After multiple late-race cautions, 23-year-old Trans Am racing driver and young SRX standout, Ernie Francis Jr., fended off Bobby Labonte following a late restart.
Francis won over Labonte by 0.649 seconds to take home his first career Superstar Racing Experience victory.
“Me and Scott Speed went at it for a few laps there, side-to-side, and I didn’t know how that was going to end up. I ended up with a few donuts on the car, but man, couldn’t be happier with it, super incredible. I want to thank everybody from SRX, Ray Evernham and Tony Stewart for giving me this opportunity.”
“I was playing around with gearing trying to see what would work,” Francis said. “Second gear was spinning off of turn four as I tried to roll through third, and that last restart I got really sideways, but I stayed in it. I didn’t want to lift there. And I thought, man, when I saw that I cleared Labonte there – that was a good feeling knowing I just had to get through a few turns cleanly and I just ran my race and took it home. This is going to make that drive back to Road America a lot better.”
Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis was the fourth event on the SRX Racing Series schedule. As usual, there were two heat races that lasted 12 minutes each.
This week, “The Ringer” was former NASCAR star Scott Speed. Speed started on the pole and led all the laps to pick up the first heat race win. Tony Kanaan, Michael Waltrip, Tony Stewart and “Local All-Star” Bobby Santos III finished fifth in the heat.
When the field was inverted for heat 2, Willy T. Ribbs started up front with Paul Tracy alongside him. However, Ribbs and Tracy wouldn’t last long at the front as Castroneves took the lead on Lap 5. The 2021 Indy 500 winner went on to lead the rest of the way and take home his first heat race win in the SRX Series. Labonte, Stewart, Francis and Andretti were the top five. This was the first time in SRX history, there would be no on-track incidents during the first two heats.
Then came the main event which was a 76-lap feature with a unique twist added. Caution laps would count until there were six laps to go, although that would eventually change toward the end of the race.
Following the green flag, Francis took the lead on Lap 11 from Scott Speed going into Turn 1. Francis had the dominant car as the Davie, Florida native maintained the lead through three cautions on Lap 25, Lap 48 and Lap 66.
The field lined up for the restart with seven laps to go, but as soon Francis and the field got to the backstretch, Tony Kanaan went spinning around and flat-spotted his tires creating another caution with six laps to go.
With the restart at two laps to go, Francis once again was able to get the lead briefly before there was more contact behind him. Santos spun out Tracy on the backstretch while Indy 500 winner Castroneves retaliated against Scott Speed by spinning Speed around after Speed had gotten into Castroneves one lap earlier.
For the final time of the night, Francis had to hit his marks as he had racing veteran and 2000 NASCAR Cup Series Champion Bobby Labonte right beside him on the restart. Fortunately, Francis kept Labonte on the back bumper of his car and went on to claim the victory after numerous restarts.
“All night, my car was really good,” Labonte said. “I got a little too tight at the end, and then Scott and Ernie got together and I was having to decide whether to go high or go low. I thought they were going to wreck, and then I was three-wide. Scott was sideways, somewhere, and we might have touched, and I got by him. We ran well from there. He was always dogging me off the bottom of (turn) four and he always seemed to be right there on my left rear. And then, that last green-white-checkered when it was just me and Ernie, my car was just too tight and I didn’t want to get into him too hard – just needed to keep it together and bring it home.”
Speed was battling hard with Castroneves late in the going when he got turned around during the last yellow. Despite being turned, Speed rebounded to finish third on the podium.
“Man, we had such a good battle, me and Francis,” said Speed, who won the first heat race. “We were definitely the best two cars and we were playing cat-and-mouse with our tires, saving them. And then, with 10 to go, it was ‘game on.’ We were both going to charge and we had such an awesome side-by-side race. I just got a little bit too loose underneath him with a couple laps to go and fell back, lost a couple of spots. But it was a great race. I had so much fun.
“We came out of turn four and I got into Helio (Castroneves) a little bit. I didn’t do it on purpose. I’m having a good time here regardless of where I finish. But I’m happy for a guy like Ernie because for a kid like that, we’ve all had our careers in motor racing, but stuff like this can help him establish himself and that’s the big picture here.”
The SRX victory was big enough for Francis as it caught the attention of series sponsor Marcus Lemonis, who hinted at an opportunity for Francis in a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series ride if Francis is interested.
Francis will now make the five-hour drive back to Road America for the Trans Am TA2 event at 8 a.m. CT.
Labonte, Speed, Marco Andretti and Santos rounded out the top five.
Official Results following the SRX Racing Series event at Lucas Oil Raceway:
- Ernie Francis Jr
- Bobby Labonte
- Scott Speed
- Marco Andretti
- Bobby Santos III
- Michael Waltrip
- Tony Stewart
- Paul Tracy
- Helio Castroneves
- Tony Kanaan
- Willy T. Ribbs
- Bill Elliott
Championship Points Standings
1. Tony Stewart (160 points)
2. Ernie Francis Jr. (130 points, -30)
3. Helio Castroneves (120 points, -40)
4. Bobby Labonte (115 points, -45)
5. Marco Andretti (111 points, -49)
6. Michael Waltrip (86 points, -74)
7. Paul Tracy (83 points, -77)
8. Tony Kanaan (65 points, -95)
9. Bill Elliott (52 points, -108)
10. Willy T. Ribbs (45 points, -115)
Up Next: The Superstar Racing Experience will continue their summer stretch by visiting Slinger Speedway Saturday night, July 17, live on CBS.
