Hailie Deegan on Pole for SRX Heat 1 at Stafford

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular Hailie Deegan will lead the field to green in heat one of the Camping World SRX Series event at Stafford Motor Speedway.

Deegan finished fifth in the SRX feature at Stafford in the season-opening event.

The event was originally scheduled for Thunder Road International Speedbowl, but heavy flooding in Vermont forced the series to return to Stafford for the second consecutive event.

Starting alongside Deegan will be 2021 SRX champion Tony Stewart.

Row two features Paul Tracy, who started second in heat one last week. Joining him is Ryan Newman, who finished runner-up to Denny Hamlin in the season opener.

A couple of former NASCAR Cup Series veterans, Greg Biffle and Ken Schrader, make up row three in fifth and sixth, respectively. It is Biffle’s debut in the 2023 SRX season.

Two current Cup drivers comprise row four, with Brad Keselowski starting in eighth and Daniel Suarez, kicking off his SRX debut, in ninth.

Bobby Labonte and Marco Andretti complete the top 10 for heat one.

Local favorite and Cup driver Ryan Preece makes his debut in a 13th entry for the race. Alongside him in row six will be Kenny Wallace, who is making the first of two scheduled SRX starts this summer.

Stafford will be the first race of the 2023 season with 13 entries as 2004 NTT IndyCar Series champion and 2013 Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan rounds out the field.

The second race of the 2023 SRX season will take place on Thursday, July 20, with coverage provided by ESPN at 9 p.m. ET.

Donate to Frontstretch

Luken Glover joined the Frontstretch team in 2020 as a news writer before elevating to a columnist, where he served as the longtime writer for The Underdog House. Currently, he is an editor for the site and conducts feature interviews. Glover has covered several forms of racing for the site including NASCAR, CARS Tour, and SRX events.

A 2023 graduate of the University of the Cumberlands, Glover is a promotional writer, elementary athletic director, and basketball coach. He is passionate about serving in his church, playing/coaching a wide variety of sports, and researching motorsports history.