Race: LENOX Industrial Tools 301
Date: Sunday June 29, 2006
Track: New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Time: 12:30 pm ET
Channel: TNT
This weekend, we are headed to New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Although it’s an intermediate track, Roush drivers do not own this one. In fact, there are quite a wide variety of winners at this track including Clint Bowyer who is the defending champion here.
New Hampshire is an oval track just about a mile long. There is twelve degree banking in the turns with 2 degree banking on the straights. It’s a track that is very welcoming to all styles of drivers. Guys who are great on the super speedways are just as great here as are guys who are great short track racers. We see winners like Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, and Jimmie Johnson. There really has not been one single dominating driver.
Most drivers tend to like racing here because it’s a place where a little bit of beatin’ and bangin’ doesn’t necessarily knock you out of the race. Most cars will have some tire marks on the fenders before the afternoon is over.
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Looking at the past winners isn’t going to give you a great prediction of who is going to win this race. Like I said before, there are so many drivers from so many different teams that have won here. The most accurate way to predict a winner here would probably be to check out this year’s most spectacular drivers. When I say spectacular, I think that most people would agree that Kyle Busch is the first name to pop in anyone’s head. He took the win again last weekend at Sonoma, a road course, proving his ability to drive a racecar at any track. He’s got so much talent that I would have to say he is going to be a big factor this weekend. He’s basically unstoppable. But then again, he’s got a curse against him. He either does really great or absolutely tanks. Coming off a win, I think that he’s going to have some serious momentum coming into New Hampshire. He’s got one win here in 2006 and definitely can’t be ruled out this year to take a win now or in the fall if he doesn’t manage to sweep the wins.
Other drivers to watch are Dale Earnhardt Jr. and even Carl Edwards. Both of these guys are consistently rolling in either top 10s or top 5s every weekend, steadily holding their points positions.
Based on practice this morning, your fastest ten are:
1. Kevin Harvick
2. Jimmie Johnson
3. Juan Montoya
4. Clint Bowyer
5. Kasey Kahne
6. Reed Sorenson
7. Elliot Sadler
8. Jeff Gordon
9. Kurt Busch
10. Tony Stewart
Kyle Busch is currently 17th in practice, but that’s pretty typical for him. Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch are names to watch also. They have wins at New Hampshire and are very consistent drivers on this track.
Just as a refresher, here are your top 12 in points:
1. Kyle Busch
2. Jeff Burton
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
4. Carl Edwards
5. Jimmie Johnson
6. Jeff Gordon
7. Greg Biffle
8. Denny Hamlin
9. Kasey Kahne
10. Clint Bowyer
11. Tony Stewart
12. Matt Kenseth
This is going to be a great watch to watch purely because of its unpredictability. There are several people who could pull into victory lane on Sunday, but look out for Kyle Busch. This kid’s on a mission.