SRX unveils 2022 schedule, confirms return to primetime

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emailBy RACER Staff | February 23, 2022 6:30 PM ET

Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) and CBS Sports have announced the 2022 schedule and tracks for the six-race, short-track series returning to primetime Saturdays this summer for the second season on CBS starting Saturday, June 18 at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola. Races will air on six consecutive Saturday nights at 8:00 PM, ET on CBS Television Network and Paramount+ throughout the summer of 2022.

Four new venues takes their place on the calendar for the series’ second season. After opening at Five Flags Speedway, the series will head to South Boston Speedway in South Boston, VA, then return to Stafford Motor Speedway where the series launched last season. The back half of the series will feature a return to the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway before a stop at I-55 Raceway then the final and championship race from Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio on July 23.

“We had a great first year and now we’re looking to build off that momentum going into 2022 with a selection of tracks that blends old and new,” said SRX co-founder Tony Stewart.

“All the tracks last year delivered great energy, but we’re looking to spread that wealth a little bit this year. Stafford and Nashville are back, and they’re going to be joined by four new tracks – Pevely and Sharon for guys like me who love the dirt, and Five Flags and South Boston, two of the most prestigious pavement tracks around. We’ll hit some different areas of the country and deliver SRX to fans who might not have been able to see us in person last year.”

 

Castroneves targeting Daytona 500 run

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emailBy Marshall Pruett | June 23, 2022 3:39 PM ET

As a byproduct of winning the season-opening SRX race last weekend in Florida, four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves could find himself trying to make the Daytona 500 grid next year.

Stemming from a promise by SRX CEO Don Hawk to search for a NASCAR Cup seat for the Brazilian at its biggest event as a reward for winning his first SRX race, Castroneves says he’s all-in on making his stock car debut if a team is willing to give the Indy legend a shot.

“It would be a great opportunity,” the Meyer Shank Racing driver told RACER. “When Don and I were discussing this year’s SRX opportunity, I said, ‘Hey, can you make it happen if win an SRX race, can you find me ride in the Daytona 500?’ [He was] like, ‘Deal!’ I guess he didn't think I could win it........

“So, wow. I am so glad that we won right at the first race of the season in Pensacola with SRX, so he has plenty of time now for him to do something.”

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Castroneves tried to get former boss Roger Penske to add him to the team’s Daytona 500 plans, but The Captain was unwilling to oblige.

“I drove for Team Penske for so many years,” he added. “I remember Roger said, ‘No, no, no, no.’ I was like, ‘I want to try!’”

As an avid fan of singer and Trackhouse Racing team partner Pitbull, there might not be a better fit in NASCAR than for veteran Miami resident Castroneves to land in a third Trackhouse entry.

“I like that, ‘Mr. 305,’ man,” he said of Pitbull. “I’ve been in the 305 area for a long time and I’m back again. So wouldn’t it be a perfect match? Let’s make a petition to for them to have me around.”

 

Labonte beats Andretti to Nashville SRX win

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emailBy RACER Staff | July 10, 2022 7:53 AM ET

Bobby Labonte scored his first Camping World SRX Series win on Saturday night at the Nashville Fairgrounds.

After a third place in the first heat race and a fourth-place finish in heat 2, Labonte started from pole position in the main event and led every one of the 75 laps on the paved oval. However, a late-race caution closed up the field and Laborite had to hold off a hard charging Marco Andretti and Matt Kenseth.
58-year-old Bobby Labonte takes the checkered flag in Nashville! pic.twitter.com/wDUnMREOI6

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports)

Andretti finished second for the second week in a row followed by Kenseth in his SRX debut. Kenseth’s showing added to a strong night for first-timers, as IndyCar racer Josef Newgarden won his first heat and local ringer Cole Williams won the second heat.

“We had a great night, a lot of fun. Can’t believe I won one,” said Labonte, who at age 58 is the oldest driver to win an SRX race. “This is so intimidating with these drivers. I’m telling you, I get nervous. I’m just thinking,‘Man I see Matt Kenseth coming and I’ve seen this story before. Oh my god, here he comes.’ Maybe I made it look a little easy tonight, but it wasn’t easy.”

Labonte said his win was the product of steady improvement and learning from some of his fellow all-stars.

“I didn’t run that good in practice and I told Tony (Eury Jr.), ‘I think I’m running the wrong line,’” he said. “I usually try to fire off and go fast and try to feel like I have plenty of confidence and I didn’t, but I will say, I just followed Josef (Newgarden) there early and a couple of the other guys. They’re tough.”

Andretti admitted to a little frustration about finishing second for the second week in a row, but felt Laborite always had the edge.

“Bobby Labonte shot out of a cannon right from the start of the feature, so I knew he was a force to reckon with there. I think the fastest car won for sure,” Andretti said. “I was one step of rear grip away getting in and coming off the corner. If I can get the power down a little better, I think I would have gotten closer there at the end. Those Cup guys know just how far to pull away at the end so you can’t get to their bumper. It was a fun one. I keep running steady. We’re going to be bummed if we keep finishing second.”

After taking third, Kenseth blamed himself for a tactical error that blunted his chances at the finish.

“I ran myself out of time a little bit there,” he admitted. “I should have counted cars so I had some inside restarts there at the end. I felt like I saved the most rear tire. My car drove a lot better in the feature. We got the stagger kind of under control and it was much better. I burned the tires off so bad and got so loose in the heat, I couldn’t do anything, so I was bound and determined not to do that. I felt I had the best tires at the end but ran myself out of time. I should have gone a little sooner.”

He’ll get a chance to apply that lesson next week as the Camping World SRX Series moves on to I-55 Raceway in Pevely, Missouri — the first of two dirt tracks to conclude the six-race season — on Saturday, July 16. Joining the top three finishers from Nashville at I-55 will be Ken Schrader, Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Ryan Newman, Paul Tracy, Michael Waltrip, Tony Kanaan and Hailie Deegan. Hallie Degan gets to race because she has a lot of people on social media and gets more publicity, a sugar daddy and a pussy.

 

SRX partners with ESPN to recreate ‘Thursday Night Thunder’

Logan Riely/SRX via Getty Images
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emailBy RACER Staff | December 12, 2022 12:27 PM ET

Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) will move from CBS to ESPN for 2023, with the announcement of a multi-year media rights agreement that will see the series air exclusively on ESPN starting next summer.

Rather than Saturday nights as it did its first two seasons, the all-star short track series will air on six consecutive Thursday nights at 9pm ET on ESPN and the ESPN app, bringing back the network’s iconic “ESPN Thursday Night Thunder” branding.

Thursday Night Thunder, which originally aired on ESPN in the 1980s with a variety of short track events, was one of the springboards for Tony Stewart to begin his rise to stardom, and now the SRX co-founder expressed delight at being able to recreate it with his series, which pits stars of NASCAR, IndyCar and other racing disciplines against each one another in spec race cars and in prime time on ESPN.

“Thursday Night Thunder is where guys like me, who were just starting our careers in USAC, got the chance to make a name for ourselves because of its presence on ESPN,” said Stewart, who won the inaugural SRX title in 2021. “It’s great to see Thursday Night Thunder return, but to also be a part of it all over again with SRX.”

The 2023 SRX season will open on Thursday, July 13 at 9pm ET, running for six consecutive Thursdays through August 17 at the same times. Race locations will be announced at a later date.

“When we had the opportunity to pitch the concept of Thursday Night Thunder on ESPN, it was my firm belief this would be another disruptive and monumental moment in SRX and racing history, re-uniting race fans with ESPN on short tracks with superstar drivers all across the U.S.for years to come,” said SRX CEO Don Hawk. “Thursday Night Thunder is where I met Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart. A relationship between SRX and ESPN seemed like the right fit at the perfect time, and I couldn’t be more excited for this summer.”

“SRX has been an impressive property in its first two seasons and has produced competitive and exciting action,” said Burke Magnus, ESPN President, Programming and Original Content. “We look forward to bringing live racing back to summertime Thursday nights on ESPN with SRX.”

Sandy Montag, the co-founder of SRX with Stewart, said: “Seeing the overwhelmingly positive fan reception to the launch and growth of SRX has been especially rewarding. I have worked with Jimmy (Pitaro) and Burke (Magnus) for years, and we are incredibly excited to be in business with ESPN, and can’t wait to see SRX on the ‘Worldwide Leader.’”