(Press release from Camping World SRX Series)
Race Recap: Kyle Busch drove away over the course of three restarts ahead of Brad Keselowski and Ryan Newman. Keselowski led the most laps after starting second but ultimately felt like he used up his front tires in trying to battle Helio Castroneves for the top spot.
Castroneves led early but faded to eighth having used up his tires trying to keep Keselowski behind him. Busch methodically ran consistent, low intensity laps, and had the most grip available approaching the final laps.
Three competition cautions waved over the final 30 laps, but Busch simply fired off and drove away each time to win in Camping World SRX competition on back-to-back weeks. Marco Andretti finished sixth after starting 10th but spent most of the race riding nearly a full lap behind the leaders with the goal of tire conservation.
It nearly worked as the defending champion drove up to fourth over the final three green flag stints. Local legend Johnny Benson finished 12th having battled a mechanical issue over the course of the entire night.
Main Event Results
- Kyle Busch #51 (+3)
- Brad Keselowski #6 (0)
- Ryan Newman #39 (-1)
- Marco Andretti #1 (+6)
- Hailie Deegan #5 (0)
- Ken Schrader #52 (0)
- Tony Stewart #14 (+5)
- Helio Castroneves #06 (-1)
- Bobby Labonte #18 (0)
- Kevin Harvick #4 (-7)
- Kasey Kahne #9 (0)
- Johnny Benson Jr #10 (-4)
Post-Race Quotes:
Kyle Busch (Winner of the Main Event): “This place is so tough, so challenging with all the things you have to do here, rolling into the gas and rolling out of the gas, the steering wheel and keeping the tires underneath you. Berlin is one of the toughest short tracks we go to. Brad was really good and I wasn’t sure I had anything for him until Castroneves got up there and ran him really hard. Then I saw Brad start to slip his tires and I’m like, okay, he’s right on the edge so I might have something too.”
Brad Keselowski (Second in Main Event): “I pushed a little too hard and just used up the front end a little too much. That was on me. We had a good race, won a heat race, that was good, drove from the back to second, and that was good, led that the most laps and that was good and just overdrove it a bit and didn’t have enough by the end of the race.”
Hailie Deegan (Fifth in Main Event): “Racing in SRX is aggressive, for sure. The past couple of weeks, I feel like things are starting to click for me a little bit more. I don’t know if it’s just because I’m racing more but we’re in the heaviest months and I’m in a car or truck three days a week and I find myself a little more aggressive, up on the wheel and racing against all these legends is probably making me a better driver too.”
Tony Stewart (Seventh place in the Main Event): “I struggled getting rotated in the center of the corner. I could get in okay but I couldn’t seem to get the right front to cut. I’ve been a terrible crew chief for myself this year. We just tried something the polar opposite direction and we’re going to learn something one way or the other. It’s going to be way better or way worst and it was way the same tonight. We don’t know what to do with it but the good news is that we have dirt races the final two weeks and I really need it.”
Bobby Labonte (Ninth in the Main Event): “I made a couple of passes on the outside and just got too tight and when it did I tried everything I could to recover and just kind of maintained; started ninth, finished ninth.”
Johnny Benson Jr (Twelfth in the Main Event): “We were tight a tremendous bit, not a little bit. In the heat, I thought I could manage it a little bit so I just asked them to free it up. I thought we were pretty good and was holding back until it was time to go and I couldn’t turn it at all. Little surprising to my guys and myself. Even at the end, running as slow as I was, I was still full lock on the steering wheel. We don’t know what it was. I think it surprised them and it surprised me too.”
Point Standings After Race Four Of Six
- Ryan Newman – 146
- Brad Keselowski – 113 (-33)
- Marco Andretti – 112 (-34)
- Tony Stewart – 95 (-51)
- Ken Schrader – 92 (-53)
- Hailie Deegan – 91 (-54)
- Ken Schrader – 91 (-54)
Next Race: Eldora Speedway, Thursday, August 10, 2023. Action kicks off at 9 pm EST on ESPN Thursday Night Thunder. The field will include SRX full-time drivers Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, Brad Keselowski, Ken Schrader, Marco Andretti, Hailie Deegan, Bobby Labonte and part-time drivers Ron Capps, Matt Kenseth, Tony Kanaan and Chase Briscoe.
The Heat 2 results listed above are incorrect. Neither Bowyer nor Tracy nor Newgarden raced last night(?), etc.
Rafter Fan,
Good catch. Looks like heat two results from last week.
Marco put on a great show – wished that last caution didn’t come out – I think he would of finished 2nd