a full lap behind the leaders with the goal of tire conservation. It nearly worked, as the defending SRX champion gained ground over the final three green-flag stints. Local legend Johnny Benson finished 12th having battled a mechanical issue over the course of the entire night.

Main Event Results   

  1. Kyle Busch
  2. Brad Keselowski
  3. Ryan Newman
  4. Marco Andretti 
  5. Hailie Deegan
  6. Ken Schrader
  7. Tony Stewart 
  8. Helio Castroneves
  9. Bobby Labonte 
  10. Kevin Harvick 
  11. Kasey Kahne 
  12. Johnny Benson Jr.

Tracy suspended following SRX Pulaski crash

Paul Tracy has been suspended by SRX after being deemed responsible for a multi-car crash during Thursday night’s round at Pulaski County Motorsports Park in Virginia. Tracy made contact with Josef Newgarden late in the race, setting into motion an …

Paul Tracy has been suspended by SRX after being deemed responsible for a multi-car crash during Thursday night’s round at Pulaski County Motorsports Park in Virginia.

Tracy made contact with Josef Newgarden late in the race, setting into motion an accident that also dragged in Ken Schrader, Haile Deegan and Marco Andretti.

“We take issues regarding driver safety extremely seriously at SRX,” said SRX Chief Executive Officer, Don Hawk. “This is not a decision we take lightly. It is our responsibility to ensure that we foster a competitive, and most importantly, a safe racing environment. I have been in contact with Paul directly and we appreciate his cooperation on this matter.”

SRX did not specify the length of Tracy’s suspension.

Busch takes the SRX honors at Pulaski

Kyle Busch took the main event win in the SRX series’ visit to Pulaski on Thursday night. Busch took the lead with a move to the inside of NASCAR Cup Series rival Brad Keselowski on lap 57 – a move that ended with Keselowski in the outside wall – …

Kyle Busch took the main event win in the SRX series’ visit to Pulaski on Thursday night.

Busch took the lead with a move to the inside of NASCAR Cup Series rival Brad Keselowski on lap 57 – a move that ended with Keselowski in the outside wall – and held his position through several restarts to secure the victory.

“It’s a lot of fun to come out here and just have a good race with the SRX guys; a lot of cool guys, a lot of different personalities, a lot of different backgrounds,” Busch said.

“It’s nice to get out here and let loose and go out there for a win. It was nice to grab that one.

“I don’t know if (Keselowski) knew I was there, or didn’t know I was there or what, but I had a nose in there, I got in next to his door and he came down – we made contact. So definitely a product (of having no) spotters, and also I was always checking my mirrors to see were guys were and what they were doing around me to make sure that I wouldn’t put myself in a spot like that.”

Clint Bowyer came out on top from a see-saw battle with Tony Stewart to claim second.

“It’s Tony-damn-Stewart,” Bowyer said. “Say it again, I wanna hear it… how many times? Four times I passed Tony Stewart!

“I honestly think if we had 20 laps green, I could’ve had something for (Busch). I had a good line going, the car was rotating good and I wasn’t having to push it for whatever reason. I couldn’t believe anybody else didn’t try it. I found a groove down there (on the apron); as long as I could be by myself where I could arc it in a little bit, I could hook that apron and really roll. That’s what was hard with Tony being on my outside, it kind of forced you down there too soon and I couldn’t really hook it really well. Once I got clear of Tony, I could get it on pretty good. I had fun.”

Keselowski recovered from his incident to finish fourth ahead of Ryan Newman, although everyone’s job was made easier by a couple of big incidents elsewhere in the field, starting with Josef Newgarden and Helio Castroneves making contact on lap 82 and triggering an incident that also tangled up Bobby Labonte and front-row starter Marco Andretti.

No sooner had everyone dusted themselves off from that,  Paul Tracy washed up in Turn 4 and put Newgarden into the barriers, causing a wreck that snared Ken Schrader, Haile Deegan and Andretti. Deegan and Andretti were able to continue, finishing eighth and ninth respectively.

“Tracy took out three or four of us, that’s all,” said Schrader. “Normal. Just a regular day.”

In the opening heat, Andretti took an early lead from polesitter Newgarden and never looked back, while Busch took advantage of a late error by Keselowski to secure second. Keselowski held on for third.

In the second heat, Bowyer spent the race trading blows with Newman before emerging triumphant, leaving Schrader to complete the podium.

Points standings

  1. Ryan Newman: 105
  2. Marco Andretti:  84 (-21)
  3. Tony Stewart: 81 (-24)
  4. Brad Keselowski: 72 (-33)
  5. Paul Tracy: 72 (-33)
  6. Bobby Labonte: 72 (-33)
  7. Ken Schrader: 65 (-40)
  8. Hallie Deegan: 61 (-44)

Next race: Berlin Raceway, Thursday August 3, 2023.

Newman wins SRX round 2 at Stafford Speedway

On July 13 at Stafford Speedway, lightning put a halt to Ryan Newman’s late race march to hunt down Denny Hamlin in the opening event of the Camping World Series SRX Series. Newman had to settle for a second place to Hamlin in the rain-shortened …

On July 13 at Stafford Speedway, lightning put a halt to Ryan Newman’s late race march to hunt down Denny Hamlin in the opening event of the Camping World Series SRX Series. Newman had to settle for a second place to Hamlin in the rain-shortened season opener. With an unexpected return to Stafford Thursday, and no storms to slow his roll, Newman once again had the fast car late, and this time had the laps to get the job done. Newman passed Daniel Suarez on lap 74 of the 80-lap main event to win.

“Kept my car straight, tried to be easy on the brakes and be good to my Goodyear Eagles,” Newman said. “I felt like I did an OK job. I feel like the other guys were pretty aggressive. That played to my favor. You never know how a race is going to unfold. Last week we got cut short by the rain. Tonight, it took us 74 of the 80 laps today to get the job done.

It was the second series win at Stafford for Newman, who won the 2022 event at the paved half-mile.

Suarez, making his series debut and first visit to Stafford, held on for second while reigning series champion Marco Andretti was third.

The SRX Series was originally slated to have its second event at Thunder Road International Speedbowl in Barre, VT, but catastrophic flooding last week forced a return to Stafford.

Former Stafford Speedway regular Ryan Preece started on the pole. On lap 4 Suarez got by Preece for the lead in Turn 1, but Preece battled back to regain the top spot five laps later. Tony Kanaan got by Suarez for second place on a lap 33 restart. On lap 40 Preece and Kanaan had checked out from third place Suarez. By lap 43 Kanaan was stalking all over Preece’s bumper.

On lap 47 Preece slid sideways going into Turn 1 and slapped the wall hard, allowing Kanaan to go to the lead. Preece held second place for the next 10 laps but began fading after a lap 56 restart and eventually pulled off track at lap 65.

“I just went down into [Turn] 1 and the brake pedal went to the floor,” Preece said of his contact with the wall. “From there I just kept pumping them and pumping them every lap and it just kind of took off. It didn’t really have much stopping power. It was fun, I had a blast there for a while. Obviously disappointed because we had a really good car.”

On lap 63 Newman went by Suarez for second. At that point Kanaan had built a 1.3s lead. Newman cut the lead to a half second within four laps and was on Kanaan’s bumper when caution flew for a wreck involving Hallie Deegan and Paul Tracy in a battle for sixth place on lap 72

“He just turned down on me,” Deegan said of the contact that sent Tracy spinning into the wall. “I was on the bottom. I was under him. There’s two ways to go about it. Either you are there and if they want to turn down and bounce off you, so be it. You can’t do anything about that. There’s so many times when I’m the one checking up to let someone come back down. Paul races pretty hard so I don’t mind doing it. I didn’t really do anything to be honest, he turned down on me.”

On the ensuing restart Kanaan took the field to green but in turn one his car went straight to the wall with no brakes.

“I lost my brakes,” Kannan said. “I had them and all of the sudden we restarted and when I went into Turn 1, I think you guys can see how quick that was. And it was not pleasant having no brakes and heading straight into that wall. It was going to be a hell of a win. We battled with Tony [Stewart], Daniel [Suarez] and Ryan [Preece].”

With Kanaan limping around the track, Suarez got by Newman to take over the lead before caution flew on lap 73 for a Brad Keselowski wreck in Turn 1.

Newman and Saurez went side-by-side on the restart before Newman got by Suarez for the lead for good out of turn two on lap 74.

“In general he was better on the short runs every run, but he had used up a lot of his tires and brakes in my opinion,” Newman said of Suarez. “It was more a matter of how wide he made his race car. He got washed up a little bit there and I got underneath him and was able to make the move. My car cut better than I thought it was going to at the end of the race there.”

Said Suarez: “I don’t know where [Newman] was coming from, but he was very quick. That was a lot of fun. … I was very happy to be here. It was a good run, it was fun.”

Andretti said he learned a lesson last week at Stafford to save his brakes.

“I took care of myself this week,” Andretti said.”The brakes were going long, but they didn’t go today. I think it cost me a shot at winning last week, but it helped me got a podium today.”

Newman left the track with series points lead after two of six events, with Andretti second in the standings, 15 points off the top spot. Paul Tracy, who was 11th Thursday, is third in the standings, 23 points behind Newman.

Stewart won the first heat race and Keselowski won the second heat race

Hamlin wins rain-shortened Stafford SRX opener

NASCAR ace Denny Hamlin scored his first Camping World SRX Series win Thursday night in this season’s opening round at Stafford Speedway in Stafford Springs, Conn. The scheduled 80-lap feature was stopped after 57 laps due to storms in the area. …

NASCAR ace Denny Hamlin scored his first Camping World SRX Series win Thursday night in this season’s opening round at Stafford Speedway in Stafford Springs, Conn. The scheduled 80-lap feature was stopped after 57 laps due to storms in the area. Hamlin won the first heat race and finished seventh in the second heat race.

After losing a motor in his primary car in the second heat race, Ryan Newman went to a backup car for the feature and rebounded to finish second. Newman won the Stafford SRX Series event in 2021. Clint Bowyer, making his series debut and the first of three series starts this year, was third.

“That last lap of the heat I had some pretty major contact [with Brad Keselowski]. I think the right front was hung on the tire there,” Hamlin related. “I thought I had a rack broken. But they fixed it and the car was right back to where it was in the heat race. I was pretty happy with it.

“For sure we wanted [the feature] to go the distance. I think it was about to be pretty exciting with Ryan. My car was really good and I was able to kind of manage what I needed to, especially the brakes. It seems like the brakes are the biggest thing we’re fighting.”

Hamlin held off Newman to the finish. SRX Racing/Wayne Riggle photo

“It was eventful,” summed up Newman of his night. “We started last [in the first heat], we got spun out, we went back to last. Came back and passed a few and took the invert and won the next heat, but my motor was blowing up. I knew it was hot. I got it cooled down under caution, but the reason I got it cooled down was because there was no water left in it. It never spewed water out, it had a leak. Had a cracked fitting or something.

“We got in the backup car, fell back to sixth or seventh at least. I got a couple good restarts and we were able to work our way forward. I had a really good car in the end. Oh there was no doubt I was catching [Hamlin] and I was going to work on him when I got to him. I think I would have showed him something. He’s a pretty savvy driver. I think he might have been able to hold me up, but I still would have liked to have tried it.”

Hamlin found the experience a refreshing change from his day job in the NASCAR Cup Series.

“This is a lot of fun,” he said of the series featuring identically prepared cars powered by Ilmor V8 396 engines similar to those used in the ARCA Menards Series. “From a driver’s standpoint, knowing you’re in the same equipment as every else. They don’t let you do any changes to these cars that not every car has. There’s no spotters. A lot of the contact you see is because you just can’t see the people around you. Man, this is so much fun. This is short track racing, the grassroots racing we want to showcase.”

SRX returns to Stafford Speedway again next Thursday night, in place of the previously scheduled race at Thunder Road Speedbowl in Barre, Vermont, due to flooding in the Vermont area. The field will include SRX full-time drivers Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, Brad Keselowski, Ken Schrader, Marco Andretti, Hallie Deegan, Bobby Labonte and Paul Tracy and part-time drivers Daniel Suarez, Greg Biffle, Kenny Wallace, Tony Kanaan and former Stafford regular Ryan Preece. The event will feature 13 cars instead of the usual 12 entries.