Ryan Newman gets his second SRX victory and second at Stafford. Stewart and Keselowski get Heat victories, and brake failures take out the leaders.
The Superstar Racing Experience raced for the second time this season, again at Stafford Speedway. The original location for the second race was Thunder Road in Barre, Vermont, but it was relocated due to a state of emergency caused by flooding in the area.
The series will grant the quarter-mile track a 2024 race date in return.
This race saw the addition of Ryan Preece, Daniel Suarez, and Kenny Wallace to the show, alongside its cast of full-time superstars. Preece, a longtime racer at Stafford in the Whelen modified series, was a favorite to win the race.
As shown in the closing laps of the previous race, the cars in the field were having brake issues. Hailie Deegan said her finishing position in the first round was due to managing failing brakes.
In her latest race day vlog, she talked to Wallace about saving brakes, and that the team in charge of preparing the cars made a change. She said they took a driver cooling fan and redirected it toward the brakes in an effort to cool the rotors.
Stafford Weekly Highlights – SRX Round 2
Check out the highlights to another wild night as @SRXracing returned for round 2 last Thursday. pic.twitter.com/pOzAOMeMGb
— Stafford Speedway 🏎️ (@StaffordSpeedwy) July 22, 2023
SRX Heat 1
Deegan started on pole for the first heat, followed by Tony Stewart and Paul Tracy. Tracy and Deegan have a history of on-track incidents but got they got through the first laps without incident. Suarez got around Deegan for third and she would finish in the fourth position. Greg Biffle finished seven laps down due to an incident. The results from Heat 1 were:
- Stewart
- Tracy
- Suarez
- Deegan
- Preece
- Kanaan
- Labonte
- Schrader
- Andretti
- Newman
- Keselowski
- Wallace
- Biffle
SRX Heat 2
Kenny Wallace started the heat race from pole due to the inversion of the field based on the results from Heat 1. To his outside would be Brad Keselowski, followed by Ryan Newman and Marco Andretti.
Preece would start in the eighth position. Within three laps of the 25-lap race, Preece was already in the top five. The battle for the win would be between Keselowski, Newman, and Preece, all excellent short-track racers.
At lap 14, a caution came out for a wreck. With no caution laps counted, the field would restart at 14 to go. Another wreck involving Paul Tracy and Ken Schrader would restack the field again.
Preece would make several attempts at a pass on Keselowski but he would not have enough time to run down the 2012 Cup Series Champion. The Heat 2 results were:
- Keselowski
- Preece
- Newman
- Andretti
- Kanaan
- Schrader
- Suarez
- Labonte
- Wallace
- Stewart
- Biffle
- Tracy
- Deegan
SRX Feature Race
Ryan Preece’s finishes in the two heats awarded him pole for the feature race. The last time a race winner and local favorite earned pole in the feature it was Doug Coby in 2021 and he won the race. Alongside him would be Daniel Suarez, followed by the Tonys of Stewart and Kanaan.
Preece held his lead until lap four when Suarez got to his inside and made the pass. Tony Kanaan also made a pass on Stewart placing him in third. While the leaders were mixing it up, Newman and Andretti were battling for sixth place.
On lap nine, Preece passed Suarez in turns one and two. Preece, Suarez, and Kanaan would maintain a tight battle for the first three positions with Kanaan getting to Suarez’s bumper and almost turning him.
The caution flag flew at lap 25 and regrouped the field once again. Under the caution laps, Labonte, Wallace, and Biffle brought their cars to the pits. Brakes were a key point of failure at Stafford for the SRX cars, and Labonte’s right front brakes were on fire when he pitted.
Biffle needed work on his left front area, and Wallace had both rear tires replaced. Wallace was fighting a tight race car and needed an adjustment. Biffle and Wallace would rejoin the field on lap thirty-one, and Labonte would rejoin the field after the restart on lap thirty-three.
Unfortunately, Wallace would bring out the next caution, as he slowed his car on the front straight, still on the thirty-third lap. Wallace was forced to retire from the race.
Tony Kanaan passed Daniel Suarez on the restart, leaving the battle between him and Preece for the first position. Calamity would strike Ryan Preece on lap 47, when he entered into the corner but clipped the infield grass and slid up into the outside wall, giving Kanaan the lead.
Darrell Waltrip was in the booth for the race and was concerned about the amount of brake being used, citing the glowing orange brake rotors on many of the cars.
Half-way
Another caution came out at lap 54 to restack the field. The restart would see Kanaan lead Preece, Suarez, and Newman into turns one and two. Suarez would make the pass on Preece, as rumors about Preece’s brakes continued.
Newman, who saved brakes and tires for the last charge to the checkered, passed Preece as well. Continuing his charge, he passed Suarez and set his sights on Tony Kanaan.
With 14 laps remaining, Ryan Preece would retire his car. The issue: his brakes were gone. Again, Waltrip from the TV booth would comment on the glowing of the brakes of the leader Kanaan, but he pointed out the difference between those of Newman in second place.
Caution and Final Laps
Paul Tracy and Hailie Deegan would bring out the caution with nine laps remaining. SRX rules do not count caution laps with under 10 laps remaining, so the green flag would be with eight to go.
On the restart, Kanaan missed the corner due to brake failure and hit the wall. No caution would fly, as Kanaan limped his car to the pit lane and end his race. Waltrip was asked what he believed the reason was, and he mentioned hot brakes melting the inside bead of the tire and causing a tire failure.
The replay showed that the right front tire was still up, and a brake failure wound up being the main culprit. Keselowski brought the caution out a lap later as he spun off the nose of Paul Tracy’s car.
Tracy would again bring out a caution, wrecking where Preece, Kanaan, and Keselowski wrecked. With eight laps remaining, Suarez and Newman were in the front row.
Following them were Stewart and Biffle, the latter in a backup race car. Newman, not afraid to use the bumper, would make the pass and lead with six to go. Marco Andretti, like Newman, was not afraid to use the bumper and got around Stewart for third.
From fourth on back it was a cluster, with four drivers fighting for the position. Suarez could not mount a charge on the 39 of Newman, and Andretti drove away from the battle behind him. Newman would secure his second SRX victory and back-to-back wins at Stafford Speedway.
Ryan Newman wins SRX at Stafford
P2 Daniel Suarez
P3 Marco Andretti pic.twitter.com/uTYdqROjSO— Stafford Speedway 🏎️ (@StaffordSpeedwy) July 21, 2023
Reflections:
With the number of short tracks on the schedule, the cars need more brake cooling. The ‘X’ on the front grill is cool and nice for brand identity, but it needs to be opened up for cooling the brakes.
But there is also the aspect of the show of seeing who can manage all aspects of the car; tires and brakes. SRX needs to find a compromise between cooling the brakes and allowing drivers who can manage both to make their way to the front.
I’m sure the excellent minds back at the shop will make a change for the coming race.
