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Mash The Gas: New Hampshire Preview

The second half of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series kicks off at the flat one-mile New Hampshire International Speedway for the Camping World RV 301 on Sunday afternoon. With New Hampshire ‘s flat layout, teams will work hard to get their cars to turn quickly through the tight corners and they’ll need plenty of horsepower to get down the long straightways. The race is a short one so track position will be as valuable as gold. Watch qualifying results, restarts and pit strategy, they will be the determining factors in Sunday’s race.

The green flag is scheduled to fly at 1:15 EDT on Sunday at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The Camping World RV 301 is 301 laps consisting of 318 miles on the one mile (plus) oval in Louden, New Hampshire.

The following are the drivers we think you should keep your eyes on.

Denny Hamlin
Dan Margetta: Denny Hamlin’s luck can’t get much worse as a series of crashes has left the #11 team out of the Chase for the most part. However, New Hampshire could be just the cure they are looking for as it’s one of Hamlin’s strongest tracks with 2 wins and 7 Top 5’s to his credit. Last Fall, he guaranteed a win here and promptly backed it up. It will take another bold statement on Sunday to get this team out of the funk they have been in.

Jimmie Johnson
John Wiedemann: Statistically, Jimmie Johnson is right behind Denny Hamlin with results at New Hampshire. This track is important to all drivers since it will be the second racetrack they see in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Johnson has three wins at New Hampshire and finished second in the fall race last year, second to Hamlin. Look for Johnson to pick up win number five of the season this weekend at New Hampshire.

Carl Edwards
DM: Carl Edwards’ lone 2013 win came at the similarly flat track in Phoenix and the #99 team should be in the hunt on Sunday. The team is high up in the point standings but they seem to be lacking that often sought chemistry needed for greatness. A win on Sunday would help to get everyone back toward the same page and up to their potential.

Matt Kenseth
JW: Matt Kenseth had seemed to have lost touch with the success he had at New Hampshire between 2002 and 2007 when he scored ten top-ten finishes in eleven races. Driving for Joe Gibbs Racing has been a boost for Kenseth and it will be interesting to see if JGR success at New Hampshire rubs off on Kenseth. Putting last weekend’s issues behind him, I expect to see a solid top five and challenge for the win from Kenseth.

Clint Bowyer
DM: Clint Bowyer has 2 New Hampshire wins and 4 Top 5 finishes on his resume and has become an established flat track racer. Strong runs of late have placed this team solidly in the Chase and now they know they need victories for the coveted bonus points. Don’t forget about the #15 team when making your picks for Sunday.

Kyle Busch
JW: Kyle Busch has one win at New Hampshire, back in 2006, but his results have been mixed since then. Busch started on the pole in this race last year and started second in the fall, but his end results didn’t match up to the start. Busch won a super late model race at the Milwaukee Mile, a track really similar to New Hampshire. He dominated that race and even though it was a different type of racecar, he could bring that “one mile magic” to New Hampshire.

Kurt Busch
DM: Kurt Busch and the single car #78 team that could raced their way into a Chase slot at Daytona with their third straight top 10 finish. Kurt Busch owns three New Hampshire wins and that elusive first win of the season could very well come Sunday.

Joey Logano
JW: Joey Logano won his first Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire in 2009. Averaging a 15th place finish since then, Logano should be able to improve on that average and challenge for a win this weekend driving for Team Penske. Sitting 15th in the standings, Logano is sixteen points behind Tony Stewart in 10th. A win would be huge for Logano but solid top five finishes allow him to climb back up the point standings.

Jeff Burton
DM: The long shot pick this week goes to Jeff Burton and the #31 team. Burton has posted top ten finishes on similar flat tracks this season and has visited victory lane at New Hampshire four times, once leading all the laps of the race. He also owns 13 Top 10 finishes here and should not be forgotten on Sunday.

Tony Stewart
JW: Tony Stewart is far from a long shot, but this season it has been hard to pick him since he has been really bad or really good with no rhyme or reason. Stewart climbed from the bowels of the standings with hot streak of a win and a couple top fives and then fell off the map again. Last week Stewart finishes second and vaults into the top ten in the points. In 2011, the year Stewart won the championship, he was dominant at New Hampshire. That dominance could return, or. . .

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