Texas and Long Beach Remain Hosts for Stadium SUPER Trucks in 2019

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer

The Stadium SUPER Trucks announced two schedule updates regarding their 2019 calendar, with both Long Beach and Texas Motor Speedway remaining hosts of the growing series.

On Monday, the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach announced a multi-year deal to continue hosting SST, scheduled to take place at the Long Beach Grand Prix weekend in California April 12-14.

SST race around the 11-turn grand prix circuit, but stands out with its high jump featuring temporary ramps placed throughout the 1.97-mile street course.

Qualifying is set to be held Friday with its two rounds taking place on both Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

Series owner and founder Robby Gordon said having the prestigious 1.97-mile street course on their calendar for the seventh consecutive season and beyond speaks volumes of how far his series has come.

“To be able to come back and continue our great relationship with the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach for the seventh consecutive year is something awesome,” said Gordon. “The venue location, the atmosphere, the excitement, and fun make the Grand Prix of Long Beach one of the premier events in the world, and Stadium SUPER Trucks is excited to have it on the schedule for 2019 with a new multi-year deal.”

Perhaps the biggest change was Wednesday’s announcement that Texas will no longer be held during the IndyCar Series weekend in June. Instead, it’ll move to late March when NASCAR’s three national series comes to Fort Worth in an attempt to draw bigger audiences.

The first race will be held on March 30, 2019, immediately after the Xfinity Series’ Bariatric Solutions 300. Then 30 minutes after the Cup Series’ O’Reilly Auto Parts 500, its second event will take place.

It’ll be the third consecutive season the Eddie Gossage-owned circuit will host SST, which has Gordon excited to not only have its series during NASCAR’s tripleheader, but feels it’ll draw some of his fans from the sanctioning body to check out his creation.

“To be back racing at Texas for our third straight year is wonderful and I would really like to thank the entire team at Texas Motor Speedway for the ongoing belief in Stadium Super Trucks as a series,” said Gordon. “The past two years we have been at the track with INDYCAR and now to have the organizers believe that we can add real value to the NASCAR weekend I’m extremely excited about it.

“Most of all, I’m extremely confident that the NASCAR fans will love what we bring to motorsport. Who knows? We might even bring some of my old fans from Texas back to the track that I haven’t seen since my Cup days.”

The Stadium Super Trucks use just a short portion of the frontstretch of the 1.5-mile oval, with the majority taking place in the South infield paddock and along pit road. The course features multiple jumps, including the massive, signature dirt one in the paddock that is the centerpiece of the layout.

SST recently held its two rounds at Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernadino, California December 1-2. Jeff Hoffman (Saturday) and Gavin Harlien (Sunday) were victorious that weekend. Matt Brabham retained his championship lead with back-to-back runner-up efforts.