Were Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. The Reason Behind Tony Stewart’s Decision?

The Superstar Racing Experience, co-founded by former NASCAR driver Tony Stewart will be entering its third season. Over the years, Stewart worked toward building the series into a viable product where drivers across disciples could come down and race on tight short tracks and go wheel to wheel. The series was able to secure a partnership with ESPN, thereby enabling it to broadcast the races live as a part of the revived Thursday Night Thunder series initiative.

This works well for the series since it enables regular Cup Series, NHRA, and drivers from other formats to venture into the event. Stewart explained his reasoning behind the shift to Thursday nights for the race, explaining how that would get him to acquire some of the best racing drivers, who otherwise would not race in the series owing to their own scheduling conflicts.

Tony Stewart with the reasoning behind Thursday night races

According to Sportsnaut, Stewart cited the example of former NASCAR drivers such as Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Smoke believed that both of them were not able to participate in the SRX events because of their ongoing responsibilities with their current organizations. However, he did note that both Gordon and Junior had showcased an interest in racing in his series.

Stewart mentioned, “I think they both have pretty full plates is the main reason. You know, Jeff is obviously very active with Hendrick Motorsports. And Dale Jr. has got his plethora of projects that he’s a part of. That’s why this Thursday thing was so important was because of schedules and how busy everyone’s time is.”

“For those two guys in particular with all the business interests that they have, it made it a little complicated to get them in for six weeks.”

What are some of the tracks that SRX Series races on?

The tracks that the series runs on aren’t specifically something that NASCAR or IndyCar would ever participate in. In a way, the SRX schedule has allowed the drivers to go back to some of the crown jewels of grassroots racing. This year’s schedule runs on tracks such as the Eldora Speedway, Lucas Oil Missouri, and Stafford Motor Speedway, among several more.

These tracks presented an opportunity for the star-studded lineup to race against each other in spec-built cars. Moreover, the competition is an interesting place for former champions and icons of American Motorsports to showcase their skills. SRX has often seen really good and entertaining late-model door-to-door racing in its past two editions.

Now with the new ESPN deal in place and the races being scheduled for midweeks, it is just a matter of time before people like Gordon and Junior will come down and try out the SRX events. All in all, participation from these drivers would only propel the growth of the series further.