The Superstar Racing Experience is finally leaving Connecticut, and it takes a star-studded cast in tow.
After historic flooding forced SRX to cancel a planned trip to Vermont’s Thunder Road SpeedBowl, meaning both rounds so far this season have been at Stafford Motor Speedway in Connecticut.
Thursday night’s race, part of a rebirth of Thursday Night Thunder, at Motor Mile Speedway in Pulaski County, Virginia (9 pm ET on ESPN), is the series’ first change of pace.
Heading to the 15-degree banked, .416-mile track at this point in the season is a very intentional choice, SRX CEO Donald Hawk said.
“The reason we chose Motor Mile was, if the schedule would’ve been able to stay true-to-form, you’re at Stafford, which is flat, you’re at Thunder Road, which had a state of emergency so we couldn’t race there, but it was pretty flat, and then we come to Motor Mile and we go, oh my goodness, this thing’s turned on its side, it’s high-banked,” he explained.
“One thing that we want to stay true to is short tracks and our roots there, but we also want to give a variety, so the variety was, let’s throw one in that’s got some really fast straightaways and some high-banked corners and let the drivers do their work that way.”
Joining the roster at the track is a host of stars. Four-time Indy 500 champion Helio Castroneves, two-time IndyCar champion, and two-time NASCAR champion Kyle Busch will all be making their first start of the season at the track.
Castroneves, though, is no stranger to the series. He competed full-time in the inaugural SRX championship in 2021, and made three starts in 2022. He’ll be making that same number of starts this season as well.
“I decided to race this year because it’s a great series and so many incredible drivers,” Helio said. “And I couldn’t do the whole season, which is six races, but Don was able to accommodate me and Tony [Kanaan] basically sharing the car and that’s why I said I’m in.”
“I do not know the Motor Mile track, it’s going to be my first experience on that tomorrow, but like I said, I’m up for the challenge,” he added.
He’s prepared to match his fierce opposition. Newgarden especially dominated at Iowa, sweeping both of the most recent IndyCar races in the short oval doubleheader.
“I mean, what was that? In two races in IndyCar, he ended up taking all of it, so good for him,” Helio, who also competed in that event, said. “But I’ll show him, in an equal car, that I can show some muscle,” he added with a laugh.
As for the NASCAR drivers, who come in with extra experience on short ovals in fendered cars, Castroneves isn’t worried either.
“These cars are not NASCAR-type of cars,” he explained. “They build these unique cars that are able to make us, as open-wheel drivers, adapt and be better. So nobody knows the cars very well, and that’s why it creates this amazing racing that’s very challenging and the fans love it.”
It’s about the fans for Donald Hawk. He highlighted a .18-second difference in laptimes between every driver at the second Stafford race as an example of the parity that creates close and exciting racing.
But he doesn’t intend to stop.
“It’s like, what can we do differently each week to raise the bar? We’ve got to keep elevating the bar to a new level,” he said of his philosophy.
And he’s okay with creating entertaining races for the fans, even if that means some wrecked cars at the end like at Stafford as long as an exciting finish comes out of it.
“This thing is so exciting, this brand that we’re building, the SRX, is super challenging but it’s also super exciting.”
“I don’t know anybody that last week with ten-to-go could’ve shut off their TV. I just don’t. And yeah, was it expensive to fix all those cars? Yeah. Did it take a lot of time? Yeah. Did we give the fans their money’s worth? Absolutely, and social media rewarded us with that. I don’t remember anybody that complained about it, unless their driver finished second or third,” he concluded with a laugh.
As Thursday Night Thunder is reborn on ESPN in the form of the SRX, the series is riding a high on popularity from both fans and competitors alike.
“It moved us to a platform where we could now attract current IndyCar drivers, current Cup drivers, current NHRA drivers, and here’s the thing: there are thirteen drivers that we had to say no to, that we couldn’t put in a car,” Hawk admitted.
It means current NASCAR stars like Denny Hamlin can come in and win a race before winning in the Cup Series just a week later, for instance.
“The eight full-timers are going to have their hands full with the guys that just came in. That’s what we want.”
That means expect great racing as the series heads to Motor Mile for the first real change of pace all season.
Driver Lineup
Tony Stewart
Bobby Labonte
Brad Keselowski
Hailie Deegan
Clint Bowyer
Ken Schrader
Kyle Busch
Ryan Newman
Josef Newgarden
Helio Castroneves
Paul Tracey
Mario Andretti
