NASCAR Race Tracks: New Hampshire Motor Speedway

Welcome NASCAR race fans to my NASCAR blog. There were practice sessions for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the NASCAR Nationwide Series races today at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Brad Keselowski in his #22 Penske Dodge was fastest in the Nationwide Series. Juan Pablo Montaoya was fastest in Sprint Cup practice in his #42 Earnhardt-Gannasse Chevy. Qualifying for the New Hampshire 200 Nationwide race will be tomorrow before the race.

Coors Light qualifying took place this afternoon for the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 Sprint Cup race. There were 45 cars entered to qualify. Two had to go home. 14 Tony Stewart came out first. 99 Carl Edwards came out fifth and knocked Tony off the pole. Followed by 31 Jeff Burton, who was then fastest. 2 Kurt Busch came out 15th and got the pole position.

42 Juan Pablo Montoya came out 27th and held onto the pole with a speed of 132.337 mph and 28.781 seconds. 9 Kasey Kahne will start on the front row with Juan Pablo. 88 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was excused with a fuel pump issue and had five minutes to fix it. He was to be the second one out but made it onto the track after eight other cars qualified.

In the last ten races here, there were ten different winners! Let’s see if it will be eleven. 83 is Reed Sorenson, who was practicing for the Nationwide race right before qualifying. Jamie McMurray is driving a royal blue Suave #1 car. 31 Jeff Burton has the race sponsor Lenox on his hood. 43 A. J. Allmendinger is driving an orange Berlin City Ford. 78 Regan Smith broke his wrist at Sonoma last week and is sporting a cast. 17 Matt Kenseth has a new crew chief, Jimmy Fennig, replacing Todd Barrett, who replaced Drew Blickensderfer after the first race this year. The 77 Dodge of Sam Hornish is sporting a red white and blue AAA sponsored car. 33 Clint Bowyer has Zaxby’s instead of Cheerios this race. 47 Marcos Ambrose has Lance Mega Twisters on his hood.

Earlier in the week Bobby Labonte left TGR and the #71 team, as they are starting and parking and that’s not how the former champion wants to race. Robby Gordon is away on a sponsor presentation and Bobby will drive Robby’s #7 Toyota. Bobby crashed the car late in practice and was unable to get the back up car onto the track. He will start 42nd. 64 is Todd Bodine. 36 is Casey Mears. 09 Mike Bliss and 38 Travis Kvapil are going home.

Last year rain canceled qualifying and Joey Logano won a rain shortened race for his first win. He is the youngest winner at age 19. In the fall race last year, Montoya qualified on the pole, bu Mark Martin won the race. He was the oldest winner at age 50. so the youngest and the oldest won in the same year! Saturday is practice, Nationwide qualifying and the Nationwide race.

Brought to you by Sheila Hawley

NASCAR Race Tracks: Michigan International Speedway

Welcome NASCAR race fans to my NASCAR blog. Week fifteen in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series takes place at the Michigan International Speedway. This D shaped two mile track is one of my favorites. Some NASCAR fans like the short tracks where the cars are getting into each other for position. I like the wide open tracks where there is room for catching, two and three wide racing and passing. And Michigan has all the race grooves anyone can want. If you like side by side racing without the need to move another car over to get by, this is the track for you.

There are few cautions at this track because there is enough room to race each other without having to get too close to pass. I remember in 1999, my favorite driver, Dale Jarrett, set the race record of 173.997 miles an hour when there were no cautions to slow down the field. The pit crews have to be good and fast to keep their drivers running up front. And they have to do it under the Green Flag.

Traditionally this has been a Ford track. Mark Martin had four wins with Jack Roush. (Although it may just be Mark, since he won last year in a Chevy!) But Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle each have two wins here. Since Detroit is near by, Chevy and Ford like to win here. Bobby Labonte has three wins. Jeff Gordon has two wins. Tony Stewart in a Pontiac and Kasey Kahne in a Dodge have a win at Michigan. And Dale Earnhardt, Jr. won two years ago in a Chevy. Brian Vickers won an upset last year in a Toyota.

Ryan Newman holds the qualifying record at 194.230 mph and 37.069 seconds, set  6/17/05. My own Dale Jarrett has four wins here. Twice on August 17! The last time he did it, in 2002, he spun out earlier in the race. Dale is now retired and is one of the announcers.

Some say the track is boring because nothing big happens. I say it is exciting because there is so much racing going on all around the track. Racing is exciting, not crashing. But that may be just my opinion. If the driver in front of you is in one lane, all you have to do is change lanes to get by. You don’t see a lot of blocking (which causes accidents) because there is so much room to race. My kind of track!

The NASCAR Nationwide Series, meanwhile, are racing at Kentucky Speedway. So, those doing double duty will have to fly back and forth between Sparta, KY and Brooklyn, MI. Only four drivers will be doing double duty. I like that.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will be in Michigan with the Cup drivers this weekend.

Brought to you by Sheila Hawley