The SRX race at Stafford Speedway had some stellar names running on the grid. From Cup Series drivers to Truck Series drivers, the experience of the participants across the field was positive. Unfortunately, the rain came in and cut the race short toward the end, but it did produce a winner.
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That winner was none other than Denny Hamlin, who would cruise home to win the race after having fought his way up from 6th place. Hamlin won the race fair and square in a spectacular fashion, scoring his debut win during his first-ever run in the Tony Stewart co-owned short-track stock car racing series.
Denny Hamlin ecstatic after his first SRX win
During the 58-lap feature race, Hamlin managed to pass Marco Andretti for the lead of the race around lap 13 of the event. Thereafter it was all smooth sailing for the #11 car driver. Following his win, the Cup Series veteran put up a tweet on his social media along with his shiny new trophy, jokingly mentioning how he was ready to retire after this. He mentioned, “1 for 1. Think I’ll retire. Thanks, SRX Racing and Stafford Speedway.“
While Hamlin comfortably led the rest of the race, he did have some competition coming from Ryan Newman, who had showed up right behind him battling for the win himself following a restart. However, as a storm approached the track and lighting struck at a distance, a wise decision was made to call the event.
1 for 1. Think I’ll retire. Thanks @SRXracing & @StaffordSpeedwy pic.twitter.com/uWvVCQO1xI
— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) July 14, 2023
Newman did retain the second-place finish, thus propelling him to the top of the standings in the 6-race SRX season. Whereas, series owner Tony Stewart and his SHR driver Kevin Harvick finished the race dead last.
Hamlin comments about his debut win at the Stafford Speedway SRX race
Following the race Hamlin was obviously ecstatic about the result. The driver-owner mentioned, “You know this is a lot of fun. It’s just kinda on the driver’s standpoint knowing you are in the same equipment as everyone else. They don’t let you do any changes with these cars…”
“I mean there’s no spotters or anything. A lot of the contact you saw was just because we just couldn’t see the people around us. But man this is so much fun.” Later on, he even went on to mention how Stafford Speedway reminded him of Langley, mentioning how several features of the track were similar to that.
The season-opening SRX race has surely garnered a lot of attention, something that was anticipated after pretty heavy lifting from the likes of Tony Stewart and others.
