Ernie Francis Jr. returns to SRX for 2022

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.

Francis makes the jump to Indy Lights with Force Indy. At the Chris Griffis Memorial Open Test on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway infield road course in October, he turned ninety-six total laps with his fastest time being eleventh of fourteen drivers’ bests.

Four of the six dates on the SRX schedule do not clash with Indy Lights. The exceptions are Stafford Motor Speedway on 2 July, which is the same weekend as Lights at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, and the season finale at Sharon Speedway on 23 July, on the same day as the Lights race at Iowa Speedway.