How super was the first season of Tony Stewart’s SRX?
By Randy Smith
NASCAR Hall of Famers Tony Stewart and Ray Evernham completed their first season of the SRX series, and they put on quite the show.
When the Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) was co-founded by NASCAR Hall of Famers Tony Stewart and Ray Evernham, it was advertised as an IROC-like series that had a compact but diverse field of drivers.
Former NASCAR Cup Series, IndyCar, and Trans-Am series champions all featured in the field. Legends from all forms of motorsports were represented, and the series also featured several up-and-comers and local track heroes.
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These drivers competed against one another in an exhibition-type series that showed more promise than fans may have expected out of an inaugural season. The fan desire for an old-school short track racing league showed in viewership. According to Sports Business Journal‘s Adam Stern, the series is expected to average 1.3 million viewers per race.
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Even NASCAR Xfinity Series and Truck Series races have earned less. SRX doesn’t necessarily come off as a rival to the Cup Series just yet, but it has showed promise. Add in the fact that some of the drivers, including one of the local ringers, are already getting rides in NASCAR.
Stafford Motor Speedway winner and hometown hero Doug Coby is set to make his Truck Series debut at Bristol Motor Speedway in September, and full-time SRX driver and former IndyCar driver Marco Andretti is having discussions of possibly running in the Xfinity series in the future.
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SRX is highlighting the talents of various drivers and helping them to continue on their racing careers.
The season ended with Tony Stewart grabbing the first championship. While it wasn’t necessarily a “hot take” that he would be in the running for the title, considering his involvement in the series and the fact that a track he owns, Eldora Speedway, was on the schedule, it still adds to his list of accomplishments in motorsports.
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The competition in SRX got heated quickly. Ernie Francis Jr. had some moments on the track with drivers such as Helio Castroneves. Scott Speed had some words with Castroneves as well. But one of the constants in the heated competition was none other than Paul Tracy.
Tracy’s driving style was no surprise for anybody who followed his IndyCar career, especially his storied rivalry with Sebastien Bourdais. But a Tracy rivalry starting with a 19-year-old Hailie Deegan was interesting to say the least. Deegan even released a vlog on her YouTube channel about her run-in with Tracy, and Tracy took to his Instagram to show his frustrations.
The season ended featuring the SRX debut of Cup Series champion Chase Elliott, who became the first active NASCAR driver to run in SRX. Elliott won the race, and he was joined on the podium with Stewart and his father Bill.
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It was a storybook ending to conclude a six-week stretch of Saturday night short track racing, and the promising ratings and future driver opportunities from this series could be exactly what the world of motorsport needs.