After Tony Stewart won last week’s race at Daytona, it seems that a trip north to New Hampsire will be just what a once struggling Stewart-Haas Racing will need.
That’s because the trip north could mean back-to-back trips to victory lane.
Last year, Stewart and his teammate, Ryan Newman swept the two races at New Hampshire. Newman won the season opening race, and Stewart was able to win the second race there, which was the second race in the chase.
This time as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns to the flat mile track in Loudon, New Hampshire, the Stewart-Haas Chevrolet’s could be strong again. Even before the season sweep last season, Stewart had shown his strength at the track.
Before winning the September race last season, Stewart lost one there on fuel mileage in 2010. It’s clear that Stewart learned his lesson though.
Even though it was his teammate, Newman, that was found in victory lane, Stewart wasn’t far behind as he finished second.
At the second race of the year, when Stewart won, Newman wasn’t far behind. In two races at New Hampshire last year Stewart-Haas finished with four top-five finishes.
To say the least, last year, Stewart-Haas had Loudon figured out. Couple that with the momemtum gained from last week and Stewart-Haas could get back to where they were back in the end of March and early April, when the organization recorded three wins in a span of four weeks.
When it comes to New Hampshire, besides Stewart-Haas, other drivers to watch include drivers inside the Chevrolet brand.
Jimmie Johnson won here in 2010 after a battle with Kurt Busch that lasted several laps.
Over the year, Johnson has collected a few wins at New Hampshire, and it’s a track that he has been good at when he hasn’t won there either.
Hendrick Motorsports is a few weeks removed from the month of May when it seemed like they could win a race at ease, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t leave New Hampshire with a victory.
Penske has been strong historically at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but will once again be without A.J. Allmendinger behind the wheel of the No. 22. Instead Sam Hornish Jr. will be behind the wheel, making his seventh career start at the mile track. While his partner, Brad Keselowski will be looking to improve on his second place finish that he recorded there last September.
With the chase nearing closer and closer, the bubble drivers and other drivers that are looking for a win might start to take more risks to get a win that could propel them into the chase. With New Hampshire Motor Speedway being a track where fuel mileage has decided more than one race, that could be something to watch for.
And with this race being one extra mile, that one lap could make the difference between a chase berth or not.
LENOX Industrial tools 301 entry list:
- Jamie McMurray
- Brad Keselowski
- Kasey Kahne
- Marcos Ambrose
- David Reutimann
- Denny Hamlin
- Casey Mears
- Tony Stewart
- Clint Bowyer
- Greg Biffle
- Matt Kenseth
- Kyle Busch
- Mike Bliss
- Joey Logano
- Sam Hornish Jr.
- Scott Riggs
- Jeff Gordon
- Josh Wise
- Paul Menard
- Kevin Harvick
- David Stremme
- Jeff Burton
- Ken Schrader
- Stephen Leicht
- David Ragan
- Dave Blaney
- David Gilliland
- Ryan Newman
- Juan Pablo Montoya
- Aric Almirola
- Bobby Labonte
- Jimmie Johnson
- J.J. Yeley
- Kurt Busch
- Brian Vickers
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Regan Smith
- Kelly Bires
- Landon Cassill
- Joe Nemechek
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Travis Kvapil
- Michael McDowell
- Carl Edwards
