The Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) series was a successful one, but its fourth season has been postponed due to market factors that have proven to be a lot to overcome. One of the founders of the competitions was NASCAR legend Ray Evernham, who left his role only in its second year. In a recent episode of The Dale Jr Download podcast, the former crew chief revealed the reason why he left his own competition.

SRX brought racers of all generations in one competition to battle it out. The likes of Tony Stewart, Dave Blaney, and Bill Elliott have all raced in the series. That is what drew fans to the product but they won’t be able to experience it this time around as it was announced earlier this year that the 2024 season had been canceled.

Ray Evernham reveals how SRX changed from his vision after he quit

After the first season, the number of current full-time Cup Series drivers in the series increased drastically. This was after Ray Evernham had left the fold. It would not have been possible to bring on so many Cup racers into the competition had the former crew chief not left, as he was staunchly against this idea, which he revealed to Dale Earnhardt Jr recently on his podcast. 

He said, “My plan never included running a bunch of current Cup guys. One, maybe two. Never really a…that was never part of my plan. That happened in year 2 and 3 after I left. I have still to this day, one of my proudest things is being a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. So, I have a great relationship with the France family, Mike Elton, Steve Phelps, and all of that group, and we had several conversations about SRX and about ‘hey, here’s the lane, here’s what I’m doing with it. I’d like to use the drivers once in a while’, same with the IndyCar people. But it was really about bringing in the superstars that weren’t racing full-time anymore and mixing them with the local short track hero which I think is really important.”

When he first came up with the idea of SRX, Ray Evernham, being a car builder and a lover of race cars, wanted a way to get the vintage IROC cars on track. At no point was he interested in having full-time Cup Series drivers taking the spots of other talented racers just to get a few eyeballs on the product. But that’s what happened eventually and the 66-year-old was not happy about it.

“I’ve had great conversations about where I plan on going with IROC [International Race of Champions] and NASCAR currently owns the historic sports car racing and looking at how we can get these vintage IROC cars back on track and figure out where it goes from there. But I think once it got off to being a bunch of current Cup guys, it became a lot different from what I started it to be,” the former Hendrick Motorsports star added.

Evernham was not on board with so many Cup racers in his competition and he made it clear in a phone call with the other stakeholders. That call ended up being the one that saw him say goodbye to something he created.

Former crew chief reveals how he quit his own competition

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It may sound like it was difficult for the former Cup Series crew chief, but Evernham revealed that it was not a long drawn-out process. Rather, it was quick, like ripping off a band-aid. He believed that he had given everything possible to the competition, but it just wasn’t meant to be.

“It was a pretty quick process. One of the things, you know me, you’ve known me a long time, sometimes I say what’s on my mind, say it pretty quick. That was basically a phone call and I had given all I could give and you know deep down when you give all you could give and somebody’s telling you that’s ain’t right so I was like well, you know what, have a nice day, I’m gonna go build old cars,” Evernham revealed.

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Despite him unceremoniously leaving the team, the former Hendrick Motorsports man must not have been happy when news of SRX’s 2024 season being canceled was shared. It would not have been what Evernham had in mind when he first created the series alongside Tony Stewart.