Ryan Newman celebrates in victory lane after winning Saturday night’s SRX Series race at Stafford Motor Speedway. Photo: Stafford Motor Speedway
Ryan Newman scored his first SRX Racing Series victory on Saturday night at Stafford Speedway in Stafford Springs, Connecticut.
The NASCAR Cup Series veteran took the lead from Marco Andretti with five laps to go in the 75-lap feature event and went on to take the win.
Andretti and Paul Tracy led the field to the green flag, with Andretti taking the early lead. Greg Biffle quickly overtook Tracy for second place with Tony Stewart in fourth and Michael Waltrip in fifth place. Stewart took over third place from Tracy on lap nine as Andretti continued to show the way out front. But Biffle was closing in on his back bumper after Andretti had stretched out his lead in the early laps.
Andretti, Stewart, and Biffle nearly went three-wide for the lead on lap 12, with Andretti maintaining the lead. Stewart made his move to the inside of Andretti to take over the lead on lap 17, but Andretti came right back to the outside of Stewart and they raced door to door for the lead. Andretti got clear of Stewart on lap 22 after 4 laps of side by side action with Biffle, Tracy, and Waltrip in pursuit.
Biffle went back by Stewart on lap 23 to move back into second place while Andretti continued to lead the race. The caution flew with 33 laps complete with Andretti still leading Stewart, Biffle, Waltrip, and Tracy.
Stewart and Andretti went wheel to wheel again for the lead back under green on lap 40 with Biffle third, Tracy fourth, and Ryan Hunter-Reay fifth. Biffle nearly went three-wide with Andretti and Stewart on lap 43 but backed out of the move as Andretti and Stewart were still door to door for the lead. The caution came back out on lap 44 for damage to Michael Waltrip’s car.
Stewart took the lead on the lap 51 restart while Biffle took a trip through the backstretch grass but saved the car and the race stayed green with Biffle dropping to the rear of the field. Andretti was second behind Stewart with Newman up to third, Tracy fourth, and Bobby Labonte fifth. Andretti was applying all kinds of pressure to Stewart for the lead but was unable to make a pass. Andretti was finally able to take the lead from Stewart by a nose at the line on lap 63.
Andretti took the lead on the lap 66 restart with Newman moving up to second as Stewart slid back to third. Tracy was fourth and Labonte was fifth, just in front of Hailie Deegan. Stewart fell back to fourth on lap 68 as Tracy moved up to third place.
Newman dove to the inside of Andretti on lap 70 to move into the lead. Newman led the final five laps to take the victory.
Andretti finished second with Tracy third, Stewart fourth, and Labonte in fifth.
For more information on Stafford Motor Speedway, visit StaffordMotorSpeedway.com.
Up next for the SRX Racing Series is a trip to the Motor City, as Tennessee’s Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway will host the tour on Saturday, July 9. For more information, visit SRXRacing.com.
SRX Series
Stafford Motor Speedway – Stafford Sprints, CT
Race Three – July 2, 2022
1. Ryan Newman
2. Marco Andretti
3. Paul Tracy
4. Tony Stewart
5. Bobby Labonte
6. Hailie Deegan
7. Ryan Hunter-Reay
8. Matt Hirschman
9. Justin Marks
10. Greg Biffle
11. Bill Elliott
12. Michael Waltrip
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