- Ryan Newman won at Stafford last year, was runner-up in last week’s race there.
- He took the lead with six laps to go and ultimately drove right into victory lane.
- NASCAR driver Daniel Suarez, making his first SRX appearance, finished second to Newman by 0.756 seconds.
If Stafford Motor Speedway officials ever decide to change the track’s name, they may want to consider renaming it Ryan Newman Speedway.
The NASCAR great absolutely loves racing at the slightly banked half-mile track in Stafford Springs, Conn., just north of Hartford.
And Thursday night, Newman once again showed why he loves the little bullring, earning his second win in three career tries at the track in the Camping World Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) series.
Newman won at Stafford last year, was runner-up in last week’s race there, and was king of the hill again during ESPN’s Thursday Night Thunder in the No. 39. Just like he did in his win at Stafford last year, Rocket Man took the lead with six laps to go and ultimately drove right into victory lane.
In a sense, Newman got revenge for finishing runner-up in last week’s race, which was called early due to lightning in the area, followed by an eventual torrential downpour. Had the race not been called, Newman was closing in quickly and might have been able to catch race winner Denny Hamlin.
Thursday night’s race was originally scheduled for Thunder Road Speedbowl in Barre, Vt., but it was moved to Stafford after the area was devastated by significant rain and resulting flooding in and around the Barre area.
“It was tough,” Newman said of his path to victory lane Thursday night. “Those guys had a pretty good pace at the start there and my fat butt had to get out. I’m so proud of this opportunity.”
Several drivers suffered brake failure as the rotors overheated, and in some cases, caught fire. But Newman was judicious in applying his brakes and came home the winner again.
“We kept easy on the brakes at the start of the race and I figure that was the difference,” Newman said. “Those guys were pretty hard, I saw their brakes and rotors glowing.”
Newman dedicated the win to late race car driver Bryan Clauson, who died from injuries one day after flipping several times and then being hit by another driver in a sprint car race in Kansas on August 6, 2016.
“I promised some people a little bit, and I’m going to try not to tear up, that I’d park it in victory lane, so this goes out to the Clausen family in the memory of Bryan Clauson,” Newman said. “It’s a special moment and I’m so happy to be here.”
NASCAR driver Daniel Suarez, making his first SRX appearance, finished second to Newman by 0.756 seconds.
“It was a lot of fun racing with my friend right here,” Suarez said of Newman. “I’m very happy to be here, it was a good run. I want to thank everybody from SRX for the opportunity and I hope we can do it again.”
Here’s how the main event results looked: Newman, Suarez, Marco Andretti, Ken Schrader, Greg Biffle, Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart, Hailie Deegan, Kenny Wallace, Brad Keselowski, Paul Tracy, Tony Kanaan and Ryan Preece.
Marco Andretti, Ryan Newman and Daniel Suarez made it to the podium on Thursday night.
Stewart Not Happy With Andretti
Defending series champion Marco Andretti finished third, but he may have ignited a feud in the remaining four races with inaugural SRX series champ (2021) Tony Stewart, who Andretti punted into the wall late in Thursday night’s race.
“I clobbered Stewart there at the end, so he’ll be a little mad at me,” said Andretti, who blamed brake fade issues. “The pedal went down, that was unintentional.”
Not so in Stewart’s eyes.
“We did the best we could,” Stewart said. “I did a lot better catching fish last night than I did driving a race car tonight. (Andretti) liked to use the bumper a little bit.”
Then, Stewart looked into the ESPN camera and pointed at Andretti, issuing this challenge, adding payback was coming to Andretti in the four remaining SRX races this season:
“When you watch this replay, I’m going to start using your ass up, bud,” Stewart said of Andretti. “I’ll just move him when I need to, that seems to be his M.O. He’ll get a dose of it back.”
SRX drivers roll to the green flag at Stafford on Thursday.
Baker’s Dozen, Thanks to Preece
SRX races typically have 12-car fields, but because NASCAR driver Ryan Preece got his racing start at places like Stafford and has been a longtime fan favorite in the Northeast, he was added to Thursday night’s field as a ringer, making it a 13-car lineup.
Much to the pleasure of the roughly 10,000 fans who attended and applauded their area favorite, Preece dominated the first half of the 80-lap main event, leading 41 laps, but his great start ended with a disappointing last-place showing after he hit the wall with 12 laps left.
“The (brakes) went away when I hit the wall in Turn 1,” Preece said. “The brake pedal went to the floor. I kept pumping them every lap, but it just didn’t have any stopping power.
“It was fun, I had a blast there for a while, but I’m obviously disappointed because we had a real good car.”
How They Fared
Thursday marked the conclusion of the first third of the six-race SRX series. There were two 25-lap heat races, followed by the 80-lap main event.
Here are the results from the two heat races:
Heat Race 1: Tony Stewart, Paul Tracy, Daniel Suarez, Hailie Deegan, Ryan Preece, Tony Kanaan, Bobby Labonte, Ken Schrader, Marco Andretti, Ryan Newman, Brad Keselowski, Kenny Wallace and Greg Biffle.
Heat Race 2: Keselowski, Preece, Newman, Andretti, Kanaan, Schrader, Suarez, Labonte, Wallace, Stewart, Biffle, Tracy and Deegan.
In the first heat race, Biffle was involved in a crash with Suarez, backing hard into the retaining wall, causing his car to be sent to the pits and knocked out of the race.
But because SRX has a unique rule where drivers whose cars are knocked out are eligible to drive one of three back-up cars that are always on hand, Biffle switched cars and looked even stronger in the back-up ride than he did in his original ride before he wrecked out.
Thems the Brakes
Tony Kanaan fell out of contention with brake issues and an eventual brush with the wall.
You can’t help but feel bad for IndyCar driver Tony Kanaan. He took the lead when Preece hit the wall and appeared headed toward a relatively easy win.
Unfortunately, Kanaan also lost his brakes, hit the wall and blew out his right front tire with nine laps to go, knocking him out of the event and costing him the win.
“I lost my brakes,” Kanaan said. “I had them and all of a sudden, we restarted, I went into Turn 1, you can see how quick it was and it was not pleasant, having no brakes and heading into that wall.
“It was going to be a hell of a win. I had a great battle with Tony (Stewart), Suarez and Preece, I think we proved we’re here. It doesn’t count and I know I won’t take the trophy home, no one will remember what happened to me tomorrow, but it felt good.”
Tracy also dropped out in the final eight laps when he lost his brakes.
NOTES: NASCAR Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip was guest color analyst along with play-by-play voice Allen Bestwick. And of course, Waltrip began the main event with his signature “Boogity, boogity, boogity, let’s go racin’, drivers” intonation. … The midway point of the six-race SRX season is next Thursday at the .416-mile paved oval Pulaski Speedway, formerly known as Motor Mile Speedway, in Fairlawn, Va. The race will be televised at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Follow Autoweek contributor Jerry Bonkowski on Twitter @JerryBonkowski
SRX Round 2
at Stafford, Conn.
- Ryan Newman
- Daniel Suarez
- Marco Andretti
- Ken Schrader
- Greg Biffle
- Bobby Labonte
- Tony Stewart
- Hallie Deegan
- Kenny Wallace
- Brad Keselowski
- Paul Tracy
- Tony Kanaan
- Ryan Preece
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