New Hampshire Internat'l Speedway - LENOX Industrial Tools 300
RACE WINNER: DENNY HAMLIN
Martin Truex Jr.: 3rd (started 9th)
- Just another great run for the #1 team! They fought a tight-in, loose-off car all day but probably really can’t complain with the finish. He led 46 laps and had a dominant car at the end, but Denny Hamlin taking two tires on the last pit stop proved to be too much. Martin made it an agonizing time for Jeff Gordon though – he raced him hard lap after lap for 2nd place. I was terrified that Jeff would give him a good whack, especially as Denny got further and further away. Finally, Jeff got by him clean and as I’d figured, got side-by-side with Denny as the checkers flew. I thought he’d let Martin have it in his post-race interview for holding him up, but I guess Ella makes everything better!
- Quotes:
“From the get-go, I took the green and pushed real bad going in to one and I was real loose off. It just stayed that way. I am not real sure why, but Denny kind of snookered us all with those two tires anyway. I think I could have gotten out front, I would have been all right. But I would get right there and couldn't get any closer and burned the front tires up trying to make it turn. Then I got to racing with Jeff and it was a lot of fun after that. It was frustrating though because I thought we had the car to beat. Six months ago I would have killed somebody for this third place run but now we know what we are capable of.”
- This moves Martin to 10th in driver points and 11th in owner points.
Dale Earnhardt Jr: 4th (started 6th)
- Like Martin, he had a great car and led a race-high 64 laps. But sometimes a really good car can make you cocky, and right at the end the #8 team didn’t make enough of an adjustment to battle for the win. This is interim crew chief Tony Gibson’s last race before Tony Eury Jr. returns as head of the team next weekend. Gibson’s done an outstanding job and Junior acknowledged him and his hard work in his post-race interview.
Quotes:
“My car just came and we ran great all day long. We didn't adjust enough for the track change there at the end. As the track cooled off, we were getting a little tight. I have got to thank Tony Gibson for being the crew chief the last six weeks. He has done such a great job. I can't thank him enough. This team owes him an incredible debt because of where we are in the points. Martin Truex Jr. had a good run; DEI had a great day. We led a lot of laps and ran up front all day. That is just what I want every week and that is what we are getting here lately.”
- In driver and owner standings, Dale Jr. remains 12th and 13th, respectively.
Kurt Busch: 21st (started 2nd)
- Another typical day for Kurt – strong run in the beginning, and then bad luck before a mediocre finish. He led 10 laps and was in the top-5 when a slow pit stop combined with other drivers taking two tires dropped him back in the field. He picked his way up near the top-10, but in the closing laps had a heated battle with David Ragan. In the last turn, that combat went bad when Ragan dove in deep and locked up his front tires. He slid into Kurt and sent the #2 Dodge spinning into the wall. Kurt, clearly irritated, managed to still charge his way across the finish line, over-revving the engine and billowing tire smoke. He even lost his rear bumper in the process! Ragan had a smart-ass smile on his face post-race and hinted that Kurt was at fault, but in quotes he apologized profusely (probably after he saw that he locked up his tires, thus causing the wreck). Kurt has yet to make comments about the incident, which is likely a good thing because I doubt they’d be forgiving.
- Despite the frustration, Kurt moved up to 15th in standings.
Casey Mears: 23rd (started 21st)
- Handling problems and the inability to get track position marred the #25 team all day. In the first third of the race he took two tires, but the car wasn’t good enough to cope with it and he dropped back again. Then he made contact with Ryan Newman that damaged his right-front fender. This all added up into a depressing day.
- Casey drops to 21st in points as a result.
David Reutimann: 38th (started 17th)
- This was really disappointing! David was really good in practice and I had high hopes for a nice top-20 finish, but a plug wire came loose and dropped the #00 down a cylinder. When the crew fixed the issue, the team went several laps down and was relegated to riding for the rest of the day. Just a shame because the car had a lot of potential.
Quotes:
“When we started the race we weren't very good, but then we came in and made an adjustment -- we went back out and the car was much, much better. Then we dropped a cylinder, which was when the plug wire fell off and we lost a bunch of laps trying to get it put back on. That pretty much relegated us to where we were going to be. The car was pretty decent the better part of the day, but once we got seven laps down it was just too hard to battle back from that. It was probably the most competitive car that we've had on this type of race track. We qualified for the race, didn't tear the car up and made some gains today so I'm happy. Maybe we can take this car somewhere else now and that's a good thing.”
- David still sits 41st in points.
Brian Vickers: DNQ (28th qualifying spot disallowed after failing post-qual. inspection)
- This was very disheartening. The #83 Toyota was found to be too low on the left-front after qualifying. Despite NASCAR allowing crew chief Dough Richert and the team to try and fix the problem, it was a lost cause and they were sent home. I find it hard to believe that Doug would try something funny knowing that if caught, they’d be sent home. I’m nervous about further penalties. If Doug is suspended, I’m not sure the team is strong enough to keep everything together. If points are docked, Brian’s shot of getting into the top-35 takes a nosedive. It just sucks, overall.
Michael Waltrip: DNQ
Dale Jarrett: DNQ
Other Notes:
- Like in the Busch race, there was quite a scary moment. Just after green flag pit stops, Joe Nemechek was just driving around and minding his own business when all of a sudden, his right rear wheel came off. Not only did it leave its home on the car, it nearly left the track! The force of it wrenching off the axle bounced it up the banking and sent it flying almost over the catch fence! Then it careened back down the track, nearly striking other cars. I was amazed it didn’t cause a huge wreck. Poor Joe!
- Dave Blaney got Toyota’s first Cup pole (he also got their first Busch pole). He led the first lap and 29 more after that, but an ill-handling car slapped him with a dismal 29th place finish, one lap down.
- Quotes from Race2Win
Martin Truex Jr.: 3rd (started 9th)
- Just another great run for the #1 team! They fought a tight-in, loose-off car all day but probably really can’t complain with the finish. He led 46 laps and had a dominant car at the end, but Denny Hamlin taking two tires on the last pit stop proved to be too much. Martin made it an agonizing time for Jeff Gordon though – he raced him hard lap after lap for 2nd place. I was terrified that Jeff would give him a good whack, especially as Denny got further and further away. Finally, Jeff got by him clean and as I’d figured, got side-by-side with Denny as the checkers flew. I thought he’d let Martin have it in his post-race interview for holding him up, but I guess Ella makes everything better!
- Quotes:
“From the get-go, I took the green and pushed real bad going in to one and I was real loose off. It just stayed that way. I am not real sure why, but Denny kind of snookered us all with those two tires anyway. I think I could have gotten out front, I would have been all right. But I would get right there and couldn't get any closer and burned the front tires up trying to make it turn. Then I got to racing with Jeff and it was a lot of fun after that. It was frustrating though because I thought we had the car to beat. Six months ago I would have killed somebody for this third place run but now we know what we are capable of.”
- This moves Martin to 10th in driver points and 11th in owner points.
Dale Earnhardt Jr: 4th (started 6th)
- Like Martin, he had a great car and led a race-high 64 laps. But sometimes a really good car can make you cocky, and right at the end the #8 team didn’t make enough of an adjustment to battle for the win. This is interim crew chief Tony Gibson’s last race before Tony Eury Jr. returns as head of the team next weekend. Gibson’s done an outstanding job and Junior acknowledged him and his hard work in his post-race interview.
Quotes:
“My car just came and we ran great all day long. We didn't adjust enough for the track change there at the end. As the track cooled off, we were getting a little tight. I have got to thank Tony Gibson for being the crew chief the last six weeks. He has done such a great job. I can't thank him enough. This team owes him an incredible debt because of where we are in the points. Martin Truex Jr. had a good run; DEI had a great day. We led a lot of laps and ran up front all day. That is just what I want every week and that is what we are getting here lately.”
- In driver and owner standings, Dale Jr. remains 12th and 13th, respectively.
Kurt Busch: 21st (started 2nd)
- Another typical day for Kurt – strong run in the beginning, and then bad luck before a mediocre finish. He led 10 laps and was in the top-5 when a slow pit stop combined with other drivers taking two tires dropped him back in the field. He picked his way up near the top-10, but in the closing laps had a heated battle with David Ragan. In the last turn, that combat went bad when Ragan dove in deep and locked up his front tires. He slid into Kurt and sent the #2 Dodge spinning into the wall. Kurt, clearly irritated, managed to still charge his way across the finish line, over-revving the engine and billowing tire smoke. He even lost his rear bumper in the process! Ragan had a smart-ass smile on his face post-race and hinted that Kurt was at fault, but in quotes he apologized profusely (probably after he saw that he locked up his tires, thus causing the wreck). Kurt has yet to make comments about the incident, which is likely a good thing because I doubt they’d be forgiving.
- Despite the frustration, Kurt moved up to 15th in standings.
Casey Mears: 23rd (started 21st)
- Handling problems and the inability to get track position marred the #25 team all day. In the first third of the race he took two tires, but the car wasn’t good enough to cope with it and he dropped back again. Then he made contact with Ryan Newman that damaged his right-front fender. This all added up into a depressing day.
- Casey drops to 21st in points as a result.
David Reutimann: 38th (started 17th)
- This was really disappointing! David was really good in practice and I had high hopes for a nice top-20 finish, but a plug wire came loose and dropped the #00 down a cylinder. When the crew fixed the issue, the team went several laps down and was relegated to riding for the rest of the day. Just a shame because the car had a lot of potential.
Quotes:
“When we started the race we weren't very good, but then we came in and made an adjustment -- we went back out and the car was much, much better. Then we dropped a cylinder, which was when the plug wire fell off and we lost a bunch of laps trying to get it put back on. That pretty much relegated us to where we were going to be. The car was pretty decent the better part of the day, but once we got seven laps down it was just too hard to battle back from that. It was probably the most competitive car that we've had on this type of race track. We qualified for the race, didn't tear the car up and made some gains today so I'm happy. Maybe we can take this car somewhere else now and that's a good thing.”
- David still sits 41st in points.
Brian Vickers: DNQ (28th qualifying spot disallowed after failing post-qual. inspection)
- This was very disheartening. The #83 Toyota was found to be too low on the left-front after qualifying. Despite NASCAR allowing crew chief Dough Richert and the team to try and fix the problem, it was a lost cause and they were sent home. I find it hard to believe that Doug would try something funny knowing that if caught, they’d be sent home. I’m nervous about further penalties. If Doug is suspended, I’m not sure the team is strong enough to keep everything together. If points are docked, Brian’s shot of getting into the top-35 takes a nosedive. It just sucks, overall.
Michael Waltrip: DNQ
Dale Jarrett: DNQ
Other Notes:
- Like in the Busch race, there was quite a scary moment. Just after green flag pit stops, Joe Nemechek was just driving around and minding his own business when all of a sudden, his right rear wheel came off. Not only did it leave its home on the car, it nearly left the track! The force of it wrenching off the axle bounced it up the banking and sent it flying almost over the catch fence! Then it careened back down the track, nearly striking other cars. I was amazed it didn’t cause a huge wreck. Poor Joe!
- Dave Blaney got Toyota’s first Cup pole (he also got their first Busch pole). He led the first lap and 29 more after that, but an ill-handling car slapped him with a dismal 29th place finish, one lap down.
- Quotes from Race2Win
