Hamlin Wins Rain-Shortened SRX Debut at Stafford

(Photo: Sam Draiss | The Podium Finish)

STAFFORD, Conn. — Denny Hamlin adjusted quickly to the SRX cars in his debut in the Superstar Racing Experience on Thursday night at Stafford Speedway. Hamlin ducked, dodged and darted through the field during the heat races, then showed it was no fluke when he charged to the front in the feature and picked up the win.

The Chesterfield, Va. driver outdueled Clint Bowyer, defending race winner Ryan Newman and Paul Tracy to stay up front, and when rain and lightning moved in and officials had to cut the race from 75 laps to 59, he was at the front of the field.

“It was a bunch of fun,” Hamlin said. “Just want to thank Don Hawk, Tony Stewart and all of those guys for letting me come here and run. Obviously, I’ve got to thank FedEx and Camping World. It was fun. I didn’t see Newman coming.”

Ryan Newman, the defending race winner, was on the charge despite moving to a backup car after the heat races. Newman lingered around mid-pack for the first portion of the race before mounting a methodical charge to the front, but the weather denied him a bid for the lead late.

Hamlin said before the race that he was excited to race the track after getting in some practice laps.

“It’s a really fun track, for sure,” he said. “I love the facility and love the track. It’s definitely got a good layout where you can use the apron to make moves if you need to.”

(Photo: Sam Draiss | The Podium Finish)

True to that statement, Hamlin picked his spots and used big runs to get inside of his competition on a number of occasions in both the heat races and feature, and made some daring three-wide moves along the way.

While Hamlin used dramatics, Newman stayed more methodical, picking cars off one by one as he moved into second on Lap 50. At that point, set his sights on Hamlin, but Mother Nature cut that effort short.

Behind Newman, Clint Bowyer crossed the line third, while Paul Tracy backed up strong heat race runs with a fourth-place finish. Hailie Deegan overcame struggles in the heat races to earn a fifth-place finish. Marco Andretti, who made a dramatic move to go from fifth to the lead on the opening lap of the race, faded late for a sixth-place finish as he looks to defend his series championship. Ken Schrader, Bobby Labonte, Brad Keselowski, Tony Kanaan, Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick rounded out the field. Harvick retired early after a crash on Lap 5, and Stewart retired with engine issues late in the race.

Hamlin and Newman picked up heat race wins on the night. Newman had to switch to a backup car after the heats because of an engine issue, but he made it work in the feature.

SRX will return to Stafford Speedway on July 20 for the second race of the season. The series originally had planned to race at Thunder Road Speedbowl in Barre, Vermont, but because of extensive flooding in the area, SRX officials elected to move the race to Stafford.

 Heat Race 1 Results

1.   Denny Hamlin
2.   Paul Tracy
3.   Marco Andretti
4.   Bobby Labonte
5.   Tony Kanaan
6.   Tony Stewart
7.   Ken Schrader
8.   Clint Bowyer
9.   Ryan Newman
10. Hailie Deegan
11. Kevin Harvick
12. Brad Keselowski

 Heat Race 2 Results

1.   Ryan Newman
2.   Clint Bowyer
3.   Brad Keselowski
4.   Kevin Harvick
5.   Paul Tracy
6.   Tony Stewart
7.   Denny Hamlin
8.   Tony Kanaan
9.   Marco Andretti
10. Bobby Labonte
11. Ken Schrader
12. Hailie Deegan

 Feature Results

1.   Denny Hamlin
2.   Ryan Newman
3.   Clint Bowyer
4.   Paul Tracy
5.   Hailie Deegan
6.   Marco Andretti
7.   Ken Schrader
8.   Bobby Labonte
9.   Brad Keselowski
10. Tony Kanaan
11. Tony Stewart
12. Kevin Harvick