SPRINGFIELD, Mo–There’s a big time race at Lucas Oil Speedway Thursday night.
It’s the SRX Series finale featuring big name drivers you’ll recognize from NASCAR and Indy Car racing.
KOLR 10’s Chris Pinson has more from Wheatland.
In just a couple hours, the green flag will drop here at the diamond of dirt tracks and the championship finale of the SRX Series will get underway.
For the last five five weeks, some of the biggest names you’ll recognize from the Indy Car Series and NASCAR have burned up short tracks across the country vying for the coveted title of SRX Series champion.
Entering the final week of the series, Ryan Newman has a big points lead on the other 11 drivers in the field, however, “Smoke” has an outside chance to overtake Newman which excites Tony Stewart fans.
“We took off from work to come up here early so we could get good seats. We want to see the SRX guys. We’re super excited about that. We love NASCAR. We love Kyle Busch. We love Tony Stewart. We love them all,” said Merry Jones.
Lucas Oil Speedway is just the second dirt track to hold a race this season.
Thursday’s competition will consist of two heats to set the field, then a 100 lap feature race around the dirt.
With all cars being equal in performance, it comes down to who can slip and slide around the track the best.
“It’s great because it’s all about the driver. And that’s what the International Race of Champions used to be about back in the 80’s and 90’s. It was about putting the best drivers in the cars and letting them race against each other,” said Jeff Snodgrass.
“Some have raced on dirt and some of them have raced on asphalt. So you get the mixture of the two together. It just shows the class of the drivers that they are. Where they’ve come from and the different backgrounds and everything like that. It’s a very unique experience to watch,” said Richard Brainard.
This is the first time the SRX series has swung through Wheatland, and these diehard fans hope it won’t be the last.
Chris Pinson KOLR 10 sports.
