Thursday Night Thunder is BACK! The Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) has officially reached a multi-year media rights agreement with ESPN beginning with the six-race 2023 season.
SRX and ESPN made the announcement in the form of a press release on Monday.
The 2023 SRX Racing Series season will kick off on Thursday, July 13th at 9 PM ET on ESPN, and the series will be featured on ESPN and the ESPN app at the same time slot on Thursdays for six consecutive weeks in the summer.
As one of the coolest facets of the partnership, the iconic “ESPN Thursday Night Thunder” branding will return for the broadcasts. If you are a younger fan, Thursday Night Thunder was a feature that originally aired on ESPN back in the 1980’s, which brought USAC racing to the masses and helped launch the career of many future legends, such as Jeff Gordon and SRX Racing co-owner Tony Stewart.
“Thursday Night Thunder is where guys like me, who were just starting our careers in USAC, got the chance to make a name for ourselves because of its presence on ESPN,” said Stewart, SRX Co-Founder and 2021 SRX Champion. “It’s great to see Thursday Night Thunder return, but to also be a part of it all over again with SRX.”
The incredibly successful launch of SRX, with their previous broadcasting partner CBS Sports, really opened the eyes of the most recognized sports broadcasting channel in the world — ESPN.
“SRX has been an impressive property in its first two seasons and has produced competitive and exciting action,” said Burke Magnus, ESPN President, Programming and Original Content. “We look forward to bringing live racing back to summertime Thursday nights on ESPN with SRX.”
“When we had the opportunity to pitch the concept of Thursday Night Thunder on ESPN, it was my firm belief this would be another disruptive and monumental moment in SRX and racing history – reuniting race fans with ESPN on short tracks with Superstar drivers all across the U.S. for years to come,” said SRX Series Chief Executive Officer Don Hawk.
“Thursday Night Thunder is where I met Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart. A relationship between SRX and ESPN seemed like the right fit at the perfect time, and I couldn’t be more excited for this summer.”
While the race tracks for the 2023 SRX Racing Series have yet to be revealed, the six dates for the 2023 events were released in the announcement.
The Series will race on July 13th, July 20th, July 27th, August 3rd, August 10th and August 17th.
