Race number eighteen of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season takes place at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway this Sunday. Aside from the race victory, a lot of talk has been about who is in or who is out of the Chase to the Championship. There are nine races to be run before we find out the dozen who will rise to the top and settle the title. Last week’s race in California started the “Chase to the Chase” so to speak.
This week’s contest is on the New England oval that measures a tick over one mile in length and has twelve degrees of banking in the corners. As far as race teams are concerned this is a flat short track. Brake systems always get a lot of attention at Martinsville and they should. They are an important topic here as well.
Many teams will be running a similar type brake setup to slow the 3400 lb. machines into the corners each lap. Front brake rotors could be around one and-a-quarter inches thick and the calipers will be of the six-piston variety. Front spring changes during practice are very challenging due to the extensive brake cooling hoses channeling air from the scoops fabricated into the car’s nose. NHMS is often referred to a one-mile version of the Virginia short track. Teams prepare for it the same way.
The distance of 301 laps is derived from the race sponsor’s promotion of looking for heroes who “go the extra mile”; hence the extra mile added to the race distance.
Track Notes
The speedway, now in the Speedway Motorsports fold, measures 1.058 miles in length…
The first race was a then-Busch Series event on July 15, 1990… The first Cup Series race was held July 11, 1993 and won by Rusty Wallace… There was one Cup event staged from 1993 to 1996 when the autumn weekend was added in 1997… Ryan Newman holds the qualifying record of 133.357 miles per hour set in September of 2003… Kurt Busch is the defending race winner… Jeff Burton has the most Cup victories with four… The starting position with the most victories is first, taking place on four occasions… Oddly the starting position with the second most victories is thirteenth with three triumphs… Jimmie Johnson (2003) and Kurt Busch (2004) are the only drivers to sweep the season’s races there…. All forty-three cars were running at the conclusion of the September 2007 event.
Check It Out
TNT will provide television coverage of the 301 lapper. Pre race begins at 12:30 PM eastern time, 9:30 am Pacific. The green flag is scheduled to wave approximately 2:15 PM Eastern. Bill Weber, Wally Dallenbach Jr., and Kyle Petty handle the announcing duties. Matt Yocum, Marty Snider, Ralph Sheheen, and Lindsay Czarniak will be the pit reporters.
PRM and XM Satellite radio are the radio coverage providers.
Predictions
By definition this track is a superspeedway by being a mile or over in length. It is a short track as far as the Cup teams are concerned. Teams with a good short track program will show their strength. I look to Martinsville and Phoenix as gauges for telling us who the serious contenders will be.
I don’t foresee any surprises making headlines Sunday. A road course or a restrictor plate contest can produce an upset or a darkhorse win. I can’t see that here. Our winner will come from the usual suspects.
Tony Stewart will be good despite having to go to a backup car after crashing his primary in Friday practice. Ryan Newman will also perform well. Newman has a good New Hampshire history and won his first career Cup race at this track.
The Hendrick Motorsports muscle flexing will continue for three out of their four teams. Junior’s group will show continued improvement but I don’t think is ready to outperform the other Chevrolets. Johnson, Gordon and Martin will be top fifteen runners at their worst.
Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch will be in victory contention. The two Joe Gibbs Racing cars are always good and Hamlin is known for his flat track prowess.
The Roush and Penske teams will bring competitive efforts, although not winning ones. I would like to see Richard Petty Motorsports ride their wave of momentum for another week. I am not sure we will see that though.
My pick: Ryan Newman hoists his first trophy with Stewart-Haas Racing.
