News Director 
Column By: AMY HARROP / RPW – LOUDON, NH – It was a beautiful day for racing in New Hampshire on Sunday afternoon, with sunny skies and uncharacteristic Fall temperatures in the upper 80’s.
The day was declared “Dale Earnhardt Jr.” Day in New Hampshire, in commemoration of the fan-favorite driver’s impending retirement. Popular country duo Dan + Shay was the pre-race entertainment, playing a concert on the frontstretch prior to driver introductions. Fast N’ Loud star Richard Rawlings led the field to green as the honorary pace car driver.
Kyle “Rowdy” Busch started on the pole after posting the fastest speed of 135.049 in qualifying on Friday. Kyle Larson started on the outside pole, trying to better his performance from July where he led all events on race weekend only to be plagued by mistakes during the main event. New England fan-favorite Joey Logano made headlines all race weekend as he missed qualifying on Friday due to four failed inspection attempts, forcing him to start in the rear of the pack. Logano also missed all of final practice after being sidelined by NASCAR and forced to sit in his car for the entirety of the 50-minute practice on Saturday afternoon, unable to make any laps on the track. This “punishment” led to strong words not only from Logano, but drivers like Dale Earnhardt Jr. as well who were in opposition to the extent of the penalty.
Kyle Busch elected the outside line for the initial start and quickly pulled away from the rest of the field. Ryan Blaney was on the move early, showing strength in his #21 car as he moved into the runner-up spot on lap 1 after starting back in fourth. After being forced to start in the back of the pack, Joey Logano had navigated through more than half of the field by lap 10, fighting his way up to 17th. Last week’s race winner Martin Truex Jr. found stride after starting the race back in fifth, making his way around Blaney for second place on lap 13. The leaders started approaching lap traffic on lap 20, which allowed Truex to reel in Busch and cut his lead down to just .1 seconds. After making several failed attempts to get under Busch, Truex Jr. finally accomplished the move on lap 40, taking the lead away from Busch in turn 1. New Hampshire Motor Speedway is the track that Truex Jr. considers his “home track”, seeing that he grew up just a few hours away in New Jersey. Truex Jr.’s #78 machine favored the track as it heated up to 119 degrees, pulling into a 1.5 second lead by lap 50. Kyle Larson started his voyage to the front late in the first stage, making his way around Kyle Busch for the runner-up spot on lap 160. Larson’s spotter, Derek Kneeland, is a New England Native and a fellow driver. Kneeland grew up in Maine and attempted to qualify for the Oxford 250 this year during NASCAR’s off week just a few short weeks ago. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson and a handful of other drivers had reported overheating issues to their crew chiefs by lap 170, battling the uncharacteristically hot temperatures. Truex Jr. went on to win the first stage after leading 39 laps, collecting ten stage points. This was Truex’s 19th stage victory of the season.
Truex Jr. and Larson came off pit road in the same order they came onto pit road: first and second. Ryan Blaney faced troubles on the pit stop, losing a handful of positions as he fell to ninth place. Truex Jr. elected the outside line for the restart, immediately pulling away from the rest of the pack. After facing troubles last week in Chicagoland, championship contender Ricky Stenhouse’s bad luck continued as he surrendered his lead lap position to leader Truex on lap 136. Another championship contender, Ryan Newman, also lost his lap to Truex Jr. on lap 147. On the final lap of the stage, championship contender and 2016 NHMS winner Kevin Harvick spun around in turn two after making contact with the #3 of Austin Dillon. This wasn’t the first on-track incident for the two drivers, who have exchanged unpleasantries on track and in person over the past few years. Kurt Busch, race leader Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Danica Patrick, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Earnhardt’s nephew Jeffrey Earnhardt were all collected in the incident after becoming blinded by the smoke from the spin. This left only one Stewart-HAAS driver unscathed, the #14 of Clint Bowyer. Kyle Busch wound up navigating through the smoke to win the second stage and collect ten stage points. The red flag was then drawn because the #41 and #4 cars were stuck together on the backstretch. This incident ended the days of both Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick, completely shaking up the playoff points. Both drivers were later evaluated and released from the infield care center. Truex Jr. managed to only make one pit stop under caution, making repairs to the body of his #78 machine. Dale Earnhardt Jr. also made numerous pit stops under caution, falling to 33rd position and 3 laps down.
Kyle Busch elected the outside line for the restart and pulled away with the lead as Matt Kenseth fell to third behind Erik Jones. After facing troubles all weekend, Joey Logano managed to finally break into the top ten on lap 160. After feeling a vibration on lap 168, Denny Hamlin made his way down pit road on lap 169 to change all four tires and assure that all of the lug nuts were properly tightened on the #11 machine. It was later discovered that Hamlin indeed had a loose right front wheel prior to the pit stop. After being involved in the earlier wreck with Kevin Harvick, Austin Dillon fell one lap down to leader Kyle Busch on lap 210. Smoke started billowing out of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car on lap 216 after he had a left front tire go down, continuing his rough day in the #88 machine. Earnhardt brought his car down to the pits under green, losing more laps to the leader. A caution came out for debris in turn 3 on lap 221, just before reaching the standard 75-lap fuel window at NHMS. Kyle Busch won the race off of pit road as Matt Kenseth lost two spots, falling to fourth place. Austin Dillon was awarded the “Lucky Dog” by race officials under the caution, which was a great break for him but a bad break for the #11 of Hamlin, who was working feverishly to get back onto the lead lap before the caution came out.
After falling a lap down to the leader earlier in the race, Ryan Newman broke back into the top 10 on lap 230. Race leader Kyle Busch had extended his race lead to 3.1 seconds by lap 250, displaying dominance over the rest of the field. The #5 of Kasey Kahne came to a slow on lap 162 in turn 4 after facing a rear suspension issue. This devastatingly ended the day for Kahne and the #5 crew. Martin Truex Jr. was the big winner on pit road, moving up 6 positions and into the lead in front of the #18 of Busch. Truex only took two tires while all other leaders elected to take four tires. Truex got kicked to the outside line on the restart, losing the lead to Kyle Busch. The #38 of David Ragan slapped the wall on the restart in turn two, leading to another late-race caution. The #6 of Trevor Bayne took a spin on the backstretch after the restart, adding to the bank of late-race cautions. By lap 190, Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson had a solid 2-car breakaway at the front of the field. Kyle Busch went on to win the race, capture stage points and punch his ticket to the second round of the playoffs. Martin Truex Jr. continues to lead the Cup Series by 24 points over Kyle Larson.
“All in all, it was just a great day. We ran up front all day, we executed and we did what we needed to do,” he said in his victory speech with Rutledge Wood. Kyle led a total of 187 of 300 laps, dominating the race in his M&M’s Toyota.
Kyle Larson talked about his consistency in his post-race press conference, saying that his solid runs will help him in the first round of the playoffs. “We should be fairly locked into the next round, which is good,” he said. He was right, seeing that it was announced after the race that both he and Brad Keselowski have clinched their way into the second round of the playoffs by points.
Crew chief Adam Stevens addressed last week’s pit stop issues in the team’s post-race press conference, saying that they made the decision based off of data and still believes that the team’s choice was a ‘good call’. “It just shows what our team is capable of…we’re pretty proud of our effort,” he said about the win. Team owner Joe Gibbs talked about his love for New Hampshire and New England race fans in the post-race press conference, saying that the team has a lot of sponsorship partners in the area. He weighed in on the removal of the September race weekend next year, saying that it was an understandable move for the sport, but he still has a soft spot for the area. “I really appreciate the crowd here. It takes a lot to do this every week,” he said.
In his post-race conference, Kyle Busch talked about narrowly missing the accident that collected a handful of championship contenders at the conclusion of the second stage. “It was a close call. That was certainly a defining moment of the race,” he said. On his perspective coming into the final race of round one, he says that collecting more points is vital. “We’re just trying to collect stage points so we have that cushion at the beginning of every round we enter,” he said.
Catch the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series for the final race of round one of the playoffs, next Sunday, October 1st at Dover International Speedway. The race broadcasts at 2:00 pm on NBCSN.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race – ISM Connect 300
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Loudon, New Hampshire
Sunday, September 24, 2017
1. (1) Kyle Busch (P), Toyota, 300.
2. (2) Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, 300.
3. (10) Matt Kenseth (P), Toyota, 300.
4. (13) Brad Keselowski (P), Ford, 300.
5. (5) Martin Truex Jr. (P), Toyota, 300.
6. (8) Erik Jones #, Toyota, 300.
7. (16) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 300.
8. (25) Daniel Suarez #, Toyota, 300.
9. (4) Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, 300.
10. (39) Joey Logano, Ford, 300.
11. (14) Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, 300.
12. (3) Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 300.
13. (18) Ryan Newman (P), Chevrolet, 300.
14. (12) Jimmie Johnson (P), Chevrolet, 300.
15. (24) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (P), Ford, 300.
16. (11) Jamie McMurray (P), Chevrolet, 300.
17. (20) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 300.
18. (27) Danica Patrick, Ford, 300.
19. (17) Austin Dillon (P), Chevrolet, 300.
20. (19) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 300.
21. (22) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 299.
22. (30) Ty Dillon #, Chevrolet, 298.
23. (31) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 298.
24. (23) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 298.
25. (28) Landon Cassill, Ford, 298.
26. (29) Aric Almirola, Ford, 297.
27. (33) Corey LaJoie #, Toyota, 297.
28. (35) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 297.
29. (21) David Ragan, Ford, 296.
30. (32) Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, 296.
31. (26) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 295.
32. (36) * Brett Moffitt(i), Toyota, 294.
33. (34) * Gray Gaulding #, Toyota, 293.
34. (15) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 289.
35. (9) Kasey Kahne (P), Chevrolet, 289.
36. (6) Kevin Harvick (P), Ford, Accident, 148.
37. (7) Kurt Busch (P), Ford, Accident, 148.
38. (37) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, Accident, 143.
39. (38) * Cody Ware, Chevrolet, Rear Gear, 74.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 108.958 mph.
Time of Race: 02 Hrs, 54 Mins, 47 Secs. Margin of Victory: 2.641 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 6 for 32 laps.
Lead Changes: 6 among 3 drivers.
Lap Leaders: Kyle Busch (P) 1-39; M. Truex Jr. (P) 40-77; K. Larson (P) 78; M. Truex Jr. (P) 79-149; Kyle Busch (P) 150-264; M. Truex Jr. (P) 265-267; Kyle Busch (P) 268-300.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Kyle Busch (P) 3 times for 187 laps; M. Truex Jr. (P) 3 times for 112 laps; K. Larson (P) 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 78,42,18,77,21,20,2,48,11,4
Stage #2 Top Ten: 18,20,2,77,42,78,48,11,21,1
