Ryan Newman wins the 80 lap Superstar Racing Experience race at Stafford Motor Speedway
This is the 2nd week in a row that the SRX series is at Stafford Motor Speedway. Last week was the original stop at Stafford for SRX and this week the series was supposed to be at Thunder Road Speedway in Vermont but with all the torrential rain in the Northeast had, it had caused catastrophic flooding in Vermont, therefore the state of Vermont and the CEO Don Hawk of SRX made the decision to have it at Stafford for the 2nd week in a row.
The regulars of SRX racing that will compete every race for the 6 races that they compete in from July through August include drivers like Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, Bobby Labonte, Brad Keselowski, Halie Deegan, Paul Tracy, Marco Andretti, and newly added is Ken Schrader. Then for each race there are 3 to 4 additional drivers that will race, depending on what tack the series is at, there are different drivers. This week back at Stafford the 4 other drivers competing along with the regular drivers are Tony Kanaan, Daniel Suarez, Greg Biffle, and Ryan Preece.
Newman started the race in 6th place, he finished heat 1 in 10th and finished heat 2 in 3rd. With the first 10 laps of the main event, Newman was still in 6th place and just being patient considering its 80 laps and anything could happen. With 20 laps down in the feature, the top 6 is still the same with Ryan Preece leading and Newman in 6th place still. On lap 25 there was a caution, Bobby Labonte was on pit road with the rotor of the right tire pretty much on fire. Greg Biffle pitted too where they were looking under the hood, and Kenny Wallace also on pit road he had some problems with the back of his car. On the restart, Preece got the lead on lap 32 then there was another caution on lap 33 for Kenny Wallace was off the pace on the front stretch. By lap 46 Ryan Preece was still leading with Tony Kanaan in 2nd and Daniel Suarez in 3rd place. Newman got up to 5th when getting by Brad Keslowski. On lap 47, Preece got way up the hill and got him into the wall. Putting Preece back to 2nd. Brakes are being used a lot more with Preece and Kanaan than the other drivers. Newman got by Tony Stewart to get 4th place on lap 50. On lap 53 there was a caution where it will bring everyone back together. Kanaan had a good one second lead over Preece. Kanaan would get the lead and Preece and Suarez would go side by side, Suarez would get 2nd and Preece would go back to 3rd. Newman stays in 4th and Stewart is in 5th place. Newman passed Preece with 21 laps to go for 3rd. Newman had a late charge with 21 laps to go. With 19 to go, Tony Kanaan has a 1.59 second lead from Saurez in 2nd. With 18 to go Newman would go after Suarez for 2nd and get by him fairly easily. He had saved a lot of his car because he didn’t do too much early. Ryan Preece struggled late in the race going back to 8th place with 16 to go. With 15 to go Newman was gaining on Kanaan the lead was cut to 0.88 seconds and then the next lap, Newman would cut it down again to 0.69 seconds. On lap 67 Preece brings his car down to pit road. He was on the radio saying he didn’t have much brake pedal left. He wouldn’t go back on the track and would be done for the night with brake problems. Kanaan’s brakes are glowing alot with 11 to go. Newman is coming on strong with 10 to go, Newman cut the lead to 0.17 seconds. The caution came out with 9 laps to go for Paul Tracy who got spun around by Halie Deegan.
The restart with 9 to go had Tony Kanaan going deep in the bottom of the track and then shoot up the track and hit the turn 2 wall. Kanaan destroyed the right front tire of his car. With the Chaos going on Suarez gets the lead with Newman in 2nd. The caution comes out again with 8 laps to go from Brad Keslowski hitting the wall. On the restart with 8 to go Suarez takes the lead with Newman right behind him. Tracy has a problem but keeps going, Suarez leads, with Newman right there with him. With 6 laps to go Newman and Suarez are battling and Newman takes the lead. Newman stays in the lead and takes the checkered flag for the 2nd time in the Superstar racing experience series. Last year in the SRX race at Stafford Speedway, Newman took the lead with 6 to go and won the race. That was his first win after his horrific crash in the Daytona 500. It was such a great and emotional win for him and his entire family. Newman did it again at Stafford, with 6 laps to go he again led the race and won.
Newman talks about his race and win in the SRX series: “It was tough, those guys kept a pretty good pace to start there. So proud of this opportunity and everybody’s effort to get equal cars. We kept easy on the brakes to start the race, I guess maybe that was the difference. Those guys ran pretty hard, I saw the rotors glow.
SRX Series Top 5:
- Ryan Newman
- Daniel Suarez
- Marco Andretti
- Ken Schrader
- Greg Biffle
Be the first to comment