thefinallap

on

during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 5-Hour ENERGY 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 19, 2015 in Loudon, New Hampshire.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race – 5-hour ENERGY 301
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Loudon, New Hampshire
Sunday, July 19, 2015

1. (4) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 301, $271031.
2. (10) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 301, $214416.
3. (12) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 301, $184550.
4. (2) Joey Logano, Ford, 301, $161258.
5. (19) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 301, $127600.
6. (8) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 301, $144026.
7. (1) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 301, $107315.
8. (24) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 301, $137601.
9. (23) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 301, $137901.
10. (6) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 301, $107415.
11. (26) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 301, $124590.
12. (15) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 301, $117485.
13. (22) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 301, $121898.
14. (5) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 301, $102615.
15. (29) Aric Almirola, Ford, 301, $125251.
16. (21) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 301, $111548.
17. (32) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 301, $95515.
18. (3) David Ragan, Toyota, 301, $115309.
19. (9) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 301, $100590.
20. (25) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 301, $113804.
21. (37) David Gilliland, Ford, 301, $112898.
22. (7) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 300, $129826.
23. (16) Ryan Blaney(i), Ford, 300, $81665.
24. (20) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 300, $92965.
25. (28) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 300, $92665.
26. (11) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 300, $114356.
27. (14) Greg Biffle, Ford, 299, $115048.
28. (33) Cole Whitt, Ford, 299, $95373.
29. (27) Sam Hornish Jr., Ford, 299, $109685.
30. (13) Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, 299, $84590.
31. (17) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 299, $110298.
32. (31) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 299, $124190.
33. (34) Brett Moffitt #, Ford, 297, $80890.
34. (18) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 297, $113348.
35. (35) Matt DiBenedetto #, Toyota, 296, $88537.
36. (38) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 296, $78760.
37. (41) Eddie MacDonald, Ford, 295, $78542.
38. (43) Timmy Hill(i), Ford, 292, $73727.
39. (42) Derek White(i), Chevrolet, 290, $69655.
40. (30) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 284, $73655.
41. (36) Jeb Burton #, Toyota, 239, $61655.
42. (40) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 230, $57655.
43. (39) JJ Yeley(i), Toyota, Rear Gear, 202, $54155.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 108.504 mph.
Time of Race: 02 Hrs, 56 Mins, 06 Secs. Margin of Victory: Caution.
Caution Flags: 7 for 34 laps.
Lead Changes: 9 among 7 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C. Edwards 1-19; Kyle Busch 20-66; B. Keselowski 67-88; J. Gordon 89-90; A. Allmendinger 91-103; B. Keselowski 104-178; J. Logano 179-190; B. Keselowski 191-193; K. Harvick 194-252; Kyle Busch 253-301.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): B. Keselowski 3 times for 100 laps; Kyle Busch 2 times for 96 laps; K. Harvick 1 time for 59 laps; C. Edwards 1 time for 19 laps; A. Allmendinger 1 time for 13 laps; J. Logano 1 time for 12 laps; J. Gordon 1 time for 2 laps.
Top 16 in Points: K. Harvick – 734; J. Logano – 665; D. Earnhardt Jr. – 655; J. Johnson – 646; M. Truex Jr. – 628; B. Keselowski – 603; M. Kenseth – 578; Kurt Busch – 576; J. Mcmurray – 574; J. Gordon – 573; D. Hamlin – 552; K. Kahne – 538; R. Newman – 530; P. Menard – 528; A. Almirola – 502; C. Bowyer – 500.

on

Kyle Busch wins New Hampshire 2015

July 19, 2015

By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

LOUDON, N.H. – The odds in Kyle Busch’s favor made another dramatic surge on Sunday afternoon at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

In winning for the third time in eight starts since returning from an 11-race injury absence, Busch solidified his chances of qualifying for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup with a serendipitous victory in the 5-Hour ENERGY 301 at the Magic Mile.

Two critical moves were essential to Busch’s winning for the second time at New Hampshire and the 32nd time in his career. First, with the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota sliding in a patch of oil and thinking he had a tire going flat, Busch brought his car to pit road on Lap 244, sooner than planned.

That allowed Busch to gain time on the track while other contending cars stayed out on old tires. The spur of the moment “strategy” ultimately played out in his favor.

Second, Busch got back on the lead lap with a gutsy pass of race leader Kevin Harvick and second-place Brad Keselowski, weaving through traffic on the frontstretch seconds before NASCAR called a caution for fluid on the track on Lap 251 of 301.

Busch inherited the top spot when the rest of the lead-lap cars came to pit road on Lap 253, and he stayed up front the rest of the way. After taking the white flag, Busch won the race under yellow when Alex Bowman’s accident in Turn 2 on the final lap caused the race’s seventh caution.

Given the discussion on team radios about the probability of that Lap 251 caution being called, Busch felt a strong sense of urgency to make what proved to be the decisive pass.

“I knew I’d been running it hard and I’d been trying to catch (Matt) Kenseth in front of me that entire run, and I had just been so tight that I couldn’t get going and couldn’t get a rhythm going to close in on Kenseth. And I figured I just chewed the right front off of it, because I went into the corner and the thing just went straight one time so I was like, ‘Man, I’m down to cords now, that’s it, it’s done.’

“We shot to pit road and got it changed there, and evidently it was oil on the race track that just made the car slip so bad from out from under me. We got a lucky break and I hauled butt, man, those five laps I ran were five qualifying laps through traffic trying to get back up to the front and pass Harvick to stay on the lead lap. That was our saving bucket right there. That was what we needed to do.”

The offshoot of the victory is that Busch’s hopes of making the Chase now are better than realistic. To qualify, he must finish the first 26 races in the top 30 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings. With seven races left before the cutoff, Busch is 33rd, trailing 30th-place David Gilliland by 58 points.

“This is such an awesome win and such an awesome comeback,” Busch said. “I just can’t say enough about everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing, the work that they’ve put in. Our cars are a lot better than what they were last year.

“It’s so much fun to win these races and to win with this group of guys – (crew chief) Adam Stevens and this bunch, all my pit crew since 2008, they deserve all this.”

Keselowski, who got two fresh tires on the last pit stop, was closing on Busch at the end of the race but ran out of time and finished second. For the second straight week, Keselowski failed to win in what was arguably the best car.

“We had a really fast car and led a lot of laps (a race-high 100),” Keselowski said tersely. “I’m really proud of the team for bringing me two fast cars these past two weekends.”

“It’s a joy to drive cars that fast,” added Keselowski, looking less than joyful.

Asked whether he was frustrated, Keselowski replied, “I’m ready to go home.”

Asked whether taking four tires instead of two on the last pit stop might have made a difference, Keselowski said, “It probably didn’t matter, so it’s hard to say. It is what it is.”

Harvick came home third, followed by Joey Logano and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Kenseth, polesitter Carl Edwards, Austin Dillon, Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch completed the top 10.

on

July 18, 2015

By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

LOUDON, N.H. – To Denny Hamlin, it was just hard short-track racing for the win.

To runner-up Austin Dillon, it was unnecessarily aggressive driving that led to Hamlin’s victory in the Lakes Region 200 NASCAR XFINITY Series race on Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

On Lap 179 of 200 at the Magic Mile, Hamlin drove his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to the inside of Dillon’s No. 33 Chevrolet. Hamlin slid up the track into Dillon, broke the No. 33’s momentum and took the lead.

Eventual third- and fourth-place finishers Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch also passed Dillon, who later regained the positions he lost to Keselowski and Busch but ran out of time in his pursuit of Hamlin.

Earlier in the race Hamlin had two similar incidents with Busch, his teammate. And though Busch didn’t appear particularly annoyed with Hamlin’s tactics, Dillon was incensed.

“He got to me, and I figured he was going to race, but he never even wanted to,” Dillon said. “He wrecked his teammate and then proceeded to try and wreck me, and if I had gotten back to him, it would have happened to him.”

Hamlin wrote off the contact to all-out racing at a one-mile flat track.

“The bottom line is, if you don’t have any air on the outside of you, you just can’t hold it,” Hamlin said. “There was an example of that about three times today … I want to thank ‘Wheels’ (crew chief Mike Wheeler) for giving me the dominant car. We had the best car, and just, wow, what a day.”

In Hamlin’s view, Dillon wasn’t blameless either.

“Well, he jumped the restart, for one,” Hamlin said. “I’m the control car, but that’s fine. Eventually I was going to get back around him anyway. Same thing—I was a fender ahead, and he drove in there knowing that he was going to have to hold me low to hold the position, and I just washed up into him.

“But that’s two guys on a short track racing for the win.”

Dillon clearly had a different opinion.

“What is racing, if you can’t race side-by-side for more than a corner?” Dillon asked rhetorically. “He never even went through a corner with me, the whole race. He didn’t want to. He just moved me. Missed the corner. Wrecked me.

“I’m fine with racing rough. I promise you, I can do it to anybody. But if we’re going to race like that, I need to know before you get to the first corner. Give me a corner at least.”

Dillon indicated there might be some payback in the offing but wouldn’t reveal how or when.

“I’m not going to talk about it,” Dillon said. “He won’t be ready.”

Hamlin’s reply? “We’ve both got race cars.”

Dillon got the lead on Lap 175 moments after a restart following the sixth and final caution for Brian Scott’s blown engine.

Both Hamlin and Dillon had stayed out on old tires under the previous yellow, but Keselowski came to pit road for fresh rubber on Lap 142. As it turned out, the new tires made little difference.

“It was the right call and probably got us to third, instead of fourth or fifth,” Keselowski said. “We just weren’t as fast as the 33 and 20 were. … We just weren’t fast enough this weekend.”

Rookie Daniel Suarez ran fifth, followed by Ty Dillon, Regan Smith, Darrell Wallace Jr., Chase Elliott and Brennan Poole. Series leader Chris Buescher finished 14th, one lap down, and saw his lead in the standings shrink to 31 points over second-place Elliott.

NASCAR XFINITY Series Race – Lakes Region 200
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Loudon, New Hampshire
Saturday, July 18, 2015

1. (1) Denny Hamlin(i), Toyota, 200, $52101.
2. (6) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 200, $32261.
3. (4) Brad Keselowski(i), Ford, 200, $27038.
4. (2) Kyle Busch(i), Toyota, 200, $26186.
5. (3) Daniel Suarez #, Toyota, 200, $27768.
6. (7) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 200, $23909.
7. (8) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 200, $23253.
8. (11) Darrell Wallace Jr. #, Ford, 200, $24948.
9. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 200, $23720.
10. (13) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 200, $23494.
11. (10) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 200, $22467.
12. (14) Ben Rhodes, Chevrolet, 199, $22341.
13. (21) Ryan Reed, Ford, 199, $22188.
14. (20) Chris Buescher, Ford, 199, $21935.
15. (19) JJ Yeley, Toyota, 199, $22209.
16. (15) Dakoda Armstrong, Ford, 199, $21681.
17. (17) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 199, $21755.
18. (28) Eric McClure, Toyota, 198, $21402.
19. (23) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 198, $21352.
20. (16) Blake Koch, Toyota, 198, $21802.
21. (25) Cale Conley #, Toyota, 198, $21200.
22. (24) David Starr, Toyota, 198, $21144.
23. (18) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 198, $21093.
24. (26) Dylan Lupton, Chevrolet, 198, $21028.
25. (27) BJ McLeod(i), Chevrolet, 197, $21142.
26. (31) Peyton Sellers #, Chevrolet, 195, $20957.
27. (36) Derek White, Dodge, 195, $20921.
28. (33) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, Clutch, 174, $20885.
29. (5) Brian Scott, Chevrolet, Engine, 165, $20850.
30. (35) Todd Peck(i), Chevrolet, Fuel Pump, 156, $21115.
31. (37) Mike Harmon, Dodge, Brakes, 111, $20779.
32. (38) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, Brakes, 98, $14744.
33. (29) Matt Wallace, Toyota, Vibration, 84, $14723.
34. (12) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, Brakes, 46, $20703.
35. (40) Matt Frahm, Chevrolet, Brakes, 42, $14651.
36. (34) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, Brakes, 40, $13234.
37. (22) Ross Chastain #, Chevrolet, Accident, 36, $18234.
38. (39) Josh Reaume #, Dodge, Brakes, 24, $11234.
39. (32) Harrison Rhodes #, Chevrolet, Engine, 16, $16234.
40. (30) Jeff Green, Toyota, Vibration, 3, $9234.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 98.342 mph.
Time of Race: 02 Hrs, 09 Mins, 06 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.516 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 6 for 38 laps.
Lead Changes: 12 among 7 drivers.
Lap Leaders: D. Hamlin(i) 0; K. Busch(i) 1-22; B. Keselowski(i) 23-39; D. Lupton 40-42; D. Hamlin(i) 43-44; K. Busch(i) 45-47; D. Hamlin(i) 48-119; B. Scott 120-121; A. Dillon(i) 122-123; D. Wallace Jr. # 124; D. Hamlin(i) 125-173; A. Dillon(i) 174-178; D. Hamlin(i) 179-200.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): D. Hamlin(i) 4 times for 145 laps; K. Busch(i) 2 times for 25 laps; B. Keselowski(i) 1 time for 17 laps; A. Dillon(i) 2 times for 7 laps; D. Lupton 1 time for 3 laps; B. Scott 1 time for 2 laps; D. Wallace Jr. # 1 time for 1 lap.
Top 10 in Points: C. Buescher – 623; C. Elliott – 592; T. Dillon – 585; R. Smith – 564; E. Sadler – 555; D. Wallace Jr. # – 547; D. Suarez # – 516; B. Gaughan – 506; R. Reed – 502; B. Scott – 494.

–30–

on

1 19 Carl Edwards Sport Clips Toyota 28.179 135.164
2 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 28.209 135.021
3 55 David Ragan Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota 28.209 135.021
4 18 Kyle Busch Interstate Batteries Toyota 28.271 134.725
5 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Freight Toyota 28.297 134.601
6 41 Kurt Busch Haas Automation Chevrolet 28.298 134.596
7 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s Chevrolet 28.318 134.501
8 20 Matt Kenseth Dollar General Toyota 28.333 134.430

 

LISTEN: THE FINAL LAP WEEKLY NASCAR PODCAST #367 – BRENNAN POOLE – LOUDEN NEW HAMPSHIRE PREVIEW

9 5 Kasey Kahne Great Clips Chevrolet 28.340 134.397
10 2 Brad Keselowski Miller Lite Ford 28.419 134.023
11 1 Jamie McMurray McDonald’s/Cessna Chevrolet 28.424 133.999
12 4 Kevin Harvick Jimmy John’s/Budweiser Chevrolet 28.511 133.591
13 40 Landon Cassill(i) Interstate Moving Services/Precon Marine Inc. 28.387 134.174
14 16 Greg Biffle Safety-Kleen Ford 28.408 134.075
15 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet 28.415 134.042
16 21 Ryan Blaney(i) SKF Ford 28.422 134.009
17 42 Kyle Larson Target Chevrolet 28.466 133.802
18 15 Clint Bowyer 5-Hour Energy Toyota 28.469 133.788
19 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Nationwide Chevrolet 28.538 133.464
20 10 Danica Patrick GoDaddy Chevrolet 28.541 133.450
21 13 Casey Mears GEICO Chevrolet 28.551 133.403
22 47 AJ Allmendinger Better Than Bouillon Chevrolet 28.598 133.184
23 24 Jeff Gordon AARP Member Advantages Chevrolet 28.623 133.068
24 3 Austin Dillon Dow Chevrolet 28.654 132.924
25 14 Tony Stewart Mobil 1 Chevrolet 28.664 132.877
26 31 Ryan Newman Quicken Loans Chevrolet 28.699 132.715
27 9 Sam Hornish Jr. Shaws/Smithfield Ford 28.719 132.623
28 27 Paul Menard Richmond/Menards Chevrolet 28.722 132.609
29 43 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 28.739 132.531
30 51 Justin Allgaier Brandt Chevrolet 28.740 132.526
31 6 Trevor Bayne AdvoCare Ford 28.770 132.388
32 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Fastenal Ford 28.817 132.172
33 35 Cole Whitt Taco Bell Ford 28.832 132.103
34 34 Brett Moffitt # Dockside Logistics Ford 28.930 131.656
35 83 Matt DiBenedetto # Burger King Toyota 28.993 131.370
36 26 Jeb Burton # Maxim Fantasy Sports Toyota 29.081 130.972
37 38 David Gilliland MDS Ford Owner Points
38 46 Michael Annett Pilot Flying J Chevrolet Owner Points
39 23 JJ Yeley(i) Dr Pepper Toyota Owner Points
40 7 Alex Bowman Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet Owner Points
41 32 Eddie MacDonald DraftDemons.com Ford Owner Points
42 33 Derek White(i) Braille Battery/Grafoid Chevrolet Owner Points
43 98 Timmy Hill(i) Residence Inn Ford Owner Points
# 62 Reed Sorenson.

on

July 17, 2015

By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

LOUDON, N.H. – As Carl Edwards put it, “things just feel right.”

That was Edwards’ take on the state of affairs at Joe Gibbs Racing, after he put his No. 19 Toyota on the pole for Sunday’s 5-Hour ENERGY 301 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (1:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN).

“Right now it just feels right,” said Edwards, who toured the Magic Mile in 28.179 seconds (135.164 mph) in Friday’s qualifying session to earn his first Coors Light Pole Award of the season, his first at New Hampshire and the 14th of his career.

“It’s just cool, man. My expectation is to do the best we can (on Sunday). My hope is that we win this thing. … We’ve been working very hard to bring this team together to be the best that we can be. It just feels right. This is cool. It’s a lot of fun.”

With JGR teammate Kyle Busch winning last Saturday’s event at Kentucky, the organization placed all its drivers in the top five, with Denny Hamlin, Edwards and Matt Kenseth trailing second-place Joey Logano of Team Penske.

Coincidentally, Logano (135.021 mph) qualified second to Edwards on Friday, with Michael Waltrip Racing’s David Ragan third (also at 135.021 mph) and Busch (134.025 mph) and Hamlin (134.601 mph) fourth and fifth, respectively.

Edwards, who improved dramatically on his previous average starting position of 14.9 at New Hampshire, didn’t believe initially that he had won the pole until he got reassurance from crew chief Darian Grubb.

On the other hand, Logano wasn’t particularly thrilled to run second to a Gibbs driver for the second time in six days.

“Second—it seems like the story of our week, coming off Kentucky with a strong second-place run and then qualifying second here as well,” Logano said. “Not that I’m complaining about it, but it’s not much fun finishing second, being so close to getting trophies and pole flags and all the fun stuff.

“There’s not really much fun that happens when you finish second, but we’re close. We’ve got speed in our race car once again.”

Danica Patrick advanced to the second round of knockout qualifying and will start 20th, one spot behind Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jeff Gordon, still seeking his first victory in his last season of full-time Sprint Cup racing, will start 23rd.

“Yeah, it’s not been a good day for us with the No. 24 car,” Gordon acknowledged. “We’ve been struggling getting the car to do what we need it to do. Just real tight through the center, need to get it to rotate, need some front grip, so we will go to work on it (Saturday in practice).

“It’s disappointing that we didn’t qualify better. We typically qualify well here and perform well here. We’ll put this day behind us and go work on it tomorrow and get it ready for Sunday.”

Notes: Reed Sorenson failed to make the 43-car field. … Logano posted the fastest speed in Friday’s time trials (135.448 mph) when he paced the second of the three knockout rounds, but it’s the final round that determines the pole winner.

–30–