Driver Chassis Selections: 2013 Camping World RV 301 at New Hampshire

Kasey Kahne is using his winning Bristol chassis at Loudon Sunday

#2-Brad Keselowski: Primary Chassis: PRS-845. Last Raced: All-Star Race (finished 22nd). Backup Chassis: PRS-847. Last Raced: Backup at several tracks (not raced)

#5-Kasey Kahne: Crew chief Kenny Francis has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 5-769 for the New Hampshire race. Kahne has raced this car four times this season, notably reaching Victory Lane at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway on March 17. During those four starts, he has averaged a 4.75 starting spot on the strength of outside pole positions at Phoenix and Bristol and a fourth-place start at Richmond, Va. Kahne also lined up 11th in this car on June 2 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway.

#9-Marcos Ambrose: The No. 9 team will bring chassis No. 728 to New Hampshire Motor Speedway this weekend. The team competed with chassis No. 728 at Martinsville Speedway where Ambrose started from the outside pole and posted an eight-place finish.

#10-Danica Patrick: Chassis No. 10-791: Chassis No. 10-791 made its debut in April at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway, where Patrick started 30th and finished 29th. She and the GoDaddy team then tested the car June 25 and 26 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.

#14-Tony Stewart: Chassis No. 14-792: This car made its debut in April at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway. It started 21st but Stewart wheeled it into the top-five prior to a green-white-checkered finish. There, Stewart was bumped out of the way in the two-lap scramble and instead of finishing fifth, he wound up a disappointing 18th. Chassis No. 14-792 gets another crack at a strong run when it rolls out of the transporter for this weekend's race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.

#15-Clint Bowyer: Primary Chassis No. 761 raced to a runner-up finish at Martinsville in April. The No. 15 team also used the chassis for their May 14-15 Goodyear Tire Test at Loudon

#16-Greg Biffle: Primary Chassis: RK-856 Brand new chassis was tested by Biffle and the team a few weeks ago at Loudon. Backup Chassis: RK-822 Last ran Martinsville finished 9th.

#17-Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: Primary Chassis: RK- 858- new chassis. The team brought this machine to the Loudon test last month to get it dialed in for Sunday's Camping World RV 301. Backup Chassis: RK-801 - chassis raced numerous times by No. 99 in 2012.

#22-Joey Logano: Primary Chassis: PRS-855. Last Raced: All-Star Race (finished 2nd). Backup Chassis: PRS-844. Last Raced: Backup and several tracks (not raced)

#27-Paul Menard: will pilot chassis No. 419 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. This No. 27 Chevrolet SS was previously run this season at Martinsville Speedway and Richmond International Raceway.

#29-Kevin Harvick: will pilot chassis No. 420 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable in the Camping World RV Sales 301 on Sunday afternoon. Harvick most recently drove this Chevrolet to Victory Lane at Richmond International Raceway in April.

#31-Jeff Burton: will race chassis No. 421 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. This No. 31 Chevrolet was utilized earlier this season at Martinsville Speedway in March.

#39-Ryan Newman: Chassis No. 39-783: Newman will pilot Chassis No. 39-783 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. This chassis debuted at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway in April, where Newman had a strong run going but was relegated to a 31st-place finish after suffering a pair of flat tires. Since then, Chassis No. 39-783 has been outfitted with body updates and was utilized for a test session at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last month.

#43-Aric Almirola:: The No. 43 team will race the chassis No. 736 this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

#48-Jimmie Johnson: will drive chassis No. 806, a new chassis, at New Hampshire. Chassis No. 778 serves as the backup.

#88-Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Crew chief Steve Letarte and the No. 88 team will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-721 this weekend at New Hampshire. Earnhardt most recently raced this chassis to a 10th-place finish at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway on April 27.

#99-Carl Edwards: RK - 857: last ran at Loudon test in June. RK - 819: last ran in Martinsville

- compiled by Jayski.com

2012 New Hampshire LENOX Industrial Tools 301 Preview

Stewart-Haas drivers swept the 2011 New Hampshire season (Getty)

By Micah Roberts

VegasInsider.com

Half of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup season is in the books with 18 races remaining heading into New Hampshire this week. Matt Kenseth expanded his points lead to 25 points last week at Daytona -- the largest lead by anyone this season, and is showing that he’s not your ordinary lame duck driver. How long his lead will last remains to be seen, but based on his performance in the first half, 8-to-1 odds at the LVH Super Book looks pretty enticing.

In the LVH’s latest Sprint Cup Championship odds, Jimmie Johnson is the 3-to-1 favorite followed by Tony Stewart (6/1), Kenseth, Denny Hamlin (8/1), Dale Earnhardt Jr (8/1) with Greg Biffle and Brad Keselowski at 10-to-1.

We’ve had 12 different winners in the first half with Kesleowski and Stewart leading the way at three wins a piece. On a consistency platform, it’s Johnson, Kenseth and Earnhardt Jr with 13 top-10 finishes. The next closest is Greg Biffle with 10 top-10’s.

My brain says Johnson will win it all, but my heart roots for Earnhardt Jr. and I’m not even part of his legion of fans. It’s hard not to root for a guy that has had to swallow his pride and have his ego deflect all kinds of criticism for not winning with the great Hendrick Motorsports equipment that is now finally showing some success. I’ll admit, I’m caught up in the moment. But so are millions of NASCAR fans and it’s part of what has made this season so enjoyable. Dale Earnhardt Jr. matters once again!

In the end, reality will probably side in favor of either Biffle or Kenseth with their amazing run of consistency this season. The remainder of the schedule is littered with tracks the Roush organization has always been stellar at, including five 1.5-mile tracks during the Chase.

When we go to New Hampshire the first order of business when deciding who might be the best candidate to win is referring back to races run this season at Phoenix and Richmond. Although New Hampshire’s layout is vastly different from Phoenix and Richmond, the flat banking make the set-ups almost identical. If a driver had success on one of the tracks, he’ll likely be good on the others.

The Joe Gibbs Racing teammates of Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch won the races at Phoenix and Richmond this year and were two of five drivers to finish in the top-10 of both races. Johnson, Keselowski and Mark Martin were the others. Only Hamlin finished in the top-5 of both events with Busch finishing sixth at Phoenix.

Incidentally, Martin will not be driving the No. 55 MWR car this week. Brian Vickers will start for the fourth time this season. In his first three starts, Vickers has finished in the top-5 twice. Not a bad success rate.

After we see who should be good based on this years races at Phoenix and Richmond, the next step is to look at the past New Hampshire history. Hamlin won at New Hampshire in 2007 and has a track best average finish of 9th-place. In three of his last five starts, he’s finished runner-up twice and third once.

Kyle Busch has a 2006 New Hampshire win under his belt, but his last top-5 finish came in 2009. His recent engine troubles make him a risky proposition, but yet still hard to resist.

We saw Tony Stewart win last week at Daytona to give him three wins on the year and it was at New Hampshire last season that he kicked off his Championship run with a win. That win was his first of the season and he would eventually win four more times during the Chase. Overall, Stewart has three wins at New Hampshire and finished third at Richmond this season.

Stewart’s teammate Ryan Newman has to be considered just because he won at New Hampshire in the first of their two races last season. Overall, Newman has three wins on the one-mile track and is dialed in on the winning strategy it will take to do it again this week.

“I think this track is the key place when it comes to being aggressive and patient all at the same time," said Newman who will be using the same car that won at New Hampshire last year. "There is a different style of driving that you have to have there. You can’t really be overaggressive at this racetrack. It’s kind of a combination of patience and aggressiveness. You want to take what the car will give you because the track is flat.

"With banking, the faster you go, the more it pushes the car down into the racetrack. We don’t have that there, so it’s just a matter of feeling that razor-blade-edge of grip and getting everything you can and I’ve been successful at it there. It’s kind of clicked with me since the beginning. I really like the racetrack and obviously know how to drive it, which is a big part of it. It’s a good place to start up front because it’s a short race, and it’s not the easiest place to pass.”

Johnson is a three-time New Hampshire winner, the last coming in 2010. However, in his last three starts there he’s had poor finishes of 25th and 18th.

Earnhardt Jr. has never won at New Hampshire, just like his father, but did finish runner-up at Richmond this year. His 2011 runs at New Hampshire were very mediocre, but he did average a 6th-place finish there in the two 2010 races. Junior is one driver where most past history can be thrown out the window. He's more equipped now to win at Loudon than ever before, both physically (car) and mentally.

The final piece of the puzzle after going through Phoenix and Richmond results, along with past New Hampshire history, is seeing how the drivers perform in final practices. We have the advantage this week of seeing two final practices run on Saturday where everyone will be in race trim at the same time.

Congratulations are in order to Kevin and Delana Harvick who had a baby boy, Keelan Paul Harvick, on Sunday. He's the couple's first child and his daddy has a good shot of winning this week based on past history. Harvick's 2006 season is the perfect example of a driver's success at Phoenix and Richmond translating to New Hampshire where he combined to win four of the six races that season.

We didn't mention any Fords as candidates this week just because they haven't fared well at New Hampshire over the last few years. Kenseth is one of those drivers front and center trying to snap a winless streak there.

"Loudon has been a track that we’ve struggled at for the past four or five years but our last outing we ran pretty competitively so I’m looking forward to building upon that," Kenseth said earlier this week. "New Hampshire is an interesting race track because it drives like a short track even though it’s a one-mile track, and it’s challenging in the fact that there isn’t a lot of room to pass, so track position is very important there. We’ve just got to run a clean race, with a good afternoon in the pits as well, and hopefully we can have a solid run there.”

The only current Roush driver to win at New Hampshire was Biffle in 2008. In years prior, Roush had four wins with Jeff Burton and two with Kurt Busch.

One positive sign for Carl Edwards is that he'll be using the same chassis that led 206 laps at Richmond this year before settling for ninth-place.

Top-5 Finish Prediction:
1) #11 Denny Hamlin (10/1)
2) #18 Kyle Busch (8/1)
3) #48 Jimmie Johnson (6/1)
4) #14 Tony Stewart (8/1)
5) #39 Ryan Newman (20/1)

New Hampshire Odds & Ends

Ryan Newman won for third time at New Hampshire last season (Getty)

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 34 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 34 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 (six).

·         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 last season.

·         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).

·         Denny Hamlin (9.0) is the only active driver with an average finish at NHMS in the top 10.

·         Jeff Gordon has led the most NASCAR Sprint Cup Series laps all-time at New Hampshire at 1,304.

·         Last fall’s event (9/25/11) at NHMS tied the records for most all-time leaders (15), and fewest laps led by the winner (2).

·         Youngest NASCAR Sprint Cup Series New Hampshire Motor Speedway winner: Joey Logano (06/28/2009 – 19 years, 1 month, 4 days).

·         Oldest NASCAR Sprint Cup Series New Hampshire Motor Speedway winner: Mark Martin (09/20/2009 – 50 years, 8 months, 11 days).

New Hampshire Motor Speedway Data

Race #: 19 of 36 (07-15-12)

Track Size: 1.058-miles

Race Length: 301 laps / 318.46 miles

·     Banking/Turns: Variable 2-7 degrees

·     Banking/Straights: 1 degree

·     Frontstretch: 1,500 feet

·     Backstretch: 1,500 feet

 

Top 12 Driver Rating at NHMS

Tony Stewart............................. 114.1

Jeff Gordon.............................. 109.0

Jimmie Johnson........................ 104.6

Denny Hamlin............................. 98.1

Dale Earnhardt Jr........................ 96.5

Clint Bowyer............................... 95.1

Ryan Newman............................. 95.1

Jeff Burton................................. 94.1

Kurt Busch.................................. 93.3

Kevin Harvick.............................. 91.7

Mark Martin................................. 88.9

Kyle Busch................................. 88.5

Note: Driver Rating compiled from 2005-2011 races (14 total) at New Hampshire.

 

Qualifying/Race Data

2011 pole winner:

Ryan Newman, Chevrolet (135.232 mph, 28.165 sec., 07-15-11)

 

2011 race winner:

Ryan Newman, Chevrolet (104.100 mph, 3:03:33, 07-17-11)

 

Track qualifying record:

Ryan Newman, Chevrolet (135.232 mph, 28.165 sec., 07-15-11)

 

Track race record:

Jeff Burton, Ford (117.134 mph, 2:42:35, 06-13-97)

NASCAR in New Hampshire

·         There have been 34 NASCAR Sprint Cup races in New Hampshire, all at NHMS.

Track Name	City	NSCS	Years
New Hampshire Motor Speedway	Loudon	34	1993-2011

·         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 Preview: Lenox Industrial Tools 301

by Micah Roberts
VegasInsider.com

This weeks NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race takes us to Loudon, New Hampshire for race 17 of the season, which is two races away from the halfway point and also ten races away from the beginning NASCAR‘s playoff system, the Chase for the Championship.

Last weeks win by Kasey Kahne on the road course moved him into 13th position in points, only three points away from the 12th and final position for the Chase. Juan Pablo Montoya raced himself into the 12th position, knocking Jeff Burton into an outside looking in position at 14th.

As always, we when we roll into one of the three tracks at Phoenix, Richmond, or New Hampshire, we can use the results from previously run races to get a better jump on who might win. While each of the tracks are different whether it be banking, width, configuration or distance, the crew chiefs normally use the same chassis for one of these races to the other if they had success.

New Hampshire’s layout is a one mile paper clip configuration with relative no banking at seven degrees in the turns. Think of it like a Martinsville with a longer drag strip on the straightaways.

Last Season, Jimmie Johnson won three of the six races on the combined tracks and throughout recent history, one driver has had multiple wins during the year in the six combined races.

This season there has been races run at Phoenix and Richmond already with Mark Martin and Kyle Busch getting the victories. Three drivers this season have finished in the top 10 in each of the two races.

After Martin finished first at Phoenix, he followed that up with a fifth at Richmond. Martin is currently 11th in points, only 12 ahead of Kahne in the Chase. This will be a good opportunity for Martin to get some more breathing room and distance himself from the cutoff mark. Although Martin doesn’t have any career wins at New Hampshire, he has finished in the top 10 thirteen times in his twenty-four career starts.

Tony Stewart and his start-up team got things really going at Phoenix with a strong 2nd place finish. Two weeks later using the same car, he cruised to another 2nd place finish in almost the same fashion where he waited with great patience the entire race, never looking like a solid contender, and then raced hard in the final 100 laps. Because of those great runs and others ensuing, Stewart has pushed himself atop the points lead with a nice comfortable 84 point cushion between him and second place Jeff Gordon.

Stewart’s success at New Hampshire is matched by no one. In twenty career Cup starts on the track, Stewart has finished in the top 5 on ten separate occasions getting two wins. Jeff Burton, Kurt Busch, and Jeff Gordon all have more career wins than Stewart at New Hampshire, but Stewart can also claim an Indy Car win at Loudon. The year after winning the IRL Championship, Stewart claimed victory at New Hampshire in 1998 easily making him the only driver to get wins on the track from different national series.

There is little doubt that Stewart is the hottest driver on tour as his standing reflect. Last weeks 2nd place finish gave him four 2nd place finishes on the season and made it eight top 5 finishes overall in the 16 races run. He’s only got one victory to show for it all, but that could change this week.

If Kyle Busch keeps up inconsistent run going, he may miss the Chase. As great as he his with such an outstanding team behind him, Busch only has five top 10 finishes in the 16 races run thus far which is the worst number of anyone currently positioned in the top 12. There are four other drivers outside the top 12 that have at least five or more top 10 finishes this season. Kahne is only 48 points away from Busch in the 13th position.

However, the one thing that no one else has this season ,other than Martin, is three wins. It’s all or nothing for Kyle and it kind or resembles his overall persona that he exudes to the NASCAR public which is either high end admiration or high end dislike for the Las Vegas driver.

Whatever the case may be, Kyle needs to focus on these last ten races and if it takes a win to do it, then so be it. It’s been seven races since he last won and that was at Richmond, which should be a good sign for the similar set-up requirements of Loudon. He only has one career win on the track which came in 2006 while driving the No. 5 Hendrick car, the same one Martin currently drives.

Jeff Burton fell out of the top 12 giving Richard Childress no drivers in the top 12 among all four of his cars. These type of tracks used to be staples in the Childress arsenal, but ever since adding the fourth team prior to this season, the entire organization has been in a world of hurt. We can’t put the entire blame on the team stretching themselves out too far, but it is the one correlation that makes the most sense.

Prior to joining Childress, Burton accumulated four wins in Loudon, a track record that still stands. He was one of the first drivers to start the trend in 1997 of doing well at the combined tracks of Phoenix, Richmond, and New Hampshire. His last win came in 2000.

TOP 5 Finish Prediction:
1) #18 Kyle Busch (7/1)
2) #14 Tony Stewart (6/1)
3) #5 Mark Martin (12/1)
4) #39 Ryan Newman (20/1)
5) #2 Kurt Busch (18/1)