(Photo: Teresa Bennink | The Podium Finish)
MARNE, Mich. — In light of a suspension to Paul Tracy, the Superstar Racing Experience announced that Johnny Benson Jr. would replace him in last week’s field at Berlin Raceway. The announcement added some additional excitement for the already sold-out crowd at Benson’s hometown track.
In a media call, Don Hawk, the chief executive officer of SRX, spoke about the decision to suspend Tracy.
“We don’t want to be the police. We want to have fun. We want to have good hard racing, but at a certain point, you have to say stop. Enough is enough, and we reached that point last week,” Hawk explained, “I did not just decide that on a whim. I looked at video. I looked at in-car camera footage. I looked at everything ESPN could possibly give me, every angle possible, trying to get every reason to not do what we did, but everything that I look at just supported the decision that we made. It is not something we would do quite often. It is just something that needed to be done. And I still believe it was the right decision and the right call.”
After SRX made the decision, the conversation turned to who should replace him, something Hawk didn’t entertain until he had support of the ownership group.
“Johnny Benson and Berlin, they go together,” Hawk said. “Johnny was a good get for us. He is a hometown hero, and it is kind of a throwback for this place.”
Benson (left) with former Berlin track champion Brian Campbell (right). (Photo: Teresa Bennink | The Podium Finish)
Regarding the last-minute call to race, Benson said, “I’m really excited to have the opportunity to race in the SRX series. Not only to compete against some of the best drivers in the country but to return to my home track, Berlin Raceway,”
The supporting series for SRX was the Limited Late Models. Practice times saw Tim DeVos at the top of the list followed by Tyler Rycenga and Tim Greene. Qualifying showed Rycenga with the fastest lap followed by Greene and Denny Anderson. Crossing the finish line first for the feature race was Rycenga, who is the current points leader in the series with a 70-point lead over Anderson.
As the sun set, the stars came out. Benson and Kyle Busch shared the front row, leading the field for the first heat race. The finish of the race, however, showed the other Michigan driver in the field, Brad Keselowski crossing the finish line first followed by Busch and Benson. Perhaps the brotherly ribbing earlier in the day that Keselowski received from his brother, Brian, who reminded Brad that he was the only driver in the family to not have a win at Berlin, added an extra incentive.
The cars inverted for the second heat with Ryan Newman taking the win followed by Ken Schrader and Hailie Deegan.
After the rough racing at Pulaski County Motorsports Park, the drivers toned down their aggression, but that didn’t stop typical short-track racing. Helio Castroneves made a run for the front and held the lead for some time, but ultimately faded back after using up his tires trying to keep the field in his mirror. Marco Andretti made a bit for the lead later on after laying back and conserving tires as the drivers had been cautioned to do with the old, rough track conditions. However, Andretti never took over the lead spot.
Kyle Busch practices at Berlin. (Photo: Teresa Bennink | The Podium Finish)
Keselowski led the most laps, but at a track where one of the marquee races of the season used to be named the Rowdy 251, it’s no surprise that Kyle Busch crossed the finish line first for this second SRX win in a row.
“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,” Busch said.”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, OK, he’s right on the edge so I might have something too.”
Newman leads the point standings after Berlin. Keselowski, Andretti, Stewart, Schrader, Deegan and Labonte follow him.
SRX moves to dirt on Thursday, traveling to the half-mile, high-banked clay oval of Eldora Speedway. Chase Briscoe has been added to the field and will drive the white No. 5 car with High Point colors on the hood and doors.
“I can’t put into words how excited I am to race with SRX at Eldora,” Briscoe said. “For one, just to get to race another dirt race this year and especially at Eldora and a group of guys I have always looked up to. As pretty much everyone knows, Tony [Stewart] was my hero in racing and I’ve never had the opportunity to race him before. That’s the biggest reason I’ve always wanted to make an SRX start.”
Watch Briscoe and the other stars Thursday night at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN.
