A new racing circuit is set to debut next summer.
NASCAR Hall of Famers Tony Stewart and Ray Evernham are starting the Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) in 2021, Sports Business Journal first reported.
The series, which will air on CBS Saturday nights during the summer, will have six short-track races. Agent Sandy Montag and former NASCAR COO George Pyne join Stewart and Evernham in the venture.
Evernham will design and build the cars to showcase drivers’ and crew chiefs’ talents.
“We want to make that machine be a big part of it, but it’s got to be the driver, crew chief, the human being controlling the machine, not the machine controlling the outcome of the competition,” Evernham said. “That combination of driver, crew chief and machine, no computers telling you what to do, no simulation. It’s really about the competition, how well that driver and crew chief can make that machine go against one another.”
The cars will also be able to run on different types of tracks and surfaces, such as dirt, paved ovals and road courses. One possible track is Eldora Speedway, which Stewart owns. Evernham also is interested in historic, smaller tracks.
“We’d like to be on shorter tracks in grassroots America, for a couple of reasons,” he said. “It keeps the cars close, it keeps the speeds down, it’s going to let the guys play and bounce around and use each other up a little for some exciting racing.”
Twelve well-known active and retired drivers will compete in races that feature two 45-minute heats and no pit stops. There will be winnings available for each race, as well as a points-based SRX Series Championship.
Stewart is the first driver confirmed to compete in the series.
Alright ran fans. Let’s hear it! 11 spots left in the @SRXracing series to join @TonyStewart. Who’s on your wish list?
— Superstar Racing Experience (@SRXracing) July 13, 2020
The series will air next summer on CBS and will also be available to stream on the subscription service CBS All Access.
About the author
Joy joined Frontstretch in 2019 as a NASCAR DraftKings writer, expanding to news and iRacing coverage in 2020. She's currently an assistant editor and involved with photos, social media and news editing. A California native, Joy was raised watching motorsports and started watching NASCAR extensively in 2001. She earned her B.A. degree in Liberal Studies at California State University Bakersfield in 2010.
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I hope this works out better than IROC did and produces great racing. The translation I got out of this is Tony is tired and the gimmicks and games NASCAR has been playing for years and wants to develop a competing racing series that is somewhat affordable.
I don’t have proof of the 2nd part of your statement about Stewart, but I can guarantee you the first part is dead on. He was tired of it before he retired and I believe he retired early because of the Chase/playoffs/whatever you want to call them.
They seem to be taking the right approach to this. Start small and if its successful expand on the success. Nascar fans have been dying for closer racing and more short tracks. This appears to check both of those boxes. I hope it works at the very least to get nascar to take notice that what they are doing is not working.
Hopefully the cars won’t be all alike, please no “car of tomorrow look” & just race Fords, Chevy’s & Dodges
affordable! i read this as iroc v 2.0
I too worry about this part of it. I think the main difference is they will be racing on short tracks and I imagine teams will be able to make some minor adjustments to the cars (If not, why would they need a crew chief?) so that the drivers will determine the winner of the race and not a wind tunnel. At least that’s how I took it reading the article
yawn.
I’d say the key difference here is “short-track”. I hope it catches fire and shakes the folks down in Daytona to their core.
IROC got boring when it was nine NASCAR drivers and three IRL drivers on ovals on Cup weekends. It couldn’t recover in a season or two of trying to save it. Give the new series variety and erase the gimmicks and fallen away NASCAR fans are sure to check it out.
Can’t wait!!!!!!!!
Hope for the best I suppose but I too can only see it as another IROC series (which is pretty much what NASCAR has become). On the other hand, I truly believe that as long as the tracks are a half-mile or less, it may produce some interesting races.
This may sound a lot like IROC to many but it is something fresh, new an I for one can’t wait to see a race. Indy car racing died when USAC quit running on dirt tracks, using the Silver Crown cars as point races that were part of the National series championship.
Now this is real racing! So excited. Thank you.
hope they dont get like nmascar we need a true sports race show for us that like real racing
I love the idea of short track racing and programming under 2 hrs. I nominate Carl Edwards and Mark Martin to join the team. I can’t wait.
Will Ga. have one of the races
Bring them to Africa
Carl Edwards!
I too am looking forward to something more reflective of the old school racing of the sixties and seventies. I wish them all the luck in the world and I will watch!