Ryan Newman rockets to SRX Stafford victory

Tony Stewart‘s “family talk” with the Superstar Racing Experience grid about driver etiquette after last week’s temper-filled South Boston round seems to have paid off. Unlike the feuding seen in SoBo, Saturday’s Stafford Speedway races were relatively benign in terms of not having petty retaliation and every driver completed all 132 combined laps, though contact was aplenty as virtually everyone suffered some sort of body damage.

By the end, Ryan Newman was an SRX winner for the first time. He and Stewart—his former NASCAR Cup Series boss at Stewart-Haas Racing—are the only drivers to win races in SRX and its spiritual predecessor International Race of Champions.

While Ryan Hunter-Reay and Bobby Labonte won the two heats, Marco Andretti landed on the pole for the feature and looked to be the early favourite even with contact from Greg Biffle. Stewart joined the picture for the second half of the race.

Andretti and Stewart looked to have a classic battle to the finish before the infamous “fun flag” competition caution came out with ten laps left. Newman pounced on the ensuing restart to take second from Stewart before forcing his way past Andretti with six circuits remaining. Andretti and Paul Tracy rounded out the podium.

The victory comes with some sentimental feeling, especially among fans who watched Newman nearly die in the 2020 Daytona 500, only to make a recovery just weeks later before resuming his career. Although departed from the Cup Series since, he now has an SRX championship to chase.

“Really special night to win here at Stafford,” began Newman. “Amazing night for me in the SRX Series.

“[…] To have my daughter here was so special. To beat the best between Marco and Paul and Tony and all the guys that are a part of this field, it’s so special to be a part of it and to beat them.”

Hailie Deegan finished fifth in her first SRX start of the season, while Justin Marks was ninth in his series début as a replacement for Five Flags winner Hélio Castroneves. Local star Matt Hirschman placed eighth.

The next round is at the Nashville Fairgrounds. Chase Elliott won there in 2021, but will not return to defend his victory as he is instead running the season finale at Sharon on 23 July.

Race results

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