The Superstar Racing Experience kicks off its third season Thursday night at Stafford (Conn.) Motor Speedway.
The series, giving a nod to the International Race of Champions (IROC) that showcased all star-level competition for 32 years, is blazing its own path in motorsports.
Through the first two seasons, SRX produced two different champions in Tony Stewart (2021) and Marco Andretti (2022), along with plenty of side-by-side action.
A stepping-stone for the series heading into the six-week schedule is its new broadcast partner in ESPN. Bringing back the famed ‘Thursday Night Thunder’ branding, SRX will contest every event in primetime on The Worldwide Leader In Sports.
Another positive for the series with it moving to Thursday nights, instead of the previously run Saturday nights, is the additional entries of NASCAR Cup Series drivers.
RFK Racing driver and co-owner Brad Keselowski is slated to run the full schedule, while 2014 champion Kevin Harvick, two-time champion Kyle Busch, three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, Daniel Suarez and Austin Dillon will all make appearances throughout the season.
While a new TV deal and the addition of current NASCAR stars are the obvious signs of growth, full-time driver and co-founder Tony Stewart points to the behind-the-scenes efforts that have provided expansion.
“I think we’ve looked at the first two years, and this is going to be a real simple sign of it behind the scenes, but I think really planning ahead,” Stewart told SPEED SPORT. “I think we did a really good job going into season one of planning for six straight weeks and the challenges that nobody will see it on Thursday night because they don’t see what happens the other six days, but the amount of work it takes to turn all these cars around and basically we’re a traveling circus for six straight weeks.
“But I think the thing that I’ve seen a lot of growth in is how good a job our staff has done. The guys that work on the cars at the shop, and on the road, how efficient they’ve become and how they keep trying to find better ways to make sure that if we have issues while we’re out on the road, that if we need something really big that needs to go back to North Carolina, we’re set up for it.”
Stewart believes the SRX staff are the unsung heroes in keeping the series rolling down the road during the six-week summer stretch.
“That’s one thing that I feel like has been super impressive to watch is how we keep trying to evolve and find ways to make things better, and it’s that way across the entire two-hour program is, ‘How do we make this better for the drivers, how do we make it better for the fans, how do we make it better for TV?’
“We’re always constantly trying to figure out what we’ve already done and make it better, and that’s something that’s really important to us.”
SRX co-founder Sandy Montag echoed Stewart’s comments regarding efficiency, mentioning how key staff within the television production team will remain despite the change in networks.
“I think what we’ve also done if you look at our television shows the first couple of years, we’re essentially keeping the same production team moving to ESPN,” Montag said. “I think we’ve gotten great feedback on how we produce a two-hour motorsports race.
“I think from our technology, from our in-car cameras in every car, from our communication, from the announcers in the booth to drivers while the race is on, to some of our stats and the use of drones,” Montag continued.
“I think the way we produce this race, these races, I think is really unique, and I think arguably the best in the business. I think we’ve improved on that over the first couple of years.”
Improvements made in various areas also bodes true for the diversity of the driver lineup. In Thursday’s race at Stafford, there will be five driver’s who have competed in the Indianapolis 500, five NTT IndyCar Series winners, four Cup Series champions and three current Cup Series drivers.
Among the new names set to compete with SRX this season are reigning NHRA Funny Car champion Ron Capps, former Cup Series winner Clint Bowyer, former Cup Series winner Kasey Kahne, Kenny Wallace, Dillon, Busch, Suarez, Keselowski and Hamlin.
Montag praised SRX Chief Executive Officer Don Hawk and Stewart for the plethora of new names to an already stout lineup of competitors.
“The other thing, too, and I think (Don) Hawk has done an amazing job with Tony on the driver lineup. It’s just amazing how over a couple of years — Hawk has many, many incoming calls, as does Tony, raising their hand to join the field.
“I think that too, really, the number of drivers and the interest from the drivers in all the different disciplines has been pretty special.”
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