Paul Tracy is still not making any friends out there. In fact, he might have driven one out of the Superstar Racing Experience.
The longtime IndyCar driver continued to antagonise his fellow drivers during Thursday night’s race at Pulaski County Motorsports Park after coming down to block Josef Newgarden on lap 89, only to trigger a massive stack-up that also collected Ken Schrader and Hailie Deegan. Tracy had developed a “bad boy” reputation during his IndyCar career, and has not done much to mend that image in SRX especially around Schrader: he spun Schrader in the second heat during the season opener at Stafford before the two tangled again at the last week’s Stafford #2 round.
Schrader, who committed to the full season, kept his comments on Tracy succinct: “I’m not running another race with him. I’m done.”
Tracy defended the action as he and Newgarden had bumped into each other multiple times throughout the night before he “got a nose ahead of him, a half-car length ahead of him, and I just got hooked and turned sideways down the straightaway. It was just hard racing at the end there, ten laps to go.”
In front of the quarrel, Kyle Busch won in his series début without breaking a sweat. He took the lead from fellow NASCAR driver Tony Stewart on lap 70 of the final and cruised to victory, joining colleague Denny Hamlin as drivers to win their first SRX race in 2023. Clint Bowyer, the Heat #2 winner, got by his former boss Stewart for second on the restart post-Tracy accident.
Busch is not racing for the SRX title and his second and final race will be at Berlin on 3 August.
Pulaski County Motorsports Park was previously known as Motor Mile Speedway, as was the case when SRX revealed the 2023 schedule, before being renamed in May.
Race results
| Finish | Number | Driver | Laps |
| 1 | 51 | Kyle Busch | 100 |
| 2 | 07 | Clint Bowyer | 100 |
| 3 | 14 | Tony Stewart | 100 |
| 4 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | 100 |
| 5 | 39 | Ryan Newman | 100 |
| 6 | 06 | Hélio Castroneves | 100 |
| 7 | 18 | Bobby Labonte | 100 |
| 8 | 5 | Hailie Deegan | 100 |
| 9 | 1 | Marco Andretti | 100 |
| 10 | 3 | Paul Tracy | 89 |
| 11 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | 89 |
| 12 | 52 | Ken Schrader | 89 |
Heat #1
| Finish | Number | Driver | Laps |
| 1 | 1 | Marco Andretti | 20 |
| 2 | 51 | Kyle Busch | 20 |
| 3 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | 20 |
| 4 | 18 | Bobby Labonte | 20 |
| 5 | 14 | Tony Stewart | 20 |
| 6 | 3 | Paul Tracy | 20 |
| 7 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | 20 |
| 8 | 06 | Hélio Castroneves | 20 |
| 9 | 5 | Hailie Deegan | 20 |
| 10 | 52 | Ken Schrader | 20 |
| 11 | 39 | Ryan Newman | 20 |
| 12 | 07 | Clint Bowyer | 19 |
Heat #2
| Finish | Number | Driver | Laps |
| 1 | 07 | Clint Bowyer | 20 |
| 2 | 39 | Ryan Newman | 20 |
| 3 | 52 | Ken Schrader | 20 |
| 4 | 06 | Hélio Castroneves | 20 |
| 5 | 14 | Tony Stewart | 20 |
| 6 | 5 | Hailie Deegan | 20 |
| 7 | 3 | Paul Tracy | 20 |
| 8 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | 20 |
| 9 | 18 | Bobby Labonte | 20 |
| 10 | 1 | Marco Andretti | 20 |
| 11 | 51 | Kyle Busch | 20 |
| 12 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | 20 |
