SRX: Davenport and Newman score in season finale
Jonathan Davenport won the 2023 SRX Series season finale at Lucas Oil Speedway, while Ryan Newman won the championship.
Newman scored five points with an eighth-place finish in Heat 1 to win the title as main title rival Tony Stewart spun late in the Heat, and finished 10th.
“Well, it means a lot no doubt,” Newman said after the Main Event. “Any kind of championship. The SRX Race Series, Superstar Racing Experience, what can you say? Guys like Tony Stewart, Jonathan Davenport, who has won everything on dirt. Racing against Kenny Schrader, Kenny Wallace. This is a whole lot of fun. Castroneves is an IndyCar champion winner. All of that stuff, it’s pretty special.”
Hear from your 2023 #CampingWorldSRX Series champion, Ryan Newman, following an incredible drive to his first series title. pic.twitter.com/tERr2FNAbE
— Superstar Racing Experience (@SRXracing) August 18, 2023
Jonathan Davenport, a three-time Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series champion, would start the Main Event from the pole position, and he would flat-out dominate by leading the opening 60-or-so laps of the race without much of a challenge.
On the restart with 10 Laps to go, Bowyer decided it was time to make his move. He sailed his No. 07 car to the inside of Davenport in Turn 1. Bowyer would pull off the slide job for the race lead, but it would be short-lived as he had lost all momentum as he and Davenport made contact.
“I’m speechless. This is awesome,” Davenport said. “I didn’t know Clint was going to slide me right there. I would have let him go on across, but I hit him at the right time, I was already in the gas. I knew he was going to come back again, so I lifted and somebody else put us three wide. At that point, there ain’t that many laps left. I had done saved enough.”
SRX Main Event Race Results
FIN | ST | NO. | DRIVER | SPONSOR | LAPS | BEHIND | STATUS | POINTS |
1 | 1 | 49 | Jonathan Davenport | Nutrien Ag Solutions | 90 | 0.000 | Running | — |
2 | 8 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | Camping World | 90 | 1.199 | Running | 22 |
3 | 6 | 52 | Ken Schrader | Federated Auto Parts | 90 | 2.165 | Running | 20 |
4 | 9 | 39 | Ryan Newman | South Point | 90 | 2.202 | Running | 18 |
5 | 2 | 07 | Clint Bowyer | Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats & ATVs | 90 | 2.324 | Running | — |
6 | 3 | 1 | Marco Andretti | Camping World | 90 | 2.584 | Running | 14 |
7 | 11 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats & ATVs | 90 | 2.601 | Running | 12 |
8 | 5 | 36 | Kenny Wallace | JEGS | 90 | 2.940 | Running | — |
9 | 12 | 06 | Helio Castroneves | Purdue University | 90 | 3.072 | Running | — |
10 | 10 | 5 | Hailie Deegan | Good Sam | 90 | 3.389 | Running | 6 |
11 | 7 | 99 | Ernie Francis Jr. | Skip Barber Racing School | 90 | 4.175 | Running | — |
12 | 4 | 18 | Bobby Labonte | Sport Clips Haircuts | 90 | 7.736 | Running | 2 |