Tony Stewart/Ray Evernham SRX series announces full schedule, tracks for 2021

By Jan 4, 2021, 8:45 AM EST
Superstar Racing Experience schedule
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Superstar Racing Experience, the short-track series started by Ray Evernham and Tony Stewart, announced its inaugural schedule of tracks and dates Monday.

SRX will race on six consecutive Saturday nights starting on June 12 at Stafford Motor Speedway in Stafford Springs, Connecticut, and wrapping July 17 at the Nashville Fairgrounds.

Nashville, Knoxville Raceway and Slinger Speedway were added to the series’ slate, joining previously announced Stafford Speedway, Lucas Oil Raceway and Eldora Speedway.

Here’s the schedule (each race will be shown at 8 p.m. ET on CBS):

June 12: Stafford Motor Speedway

June 19: Knoxville Raceway

June 26: Eldora Speedway

July 3: Lucas Oil Raceway

July 10: Slinger Speedway

July 17: Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway

Superstar Racing Experience is expecting to have a dozen drivers in each race. Nine have been announced:Stewart, Helio Castroneves, Bobby Labonte, Paul Tracy, Tony Kanaan, Willy T. Ribbs, Mark Webber, Bill Elliott and Ernie Francis Jr.

SRX was co-founded by NASCAR Hall of Famers Stewart and Evernham and was unveiled last July 13.

Here’s the 2021 schedule release from Superstar Racing Experience:

Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) and CBS Sports have announced the full 2021 schedule for the brand new six-race, short-track series that will begin on June 12th at Stafford Motor Speedway in Stafford Springs, Conn.. Races will air on six consecutive Saturday nights at 8 PM, ET on CBS Television Network and CBS All-Access throughout the Summer of 2021.

After the inaugural race at Stafford, SRX will head to Knoxville Raceway in Iowa on June 19 before visiting Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway in Ohio the following week. Lucas Oil Raceway in Indiana will kick off the holiday weekend in early July, before the drivers race at the “World’s Fastest Quarter Mile Oval” at Slinger Speedway in Wisconsin. The final and championship race of the inaugural season will take place at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway on July 17. See below for the full schedule.

The six-race series will feature drivers from a variety of racing backgrounds with a total emphasis on head-to-head competition in short, sprint races. The 90-minute races will be produced within a two-hour television window. Races will have no pit stops but breaks where drivers and crew chiefs can make adjustments and strategy decisions. SRX has secured driver commitments from some of the sport’s biggest names, including, Stewart, Bill Elliott, Tony Kanaan, Paul Tracy, Bobby Labonte, Willy T. Ribbs, Mark Webber, Ernie Francis Jr. and Helio Castroneves, as well as more drivers to be announced.

“With a six-week back-to-back schedule that crosses America, visiting some of the most historic and challenging short tracks in auto racing, the SRX series will be a must-watch, and I am so excited to see these legends on the track,” said Ray Evernham, SRX Co-Founder.

“Starting our series at the historic Stafford Motor Speedway will center the eyes of the nation on one of America’s oldest and most historic short-tracks. Then we head west, with back-to-back races on dirt at the renowned Knoxville Raceway and Stewart’s Eldora Speedway. Fourth of July weekend will be special at the great Lucas Oil Raceway, with so much energy and excitement at that facility. Then we head up to Slinger Speedway in Wisconsin where so many of the great NASCAR drivers have competed at the Slinger Nationals. Finally, we wrap up the 2021 series with our championship at the Nashville Fairgrounds, a track that has witnessed so much history of the course of their 100+ year existence,” said Evernham.

“Our goal in crafting the inaugural SRX schedule was to feature tracks that are challenging, unique and have a strong motorsports history. This six-race series does just that,” said Stewart, SRX driver and co-founder. “Four renown pavement tracks in Stafford, Lucas Oil Raceway, Slinger and the Nashville Fairgrounds and the two most prestigious dirt tracks in the country – Eldora and Knoxville. All demand respect and each forces drivers to adapt. What works at one track won’t necessarily transfer to another.”

“These venues have seen some of the best racers in the country, but this will be the first time drivers from so many different disciplines will be racing on these historic tracks all at the same time. We’re proud to deliver another exceptional event to each of these tracks’ already rich histories,” said Stewart.

After New York whirlwind, Josef Newgarden makes special trip to simulator before Detroit

By Jun 2, 2023, 10:00 AM EDT
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DETROIT – There’s no rest for the weary as an Indy 500 winner, but Josef Newgarden discovered there are plenty of extra laps.

The reigning Indy 500 champion added an extra trip Wednesday night back to Concord, N.C., for one last session on the GM Racing simulator before Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.

After a 30-year run on the Belle Isle course, the race has been moved to a nine-turn, 1.7-mile layout downtown, so two extra hours on the simulator were worth it for Newgarden.

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“I really wanted to do it,” he told NBC Sports at a Thursday media luncheon. “If there’s any time that the sim is most useful, it’s in this situation when no one has ever been on a track, and we’re able to simulate it as best as we can. We want to get some seat time.

“It’s extra important coming off the Indy 500 because you’ve been out of rhythm for a road or street course-type environment, so I really wanted some laps. I was really appreciative to Chevy. There was a few guys that just came in and stayed late for me so I could get those laps before coming up here. I don’t know if it’s going to make a difference, but I feel like it’s going to help for me.”

After a whirlwind tour of New York for two days, Newgarden arrived at the simulator (which is at the GM Racing Technical Center adjacent to Hendrick Motorsports) in time for a two hour session that started at 6 p.m. Wednesday. He stayed overnight in Charlotte and then was up for an early commercial flight to Detroit, where he had more media obligations.

Newgarden joked that if he had a jet, he would have made a quick stop in Nashville, Tennessee, but a few more days away from home (where he has yet to return in weeks) is a worthy tradeoff for winning the Greatest Spectacle in Racing – though the nonstop interviews can take a toll.

“It’s the hardest part of the gig for me is all this fanfare and celebration,” Newgarden said. “I love doing it because I’m so passionate about the Indy 500 and that racetrack and what that race represents. I feel honored to be able to speak about it. It’s been really natural and easy for me to enjoy it because I’ve been there for so many years.

“Speaking about this win has been almost the easiest job I’ve ever had for postrace celebrations. But it’s still for me a lot of work. I get worn out pretty easily. I’m very introverted. So to do this for three days straight, it’s been a lot.”

Though he is terrified of heights, touring the top of the Empire State Building for the first time was a major highlight (and produced the tour’s most viral moment).

“I was scared to get to the very top level,” Newgarden said. “That thing was swaying. No one else thought it was swaying. I’m pretty sure it was. I really impressed by the facility. I’d never seen it before. It’s one of those bucket list things. If you go to New York, it’s really special to do that. So to be there with the wreath and the whole setup, it just felt like an honor to be in that moment.”

Now the attention shifts to Detroit and an inaugural circuit that’s expected to be challenging. Along with a Jefferson Avenue straightaway that’s 0.9 miles long, the track has several low-speed corners and a “split” pit lane (teams will stop on both sides of a rectangular area) with a narrow exit that blends just before a 90-degree lefthand turn into Turn 1.

Newgarden thinks the track is most similar to the Music City Grand Prix in Nashville.

“It’s really hard to predict with this stuff until we actually run,” he said. “Maybe we go super smooth and have no issues. Typically when you have a new event, you’re going to have some teething issues. That’s understandable. We’ve always got to massage the event to get it where we want it, but this team has worked pretty hard. They’ve tried to get feedback constantly on what are we doing right, what do we need to look out for. They’ve done a ton of grinding to make sure this surface is in as good of shape as possible.

“There’s been no expense spared, but you can’t foresee everything. I have no idea how it’s going to race. I think typically when you look at a circuit that seems simple on paper, people tend to think it’s not going to be an exciting race, or challenging. I find the opposite always happens when we think that way. Watch it be the most exciting, chaotic, entertaining race.

Newgarden won the last two pole positions at Belle Isle’s 2.35-mile layout and hopes to continue the momentum while avoiding any post-Brickyard letdown.

“I love this is an opportunity for us to get something right quicker than anyone else,” he said. “A new track is always exciting from that standpoint. I feel I’m in a different spot. I’m pretty run down. I’m really trying to refocus and gain some energy back for tomorrow. Which I’ll have time to today, which is great.

“I don’t want that Indy 500 hangover. People always talk about it. They’ve always observed it. That doesn’t mean we have to win this weekend, but I’d like to leave here feeling like we had a really complete event, did a good job and had a solid finish leading into the summer. I want to win everywhere I go, but if we come out of here with a solid result and no mistakes, then probably everyone will be happy with it.”