2023 SRX Series

The 2023 Camping World SRX Series was the third season of the Superstar Racing Experience, a stock car racing series in the United States. The six-race season began at Stafford Motor Speedway on July 13 and ended at Lucas Oil Speedway on August 17.

Ryan Newman, the 2023 series champion.
Marco Andretti (left), the 2022 SRX champion, and Brad Keselowski (right) tied for second in the championship, each finishing 45 points behind Newman.

Marco Andretti entered the season as the defending series champion and returned to run full-time in the SRX Series in 2023.[1] Ryan Newman won the series championship by 45 points over Andretti and Brad Keselowski after winning one race during the season at Stafford II.[2]

Drivers

Full-time drivers
No. Driver Primary series Background/accomplishments Ref
1 United States Marco Andretti IndyCar Series 2003 Barber Formula Dodge Eastern class champion
2004 Barber Formula Dodge National class and Southern class champion
2 IndyCar Series wins
2022 SRX Champion		 [1]
5 United States Hailie Deegan NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series 2020 ARCA Menards Series Rookie of the Year
First female winner in the ARCA Menards Series West
2-time consecutive Truck Series Most Popular Driver (2021 and 2022)		 [3]
6 United States Brad Keselowski NASCAR Cup Series 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion
2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion
75 NASCAR national series wins (35 in Cup, 39 in Xfinity, & 1 in Truck)
NASCAR Cup Series team owner		 [3]
14 United States Tony Stewart NASCAR Cup Series 3-time NASCAR Cup Series champion (2002, 2005, and 2011)
1996–97 IndyCar Series champion
62 NASCAR national series wins (49 in Cup, 11 in Xfinity, & 2 in Truck)
NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series team co-owner
2021 SRX Champion		 [4]
18 United States Bobby Labonte NASCAR Cup Series 2000 NASCAR Cup Series champion
1991 NASCAR Busch Series champion
32 NASCAR national series wins (21 in Cup, 10 in Xfinity, & 1 in Truck)		 [3]
39 United States Ryan Newman NASCAR Cup Series 2008 Daytona 500 winner
26 NASCAR national series wins (18 in Cup, 7 in Xfinity, & 1 in Truck)		 [3]
52 United States Ken Schrader NASCAR Cup Series 1985 NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year
1983 USAC Sprint Car Series Champion
1982 USAC Silver Car Series Champion
4 NASCAR Cup Series wins		 [5]

Part-time drivers
No. Driver Primary series Track(s) Background/accomplishments Ref
06 Brazil Hélio Castroneves IndyCar Series Pulaski County, Berlin, Lucas Oil Speedway 4-time Indianapolis 500 winner (2001, 2002, 2009, and 2021) (tied for most all-time)
2020 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship champion
3-time consecutive 24 Hours of Daytona winner (2021, 2022, and 2023)		 [6]
07 United States Clint Bowyer NASCAR Cup Series Stafford I, Pulaski County, Lucas Oil Speedway 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion
21 NASCAR national series wins (10 in Cup, 8 in Xfinity, & 3 in Truck)
NASCAR on Fox Cup Series color commentator		 [6]
2 United States Josef Newgarden IndyCar Series Pulaski County 2-time IndyCar Series champion (2017 and 2019)
2023 Indianapolis 500 winner
27 IndyCar Series wins		 [1]
3 Canada Paul Tracy IndyCar Series Stafford I and II, Pulaski County[lower-alpha 1] 1990 American Racing Series champion
2003 Champ Car World Series champion
31 CART/Champ Car wins
10 Indy Lights wins		 [1]
4 United States Kevin Harvick NASCAR Cup Series Stafford I, Berlin 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion
2-time NASCAR Busch Series champion (2001 and 2006)
2007 Daytona 500 winner
121 NASCAR national series wins (60 in Cup, 47 in Xfinity, & 14 in Truck)		 [9]
8 United States Matt Kenseth NASCAR Cup Series Eldora 2003 NASCAR Cup Series champion
2-time Daytona 500 winner (2009 and 2012)
68 NASCAR national series wins (39 in Cup & 29 in Xfinity)		 [10]
9 United States Kasey Kahne NASCAR Cup Series
World of Outlaws		 Berlin 31 NASCAR national series wins (18 in Cup, 8 in Xfinity, & 5 in Truck) [11]
10 United States Johnny Benson Jr. NASCAR Cup Series Berlin 1995 NASCAR Busch Series champion
1996 NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the year
2008 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion		 [12]
11 United States Denny Hamlin NASCAR Cup Series Stafford I 3-time Daytona 500 winner (2016, 2019, and 2020)
69 NASCAR national series wins (50 in Cup, 17 in Xfinity, & 2 in Truck)
NASCAR Cup Series team owner		 [13]
28 United States Ron Capps NHRA Eldora 3-time NHRA Funny Car champion
73 NHRA wins		 [14]
33 United States Austin Dillon NASCAR Cup Series Eldora 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champion
2013 NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion
2018 Daytona 500 Winner
20 NASCAR national series wins (4 in Cup, 9 in Xfinity, & 7 in Truck)		 [15]
36 United States Kenny Wallace NASCAR Cup Series Stafford II, Lucas Oil Speedway 9 NASCAR Xfinity Series wins
Former NASCAR on Fox & Speed and NASCAR RaceDay analyst		 [16]
41 United States Ryan Preece NASCAR Cup Series Stafford II 2013 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Champion [17]
49 United States Jonathan Davenport Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Lucas Oil Speedway 3-time Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Champion (2015, 2018, and 2019) [18]
51 United States Kyle Busch NASCAR Cup Series Pulaski County, Berlin 2-time NASCAR Cup Series champion (2015 and 2019)
2009 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion
229 NASCAR national series wins (most all-time) (63 in Cup, 102 in Xfinity, & 64 in Truck)
NASCAR Truck Series team owner		 [6]
57 United States Chase Briscoe NASCAR Cup Series Eldora 14 NASCAR national series wins (1 in Cup, 11 in Xfinity & 2 in Truck) [19]
66 Brazil Tony Kanaan Stock Car Pro Series Stafford I and II, Eldora 2004 IndyCar Series champion
2013 Indianapolis 500 winner
16 IndyCar Series wins		 [1]
69 United States Greg Biffle NASCAR Cup Series Stafford II 2000 NASCAR Truck Series champion
2002 NASCAR Busch Series champion
56 NASCAR national series wins (19 in Cup, 20 in Xfinity, & 17 in Truck)		 [20]
99 Mexico Daniel Suárez NASCAR Cup Series Stafford II 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion
5 NASCAR national series wins (1 in Cup, 3 in Xfinity, & 1 in Truck)		 [21]
United States Ernie Francis Jr. Indy NXT Lucas Oil Speedway Seven-time consecutive Trans-Am Series champion (2014 through 2020) [22]

Notes:

Schedule

The 2023 schedule was announced on December 21, 2022. All races were held on Thursday nights instead of Saturday nights. The 2023 season also started in July and ended in August for the first time. The first two seasons started in June and ended in July. [24]

The 2023 SRX schedule featured a return to Stafford Motor Speedway for the third straight year (making it the only track on the SRX schedule in all three years of the series) and series co-founder Tony Stewart's Eldora Speedway dirt track for the first time since 2021. The other three tracks, two of which are paved and one (Lucas Oil Speedway) of which is a dirt track, were new to the SRX.[24] The original schedule included the paved quarter-mile Thunder Road International SpeedBowl in Barre, Vermont as the second event of the season, but due to extensive flood damage in the area the event was moved to Stafford (making it the only track so far in SRX history to host back to back races), with Thunder Road being granted a guaranteed date in 2024.[25]

The schedule was designed based on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule in order to attract drivers from that series to race in the SRX race on the Thursday before the weekend's Cup Series race. Each race except for the season finale at Lucas Oil Speedway was held at a track in the same area of the country as the track that the Cup Series raced at that weekend.[26]

No. Track Location Type Date
1 Stafford Motor Speedway Stafford Springs, Connecticut 0.5 mile, paved July 13
2 July 20
3 Pulaski County Motorsports Park Fairlawn, Virginia 0.416 mile, paved July 27
4 Berlin Raceway Marne, Michigan 0.4375 mile, paved August 3
5 Eldora Speedway Rossburg, Ohio 0.5 mile, dirt August 10
6 Lucas Oil Speedway Wheatland, Missouri 0.375 mile, dirt August 17

Broadcasting

All six races were broadcast live on TV in the United States on ESPN, replacing CBS and Paramount+.[24]

On April 25, 2023, the lineup of commentators for the SRX in 2023 was announced. Lap-by-Lap Allen Bestwick and pit reporter Matt Yocum moved over from CBS and returned in 2023. Bestwick previously worked for ESPN on their NASCAR coverage from 2007 to 2014 (first as a pit reporter, then as a studio host and then as a play-by-play) and IndyCar Coverage from 2014 to 2018. There were three rotating guest color commentators in the booth: Joey Logano at Stafford I, Berlin and Eldora, Conor Daly at Pulaski County Motorsports Park and Lucas Oil Speedway, and Darrell Waltrip at Stafford II.[27]

Lindsay Czarniak, who was the host role for the SRX on CBS in 2021 and 2022, did not return for this season. She previously worked for ESPN in the same role on their IndyCar coverage. On July 6, ESPN revealed that Nicole Briscoe, who was the studio host for NASCAR on ESPN from 2011 to 2014, would be the host on the SRX TV broadcasts in 2023, replacing Czarniak.[28] There was no roving reporter this season, a role previously filled by Brad Daugherty in 2021 and Willy T. Ribbs in 2022, resulting in each broadcast only having four commentators (down from five).

Results and standings

Race results
No. Track Heat 1 winner Heat 2 winner Feature race winner
1 Stafford Speedway Denny Hamlin Ryan Newman Denny Hamlin
2 Stafford Speedway Tony Stewart Brad Keselowski Ryan Newman
3 Motor Mile Speedway Marco Andretti Clint Bowyer Kyle Busch
4 Berlin Raceway Brad Keselowski Ryan Newman Kyle Busch
5 Eldora Speedway Tony Stewart Tony Stewart Tony Stewart
6 Lucas Oil Speedway Jonathan Davenport Bobby Labonte Jonathan Davenport

Drivers' championship

Points are awarded for both heat races as well as the feature:

Points Position
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th
Heat 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1
Feature 25 22 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 1

(key) * – Most laps led (feature) 1 – Heat 1 winner 2 – Heat 2 winner

Pos. Driver STA STA MMI BER ELD[lower-alpha 2] LOS Pts
1 Ryan Newman 22 1 5 32 3 4 212
2 Marco Andretti 6 3 91 4 6 6 167
3 Brad Keselowski 9 102 4 2*1 9 2 167
4 Tony Stewart 11 71 3 7 1*12 7 164
5 Ken Schrader 7 4 12 6 8 3 150
6 Bobby Labonte 8 6 7 9 4 122 145
7 Hailie Deegan 5 8 8 5 2 10 140
Part-time drivers (ineligible for points)
Kyle Busch 1* 1 0
Denny Hamlin 1*1 0
Jonathan Davenport 1*1 0
Clint Bowyer 3 22 5 0
Daniel Suárez 2 0
Paul Tracy[lower-alpha 1] 4 11 10 0
Greg Biffle 5 0
Matt Kenseth 5 0
Hélio Castroneves 6 8 9 0
Chase Briscoe 7 0
Kenny Wallace 9 8 0
Tony Kanaan 10 12 12 0
Kevin Harvick 12 10 0
Ron Capps 10 0
Josef Newgarden 11 0
Kasey Kahne 11 0
Austin Dillon 11 0
Ernie Francis Jr. 11 0
Johnny Benson Jr. 12 0
Ryan Preece 13* 0

Notes
  1. Paul Tracy was originally designated as a full-time driver, but was suspended with immediate effect on July 28, 2023 after intentionally wrecking Josef Newgarden at Pulaski County Motorsports Park and collecting several other drivers. It was announced on August 2, 2023 that Paul Tracy will not return for the rest of the 2023 SRX Season.[7][8]
  2. In Heat Race #1 at Eldora Speedway, Austin Dillon was running in 7th place when a lower radiator hose burst sending him into the outside wall into turn three as well as dumping fluid onto the track which would ultimately end up collecting all of the drivers running in the 8th-12th positions. These drivers include: Hailie Deegan, Marco Andretti, Chase Briscoe, Tony Kanaan, and Matt Kenseth. Because of this, Hailie Deegan and Marco Andretti, the two series regulars who were involved ended up going to a back up car for the rest of the night, while Tony Kanaan and Austin Dillon were unable to participate in Heat Race #2 as well as the Feature because there was no backup car for them to use, and their cars had sustained too much damage for them to continue. Chase Briscoe was unable to participate in Heat Race #2, but was able to rejoin the field on Lap 47 of 75 of the Feature and eventually was able to drive to a 7th place finish after being placed on the lead lap by SRX race control. Matt Kenseth sustained minimal damage in the wreck and was able to continue in the same car for the remainder of the night.[29][30]

See also

References
  1. Christie, Toby (February 28, 2023). "Andretti, Hunter-Reay, Tracy Return for Full SRX Season; Newgarden, Kanaan Return Part-Time". TobyChristie.com.
  2. Christie, Toby (August 18, 2023). "Jonathan Davenport Wins SRX Season Finale; Ryan Newman Captures…". Racing America. Retrieved August 18, 2023.
  3. Walters, Shane (February 1, 2023). "NASCAR drivers sign up to run full-time in SRX Series". Racing News. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
  4. Christie, Toby (February 23, 2023). "Tony Stewart Returns to SRX Racing For Full 2023 Season". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  5. "Ken Schrader to Compete for 2023 SRX Championship". Racing America. June 30, 2023.
  6. Srigley, Joseph (January 18, 2023). "Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer, Helio Castroneves Competing in SRX's Third Season". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
  7. Christie, Toby (July 28, 2023). "Paul Tracy Suspended by SRX Racing After Accident at Pulaski County". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
  8. Glover, Luken (August 2, 2023). "Paul Tracy Not Returning to SRX This Season". Frontstretch. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
  9. Srigley, Joseph (January 17, 2023). "Kevin Harvick Competing in SRX Events at Stafford and Berlin". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
  10. Rutherford, Kevin (May 4, 2023). "Matt Kenseth Joining SRX at Eldora". Frontstretch. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  11. Christie, Toby (April 27, 2023). "Kasey Kahne to Join SRX Racing Field at Berlin Raceway". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
  12. Woelbing, Grace (July 29, 2023). "Johnny Benson Jr. to line up in SRX field at Berlin". Retrieved July 23, 2023.
  13. Srigley, Joseph (February 1, 2023). "Denny Hamlin Signed to Compete in Season-Opening SRX Event at Stafford Speedway". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
  14. Pryson, Mike (April 4, 2023). "NHRA Funny Car Champ Ron Capps Going Dirt-Track Racing with SRX". Autoweek. Retrieved April 15, 2023.
  15. Glover, Luken (July 5, 2023). "Austin Dillon Making SRX Debut at Eldora". Fronstretch. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  16. "Kenny Wallace to Race in SRX Finale at Lucas Oil Speedway". Racing America. February 21, 2023. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
  17. Srigley, Joseph (July 14, 2023). "Ryan Preece Joins Camping World SRX Series for Relocated Race at Stafford". Racing America. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  18. Kornhoff, Taylor (August 7, 2023). "Jonathan Davenport Running Lucas Oil SRX Race". Frontstretch. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  19. Finley, Michael (August 3, 2023). "Chase Briscoe Competing in Eldora SRX Race". Fronstretch. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
  20. Watson, Wyatt (April 28, 2023). "Greg Biffle Running Thunder Road in SRX". Frontstretch. Retrieved April 29, 2023.
  21. Rutherford, Kevin (April 10, 2023). "Daniel Suarez Running SRX at Thunder Road". Frontstretch. Retrieved April 15, 2023.
  22. Glover, Luken (July 5, 2023). "Ernie Francis Jr. Running Lucas Oil SRX Race". Fronstretch. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  23. "(Twitter post)". Donald Hawk. July 12, 2023. Retrieved July 15, 2023. Aaron - yes that's precisely what happened there and we wish him all the best @IndyCar and hope to have him back to @SRXracing someday soon.
  24. Srigley, Joseph (December 21, 2023). "Superstar Racing Experience Announces 2023 Schedule". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
  25. "SRX Cancels Thunder Road Visit, Awards 2024 Date". Speed Sport. 13 July 2023. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
  26. Moriello, John (December 22, 2022). "Tony Stewart's SRX Schedule Is Sure to Attract Cup Series Drivers and Concern NASCAR". Sportscasting. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
  27. "ESPN Names SRX 'Thursday Night Thunder' Crew". Barrett Media. April 26, 2023. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
  28. "(Twitter post)". Twitter. ESPN. July 6, 2023. Retrieved July 15, 2023.
  29. Paul, Brandon (August 10, 2023). "Austin Dillon, Chase Briscoe Involved In Big SRX Crash At Eldora Speedway". Flo Racing. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  30. Damcott, Anthony (August 11, 2023). "Hailie Deegan Nabs 2nd in Backup SRX Car After Huge Crash at Eldora". Frontstretch. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
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