The 2023 Camping World SRX Series was the third season of the Superstar Racing Experience, a stock car racing series in the United States. The six-race season began at Stafford Motor Speedway on July 13 and ended at Lucas Oil Speedway on August 17.
Marco Andretti entered the season as the defending series champion and returned to run full-time in the SRX Series in 2023. [1] Ryan Newman won the series championship by 45 points over Andretti and Brad Keselowski after winning one race during the season at Stafford II. [2]
No. | Driver | Primary series | Background/accomplishments | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Marco Andretti | IndyCar Series | 2003 Barber Formula Dodge Eastern class champion 2004 Barber Formula Dodge National class and Southern class champion 2 IndyCar Series wins 2022 SRX Champion | [1] |
5 | Hailie Deegan | NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series | 2020 ARCA Menards Series Rookie of the Year First female winner in the ARCA Menards Series West 2-time consecutive Truck Series Most Popular Driver (2021 and 2022) | [3] |
6 | Brad Keselowski | NASCAR Cup Series | 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion 75 NASCAR national series wins (35 in Cup, 39 in Xfinity, & 1 in Truck) NASCAR Cup Series team owner | [3] |
14 | Tony Stewart | NASCAR Cup Series | 3-time NASCAR Cup Series champion (2002, 2005, and 2011) 1996–97 IndyCar Series champion 62 NASCAR national series wins (49 in Cup, 11 in Xfinity, & 2 in Truck) NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series team co-owner 2021 SRX Champion | [4] |
18 | Bobby Labonte | NASCAR Cup Series | 2000 NASCAR Cup Series champion 1991 NASCAR Busch Series champion 32 NASCAR national series wins (21 in Cup, 10 in Xfinity, & 1 in Truck) | [3] |
39 | Ryan Newman | NASCAR Cup Series | 2008 Daytona 500 winner 26 NASCAR national series wins (18 in Cup, 7 in Xfinity, & 1 in Truck) | [3] |
52 | Ken Schrader | NASCAR Cup Series | 1985 NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year 1983 USAC Sprint Car Series Champion 1982 USAC Silver Car Series Champion 4 NASCAR Cup Series wins | [5] |
Notes:
The 2023 schedule was announced on December 21, 2022. All races were held on Thursday nights instead of Saturday nights. The 2023 season also started in July and ended in August for the first time. The first two seasons started in June and ended in July. [24]
The 2023 SRX schedule featured a return to Stafford Motor Speedway for the third straight year (making it the only track on the SRX schedule in all three years of the series) and series co-founder Tony Stewart's Eldora Speedway dirt track for the first time since 2021. The other three tracks, two of which are paved and one (Lucas Oil Speedway) of which is a dirt track, were new to the SRX. [24] The original schedule included the paved quarter-mile Thunder Road International SpeedBowl in Barre, Vermont as the second event of the season, but due to extensive flood damage in the area the event was moved to Stafford (making it the only track so far in SRX history to host back to back races), with Thunder Road being granted a guaranteed date in 2024. [25]
The schedule was designed based on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule in order to attract drivers from that series to race in the SRX race on the Thursday before the weekend's Cup Series race. Each race except for the season finale at Lucas Oil Speedway was held at a track in the same area of the country as the track that the Cup Series raced at that weekend. [26]
No. | Track | Location | Type | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Stafford Motor Speedway | Stafford Springs, Connecticut | 0.5 mile, paved | July 13 |
2 | July 20 | |||
3 | Pulaski County Motorsports Park | Fairlawn, Virginia | 0.416 mile, paved | July 27 |
4 | Berlin Raceway | Marne, Michigan | 0.4375 mile, paved | August 3 |
5 | Eldora Speedway | Rossburg, Ohio | 0.5 mile, dirt | August 10 |
6 | Lucas Oil Speedway | Wheatland, Missouri | 0.375 mile, dirt | August 17 |
All six races were broadcast live on TV in the United States on ESPN, replacing CBS and Paramount+. [24]
On April 25, 2023, the lineup of commentators for the SRX in 2023 was announced. Lap-by-Lap Allen Bestwick and pit reporter Matt Yocum moved over from CBS and returned in 2023. Bestwick previously worked for ESPN on their NASCAR coverage from 2007 to 2014 (first as a pit reporter, then as a studio host and then as a play-by-play) and IndyCar Coverage from 2014 to 2018. There were three rotating guest color commentators in the booth: Joey Logano at Stafford I, Berlin and Eldora, Conor Daly at Pulaski County Motorsports Park and Lucas Oil Speedway, and Darrell Waltrip at Stafford II. [27]
Lindsay Czarniak, who was the host role for the SRX on CBS in 2021 and 2022, did not return for this season. She previously worked for ESPN in the same role on their IndyCar coverage. On July 6, ESPN revealed that Nicole Briscoe, who was the studio host for NASCAR on ESPN from 2011 to 2014, would be the host on the SRX TV broadcasts in 2023, replacing Czarniak. [28] There was no roving reporter this season, a role previously filled by Brad Daugherty in 2021 and Willy T. Ribbs in 2022, resulting in each broadcast only having four commentators (down from five).
No. | Track | Heat 1 winner | Heat 2 winner | Feature race winner |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Stafford Speedway | Denny Hamlin | Ryan Newman | Denny Hamlin |
2 | Stafford Speedway | Tony Stewart | Brad Keselowski | Ryan Newman |
3 | Motor Mile Speedway | Marco Andretti | Clint Bowyer | Kyle Busch |
4 | Berlin Raceway | Brad Keselowski | Ryan Newman | Kyle Busch |
5 | Eldora Speedway | Tony Stewart | Tony Stewart | Tony Stewart |
6 | Lucas Oil Speedway | Jonathan Davenport | Bobby Labonte | Jonathan Davenport |
Points are awarded for both heat races as well as the feature:
Points | Position | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | 11th | 12th | 13th | ||||||||||||||||
Heat | 12 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||||
Feature | 25 | 22 | 20 | 18 | 16 | 14 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
(key) * – Most laps led (feature) 1 – Heat 1 winner 2 – Heat 2 winner
Pos. | Driver | STA | STA | MMI | BER | ELD [lower-alpha 2] | LOS | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ryan Newman | 22 | 1 | 5 | 32 | 3 | 4 | 212 |
2 | Marco Andretti | 6 | 3 | 91 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 167 |
3 | Brad Keselowski | 9 | 102 | 4 | 2*1 | 9 | 2 | 167 |
4 | Tony Stewart | 11 | 71 | 3 | 7 | 1*12 | 7 | 164 |
5 | Ken Schrader | 7 | 4 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 150 |
6 | Bobby Labonte | 8 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 122 | 145 |
7 | Hailie Deegan | 5 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 140 |
Part-time drivers (ineligible for points) | ||||||||
Kyle Busch | 1* | 1 | 0 | |||||
Denny Hamlin | 1*1 | 0 | ||||||
Jonathan Davenport | 1*1 | 0 | ||||||
Clint Bowyer | 3 | 22 | 5 | 0 | ||||
Daniel Suárez | 2 | 0 | ||||||
Paul Tracy [lower-alpha 1] | 4 | 11 | 10 | 0 | ||||
Greg Biffle | 5 | 0 | ||||||
Matt Kenseth | 5 | 0 | ||||||
Hélio Castroneves | 6 | 8 | 9 | 0 | ||||
Chase Briscoe | 7 | 0 | ||||||
Kenny Wallace | 9 | 8 | 0 | |||||
Tony Kanaan | 10 | 12 | 12 | 0 | ||||
Kevin Harvick | 12 | 10 | 0 | |||||
Ron Capps | 10 | 0 | ||||||
Josef Newgarden | 11 | 0 | ||||||
Kasey Kahne | 11 | 0 | ||||||
Austin Dillon | 11 | 0 | ||||||
Ernie Francis Jr. | 11 | 0 | ||||||
Johnny Benson Jr. | 12 | 0 | ||||||
Ryan Preece | 13* | 0 | ||||||
Kyle C. Strickler, nicknamed The High Side Tickler, is an American professional racing driver who competes in dirt late models and modified cars. He previously competed part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 20 Chevrolet Silverado for Young's Motorsports.
Preston J. Pardus is an American professional racing driver who competes in the Sports Car Club of America as well as part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 50 Chevrolet Camaro for his own team, Pardus Racing, and the No. 36 Camaro for DGM Racing. Pardus won the Spec Miata class at the 2017 SCCA National Championship Runoffs and claimed the 2020 Super Sweep in the Spec Miata division. He is the son of former NASCAR driver Dan Pardus.
The 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series was the 40th season of the NASCAR Xfinity Series, a stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the Beef. It's What's for Dinner. 300 on February 13. The regular season ended with the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on September 17. The NASCAR playoffs ended with the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway on November 6.
Superstar Racing Experience (SRX), officially known as the Camping World SRX Series, is an American stock car racing series founded by Tony Stewart, Ray Evernham, Sandy Montag and George Pyne. The formation of the series was announced on July 13, 2020, and debuted on June 12, 2021, televised on CBS on Saturday nights.
The 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series was the 27th season of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, a stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the NextEra Energy 250 on February 12. The regular season will end with the race at Watkins Glen International on August 7. The NASCAR playoffs will end with the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway on November 5. This season marks the 13th for Camping World Holdings as the series' title sponsor. After two years of advertising their Gander Outdoors retail chain in the title sponsorship, company CEO Marcus Lemonis announced on September 15, 2020, that the sponsorship would switch back to the Camping World brand beginning in 2021, which was the same name of the series from 2009 to 2018.
The 2021 ARCA Menards Series season was the 69th season of the ARCA Menards Series, a stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the Lucas Oil 200 on February 13 and ended with the Reese's 150 at Kansas Speedway on October 23. Ty Gibbs was crowned the series champion, having won ten times and finished in the top four in 19 of 20 races.
The 2021 ARCA Menards Series East was the 35th season of the ARCA Menards Series East, a regional stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began on February 8 at New Smyrna Speedway with the Jeep Beach 175 and ended on September 16 at Bristol Motor Speedway with the Bush's Beans 200. Sammy Smith and Joe Gibbs Racing won the series championship. JGR's No. 18 car, driven by Smith and Ty Gibbs, won all but one race during the season.
The 2021 ARCA Menards Series West was the sixty-eighth season of the ARCA Menards Series West, a regional stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began at Phoenix Raceway with the General Tire 150 and ended with another race at Phoenix Raceway, the Arizona Lottery 100, on November 6.
The 2022 ARCA Menards Series was the 70th season of the ARCA Menards Series, a stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the Lucas Oil 200 on February 19 and ended with the Shore Lunch 200 at Toledo Speedway on October 8.
The 2021 Camping World SRX Series was the inaugural season of the Superstar Racing Experience. The six-race season started at Stafford Motor Speedway on June 12 and ended at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway on July 17, with Tony Stewart being crowned the inaugural series champion.
The 2022 Camping World SRX Series was the second season of the Superstar Racing Experience. The six-race season began at Five Flags Speedway on June 18 and ended at Sharon Speedway on July 23. Tony Stewart entered the season as the defending series champion, having won the inaugural season in 2021. Marco Andretti won the championship by two points over Ryan Newman despite having no wins on the season.
The 2023 ARCA Menards Series was the 71st season of the ARCA Menards Series, a stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the BRANDT 200 on February 18 and ended with the Shore Lunch 200 at Toledo Speedway on October 7.
The 2022 ARCA Menards Series East was the 36th season of the ARCA Menards Series East, a regional stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began on February 15 with the Race to Stop Suicide 200 at New Smyrna Speedway and ended on September 15 with the Sioux Chief Showdown 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The 2022 ARCA Menards Series West was the 69th season of the ARCA Menards Series West, a regional stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began on March 11 at Phoenix Raceway with the General Tire 150 and ended with the Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 100, also at Phoenix Raceway, on November 4.
The 2023 ARCA Menards Series East was the 37th season of the ARCA Menards Series East, a regional stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began on March 25 with the Pensacola 200 at Five Flags Speedway and ended on September 14 with the Bush's Beans 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The 2023 ARCA Menards Series West was the 70th season of the ARCA Menards Series West, a regional stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began on March 10 at Phoenix Raceway with the General Tire 150 and ended with the Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 100, also at Phoenix Raceway, on November 3.
The 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series is the 43rd season of the NASCAR Xfinity Series, a stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season started on February 19 with the United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway and will end with the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race on November 9 at Phoenix Raceway.
The 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is the 30th season of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, a stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season started on February 16 with the Fresh From Florida 250 at Daytona International Speedway and will end with the Craftsman 150 on November 8 at Phoenix Raceway.
The 2024 ARCA Menards Series was the 72nd season of the ARCA Menards Series, a stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the Hard Rock Bet 200 on February 16 and ended with the Owens Corning 200 at Toledo Speedway on October 5.
The 2024 ARCA Menards Series East was the 38th season of the ARCA Menards Series East, a regional stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began on March 23 with the Pensacola 150 at Five Flags Speedway and ended on September 19 with the Bush's Beans 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Aaron - yes that's precisely what happened there and we wish him all the best @IndyCar and hope to have him back to @SRXracing someday soon.