SRX Notebook: Ryan Newman Gets Revenge With SRX Win at Stafford

• Ryan Newman won at Stafford last year, was runner-up in last week’s race there.

• He took the lead with six laps to go and ultimately drove right into victory lane.

• NASCAR driver Daniel Suarez, making his first SRX appearance, finished second to Newman by 0.756 seconds.

If Stafford Motor Speedway officials ever decide to change the track’s name, they may want to consider renaming it Ryan Newman Speedway.

The NASCAR great absolutely loves racing at the slightly banked half-mile track in Stafford Springs, Conn., just north of Hartford.

And Thursday night, Newman once again showed why he loves the little bullring, earning his second win in three career tries at the track in the Camping World Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) series.

Newman won at Stafford last year, was runner-up in last week’s race there, and was king of the hill again during ESPN’s Thursday Night Thunder in the No. 39. Just like he did in his win at Stafford last year, Rocket Man took the lead with six laps to go and ultimately drove right into victory lane.

In a sense, Newman got revenge for finishing runner-up in last week’s race, which was called early due to lightning in the area, followed by an eventual torrential downpour. Had the race not been called, Newman was closing in quickly and might have been able to catch race winner Denny Hamlin.

Thursday night’s race was originally scheduled for Thunder Road Speedbowl in Barre, Vt., but it was moved to Stafford after the area was devastated by significant rain and resulting flooding in and around the Barre area.

“It was tough,” Newman said of his path to victory lane Thursday night. “Those guys had a pretty good pace at the start there and my fat butt had to get out. I’m so proud of this opportunity.”

Several drivers suffered brake failure as the rotors overheated, and in some cases, caught fire. But Newman was judicious in applying his brakes and came home the winner again.

“We kept easy on the brakes at the start of the race and I figure that was the difference,” Newman said. “Those guys were pretty hard, I saw their brakes and rotors glowing.”

Newman dedicated the win to late race car driver Bryan Clauson, who died from injuries one day after flipping several times and then being hit by another driver in a sprint car race in Kansas on August 6, 2016.

“I promised some people a little bit, and I’m going to try not to tear up, that I’d park it in victory lane, so this goes out to the Clausen family in the memory of Bryan Clauson,” Newman said. “It’s a special moment and I’m so happy to be here.”

NASCAR driver Daniel Suarez, making his first SRX appearance, finished second to Newman by 0.756 seconds.

“It was a lot of fun racing with my friend right here,” Suarez said of Newman. “I’m very happy to be here, it was a good run. I want to thank everybody from SRX for the opportunity and I hope we can do it again.”

Here’s how the main event results looked: Newman, Suarez, Marco Andretti, Ken Schrader, Greg Biffle, Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart, Hailie Deegan, Kenny Wallace, Brad Keselowski, Paul Tracy, Tony Kanaan and Ryan Preece.

Stewart Not Happy With Andretti

Defending series champion Marco Andretti finished third, but he may have ignited a feud in the remaining four races with inaugural SRX series champ (2021) Tony Stewart, who Andretti punted into the wall late in Thursday night’s race.

“I clobbered Stewart there at the end, so he’ll be a little mad at me,” said Andretti, who blamed brake fade issues. “The pedal went down, that was unintentional.”

Not so in Stewart’s eyes.

“We did the best we could,” Stewart said. “I did a lot better catching fish last night than I did driving a race car tonight. (Andretti) liked to use the bumper a little bit.”

Then, Stewart looked into the ESPN camera and pointed at Andretti, issuing this challenge, adding payback was coming to Andretti in the four remaining SRX races this season: