Final Driver Ratings For New Hampshire Sylvania 300 Following All Practices

Micah Roberts Top 10 Driver Ratings
Sylvania 300
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Sunday, September 25, 2011 - 11:16 am (PDT)

Rating    Driver     Odds     Practice 1   Qualified   Practice 2   Practice 3

 1. Jimmie Johnson 5/1          4th             10th            1st             3rd  
Three-time winner with the last coming in 2010; using new chassis this week.
 2. Kevin Harvick 7/1             11th             6th             3rd             9th
2006 winner; using same chassis this week that won at Martinsville and Richmond.
 3. Jeff Gordon 6/1                 3rd              7th             5th             2nd
Three-time winner, the last coming in 1998; four runner-up finishes since 2004.
 4. Kyle Busch 10/1               23rd             8th             7th             5th
2006 winner with only two top-five finishes in 10 races since; new car this week.
 5. Tony Stewart 6/1              14th            20th           11th            28th
Two-time winner, the last coming in 2005; using runner-up car from July NHMS race. 
 6. Ryan Newman 15/1           1st             1st              9th             6th
Three-time winner, site of his first and last win; using winning car from July NHMS race.
 7. Kasey Kahne 40/1             2nd             2nd            14th            7th
Finished sixth in July race and had one of the better overall final two practice sessions.
 8. Jeff Burton 40/1                 9th             18th            2nd             4th
Four-time winner, the last coming in 2000; best 10-consecutive lap average of practice.
 9. Denny Hamlin 8/1             19th            28th           22nd           15th
2007 winner with a track best 7.2 average finish in 11 career starts; finished third in July.
10. Kurt Busch 15/1              32nd             5th             17th           22nd
Three-time winner, the last coming in 2008; using brand new chassis this week

Note: Races run at Richmond, Martinsville and Phoenix this season can serve as a good barometer for handicapping New Hampshire due to the relatively flat banking on each.
      
Odds courtesy of the Las Vegas Hilton Super Book.

Micah Roberts, a former race and sports Director, has been setting NASCAR lines in Las Vegas since 1995. For more Roberts insights and post-practice analysis on the race, go to VegasInsider.com or follow MicahRoberts7 on Twitter.

Driver Chassis Selections for New Hampshire Sylvania 300

Note: Not all teams list their chassis selection in their PR releases

New car for Keselowski this week at Loudon (getty)

Jamie McMurray: The #1 AXE team will bring chassis #1116 to New Hampshire Motor Speedway this weekend. This will be the first time that this brand new car hits the track during the 2011 season.

Brad Keselowski: will race chassis PRS-761 during Sunday's Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS). This is a new chassis to the #2 fleet.

David Ragan: Primary: RK-759 Last ran Pocono - finished 34th; Backup: RK-747 Last ran Martinsville - finished eighth

Mark Martin: Crew chief Lance McGrew has chosen Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 5-695 for Sunday's race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. This is a brand new chassis that never has been raced or tested.

Marcos Ambrose: The #9 RPM team has prepared chassis No. 743 for the 317.4-mile event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. This DEWALT Ford Fusion was run previously this season at California, Charlotte and Michigan.

Stewart brought his runner-up Loudon car from July (Getty)

Tony Stewart: Chassis No. 14-637: This car made its debut in April at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, where it experienced some teething problems, qualifying 28th and finishing 34th with a broken rear-end gear. Prior to Martinsville, Chassis No. 14-637 was tested March 14 at the half-mile Little Rock Speedway in Rockingham, N.C. The July race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon marked the car's second career start, where it qualified second and led twice for 48 laps before finishing .773 of a second behind his teammate, Ryan Newman. It saw track time again during a Goodyear Tire Test at Phoenix International Raceway Aug. 29-30. Chassis No. 14-637 returns to New Hampshire for its third career start with this weekend's Sylvania 300.

Matt Kenseth: Primary: RK-751 (last raced at Bristol)

Kyle Busch: Chassis No. 315: This chassis will make its third-ever start in Sunday's Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. In its first outing in July's Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Busch started a distant 29th but still managed to bring home a respectable 10th-place finish. In its most recent out last month at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Busch started 17th but went on to score his fourth win of the season in the Pure Michigan 400.

Kurt Busch: and his Steve Addington-led Penske Racing "Double-Deuce" team will be racing their "PRS-761" Shell-Pennzoil Dodge Charger this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. "It's a brand new Shell-Pennzoil Dodge Charger" offered crew chief Addington.

Paul Menard: will pilot Chassis No. 341 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This #27 Chevrolet Impala was a brand new addition to the RCR fleet for the 2011 season and was last seen in competition at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (July) where Menard started ninth and finished 24th.

Harvick has two wins in the car he's using this week (Getty)

Kevin Harvick: will race chassis No. 332 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) stable. This is same car he drove to Victory Lane at Martinsville Speedway in March and Richmond International Raceway earlier this month. Harvick also racked up finishes of fourth at Phoenix International Raceway (2/27), 12th at RIR (4/30) and 21st at NHMS (7/17) in this #29 Chevrolet Impala.

Jeff Burton: will pilot chassis No. 329 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable in this weekend's Sylvania 300. This #31 Chevrolet Impala finished 15th at Bristol Motor Speedway in August. Built new for the 2010 season, Burton also drove this Caterpillar Chevrolet to a 36th-place finish after being involved in an accident at Texas Motor Speedway in November.

Clint Bowyer: will pilot chassis No. 324 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable this weekend at "The Magic Mile." This Chevrolet Impala, built new in 2011, saw action earlier this season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway where Bowyer started 28th and finished 15th.

Dave Blaney: will pilot the No. 293 chassis this weekend. TBR purchased the chassis from Richard Childress Racing. Jeff Burton drove the chassis prior to its debut with TBR. Blaney drove the chassis at Kentucky Speedway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway earlier this year. Stephen Leicht also piloted the chassis this season at Richmond International Raceway September 10th.

Newman rolls out same car that won in July (Getty)

Ryan Newman: Chassis No. 39-645: This will be the third start for Chassis No. 39-645 this season and the second start for the chassis at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. The chassis made its first start at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway in April. Newman qualified on the outside of the front row and, for the first 327 laps, looked to be a sure bet for another top-10 finish, or even a contender for the win. However, Newman's good fortunes came undone on lap 328, thanks to a broken header pipe that sapped his car's horsepower for the rest of the race, and a flat left-rear tire that sent him for a spin off turn three a little later in the race. Those events conspired to put Newman two laps down and relegated him to a 20th-place finish at the .526-mile paperclip-shaped oval. Next up for the chassis was a stop at New Hampshire in July. Newman & Company dominated the weekend at Loudon as he qualified on the pole and then led six times for a race-high 119 laps in his No. 39 Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) Chevrolet en route to his 15th career victory, his third at New Hampshire and his second career win with SHR.

Juan Pablo Montoya: Crew Chief Jim Pohlman and the #42 team are bringing chassis #1110 to New Hampshire Motor Speedway this weekend. This will be the third run of the season for this chassis after it was previously driven to a fourth-place finish at Martinsville Speedway in April and in the first event of 2011 at NHMS in July.

A.J. Allmendinger: The #43 RPM team has prepared chassis No. 729 for this weekend's event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. This Best Buy Ford has been run previously this season at Phoenix, Martinsville Speedway, Darlington Raceway and both Pocono Raceway events.

Jimmie Johnson: will pilot brand new chassis No. 689 in Sunday's event. Johnson finished 31st in backup chassis No. 590 at Richmond International Raceway in September.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Crew chief Steve Letarte and the #88 team will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-694 this weekend at New Hampshire. This is a brand new chassis that has not been raced.

Carl Edwards: RK-782 - Last ran at Loudon in July, finished 13th

- compiled by Jayski.com

Johnson and Gordon Fast in Final New Hampshire Practice, But Not The FASTEST

Hendrick duo looks good for Sunday at New Hampshire

After watching the Stewart-Haas teams finish 1-2 in the July New Hampshire race, then seeing the Childress drivers take things up a notch in Sauturday's first practice session, the Hendrick duo of Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon made it be known during happy hour that they are on the same plateau for Sunday's race.

However, it wasn't the Hendrick duo that had the top speeds. They finished second and third fastest.

It was David Stremme, with a lap speed of 130.644 mph, showing the fastest way around New Hampshire Motor Speedway during the final practice session. Not quite sure how he did it, but he took his second lap of his 11 run and made the time stick while in race trim like everyone else.

Gordon was second fastest with a lap speed of 130.416 mph followed by Johnson (130.336), Jeff Burton (130.309) and Kyle Busch (130.269).

Rounding out the top-ten fastest during final practice was pole sitter Ryan Newman (130.126), Kasey Kahne (130.060), Greg Biffle (130.042), Kevin Harvick (129.984) and Paul Menard (129.975).

Johnson, Newman and Kyle Busch had the top three 10-consecutive lap averages.

New Hampshire Practice Speeds

Johnson Fastest in Saturday's Early Loudon Practice Session, RCR Cars Fast

Jimmie Johnson led the way with a lap speed of 130.198 in Saturday's early practice session at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Jeff Burton, with a lap speed of 130.180 mph, was second fastest, followed by Kevin Harvick (130.149), Greg Biffle (130.109) and Jeff Gordon (130.006).

Rounding out the top-ten fastest during practice were Clint Bowyer (129.975) who was sixth fastest, Kyle Busch (129.962), Regan Smith (129.958), Ryan Newman (129.918) and AJ Allmendinger (129.905).

Just by looking at the speeds of Burton with Harvick and Bowyer close behind, it looks like the RCR cars have something special to compete with the Stewart-Haas tandem this week. Tony Stewart was 11th fastest, but four-time NHMS winner Burton led the way with the fastest 10-consecutive lap average.

The drivers have one more practice session scheduled on the day.

New Hampshire Practice Speeds

New Hampshire Sylvania 300 Preview

By Micah Roberts
VegasInsider.com

From the front row to finishing 1-2 at New Hampshire in July (Getty)

Race 2 of NASCAR's Chase for the Championship takes us to Loudon, New Hampshire for some flat-track racing. This will be the second time the series has stopped at the one-mile facility. Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart had a 1-2 finish in July which gives us a lot to work with when breaking down who might do well this week.

In addition to the July race, we can also reference Phoenix and both Richmond races to get a read on who the top drivers might be this week. Although none of the three tracks have the same layout, the banking and short distances are similar which means that if certain teams do well on one track, they’re likely to do the same on the other.

Even though Martinsville is half the distance of New Hampshire, we’re seeing a lot more teams incorporate their chassis set-up -- and sometimes the actual car -- from there to the three other tracks just because of the banking, or lack thereof.

We also can put a lot more weight into what we just saw two weeks at Richmond because it is the most recent run, a race won by Kevin Harvick with Carl Edwards and Jeff Gordon in tow.

However, based on how this wild season has gone with five first-time winners and 14 different drivers taking the checkers, it could be argued that past trends mean as little as they ever have.

It’s almost a crap shoot every week and it doesn’t help that this years ridiculous practice schedule with only two practice sessions happening and both come before qualifying. It’s become harder than ever to weed out the good practice times in race trim from those in qualifying trim. The fastest 10-consecutive lap stat helps, but there is nothing like having a ’Real’ Happy Hour where all the cars have their optimum set-up ready to race.

What we have now is teams getting their cars set perfect for race conditions and then having to reset it for qualifying. Even though they have notes to re-set the car back up that was the best during practice, it’s almost impossible to get it back as perfect after resetting it for qualifying. It’s like starting all over again and they don’t have a practice to show that they got it back correct, they have to make the changes needed during the race.

If anything, I think the practice schedule has a lot to do with all the parity we’re seeing right now.

Kevin Harvick is bringing a very strong car this week (Getty)

However, we're in luck this week as we have the traditional schedule of practices. The first practice session will be held before qualifying, which will be used almost exclusively in qualifying trim. On Saturday, we have two sets of practices which will be used for race trim only. Those who are good in practice will be able to roll the exact same set-up out onto the track.

Kevin Harvick leads a list of drivers who should be keyed on this week just because of the car he's using. The 2006 New Hampshire winner will be using a chassis that most recently won at Richmond, which also happened to win at Martinsville. All flat tracks, and they account for half of his season wins.

It also helps siding with Harvick this week knowing that he loves racing on these types of tracks.

"I always look forward to going to New Hampshire, " Harvick said earlier this week. "I like that type of track because it’s flat, similar to the tracks out west where I started my racing career. There’s a lot of braking. You have to really work on getting your car through the center of the corner and still have the forward drive you need up off the corner.”

Jeff Gordon has three Loudon wins over his career in 33 starts with his last win coming during his magical year of 1998. Since 2004, he’s been runner-up on four separate occasions and hasn’t finished worse than 15th. On the basis of his strong Richmond run recently, his Phoenix win and his current form everywhere, Gordon should be considered one of the favorites to win this week.

Gordon's 11th-place run in July may not looks so strong, but there was way more to the story in that race.

“We had a fast car that day," said Gordon, "and I’m really looking forward to going back there this weekend. Even after losing the lap because of the battery change, we were still able to work our way up through traffic pretty well. I wasn’t able to run any blowers (because of the electrical issues) and I think that’s what blew the right front at the end of the race. Hopefully, we don’t have any issues like that Sunday.

Denny Hamlin didn’t have a good run at Richmond two weeks ago, a track where he has always dominated, but he did show up for the last Loudon race with a third-place finish. He was also runner-up in the first Richmond race. In 11 starts on the track, Hamlin has finished in the top-10 eight times with a win in 2007.

Hamlin's goal will be to start his weekend off strong in qualifying trim.

"New Hampshire can be a tricky place to pass so we’ll be looking to qualify close to the front because that goes a long way at this track," explained Hamlin. "We know we need to be running in the top-five or top-10 all day to be in position at the end.”

Jimmie Johnson is a three-time winner at New Hampshire with the last win coming in the spring race last season. In 19 starts he’s finished 15th or better in 17 of them. This is the time that Johnson is supposed to turn it on like he has every year. No one has more Chase wins than Johnson.

Ryan Newman was strong in the first Loudon race this year and it gave him his third career New Hampshire win. He's always done well on the track over his career, but doesn't exactly know why.

“New Hampshire has always been a good place for me, I’m not a hundred percent sure why. It’s the place of my first win, when I hadn’t won in a long while, 70 some races. I won again there. This past July we were able to qualify and finish 1-2 at Stewart-Haas. It’s a fun race, it’s a very finesse racetrack."

Tony Stewart settled for his fourth runner-up finish at New Hampshire since his last win in 2005. Stewart has two career wins on the track. Because of how good Stewart and Newman were the last time around, they should be again considered top candidates to win.

Top 5 Finish Prediction:
1) #29 Kevin Harvick (7/1)
2) #14 Tony Stewart (6/1)
3) #48 Jimmie Johnson (5/1)
4) #24 Jeff Gordon (6/1)
5) #39 Ryan Newman (15/1)

Driver Notes & Quotes for New Hampshire

Kevin Harvick is using his Martinsville and Richmond winning car (Getty)

KEVIN HARVICK ON NEW HAMPSHIRE: “The hardest thing is just making your car turn in the middle of the corner and being able to have enough forward drive up off (at NHMS). It always seems like the New Hampshire race comes down to a track position strategy call on two tires or four tires toward the end of the race. Track position will play a big part, but getting your car to handle right will probably play an equal part. I always look forward to going to New Hampshire. I like that type of track because it’s flat, similar to the tracks out west where I started my racing career. There’s a lot of braking. You have to really work on getting your car through the center of the corner and still have the forward drive you need up off the corner.”

HARVICK CHASSIS CHOICE: Kevin Harvick will race chassis No. 332 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) stable. This is same car he drove to Victory Lane at Martinsville Speedway in March and Richmond International Raceway earlier this month. Harvick also racked up finishes of fourth at Phoenix International Raceway (2/27), 12th at RIR (4/30) and 21st at NHMS (7/17) in this No. 29 Chevrolet Impala.

GREG BIFFLE ON NEW HAMPSHIRE: “We’re taking the car that we had a decent run with at Richmond a couple of weeks ago. It was the best we’d run at Richmond in a long time so the guys worked hard to get the car turned around and ready to go for this weekend. We had a really fast car last weekend and had a random problem take us out of contention. If we can avoid things like that, I really think we have a chance to get a win before the end of the season. We’ve got a special Ford40mpg.com paint scheme this weekend and we’re ready to get it on the track.”

TONY STEWART ON NEW HAMPSHIRE: “It’s a big motor deal (NHMS). With the corners being so tight, you’ve got to put a lot of gear in the car to get it up off the corner. Forward bite is always an issue there too, so it’s hard to get up off the corners. Then you’ve got long straightaways where you can kind of relax a little bit. Coming into the corners, you use a lot of brake, and it’s hard to not only get the car stopped, but to get it to turn. Then you go through that challenge all over again. Obviously, I like it because I’ve had success there. But at the same time, it’s a tough track to pass on. You can be a couple of tenths faster than a guy, but it still takes you 20 laps to get by him. There are other tracks on the circuit where it’s hard to pass, but we still go out and put on good shows there, too. Every race at Loudon seems to be a pretty good race. So, I like it. I enjoy racing there even though it is hard to pass. But when you’ve got a good car, it’s always fun to race. We were really good there in the spring. I am hoping that, that is a scenario, where what we had is going to be really close to what we are going to want this time around again. Both Ryan (Newman) and I were really fast all day long, so I am hoping we can have a similar weekend.”

DALE EARNHARDT JR. ON NEW HAMPSHIRE: “I like Loudon. Just getting the car to turn in the middle is important. That track is really flat and it is very hard to get a car to rotate in the middle of the corner really good.”

RYAN NEWMAN ON NEW HAMPSHIRE: “New Hampshire has always been a good place for me. I’m not a hundred percent sure why. It’s the place of my first win, when I hadn’t won in a long while, 70 some races. I won again there. This past July we were able to qualify and finish 1-2 at Stewart-Haas. It’s a fun race, it’s a very finesse racetrack. You can’t overdrive the car there very much because it’s so flat. I’ve always said the birthplace of track position. It’s a relatively short race. Basically you only need to stop for fuel two, maybe three times depending on cautions. You don’t get a whole lot of opportunities to work on your racecar. You start up front; you have a good chance of staying up front. It’s a place we’ve done well at. Our short track program at Stewart-Haas Racing is strong. It’s a good place for us to go after the first stop at the Chicago race.”

Edwards using July NHMS car (Getty)

CARL EDWARDS ON NEW HAMPSHIRE: “We ran really well at Richmond so I’m pretty excited about racing at New Hampshire. I was nervous about it until that Richmond run. Hopefully we can run that well at New Hampshire. If we were to win there it would be huge for Roush Fenway, for the Chase and for me personally to win a Cup race at one of my toughest tracks.”

EDWARDS CHASSIS CHOICE: The No. 99 team will be bringing RK-782 this weekend to New Hampshire. This was a brand new car in July when it finished 13th atNew Hampshire. The car will sport a new Scotts Winterguard paint scheme.

JIMMIE JOHNSON ON NEW HAMPSHIRE: “I think I was more intense in the early years (in his approach to the Chase) because any driver has a lot of thoughts and you’re trying to analyze all these situations. Before you win a race, you wonder how you are going to handle those situations and you are trying to mentally prepare for a variety of situations. Once you win a race, you’re like ‘Oh, ok, this is how I do it’; this is how I deal with pressure; this is how I hold someone off; this is how I find a way by someone; adjustments you need to make late in a race. You start building some confidence in your own decision making process. You get into the championship format and it’s the same thing. So, over time, I’ve built a lot of confidence, in truthfully the way I think and the things that I focus on and I feel like I have a better road map on where to focus. I don’t waste a lot of extra time worrying about other areas. Throughout all of that, you know, I’m not the smartest guy and I don’t have a ton of brain power, it’s allowed me to kind of sit back and relax and have fun.”

JOHNSON CHASSIS CHOICE: Johnson will pilot brand new chassis No. 689 in Sunday’s event. Johnson finished 31st in backup chassis No. 590 at Richmond International Raceway in September.

JEFF GORDON ON NEW HAMPSHIRE: “We had a fast car that day (July race at NHMS), and I’m really looking forward to going back there this weekend. Even after losing the lap because of the battery change, we were still able to work our way up through traffic pretty well. I wasn’t able to run any blowers (because of the electrical issues) and I think that’s what blew the right front at the end of the race. Hopefully, we don’t have any issues like that Sunday. That is not how we wanted to start the Chase (24th place finish at Chicago on Monday). We battled hard throughout the event, and that’s what we’re going to do at New Hampshire and the other eight races. I do feel confident whenever we race here, but a lot of that is the car and the setup. This track has some very unique things that make it challenging, though. It’s flat, and there are some bumps getting into the corners. While we ran well here a few months ago, we’ll see what we have on Friday when we unload. Hopefully, we’ll be just as competitive and battling for the win come Sunday.”

KURT BUSCH ON NEW HAMPSHIRE: “We’re off to a good start in the Chase. We led laps and finished sixth in our Shell/Pennzoil Dodge at Chicagoland. That’s a good start, but that’s just one race. We have fast cars. We need to continue to have fast pit stops. We have to keep up with the track with good adjustments and make the car better during the race. If we are successful in managing those factors, we’ll be in position to compete for wins and have good finishes. That’s what we need to do the next nine weeks to challenge for the championship.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI ON NEW HAMPSHIRE: “It’s always a lot of fun when we go up to Loudon to race. The fans really love what we do and they show it by filling the stands. It’s one of those tracks we can go to and almost guarantee that it will be sold out. The racing that we put on at New Hampshire sometimes get a bad rap, but I think it has produced some of the most-exciting finishes over the last few years. It’s a one-mile track, but it races like a short track. There’s a lot of beating and banging and bumping and running – all of the things that the fans love.”

CLINT BOWYER ON NEW HAMPSHIRE: “Flat tracks like New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Richmond International Raceway always fit my driving style. I love racing up there. It is a lot of fun. Nothing in particular, it just fits my driving style. It has more of a progressive banking to it in turns one and two. You get down there and it almost feels like it is reverse camber. It’s hard to make your car work down there. While you do have to give them (Chase contenders) some more respect because there is so much on the line, you still race them the same way you would all year long. If they race you tough, you race them tough. It’s a two-way street.”

BOWYER CHASSIS CHOICE: Clint Bowyer will pilot chassis No. 324 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable this weekend at “The Magic Mile.” This Chevrolet Impala, built new in 2011, saw action earlier this season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway where Bowyer started 28th and finished 15th.

Matt Kenseth is using his Bristol car this week (Getty)

MATT KENSETH ON NEW HAMPSHIRE: “New Hampshire is a place that we just haven’t done particularly well at in the past. It isn’t that I dislike the track, but everyone has tracks they like more than others, and Loudon just isn’t one of our best ones. We had a great car and pit stops last weekend, but didn’t get the finish we deserved, so I’m hoping that we can get a good run on Sunday to put us back into contention. The best handling cars at Loudon can turn well in the center of the corner, and typically if you can get your car to work well in those corners, you can have a good day at New Hampshire.”

KENSETH CHASSIS CHOICE: Primary: RK-751 (last raced at Bristol)

KYLE BUSCH ON NEW HAMPSHIRE: “Loudon is a pretty particular racetrack. It’s tough. It’s not like Phoenix before the repave. It’s not like Dover at all. It’s a flat racetrack and it’s really typical of a tough racetrack to pass on. You can’t just have a really good racecar and finish up front. You have to keep track position. You have to keep up all day and make everything work.”

MARK MARTIN ON NEW HAMPSHIRE: “I’ve felt since mid-season that we were figuring some things out. At Indy we had a great run and would’ve battled for the win if we just had a little more fuel. This team is really good. More so than we’ve shown. And they’re capable of good things. We’re putting our nose down right now and really working hard and its showing. We had a good run at Richmond last week and another one at Chicago. Hopefully we can continue to build on that.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA ON NEW HAMPSHIRE: “I think we ran short on fuel the last time we were in New Hampshire; our Target team usually runs really good there. That is one of the first ovals that we have been running really good at and are consistent. Right now it is one of those deals where you go to the track every week not knowing what is going to happen. It is exciting because we are working on the cars really hard, finding some stuff and moving in the right direction. We are going to have a really cool paint scheme this weekend too. It is the Degree Men car. A black and yellow car and I saw pictures the other day and was like ‘Ooh. That is awesome!’”

PAUL MENARD ON NEW HAMPSHIRE: “It’s one of those tracks (NHMS) that we’ve gone to and felt pretty good about our car during practice, we qualify in the top 10, and then we just struggle really bad during the race. We’ve done a little short-track testing this year to try and help that. Especially after the last visit to Loudon (NHMS); it was pretty embarrassing. Hopefully the testing pays off. We tested at the Milwaukee Mile, which is as close to Loudon as you’re going to get. I don’t think passing at either end of the race track is that much different from each other. In turn two, there’s a wall that you get close to, but it doesn’t get in the way. In turn four, there’s a lot more room to make a pass.”

JEFF BURTON ON NEW HAMPSHIRE: “You really have to be aware of what your car is doing and how it’s driving (while saving fuel and trying to pass at NHMS). Sometimes, running lower than the other guy isn’t hurting your tires and sometimes it is. You have to be aware as a race car driver what your car is doing and if you’re abusing it or not. The problem with all of that is you never know when there’s a caution coming out. If you make the decision to sit there and ride and be smart then a caution comes out in 50 laps, then you’ve wasted your time, and you should have been going. On the other hand, if a caution doesn’t come out, then you were really, really smart. You have no way of knowing that and that’s what makes these races so interesting. When that caution flies, it affects so much what is going to happen in the rest of the race. We’re having less cautions, and I don’t know why. That has had a huge impact on pit strategies. The fewer cautions you have, the more likely you are to have fuel mileage become an issue.”

REGAN SMITH ON NEW HAMPSHIRE: “The first thing that comes to mind about New Hampshire is fuel mileage. Maybe it’s because we’re just coming off a fuel mileage race in Chicago or that we (Furniture Row Racing) ran out of fuel at the July New Hampshire race while running in the top 15. I don’t like the fuel mileage races and it seems like we’ve had too many of them this season. We’ve had a couple of top-20 finishes the past two races (18-Richmond, 17-Chicago) but would like to see that improve to top 15s or top 10s. I like the New Hampshire track and thought we had a good setup for our Furniture Row Chevrolet at the July race. Hopefully the car setup will be as good or better this weekend.”

JAMIE MCMURRAY ON NEW HAMPSHIRE: “New Hampshire is a fun track to race, long straights and flat turns make track position important as it can be difficult to pass. We had a strong run here in the first race this season. We ran up front, but had a loose wheel after one of our stops and had to get off sequence with the leaders. We tried to stretch it to the end on fuel mileage, but came up a couple of laps short in the end. We had a better car than our results showed, hopefully we can turn that around this weekend. We also have a new sponsor on our No. 1 Chevrolet in Loudon, AXE Cool Metal will be on the car for this race, so I look forward to getting to meet a lot of their guests.

Brad Keselowski Team Preview for New Hampshire

The Miller Lite Crew has done a lot of celebrating this year (Getty)

Brad Keselowski
No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger
Sylvania 300
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
September 25, 2011

* · This Week’s Charger… The No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger team will race chassis PRS-761 during Sunday’s Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS). This is a new chassis to the No. 2 fleet.

* · No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge in 2011… After 28 points-paying events, Keselowski and the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger team are tied for sixth with Ryan Newman in the 2011 Chase for the Championship standings. Keselowski sits just 14 points from the lead following a fifth-place finish in the Geico 400 at Chicagoland Speedway on Monday.

* · One Year Ago… Keselowski picked up his first career NSCS pole award in the 2010 edition of the Sylvania 300 at NHMS. He has since scored a second pole award, which came in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway this May.

* · Driver Turned Crew Chief… Crew chief Paul Wolfe has an extensive driving history at NHMS. The 34-year-old has one career start in the NASCAR Nationwide Series at the venue, along with 11 starts in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East (KNPSE) competition. In those 11 KNPSE starts, Wolfe accumulated four top-five finishes, six top-10 results and 137 laps led.

* · Wicked Great Taste… The featured tag line on the bumper of the “Blue Deuce” this weekend at New Hampshire will be “Wicked Great Taste.” Wicked is a commonly used adjective in New England as an extreme variation of the word “very.” In this case it is used to describe the award-winning taste of Miller Lite.

* · Have a Beer with Brad… Keselowski will make an appearance at Shooter’s located at 190 State Route 3 in Belmont, N.H. beginning at 6:30 PM on Friday, September 23.

* · The Rest is History… In the first-ever race for Penske Racing at New Hampshire, Rusty Wallace started from the 33rd position and finished in Victory Lane on July 11, 1993. In 60 combined starts at the oval, Penske Racing has notched four wins (Ryan Newman – two, Wallace – one and Kurt Busch – one), seven poles, 14 top-five and 29 top-10 finishes. Penske Racing entries have led 927 laps in those races.

Brad Keselowski on racing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
“It’s always a lot of fun when we go up to Loudon to race. The fans really love what we do and they show it by filling the stands. It’s one of those tracks we can go to and almost guarantee that it will be sold out. The racing that we put on at New Hampshire sometimes gets a bad rap, but I think it has produced some of the most-exciting finishes over the last few years. It’s a one mile track, but it races like a short track. There is a lot of beating and banging and bumping and running – all of the things that the fans love.”

Brad Keselowski on his solid start to the 2011 Chase for the Championship
“In my mind Chicago was one of the weaker tracks for us in the Chase. To come out of there with a fifth-place finish was exactly what we needed to do. There are a lot of guys in the Chase that can’t say the same thing. Now we go to a portion in the schedule where I think we can really do some damage, starting this weekend in Loudon. Thinking back to the spring race, that was a race we’d all like to have back. That 35th-place finish hurt our chances of getting into the top-10 and being able to use our bonus points. We had a good car then and I have no reason to think we haven’t gotten better.”

Crew chief Paul Wolfe on this weekend’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
“Loudon is a unique racetrack. It has aspects of both Richmond and Phoenix all rolled into one. We work really hard to get the car to turn the center (of the corners) and maintain forward drive for late into a run. It’s a very flat layout, which presents a lot of different challenges. With no banking to catch the car, it can be very hard on brakes because the straightaways are long and you can build up a lot of speed before you get to the corner. It is so hard to pass, you really need the complete package to win there – good brakes, handling and pit stops.”

- Penske Racing, Press Release

Jeff Gordon is Ready for New Hampshire This Time Around

Jeff Gordon has three New Hampshire wins, but none since 1998 (Getty)

LOUDON, N.H. (September 20, 2011) – Jeff Gordon and the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet are all charged up heading into Sunday’s Sylvania 300 at New HampshireMotor Speedway (NHMS).

In July at “The Magic Mile,” Gordon led by more than three seconds before his No. 24 Chevrolet lost power at the halfway point of the 301-lap event. The three-time NHMS winner then lost a lap on pit road while the crew replaced the battery.

The real issue was the alternator not charging the battery, so Gordon was forced to limit electrical use the remainder of the event. He battled back from a lap down to atop-five position, but the right-front tire blew on the penultimate lap and Gordon limpedto an 11th-place finish.

“We had a fast car that day, and I’m really looking forward to going back there this weekend,” said Gordon. “Even after losing the lap because of the battery change,we were still able to work our way up through traffic pretty well.

“I wasn’t able to run any blowers (because of the electrical issues) and I think that’s what blew the right front at the end of the race. Hopefully, we don’t have anyissues like that Sunday.”

He did experience several issues during his 24th-place finish in the rain-delayed event at Chicago on Monday. Gordon battled back from a lap down after a tire issuebefore the fuel cell ran dry in his No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet two laps from the checkeredflag. He finished 24th and is now 11th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pointstandings, 25 markers out of the lead.

“That is not how we wanted to start the Chase,” said Gordon. “We battled hard throughout the event, and that’s what we’re going to do at New Hampshire and the other eight races.”

In 33 starts at the 1.058-mile track, Gordon has three wins and three poles. He also has 14 top-fives, 18 top-10’s and has led 1,226 laps – all tops in those categories.

“I do feel confident whenever we race here, but a lot of that is the car and the setup,” said Gordon. “This track has some very unique things that make it challenging, though. It’s flat, and there are some bumps getting into the corners.

“While we ran well here a few months ago, we’ll see what we have on Friday when we unload. Hopefully, we’ll be just as competitive and battling for the win come Sunday.”

A win would certainly re-charge Team DuPont for the final eight races of the 2011 season.

- Performance PR Plus for DuPont Motorsports, Press Release

Las Vegas Hilton Super Book Odds to Win Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire

Newman and Stewart finished 1-2 in the first New Hampshire race (Getty)

SYLVANIA 300
NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2011

CARL EDWARDS 12
JIMMIE JOHNSON 5
KYLE BUSCH 10
JEFF GORDON 6
MATT KENSETH 40
KEVIN HARVICK 7
DENNY HAMLIN 8
KURT BUSCH 15
TONY STEWART 6
DALE EARNHARDT JR 20
GREG BIFFLE 40
KASEY KAHNE 40
CLINT BOWYER 15
RYAN NEWMAN 15
BRAD KESELOWSKI 12
JOEY LOGANO 40
MARTIN TRUEX JR 40
DAVID RAGAN 75
JUAN MONTOYA 60
MARK MARTIN 40
JEFF BURTON 40
JAMIE McMURRAY 50
BRIAN VICKERS 100
DAVID REUTIMANN 100
PAUL MENARD 100
AJ ALLMENDINGER 100
MARCOS AMBROSE 100
REGAN SMITH 200
BOBBY LABONTE 1000
FIELD 300

New Hampshire Odds & Ends

At New Hampshire Motor Speedway:

History

·         Groundbreaking for New Hampshire International Speedway, as New Hampshire Motor Speedway was originally named, was Aug. 13, 1989.

·         The first NASCAR Sprint Cup race was on July 11, 1993.

·         Renamed New Hampshire Motor Speedway in 2008.

Notebook

·         There have been 33 NASCAR Sprint Cup races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway; one per year from 1993 through 1996 and two per year since.

·         Four drivers have competed in all 33 races: Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte and Joe Nemechek.

·         Mark Martin won the first NASCAR Sprint Cup pole.

·         Rusty Wallace won the first NASCAR Sprint Cup race.

·         There have been 17 different pole winners, led by Ryan Newman (five).

·         20 different drivers have won, led by Jeff Burton (four).

·         Jimmie Johnson (2003) and Kurt Busch (2004) are the only drivers that have posted season sweeps. Those are also the only back-to-back winners.

·         Hendrick Motorsports has won eight races, more than any other organization.

·         The deepest in the field that a New Hampshire race winner started was 38th, by Jeff Burton in 1999.

·         There have been five winners who started from the pole. The last race winner to win from the pole was Ryan Newman this past July.

·         Jeff Burton led all 300 laps raced in the 2000 fall race.

·         Five drivers got their first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win at New Hampshire: Joe Nemechek (1999), Robby Gordon (2001), Ryan Newman (2002), Clint Bowyer (2007) and Joey Logano (2009).

·         Two drivers got their first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole at New Hampshire: Patrick Carpentier (2008) and Brad Keselowski (2010).

·         The last four races that have not finished under caution have had a margin of victory of less than a second.

NASCAR in New Hampshire

·         There have been 33 NASCAR Sprint Cup races in New Hampshire, all at NHMS.

·         14 drivers in NASCAR’s three national series (all-time) are listed as New Hampshire natives.

·         There has been one race winner from New Hampshire in NASCAR’s three national series: Jamie Aube. Aube, from Manchester, won a NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Oxford Plains Speedway in 1987.

New Hampshire Motor Speedway Data

Race #: 28 of 36 (9-25-11)

Track Size: 1.058 miles

Race Length: 317.4 miles (300 laps)

Banking/Corners: Variable at 2 & 7 degrees

Banking/Straights: 1 degree

Driver Rating at New Hampshire

Tony Stewart                 114.0
Jeff Gordon                   107.3
Jimmie Johnson            105.8
Denny Hamlin                100.5
Dale Earnhardt Jr.           97.1
Kurt Busch                     95.4
Jeff Burton                      95.0
Ryan Newman                94.6
Clint Bowyer                   94.5
Kevin Harvick                  91.1

Note: Driver Rating compiled from 2005-2011 races (13 total) at New Hampshire.

Qualifying/Race Data

2010 pole winner: Brad Keselowski, 133.572 mph, 28.515 seconds

2010 race winner: Clint Bowyer, 106.769 mph, 09-19-10)

Track qualifying record: Brad Keselowski (133.572 mph, 28.515 sec., 09-19-10)

Track race record: Jeff Burton (117.134 mph, 7-13-97)

- NASCAR Media Services

New Hampshire Storylines: Sylvania 300

Tony Stewart wants to be like Kurt Busch in 2004. Denny Hamlin wants to mimic the Jimmie Johnson of 2006 and 2010.

Everything can happen over the next nine races. There’s no need for any rushes to judgment, on the positive or negative side of Monday’s race at Chicagoland Speedway.

Only one driver in the seven-plus year history of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup has won the first Chase race and went on to win the championship – Busch in 2004. On the other end of the spectrum, a bad start doesn’t always mean a championship deathblow. Johnson finished 25th in last year’s Chase-opener, only to eventually win his fifth consecutive title. In 2006, he opened up the Chase with a 39th-place finish. Hamlin finished 31st at Chicagoland, the worst of the Chase contenders.

Race No. 2 in the Chase might be more indicative of things to come. In four of the seven Chase’s, the eventual championship finished in the top five – and Johnson won each of the last two.

New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the previous Chase opener, now hosts pivotal race No. 2, this Sunday afternoon, the Sylvania 300.


NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES


Smoke On Fire To Start Chase
Though winless throughout the 26-race regular season, Tony Stewart did NOT limp into the Chase. On the contrary, Stewart had three top 10s in four races coming into the Chase opener at Chicagoland.

His Monday win at Chicagoland (his third at the track) drummed up a number of notable bullets…

- It catapulted him from ninth to second in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings. He’s now just seven points behind leader Kevin Harvick.
- He now has at least one victory in 13 consecutive seasons. Richard Petty owns the record for most consecutive season with a win, at 18.
- He is the 16th different winner this season, most through 27 races since 2003, and three short of the all-time record of 19.

Harvick The Closer Nabs Points Lead
Clicking off position-after-position at the end of Monday’s Chicagoland race, Harvick reiterated his standing as the series’ top closer.

It also padded what is the second points lead of his Chase career. Harvick now leads the points standings by seven points over Tony Stewart. Only once has Harvick ever led the points during the Chase – after the first Chase race in 2006.

This is the second time Harvick has led the points this season. The first was after the July Daytona race.

Junior Opens Up Chase With Bang
Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s last top-five finish came in early June, over three months ago. Entering the Chase, seven of his previous nine finishes were outside the top 20.

So momentum wasn’t a discussion topic. A top 10 would have been thrilling.

Instead, Earnhardt surprised onlookers with a third-place run – his best finish in a Chase race since a runner-up at Martinsville in 2008.

Earnhardt now sits fifth in points – up from 10th – just 13 points off the lead.

Chasers Look To Shrug Off First-Race Jitters
Though the top six finishers at Chicagoland were all Chase drivers, there were a number of Chase competitors who struggled.

Four Chase drivers finished outside the top 20: Matt Kenseth (21st), Kyle Busch (22nd), Jeff Gordon (24th) and Denny Hamlin (31st).

Kenseth and Busch, with post-race Driver Ratings of 114.2 and 95.0, performed much better than their finish would suggest. They were victims of an empty gas tank, and their finish suffered for it. Kenseth had a double-whammy. Post-race, he was dropped to 21st after officials determined JJ Yeley pushed him on the final lap – NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rule Book infraction.

But Gordon and Hamlin each had rough go throughout. Gordon’s Driver Rating was 63.6; Hamlin’s was 52.3.

Red Hot To White Hot At New Hampshire?

It’s a good time to be Stewart Haas Racing.

Tony Stewart just nabbed his first win. Ryan Newman finished eighth to move up a spot in the standings. And now, the series heads to New Hampshire, where the two drivers started and finished 1-2.

Newman won the July New Hampshire race from the pole, thus far his only win of the season. It was his third victory at the Loudon track.

Spoiler Alert: Non-Chasers Excel At NHMS
After Monday’s race at Chicagoland, it seems doubtful that any driver will surprise and steal a win from a championship contender. The top six and eight of the top 10 at Chicago were Chase drivers.

Still, here are the last four winners of the New Hampshire Chase race: Clint Bowyer, Mark Martin, Greg Biffle and Bowyer again. None are Chase drivers.

- NASCAR Media Services

Stewart-Haas Dominate New Hampshire, Newman and Stewart Finish 1-2

By Matt Taliaferro

Athlon Sports

Ryan Newman captures first win of 2011 season, Stewart runner-up (Getty)

A typical fuel-mileage race on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit finds a surprise winner in Victory Lane — a driver and team running mid-pack that have nothing to lose by rolling the proverbial dice and stretching a tank of gas to the max.

Sunday’s Lenox Industrial Tools 301 was not your typical fuel mileage race.

Ryan Newman passed Clint Bowyer on a lap 260 restart and managed to milk 41 laps worth of fuel around New Hampshire Motor Speedway’s 1.058-mile layout to grab his first win of the 2011 season.

Newman and Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, Tony Stewart, flexed their muscles early and often in Loudon, N.H. Both were top-3 cars throughout the event’s three practice sessions. They followed that by sweeping the front row in qualifying, with Newman edging Stewart for the pole.

Newman then led a race-high 119 laps — including the final 72 — while conserving just enough fuel to hold off a hard-charging Stewart in the closing laps.

“One of the best cars here that we saw was the 14 (Stewart),” Newman said. “There were a couple other cars at different times, but the 14 was mired back in traffic. He had to run the wheels off of it to get up to where he had some track position so he could try to run us down.

“Fortunately it stayed green. I was more worried about a yellow coming out with five (laps) to go. Do we have enough fuel for a green-white-checkered (finish)? Usually those things that come and squash us didn’t happen today.”

Stewart settled for second, while Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top 5.

Read More Here....

New Hampshire Results

Final New Hampshire Driver Ratings Following All Practice Sessions

Micah Roberts Top 10 Driver Ratings
Lenox Industrial Tools 301
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Sunday, July 17, 2011 - 10:46 am (PDT)

Rating    Driver     Odds     Practice 1   Qualified    Practice 2    Practice 3

 1. Jimmie Johnson 5/1         24th            28th             9th             1st      
Three-time winner, including last year; using eighth-place Richmond chassis. Killed it during Happy Hour.
 2. Clint Bowyer 15/1             1st              12th             2nd            23rd               
Two-time winner, including 2010; best 10 consecutive lap average in practice 2.            
 3. Tony Stewart 12/1            2nd              2nd              1st            22nd                
Two-time winner, the last coming in 2005; second best 10 consecutive lap average in practice 2.            
 4. Denny Hamlin 6/1            10th            14th              6th             9th                               
2007 winner; leads all drivers with 7.6 average finish. Runner-up in two of last three NHMS races.
 5. Jeff Gordon 8/1                13th             7th               4th            13th
Three-time winner, the last coming in 1998. 14 top-five finishes in 32 career starts.                               
 6. Kyle Busch 8/1                 19th           19th              12th           20th                        
2006 winner while driving for Hendrick Motorsports; using third-place Michigan car.      
 7. Ryan Newman 25/1          3rd              1st              14th            3rd                         
Two-time winner, site of where he won his first career race at in 2002; average finish of 13th.          
 8. Kurt Busch 10/1                6th              4th              20th           10th    
Three-time winner has finished last six NHMS races 13th or better; debuts new car this week.
 9. Kevin Harvick 8/1             12th           18th              10th           11th                        
2006 winner that finished fifth in both 2010 races; using winning Martinsville car this week.
10. Jeff Burton 30/1               17th            6th                7th             4th                                  
Four-time winner, the most of any driver at NHMS. Had perhaps his best final practices of 2011.

Note: Phoenix and Richmond races can be useful data in handicapping New Hampshire. Although the each have different layouts, the one similarity is the relatively flat banking. Through the years, if a driver does well on one, he usually does well on all the others during the same season. Jeff Gordon won at Phoenix while Kyle Busch took Richmond.
              
Odds courtesy of the Las Vegas Hilton Super Book.

Micah Roberts, a former race and sports Director, has been setting NASCAR lines in Las Vegas since 1995. For more Roberts insights and post-practice analysis on the race, go to VegasInsider.com or follow MicahRoberts7 on Twitter.

Stewart and Johnson Top Speed Charts in Final New Hampshire Practices

Johnson fast!!!

Three-time New Hamsphire winner, Jimmie Johnson, with a lap speed of 129.591 mph, led the way with the fastest lap during the final New Hampshire practice session. Johnson not only had the best single lap time, but he also led the way with the fastest 10 consecutive laps.

Juan Pablo Montoya was second fastest with a lap speed of 129.292 mph, and was followed by Ryan Newman (129.278), Jeff Burton (129.169) and Brad Keselowski (129.156).

Rounding out the top-ten fastest in “Happy Hour” were Joey Logano (129.112), Brian Vickers (129.059), Martin Truex Jr. (129.007), Denny Hamlin (128.959) and Kurt Busch (128.920).

Top-5 Final New Hampshire Practice Speeds:
#48-Johnson 129.591
#42-Montoya 129.292
#39-Newman 129.278
#31-Burton 129.169
#2-Keselowski 129.156
slowest: #46-Darnell 127.040 & #32-Bliss 127.036.

Fastest 10 Lap Average:
#48-Johnson 128.755
#31-Burton 128.669
#20-Logano 128.463

Stewart Fastest in Saturday's Early Session

Stewart ready to roll!!

Two-time New Hampshire winner, Tony Stewart, with a lap speed of 129.169 mph, was the fastest during the second Cup practice session at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Stewart also had the second fastest 10 consecutive lap average.

Second fastest behind Stewart on the speed chart was Clint Bowyer with a lap speed of 129.156 mph. Bowyer ended up posting the fastest 10 consecutive lap average making him a strong candidate to win his third New Hampshire race and second in a row.

Stewart and Bowyer were followed by Brad Keselowski (129.151), Jeff Gordon (128.976) and Martin Truex Jr. (128.972) in single lap times.

Rounding out the top-ten fastest in practice were Denny Hamlin (128.924), Jeff Burton (128.902), Paul Menard (128.841), Jimmie Johnson (128.837) and Kevin Harvick (128.758).

The interesting driver out of the bunch is Jeff Burton who has been struggling everywhere all season. He is a four-time winner on the track, but hasn't done so since 2000. But it's hard to deny his performance on the track during practice along with how well his teammates have run.

Top-5 from Saturday's first New Hampshire Practice:
#14-Stewart 129.169
#33-Bowyer 129.156
#2-Keselowski 129.151
#24-Gordon 128.976
#56-Truex, Jr. 128.972
slowest: #7-Wimmer 126.215 & #60-Skinner 125.990.

Fastest 10 Lap Average:
#33-Bowyer 128.421
#14-Stewart 128.287
#31-Burton 128.239

Practice Speeds From Saturday

Newman and Stewart Sit on New Hampshire Front Row; Driver Post-Qualifying Quotes

Ryan Newman captured the pole for Sunday's New Hampshire Cup race with a qualifying lap speed of 135.232 mph which was good enough to set a new track record.

This was Newman’s first Cup pole of the 2011 season, his 47th series career pole and his fifth series pole at the one-mile Loudon track.

Sharing the outside pole with a qualifying lap speed of 135.064 mph, will be Newman’s boss and teammate, Tony Stewart, and they will be followed by David Reutimann (134.763) starting third, Kurt Busch (134.340) fourth and Brad Keselowski (134.150) will start from fifth.

Rounding out the top-ten starting positions will be Jeff Burton (134.122) starting sixth, Jeff Gordon (134.075) seventh, Juan Pablo Montoya (133.788) eighth, Paul Menard (133.778) ninth and Kasey Kahne (133.755) starts tenth.

The teams will return to the track on Saturday for two more practice sessions (9:30 AM – 10:20 AM & “Happy Hour – 11:45 AM – 12:45 PM – EDT) before Sunday’s race, which is scheduled to get underway a little after 1:00 PM (EDT).

Starting Lineup

Driver Quotes following Friday's Qualifying Session:

Newman and Stewart are on the front row at New Hampshire (Getty)

RYAN NEWMAN – POLE WINNER
“Well, it was really good. The car felt really good. It wasn’t a perfect, perfect lap, but the car has a lot of speed. And I’m just really proud of the U.S. Army Chevrolet guys and Stewart-Haas Racing and hopefully if Clint (Bowyer) doesn’t get a good lap, we can be on the front row here, which would be really cool. But we’ll see. We’ve got our fingers crossed.”

TONY STEWART – QUALIFIED 2ND:
ON STEWART-HAAS RACING SWEEPING THE FRONT ROW: “It’s awesome. We have a great group of guys at SHR. We’ve got great engines and great chassis from Henricks and I’m just really proud of our organization. We’ve been fighting hard here and we’re in the middle of making some changes internally and it’s definitely not an easy time for us at the shop. But we’ve got a group of guys there that are racers and they don’t care how bad it gets. They don’t care how much of a struggle it is. They keep focused and keep working. This is for all of our guys at the fab shop and prep shop and the job that they do to get us here. Plus, I’ve got a pretty good driver over there (Ryan Newman, pole winner); he’s gotten two poles in two nights here. So he’s doing a pretty good job.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA – QUALIFIED 8TH:
“It was good. We had a really good practice. Our Target Chevy is pretty competitive. And in qualifying, it got really loose on the second lap; it was the fastest lap, but I got really loose out of (Turn) 4 and lost a ton of time there. But we have a good race car so I’m pretty positive.”

JAMIE MCMURRAY – QUALIFIED 25TH
“We qualified right about where we practiced today. We worked a lot on race set up this afternoon before qualifying so there really wasn’t any surprise because the track temperatures stayed pretty consistent with earlier in the day. We have a few things that we want to try tomorrow during our two practice sessions, so hopefully we will have our Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet ready to be competitive on Sunday.”

MARK MARTIN – QUALIFIED 24TH

Martin won at Loudon in fall of 2009

TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING RUN. “Pretty good, pretty good second lap there. Work in progress and it was pretty good.”

YOU’VE BEEN AROUND THIS TRACK A FEW TIMES, ANYTHING DIFFERENT? “Nah, it’s the same old thing as it is every week. Trying to make the car go through the corners faster than everybody else. That’s the challenge.”

IT’S SUPER HOT HERE THIS WEEKEND, USUALLY NOT THIS HOT, DOES THAT CHANGE ANYTHING? “No, it’s all good.”

ANYTHING YOU’VE NOTICED ABOUT THE NEW TIRE? “It seems like it really hooks up a lot better than the tire we’ve had in the past. That’s well for racing but we’ll have to still wait and see but certainly seems like a great addition, it should race quite a bit better than what we’ve had for restarts and all.”

HOW ABOUT THE CHALLENGES OF THIS TRACK AND HOW SCRAPY IT GETS, IT NARROWS AND THAT SORT OF THING? “It’s a tough race track especially with the multi-angle banking, crossing those it always has been. It’s kind of what it is.”

DO YOU LIKE RACING IT? “No, not really.”

JEFF BURTON QUALIFIED 6TH:
WHAT ABOUT THAT LAP, NOT BAD YOU CAN USE SOME GOOD STUFF HAPPENING. “Yeah we need some good stuff. It’s been a hard year but everybody is still working hard, everybody is really focused. We’ve had a good weekend, I mean its only one day but it’s been a good weekend. Every time we’ve been on the track the car is running good. We’ve made some changes to the car that have made it better. If we can qualify in the top 10 I’ll be happy with that, but we need a good weekend.”

WHAT ABOUT THIS RACE TRACK AND THIS RACE? “It’s always a crazy race. These restarts are really, really tough here. This track is really slick on restarts and that’s our big deal. It’s really hard to have your car good late in a run and also early in a run but you have to be able to do both here.”

KURT BUSCH - QUALIFIED 4TH:
“It was a good lap. We picked up speed from practice which is what you always want. We were confused if we needed to try and get it (fastest lap) on the first lap or stick to our game plan and get it on our second lap like we had been doing. It will be interesting to see how the overall stats line up, if guys did it on the first lap or second. We were just caught in between. We didn’t know which one to go for. A top-five starting spot is great. It keeps us up front in the mix and gives us a good pit selection.

“We were tight coming off of Turn 2 on our first lap and that’s just low air pressures. We were trying to decide which lap was going to be quicker for us because we had seen guys quicker on their first lap and we had seen consistency on our second lap. But overall, a great lap for our Shell-Pennzoil/AAA Dodge. AAA has a lot of support up here and it’s great to have them on board. It’s a flat one-mile track and I like it.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI - QUALIFIED 5TH:
“I don’t think that will hold up at the top (provisional pole). That should end up in the top 10. I expected to run better on the second lap (his qualifying time came on the first lap). My teammate Kurt Busch will be tough, he should be right up there at the top. We got a good lap in; it’s a respectable place to start. You always want more. We started practice very strong, but fell off at the end. This was a good pickup from where we ended up in practice. It’s not where you start, it’s where you finish. This track has a short-track feel to it which I think is good; it serves the sport well. It’s a lot of fun to watch. I like this place.”

MATT KENSETH - QUALIFIED 30TH:
“That will probably put us 25-30th, not too good. We have been way far off all day today for some reason. We are definitely working on it and we have the two practices to work on it tomorrow, so that is good.”

MARCOS AMBROSE - QUALIFIED 22ND:
“I am hoping the sun will come back out. That was okay. We have been struggling and we are getting better every time we go out, so that is a good thing. I just want a decent spot for the race. If we can be in the front half of the field I will be happy. We haven’t done much yet in race trim, but I feel good that our team is committed to get the car better. It has been a little bit of a tough day so I am looking forward to having a sleep on it and coming back tomorrow fresh.”

CARL EDWARDS - QUALIFIED 15TH:
“That was a pretty good lap. It is better than practice by a tenth-and-a-half. It is not the pole but I think it might be a top-10 starting spot. That is what we are hoping for and we will just have to wait and see what happens. There are a lot of fast cars coming up, so we will have to wait and see.”

GREG BIFFLE - QUALIFIED 20TH:
“I was hoping for better. I don’t think that is bad but I think we have a good car and the facts are we were just a little too tight. We haven’t been tight since we got here. We had been struggling with rear grip. That run there was really tight. I had to come out of the gas and really lay down on it the second lap to pick up. I am a little disappointed. I think our car is faster than that. That will be good in the race I guess to be starting where we are at and having a faster car.”

YOU’VE HAD A LOT OF CHANGES THE LAST COUPLE WEEKS WITH THE NEW BABY AND NEW CREW CHIEF. HOW ARE YOU HANDLING ALL THIS NEW STUFF? “Really good. Really good. Everything is running good and everything. The car is good. I am really looking forward to the race.”

DAVID REUTIMANN - QUALIFIED 3RD:

Great lap for David Reutimann Friday

Are you surprised with your qualifying lap? "It didn't feel that good at all, but thankfully the Aaron's Dream Machine has been pretty good since we unloaded. It ended up being okay there, but the clouds are coming now and it's not going to do us any favors. The track is going to cool down some. Hopefully this will hold up for a good starting position on Sunday."

How important is qualifying at New Hampshire? "It's important everywhere we go. It's so hard to pass anymore, but we unloaded pretty good and had a good Aaron's Dream Machine. The lap itself didn't feel all that good, but in the end it was good enough for third."

What do you attribute to the recent roll you've been on? "Finally running like we're supposed to. I don't know if you call it a roll, but it's certainly been better than it has been. Just because you qualify upfront, it doesn't mean you're going to stay there, but it certainly does get your weekend off to a good start. Just all due to the improvements we made on our cars and things we were missing and felt like some areas we were struggling in as far as our cars were performing. It's not that we had bad cars, it's just that we were behind a little bit. Hopefully starting to close the gap a little bit. Last week was the first time we've run our new generation-type car and that was a big improvement over what we've had. It's just qualifying here, but we'll see how it stacks up in race trim before we know if there is any kind of roll or not."

KASEY KAHNE - QUALIFIED 10TH:
How was your car in qualifying? "It was pretty decent. We picked up a little from practice. I was just a little bit loose getting into the corners. I didn't really get into the corners as good as I would have liked. It's still alright and still a decent lap."

How tough is this race track? "It just depends - sometimes it can be. The tires are what gets you a lot. People will put on two and zero and track position will really kill you at times here. Just trying to keep up with that. Overall, it's a pretty cool track to race."

DENNY HAMLIN - QUALIFIED 14TH:
Were you pleased with your qualifying lap? "We were going to end up better than what we have the last couple times, but still we're not blazing fast in frontend speed. Got to get a little faster on the short run it seems like. That kind of rolls over into qualifying where we're going to end up somewhere around 15th or so. It's just one of those things where we just have to keep working on the short run and I think we'll get better overall."

What is the key to success at this race track? "It's tough - it's just a tough race track. I think this tire we have here this weekend is a little bit better so it's going to be a little bit more controlled I feel like on restarts. It's still going to be a tough one to get a hold of."

JOEY LOGANO - QUALIFIED 16TH
Was your qualifying lap better than what you expected after practice? "Definitely better. They did a good job. Zip (Greg Zipadelli, crew chief) and the boys put their heads together. I told them this was the first time I've come here and I feel like I know what I'm looking for in a race car and for race trim, but for qualifying trim I was kind of up in the air after practice there. I think we had a good direction to go. The guys did a good job with it and we'll have a decent starting spot with that. That's definitely an improvement for us. We're happy about it. Starting position here is pretty big."

How did your car handle in qualifying? "The guys did a good job improving my car for sure. The Home Depot Toyota has been good in race trim. Qualifying trim is what I was nervous about and I didn't feel like I had a really good car. Just kept telling myself before I went out there that I needed to get back in the Cup mode - I just ran Nationwide practice for the last hour and a half. I just kept trying to re-run what I had before and really focused in and I felt like I did everything I was supposed to do. I think I wish I had one more lap - the car seemed like it was getting better as I kept going there. I think one more lap would have been faster, but I bet 90 percent of the guys out here say the same thing. I think we know what to work on the next time we come here to make speed in qualifying so that should help."

Kyle Busch starts 19th, won at NHMS in 2006 (Getty)

KYLE BUSCH - QUALIFIED 19TH:
How was your car in qualifying? "Our Interstate Batteries Camry was just too snug to the center and a little edgy back to the gas. I think we've got a good car for the race and we've got two sessions tomorrow to work on it and make it better."

BRIAN VICKERS - QUALIFIED 23RD:
How was your qualifying lap? "We ran short on time there at the end of practice and we didn't get to scuff our tires like we wanted and didn't get to make some of the changes like we wanted, but we took a big swing at it after qualifying. The guys did a good job. There's a couple areas I thought we could've improved upon, but considering where we were I liked it."

What do you think of this race track? "I like it. It's unique to our circuit. A flat one mile like this, progressive-banked - it's easy to get beside someone and hard to complete the pass, which makes for a lot of side-by-side racing."

- From Chevy, Ford, Toyota and Dodge Motorsports Press Releases