“NASCAR
at New Hampshire’s Motor Speedway”
LOUDON, NEW HAMPSHIRE- Both Nationwide and Sprint
Cup Series ran at the track this weekend. The Nationwide drivers were scheduled
to run 200 laps on the one mile speedway. The Pole Sitter was Kyle Busch (54)
with teammate Brian Vickers (20) starting P2. This was race number two of the
“Dash for Cash” series, with Kyle Larson (32), Austin Dillon (3), Elliott
Sadler (11) and Sam Hornish Jr. (12) gunning for the extra $100K bonus.
In the opening ceremonies, Marcus Lemonis was the Grand Marshall and Elliott Sadler was the In-Race Reporter for this weekend festivities. Four Sprint Cup drivers were in this race, including Kyle Busch (54), Joey Lagono (22), Kasey Kahne (5) and Matt Kenseth (18). For this race fan, I am beginning to not like the Cup drivers in this series. They are taking away not only taking away money from these regular racers in the series, but they take away the amount of time the commentators talk about the skills being built up by the drivers in this lower level of racing. I feel it is similar to having a NFL player, go back to College and play after they have years of experience in the pro series. The skill level is greater, because they have built their level much higher. Why go back and take away from the players/drivers that are working there butts off to become that level of a contender. I agree in NASCARs move to not allow them to run for Championships in both series, but I really believe there are more than enough drivers in the series to keep them interesting without having hired guns to be taking everything away from them weekly.
In the opening ceremonies, Marcus Lemonis was the Grand Marshall and Elliott Sadler was the In-Race Reporter for this weekend festivities. Four Sprint Cup drivers were in this race, including Kyle Busch (54), Joey Lagono (22), Kasey Kahne (5) and Matt Kenseth (18). For this race fan, I am beginning to not like the Cup drivers in this series. They are taking away not only taking away money from these regular racers in the series, but they take away the amount of time the commentators talk about the skills being built up by the drivers in this lower level of racing. I feel it is similar to having a NFL player, go back to College and play after they have years of experience in the pro series. The skill level is greater, because they have built their level much higher. Why go back and take away from the players/drivers that are working there butts off to become that level of a contender. I agree in NASCARs move to not allow them to run for Championships in both series, but I really believe there are more than enough drivers in the series to keep them interesting without having hired guns to be taking everything away from them weekly.
The first caution came out on lap 36, when debris
was seen on track. The second caution was on lap 43, when Brett Butler (24)
spun out and hit the wall in his very first race in the series. In the replay,
it was clear that Jamie Dick (55) was the cause, as he tagged him in the rear
left corner.
By the mid-race point, Busch and Vickers had each
led close to the same amount of laps, without anyone leading a lap. Green Flag
pit stops began on lap 110, with Matt Kenseth (18) having the lead when all
stops were completed.
On lap 123, Jamie Dick (55) had issues to bring out
the third caution. On lap 130, the fourth caution flew for Reed Sorenson (40)
having an engine go south on him. During this, Trevor Bayne (6) ended up with
some front and rear end damage.
On lap 198, Chad Hackenbracht brought out the fifth
caution. The Green-White-Checkered rules, would be once again used for this
race to get completed. During the restart on lap 200, Landon Cassill (4) ran
out of fuel on the backstretch before the white flag could be shown. They would
be forced to try again a second time. To help hurry things up, Mike Wallace
(01), a teammate of Cassill pushed his car onto pit lane.
During the second attempt at a Green-White-Checkered
finish, Paul Menard (33) and Parker Kligerman (77) were spun out by Joey Lagono
(22) going three wide and spinning them out, again before the white flag could
be shown. A final and third attempt to complete the race was needed.
A “Red Flag” was then thrown to stop all the cars on the track, being a majority of them were very low on fuel. This was a major “FOUL” by NASCAR. This basically gave the victory over by hand, being they stopped the field, instead of allowing them to turn laps under caution like they should have been doing. The only time a red flag is thrown, is when there is such a large amount of debris on track that they need time to clean it up, not help the drivers save fuel.
A “Red Flag” was then thrown to stop all the cars on the track, being a majority of them were very low on fuel. This was a major “FOUL” by NASCAR. This basically gave the victory over by hand, being they stopped the field, instead of allowing them to turn laps under caution like they should have been doing. The only time a red flag is thrown, is when there is such a large amount of debris on track that they need time to clean it up, not help the drivers save fuel.
The final attempt at a Green-White-Checkered finish
was then started at lap 210. During the final lap, Elliott Sadler (11) was spun
out, then he ran out of fuel to boot. Kasey Kahne (5) also ran out of fuel on
the final restart. Kyle Busch (54) was able to beat Brian Vickers (20) back to
the line for the victory. If NASCAR would have kept these cars running laps as
they should have, many more cars could have ran out of fuel making a much
bigger change in the finishing order.
The rest of the top ten were: Austin Dillon (3) who
won the extra $100K bonus this week, Brian Scott (2), Michael Annett (43),
Trevor Bayne (6), Sam Hornish Jr. (12), Ragan Smith (7), Matt Kenseth (18) and
Alex Bowman (99)
.
.
Next week’s race is at Chicago “STP 300” on ESPN at
3PM EST.
“Camping
World RV Sales 301”
LOUDON, NEW HAMPSHIRE- The Sprint Cup Series ran
their nineteenth race of the season at the “Magic Mile”. A new Track Record was
set by Pole Sitter Brad Keselowski (2) at a speed of 135.922. Kurt Busch (78)
started P2 after Jimmie Johnsons (48) time was disallowed after failing an
inspection for being too low after his qualifying attempt had him in the
position. Johnson would be forced to start in the last position for the race.
A McDonald’s promotion was run at this week’s race, with a couple receiving $200 per lap that Jamie McMurray completed. As he passed the start/finish line on each lap, that was like passing “GO” on the Monopoly game. If McMurray completes all 301 laps, they would receive $60, 200.
Also this week, the formal announcement of Kevin Harvick (4) moving over to Stewart-Haas Racing next year in a new number, but with the same “Budweiser” sponsorship. Ryan Newman (39) will be leaving SHR at season’s end. Morgan Shepherd (52) also made history this weekend, being the oldest driver to ever race in the series. He is 71 years young, and in very good condition. This is the final race for TNT as their “Summer Series” comes to a close with the completion at Loudon.
A McDonald’s promotion was run at this week’s race, with a couple receiving $200 per lap that Jamie McMurray completed. As he passed the start/finish line on each lap, that was like passing “GO” on the Monopoly game. If McMurray completes all 301 laps, they would receive $60, 200.
Also this week, the formal announcement of Kevin Harvick (4) moving over to Stewart-Haas Racing next year in a new number, but with the same “Budweiser” sponsorship. Ryan Newman (39) will be leaving SHR at season’s end. Morgan Shepherd (52) also made history this weekend, being the oldest driver to ever race in the series. He is 71 years young, and in very good condition. This is the final race for TNT as their “Summer Series” comes to a close with the completion at Loudon.
In opening ceremonies, The Boston Police Dept.
presented the Nations colors with the first responders and the firefighters. A
moment of silence was held for those injured in the Boston Bombings. Pastor Ron
Kastens provided the Invocation. Samantha Russo, Miss New Hampshire sang the
National Anthem. The Grand Marshall’s were the CEO and other members of the
Camping World RV Sales.
On lap 4, Joey Lagono (22) had a tire failure that
sent him hard into the outside wall with the driver’s side of his race car. He
ended up driving backwards on the track and up pit lane to his pit box. He
would end up taking the car to the garage for much needed repairs.
On lap 14, Casey Mears (13), Marcus Ambrose (9),
Kevin Harvick (29) and AJ Allmendinger (51) were involved in an incident.
Harvick and Ambrose had gotten together to start a spin out. Mears and
Allmendinger were simply just caught up in the mess.
By lap 73, green flag stops started. Denny Hamlin
(11) received a penalty for a lug nut missing as he left the pits, and Brian
Vickers (55) was penalized for equipment out of the pit box.
On lap 79, the third caution came out for debris on
the track. Debris would become a issue throughout the race.
On lap 122, Denny Hamlin had a tire go down on his
car to bring out a caution.
There were three cautions on lap 156, 202 and 210
all for debris. Only one time did they show the debris, and it was a small
piece of rubber, well out of the racing groove.
On lap 219, the eighth caution came out for Danica
Patrick (10) spinning out, after AJ Allmendinger tagged her. During this
caution, only Tony Stewart (14), the leader stayed on track as the rest of the
field made pit stops.
The ninth caution flew on lap 225 for Ryan Newman
(39) getting run into and spinning out. Kyle Busch (18) had run into Newman to
start the end of Newmans day. Also involved were Kurt Busch (78), Matt Kenseth
(20) and Kasey Kahne (5). Kahne had minimal front end damage and Kenseth had
minimal rear end damage from the incident. Newman was far from happy, and said
he will remember who did this. He called Busch “Not very bright”. His car was
done for the day as he hit the wall very hard a couple times.
On lap 237, Danica Patrick (10) got into the back of
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (17) and caused Jr. and Travis Kvapil (93) to crash into
the outside wall. Patrick claimed she mis-judged her speed entering the corner
and tried to brake, sending her sliding sideways into the two race cars ahead
of her. She did admit fault in the wreck that took out her current boyfriend.
Note: Just a few weeks ago, this was the other way around. Funny, HUH?
The eleventh caution came out on lap 268, when Jeff
Gordon (24) was intentionally spun out by Paul Menard (27). The replay showed
it was clearly intentional on how Menard took out Gordon in the race.
The final caution came on lap 296 for what I believe
was cars out of fuel on track. Bobby Labonte (47) had a great day go bad when
he ran out of fuel in the late stages. Brian Vickers (55) was able to hold off Tony
Stewart (14) on the restart to end the race. As Stewart ran out of fuel on the
last lap, Kyle Busch took the P2 spot. Stewart would finish on the lead lap,
but in twenty-sixth spot.
The rest of the top ten were: Jeff Burton (31), Brad
Keselowski (2), Aric Almirola (43), Jimmie Johnson (48), Kevin Harvick (29),
Carl Edwards (99), Matt Kenseth (20) and Jeff Gordon (24).
The next race will be at Indianapolis “Brickyard
400” in two weeks, on ESPN.
