(Press release from Camping World SRX Series)
Race Recap: Jonathan Davenport would not be denied. The three-time Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model champion survived an onslaught of sliders on the final restart and still led wire-to-wire in the Camping World SRX Series season finale on Thursday at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri.
Davenport was joined on the podium by Brad Keselowski and Kenny Schrader but not the driver that gave him the biggest challenge in Clint Bowyer.
Much of the 90-lap main event featured Davenport and Bowyer running nose-to-tail, three seconds ahead of the field, simply waiting for the figurative pay window to open before implementing the moves that would decide the race.
Bowyer made multiple attempts at the lead, one bump into Turn 1 on Lap 74, and an epic slider into Turn 1 on a restart with 10 laps remaining. Contact between the No. 99 of Ernie Francis Jr and the No. 6 of Brad Keselowski set-up Bowyer taking the bottom as opposed to the outside that he had chosen for much of the night. The slider was thrown in vain, with Davenport throwing one right back, and driving away to a multi-car lead.
Meanwhile, Ryan Newman celebrated winning the 2023 championship alongside the podium, an accomplishment he achieved early based on the results of the first heat. The history books will show Newman winning the championship by 45 points over Brad Keselowski and Marco Andretti but Tony Stewart was the only other driver championship eligible entering the night, but losing the opportunity with a 10th place finish in the opening heat race.
Main Event Results
- Jonathan Davenport #49 (0)
- Brad Keselowski #6 (+6)
- Ken Schrader #52 (+3)
- Ryan Newman #39 (+5)
- Clint Bowyer #07 (-3)
- Marco Andretti #1 (-3)
- Tony Stewart #14 (+4)
- Kenny Wallace #36 (-3)
- Helio Castroneves #06 (+3)
- Hailie Deegan #5 (0)
- Ernie Francis Jr #99 (-4)
- Bobby Labonte #18 (-8)
Post-Race Quotes:
Ryan Newman (2023 Camping World SRX Champion): ‘It’s really special, racing against the greatest drivers in the world, in my opinion, and to be apart of it is special. Then to win the championship in equal cars says something – so it’s a feather in my cap I guess you could say. Just proud to be part of it, everybody that supports us at Camping World, Bass Pro Shops, South Point, all the other sponsors that are all down the list that give us the opportunity to go out there and do this. Everybody at SRX does such a great job, ESPN and all the people that are involved. The guys slaved 6 days for 6 weeks in a row getting everything ready to do what we’re doing, just an honor to be a part of it, to be a champion.”
“Ending up 4th, which was pretty special in itself, I never finished outside of the top 4 in a feature in all 6 races. Consistency was obviously very important. I wish we could’ve had the original Stafford, the rain shortened one, I think that was going to be a really special start to the season, then to back it up the next week. Either way, like I said, proud to be part of it, so many great people and friends. I’m no youngster, so a lot of people that have been around and to be apart of this, it’s very unique and a lot of fun. If they’ll have me next year, I’ll be here.”
Jonathan Davenport (Winner of the Main Event): “Inverts still suck. It was fun. I really didn’t think he could slide all the way across there and get in front of me, but he did a good job and not going out of the park and I just barely hit him enough to get him messed up so I could get a run going back the other way. Then everybody was on his tail in 3 and 4, so I don’t know if we were 3-wide or 4-wide coming off there, but it was definitely fun. I’m sure the fans enjoyed it. We’re out here to have fun, they don’t want nobody just ruining the show. We had a great car, the guys did an excellent job on it from the tore up stuff they had last week. It was just fun, I figured a caution would come late but we were ready for it. This is something I’ll definitely remember for a long time, hopefully they’ll invite me back some time”
Clint Bowyer (Fifth Place in Main Event): “Oh my God! Marco nailed me! It knocked the wheel out of my hands, I got the wheel knocked out of my hands a couple of times. Ou. Know, I mean JD was really good, obviously he’s got a lot of laps man. And uh, I was surprised I could run with him. I could hold pace with him, you know I could get to him but there was one lane right up there on the outside so I knew, I was waiting til it got down to the end. I knew the caution would come out, I knew it was gonna be time to go. And it was finally, it was time, I tried to slide him and it just didn’t work out. He hit me so hard in the ass down there it knocked the wheel out of my hands, so I was trying to get that gathered up. Then I saw they were coming on the inside of the rail. Shit, here we go again! We’re going to have to slide ‘em again and I about slid off the racetrack. I mean, you know honestly that’s what this series is about. It always seems to put on good racing for the fans and that old track was beat up pretty bad. It was dry-slick, and to be honest with ya, really slick conditions out there, but it still put on a hell of a race you know. And I think that’s just a good product. The cars are evenly balanced, you know you can do subtle changes to them, but all-in-all it’s up to you to go out there and figure it out.”
Bobby Labonte (Heat Two Race Winner): “Obviously from the first year to now, I’ve been doing this for 3 years, you know the different people that we meet – the crew guys and women, just the hard work they put in to it and for us the fun that we get to go travel amongst all of them. And for my wife and I to make a roadtrip out of it and then to see different sponsors and leadership and all of that, it’s just a lot of effort that goes into it. I’m just honored to be apart of it you know, enjoy every minute of it. You know as intense as it gets when we put on our helmets, I mean we all sit around and enjoy the before, after and getting to race against some of the best drivers in the world. So yea, it’s really just awesome. You want to run good and win, and at the end of the night if we don’t, we’ll still be friends and we’ll have a good time. Some of the best times I think I’ve spent in a long time are doing this with this great group of people.”
Brad Keselowski (Second in Main Event): “I was just patient and found the holes, and got up to second. I didn’t really have anything for Davenport, but it was fun running 2nd. I didn’t see all of Bowyer’s full-send, I just knew that somebody was going to do it and if I rolled the bottom really smooth, I could take advantage. My overall SRX experience was good. I wish I could’ve had the 1st 2 weeks back of the season, you know I got wrecked in both of the races there at Stafford to start the year and just dug a hole I couldn’t get out of. But I had 2 2nd place finishes, won a couple heat races and probably could’ve won Berlin, probably could’ve won Motor Mile – it just didn’t play out. But all-in-all it was a lot of fun.”
Kenny Wallace (Eighth in Main Event): “You know it was kind of like Daytona or Talladega. The high lane was dominate, and Keselowski was the only one getting grip up off the bottom. So you know, I chose the outside, that was the wrong thing to do. I got put in the wall there, started over. It’s kind of like starting over again, and you know towards the end we got up there with a decent finish, but really tonight was just about the greats. Now we see why Davenport has won a couple million dollar races, he truly is one of the best. You know it’s not like, well I should be out-running that guy because everybody is so damn good. There was a deal where I was holding Stewart off and then screw it. He didn’t see me, we went down the front straightaway and I pointed, cuz I could feel his temperament. At the time I’m runnin’ like 4th or 5th and he came to the front and he was going, and I was like go cuz he’s getting ready – he already abused me once, and I said you go and then the caution come out. Like I said tonight was a lot about – although it was dirt racing, it’s like what lane you gonna choose? And if you choose the bottom, I let Schrader in once and I know that helped him. But no-one was going to let anybody in at the end. Well the thing about it is, I mean like Davenport, hell he’s one and done, then you look at Kyle Busch, but the old man here… I’d like one more shot.”
Heat One Highlights: Ryan Newman may have lost 3 positions in the 1st heat race, but the finish clinched the 2023 Camping World SRX Championship for the Indiana-born driver.
Heat One Result
- Jonathan Davenport #49 (0)
- Ken Schrader #52 (+1)
- Clint Bowyer #07 (+8)
- Marco Andretti #1 (+4)
- Brad Keselowski #6 (-1)
- Hailie Deegan #5 (-4)
- Ernie Francis Jr #99 (+3)
- Ryan Newman #39 (-3)
- Kenny Wallace #36 (+3)
- Tony Stewart #14 (-3)
- Bobby Labonte #18 (-2)
- Helio Castroneves (-6)
Heat Two Result
- Bobby Labonte #18 (+1)
- Clint Bowyer #07 (+8)
- Kenny Wallace #36 (+1)
- Jonathan Davenport #49 (+8)
- Marco Andretti #1 (+4)
- Enie Francis Jr #99 (0)
- Ryan Newman #39 (-2)
- Tony Stewart #14 (-5)
- Brad Keselowski #6 (-1)
- Hailie Deegan #5 (-3)
- Ken Schrader #52 (0)
- Helio Castroneves #06 (-11)
2023 Camping World SRX Championship Standings
- Ryan Newman #39 – 212
- Brad Keselowski #6 – 167 (-45)
- Marco Andretti #1 – 167 (-45)
- Tony Stewart #14 – 164 (-48)
- Ken Schrader #52 – 150 (-62)
- Bobby Labonte – 145 (-67)
- Hailie Deegan – 140 (-72)
This is a great series.
When you get a bunch of drivers together that want to have fun, it can be great. Paul Tracy was a ticking time bomb 💣 and indeed he self-destructed. He was a matter of when, not if.
This can only get better with better selection of driver participants. And spread it around by going to new tracks.
Just watched the last one on my dvr.
Awesome between davenport and bowyer.
I like having a short track series on summer nights to record and watch at leisure. Seeing some of these other tracks and crowds is worth the watch for me alone. However, I’ve said it before, I’m still not a fan of Steward racing and winning a championship in his “own” series. Its his right, but I’m not a fan of Tony. But love the series.