Ernie Francis Jr. came up just short of winning the inaugural Superstar Racing Experience championship in 2021, finishing second in points to series founder Tony Stewart. He will not be trying again, but he will still be back in 2022.
In a guest appearance on Tuesday’s episode of The Dale Jr. Download, Francis revealed he will return to SRX for occasional starts. It is not a full-time slate as he will be focusing on Indy Lights, meaning any SRX starts should not clash with said series.
“These Saturday Nights are shaping up to be memorable,” the series posted on social media on Wednesday “SRX is incredibly excited to have @ErnieFrancisJr return to the series for a handful of starts this summer. EFJ won in 2021, now we’ll see if the Florida native can do it again”.
As a 23-year-old, he was the youngest full-time SRX driver in 2021 (Luke Fenhaus, who did a one-off at Slinger, was the youngest overall at seventeen). While much of his career has been spent on road courses as a seven-time Trans-Am Series champion and occasional NASCAR road ringer, he acclimated quickly to the short tracks and ovals of SRX.
He dominated the Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park round for his only win of the season, two weeks after scoring a podium finish on the dirt at Knoxville Raceway in third. However, there was evidently still much for him to learn as he placed outside the top five in the other four races. Nevertheless, Francis finished second in the standings with 192 points to Stewart’s 237.