Survey says: Results from midseason NASCAR Cup Series Driver Survey

Posted on July 31, 2020August 1, 2020 by Staff Report

We asked. They answered.

The midway point of the NASCAR Cup Series season is a natural time for superlative pieces, analysis and projections. We wanted to do that again this year, but we also wanted to hear from those who have the most unique perspective to give their opinion — the drivers themselves.

Nineteen Cup Series drivers answered our six questions, ranging from “Who is the greatest NASCAR driver of all time?” to “At this point in the season, which driver (other than yourself) is your pick to win the 2020 Cup Series Championship?”

The results are in, and listed in full below.

Who is the greatest NASCAR driver of all time?

Jonathan Ferrey | NASCAR via Getty Images

1. Jimmie Johnson, 37%
2. Richard Petty, 31%
3. Dale Earnhardt, 16%
4. Kyle Busch, 11%
5. David Pearson, 5%

Note: The three drivers who have won seven championships at NASCAR’s top level comprised the top three spots, with Johnson’s peers voting him the greatest driver of all time in this exercise. Johnson edged “The King” by one vote, with Dale Earnhardt finishing third. It’s the ultimate sign of respect for Seven-Time, who is driving his last full-time Cup Series season this year. Perhaps the most intriguing result is Kyle Busch finishing fourth. “Rowdy” is the all-time career wins leader in both the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series. He’s put up win totals across all three national series at a dizzying rate and will only grow them over the rest of his career.

Other than yourself, who is the best active NASCAR Cup Series driver?

Photo by Brian Lawdermilk | Getty Images

1. Kyle Busch, 42%
2. Kevin Harvick, 21%
t-3. Denny Hamlin, 16%
t-3. Jimmie Johnson, 16%
5. Joey Logano, 5%

Note: The younger Busch gets the nod here, despite having no Cup Series wins yet this season. That he’s still clearly No. 1 in the minds’ of drivers is a testament to his natural-born talent and the respect he’s won over years of competition. Busch, the 2019 series champion, remains the only multi-time series champion other than Jimmie Johnson currently driving a full-time schedule at NASCAR’s top level. Of the five drivers who received votes, Hamlin is the only one without a title.

Who is the best active NASCAR Cup Series crew chief?

Brian Lawdermilk | Getty Images

1. Rodney Childers, 63%
2. Chris Gabehart, 16%
t-3. Justin Alexander, 5%
t-3. Alan Gustafson, 5%
t-3. Chad Knaus, 5%
t-3. Paul Wolfe, 5%

Note: No question produced a wider gulf between first and second place. Childers and driver Kevin Harvick have undeniable chemistry, which has resulted in 30 wins and one championship since the start of the 2014 season. Harvick currently sits first place in the points standings and has four wins through 19 races, driving a fast car every single week. Gabehart is the newbie of the group, but his results are undeniable — 11 wins in 51 races since taking over as Denny Hamlin’s crew chief.

At this point in the season, which team (excluding your own) has been the best?

Rob Carr | Getty Images

1. Stewart-Haas Racing, 42%
2. Team Penske, 37%
3. Joe Gibbs Racing, 21%

Note: Stewart-Haas Racing clearly is led by Kevin Harvick, who tops the standings by nearly 100 points through 19 races. Beyond Harvick, though, the Stewart-Haas Fords have been fast across the board since the return from the COVID-19-forced pause. Cole Custer became the first Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender to win a race since 2016 when he was victorious at Kentucky, and Aric Almirola has rattled off eight consecutive top-10 finishes — including five consecutive top-five results.

Which Cup Series driver (other than yourself) gets the best consistent performance from their equipment?

Patrick Smith | Getty Images

1. Kevin Harvick, 47%
t-2. Chase Elliott, 16%
t-2. Denny Hamlin, 16%
4. Brad Keselowski, 11%
t-5. Kurt Busch, 5%
t-5. Timmy Hill, 5%

Note: That championship contender and series points leader Kevin Harvick wins here tells you that, while he has a fast race car every week, he knows how to get the most out of it — and he knows how to take care of. It’s the ultimate sign of a respected veteran. Speaking of veterans, this list is full of experienced drivers who seemingly put together top finishes every week. The inclusion of Timmy Hill, who drives for MBM Motorsports, is a nod of respect for his ability to push its car to its limits while still taking care of his equipment.

At this point in the season, which driver (other than yourself) is your pick to win the 2020 Cup Series Championship?

Chris Graythen | Getty Images

1. Denny Hamlin, 53%
2. Kevin Harvick, 47%

Note: It’s been the “Big Two” since we’ve returned to racing in May, and drivers have clearly taken notice. The up-front battles between Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick should last throughout the entirety of the NASCAR Playoffs — and ends, according to the drivers, with Hamlin taking home his first championship.

Posted on July 30, 2020August 12, 2020 by Staff Report

NASCAR officials announced Thursday afternoon several key competition components of the August race weekend at the Daytona Road Course, including the addition of a chicane off Turn 4 of the famed oval.

The chicane will add another tactical element to the intricate road course that will force drivers to be up on the wheel at all times for what is sure to be an unforgettable weekend of racing among four series.

“I think, more than anything, it’s going to add even more excitement for the fans than we were already expecting,” Daytona International Speedway president Chip Wile said. “It’s really, truly making it NASCAR-centric. Obviously we have our road course that’s been in existence since 1959. But now, we have something very unique that no driver has seen. It’s truly going to make that last lap so exciting. As they come off Turn 4, they’re going to make a hard left and then a hard right and a hard left back onto the race track. It’s going to be just an exciting piece to what is going to be a historic weekend here at the Daytona International Speedway.”

SHOP: Daytona Road Course gear

The ARCA Menards Series kicks off the historic race weekend on Friday, Aug. 14, at 5 p.m. ET. The NASCAR Xfinity Series follows on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET, with the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series (12 p.m. ET) and NASCAR Cup Series (3 p.m. ET) combining for a doubleheader on Sunday.

Also announced were stage lengths for each of the three national series and race distances on the 3.61-mile course, and the confirmation that the NASCAR Cup Series will run a high downforce rules package that targets 750 HP.

RELATED: More on historic weekend

Series	Stages	Laps	Distance (Miles)
Cup Series	15/30/65	65	234.65
Xfinity	15/30/52	52	187.72
Gander Trucks	12/25/44	44	158.85

“NASCAR and its OEMs ran several simulations to determine the course layout and engine/aero package for the inaugural NASCAR race on the Daytona International Speedway road course,” said John Probst, senior vice president of racing innovation. “Due to the predicted high speeds and loads on the braking system, NASCAR will add a chicane off oval Turn 4 at Daytona and move to a high downforce 750 hp aero/engine package for the NASCAR Cup Series race on Aug. 16. We believe this will combine vehicle performance and safety to provide the best possible road course race for our fans.”

The developed rules package for this event combines elements of both the 2020 rules packages currently in use. The high downforce aero package, which is also high in drag, will be combined with the 750 HP engine used at short tracks and road courses. This package is only scheduled to be used at the Daytona Road Course.

News of the first NASCAR national series races on Daytona’s road course was announced earlier in July. The addition to the Cup Series schedule serves as a race realigned from NASCAR’s annual visit to Watkins Glen International, as New York state health and safety regulations cannot allow for the previously scheduled NASCAR weekend to happen there at this time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

These races will be held on the same road course as the Rolex 24 at Daytona, North America’s premier race for sports cars. Road-course racing has always been an anticipated, vital component of the makeup of the speedway, with the Rolex 24 first held in 1962 as a three-hour race called the Daytona Continental. The Daytona 200 for motorcycles was moved off the old Daytona Beach Road Course to the speedway in 1961, and the majority of today’s course is used for the Daytona 200.

In March, it was announced that the 2021 Busch Clash would move to the speedway’s road course and be held under the lights on Tuesday, Feb. 9.

Now, however, the August 14-16 weekend will be on the pole for the track’s first NASCAR road-course weekend.

Posted on July 30, 2020July 30, 2020 by Staff Report

The starting lineup for Sunday’s Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) has been set.

Aric Almirola will start from the pole position, while three-time New Hampshire winner Denny Hamlin will start alongside him on the the front row for the 301-lap, 318.46-mile race at the 1.058-mile track.

The lineup for the race was determined by a random draw, with NBC Sports announcing the results online. The parameters for the draw were as follows:

Positions 1-12 determined by a random draw from charter teams in those positions in team owner points
Positions 13-24: Random draw among charter teams in those positions in owner points
Positions 25-36: Random draw among charter teams in those positions in owner points
Positions 37-38: will be filled out by open, non-chartered teams in order of owner points

Here is a look at the full lineup:

Starting spot	Driver	Car #	Team
1	Aric Almirola	10	Stewart-Haas Racing
2	Denny Hamlin	11	Joe Gibbs Racing
3	Chase Elliott	9	Hendrick Motorsports
4	Brad Keselowski	2	Team Penske
5	Kyle Busch	18	Joe Gibbs Racing
6	Clint Bowyer	14	Stewart-Haas Racing
7	Kevin Harvick	4	Stewart-Haas Racing
8	Alex Bowman	88	Hendrick Motorsports
9	Joey Logano	22	Team Penske
10	Kurt Busch	1	Chip Ganassi Racing
11	Martin Truex Jr.	19	Joe Gibbs Racing
12	Ryan Blaney	12	Team Penske
13	Tyler Reddick	8	Richard Childress Racing
14	Cole Custer	41	Stewart-Haas Racing
15	Bubba Wallace	43	Richard Petty Motorsports
16	William Byron	24	Hendrick Motorsports
17	Erik Jones	20	Joe Gibbs Racing
18	Michael McDowell	34	Front Row Motorsports
19	Matt DiBenedetto	21	Wood Brothers Racing
20	Jimmie Johnson	48	Hendrick Motorsports
21	Matt Kenseth	42	Chip Ganassi Racing
22	Ryan Newman	6	Roush Fenway Racing
23	Austin Dillon	3	Richard Childress Racing
24	Chris Buescher	37	Roush Fenway Racing
25	Ty Dillon	13	Germain Racing
26	James Davison	53	Rick Ware Racing
27	Garrett Smithley	77	Spire Motorsports
28	Joey Gase	51	Petty Ware Raicng
29	J.J. Yeley	27	Rick Ware Racing
30	Ryan Preece	37	JTG Daugherty Racing
31	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	47	JTG Daugherty Racing
32	Quin Houff	00	StarCom Racing
33	Corey LaJoie	32	Go Fas Racing
34	Brennan Poole	15	Premium Motorsports
35	Christopher Bell	95	Leavine Family Racing
36	John Hunter Nemechek	38	Front Row Motorsports
37	Daniel Suarez	96	Gaunt Brothers Racing
38	Timmy Hill	66	Motorsports Business Management

Posted on July 30, 2020July 30, 2020 by Staff Report

Seven-time championship-winning crew chief Chad Knaus is now a two-time dad as he and wife Brooke welcomed Vivienne Mae Knaus into the world on July 29.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CDRmOrYpZSv/?igshid=1f0ijd462cj1d

The couple welcomed son Kipling in August of 2018. Knaus did not travel with the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team to last week’s race at Kansas Speedway, and instead, Keith Rodden served as the team’s crew chief for driver William Byron. Byron currently sits in the last provisional playoff spot as the last driver in on points with seven races left in the regular season.

Posted on July 30, 2020 by Staff Report

One year ago, Kevin Harvick held off a hard-charging Denny Hamlin at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in a battle that saw the two beat and bang through the final lap to end a 21-race winless streak for the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.

There’s every reason to believe that fans could be treated to the same thrilling finish again this year between the two in the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Harvick and Hamlin have been the cream of the crop in the NASCAR Cup Series this season, combining to win nine races – a series-leading five for Hamlin and four for Harvick – out of the 19 contested thus far. Hamlin won the most recent race at Kansas, while Harvick last visited Victory Lane in Indianapolis at the beginning of July.

Following the Kansas win, Hamlin reflected on the rivalry that has developed with Harvick over the past 12 months.

“What you’ve seen from us in the last year with the 11 and the 4 is a lot of mutual respect,” Hamlin said. “We race each other with a lot of mutual respect because we know it won’t be the last time. We still have probably many years of battles ahead of us. We’ve been around the sport a long time. We butted heads early in my career. He’s certainly a guy that I personally would like to model myself after.”

The duo is pretty evenly matched at New Hampshire in nearly every way on paper – Harvick leads all active drivers in wins at New Hampshire with four while Hamlin has three. Harvick is tied with Matt Kenseth for series-most top fives among active drivers with 12 each; Hamlin is close behind them with 10. And Hamlin leads the series in runner-up finishes at New Hampshire with five second-place results; including last year. Harvick has finished second or third a total of three times at the “Magic Mile.”

But while the spotlight will surely be on the two drivers who have dominated the season thus far, New Hampshire also puts the pressure on the postseason push for drivers on the bubble. With only seven races to go before NASCAR’s Playoffs begins, 10 drivers are locked into the postseason on wins, leaving six spots up for grabs.

Clint Bowyer, Matt DiBenedetto and William Byron are currently hanging on to the final three slots based on points, but their lead is precarious and they can be knocked out if a driver outside of the current Playoff 16 wins in an upcoming week. And seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, driving in his final full-time season, is 18 points outside the Playoff picture.

Of those battling on the Playoff bubble or sitting on the outside looking in, Johnson, Kenseth and Ryan Newman lead the group with three wins each in Loudon. Bowyer has two wins at New Hampshire.

And although they are both in a secure position in the points, brothers Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch are still looking for their first win of the year and each have three wins at New Hampshire.

Or could we see a first-time series winner this weekend? It has happened before. New Hampshire is home to five first-time Cup winners; including Joey Logano’s first series career victory in the June 2009 race in his rookie year.

Posted on July 30, 2020 by Nascar

Meet Melissa, the August Member of the Month for the Official NASCAR Fan Council.

Name: Melissa
Current City: Riverside, California
Member Since: 2017

Getting to KNOW Melissa:

Q. How did you first become interested in NASCAR?

“I was invited to attend the race weekend at our local track and loved it! This was in 2001 and back then we had all three series at the track which was a very exciting! Since then my husband, my children and I have gone to every race at Auto Club Speedway.”

Q. What is your favorite part about NASCAR?

“There are many things I like about NASCAR! The competitiveness of the drivers and teams, different tracks each week with different strategies and the values the NASCAR community has for our country.”

Q. What is your favorite NASCAR memory?

“Oh wow can I share more than one? Michael McDowell is my son’s favorite driver. He took the time to meet with our family in 2014 at Sonoma. My son was only 10 and was the happiest kid on earth! Another favorite was driving my favorite driver, Kevin Harvick around the track during driver introductions in Fontana.”

Q. Do you have a favorite in any of the following categories?

Driver: “Kevin Harvick, I love his drive and passion!”

Track: “Sonoma Raceway.”

OEM: “Ford.”

Raceday Traditions: “We watch the race every weekend as a family. We usually cook brunch and sit around watching the race on TV and listen to our favorite drivers on RaceView.”

Q. What are some of your hobbies?

“I like going to dinner with friends but most of the time just relaxing at home and watching movies with my family makes me happy.”

FROM ALL OF US AT NASCAR, WE THANK MELISSA FOR HER CONTINUED SUPPORT AND LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM HER IN 2020!

Look for Melissa on the Official NASCAR Fan Council page on NASCAR.COM.

Posted on July 29, 2020July 29, 2020 by Staff Report

The National Motorsports Appeals Panel upheld a behavioral penalty Wednesday that was originally issued July 14 to team owner Tony Clements, relative to the No. 51 NASCAR Xfinity Series team at Kentucky Speedway.

The penalty concerns the following sections in the 2020 NASCAR Rule Book: Sections 12.8.1.b Member Conduct Guidelines and 7.7.2.j Team Event Roster Guidelines. Clements, head of the family-owned No. 51 Jeremy Clements Racing team, was fined $10,000 for what the official penalty report classified as “non-compliance with essential personnel/team event roster rules.”

Upon hearing the testimony, a three-person National Motorsports Appeals Panel ruled Clements violated the rules stated in the penalty notice and upheld the original penalty assessed by NASCAR.

Clements has the right to appeal the decision of the National Motorsports Appeals Panel to the National Motorsports Final Appeals Officer, in accordance with Section 15 of the NASCAR Rule Book.

Wednesday’s panel consisted of the following three individuals:

— Mr. Tom DeLoach

— Mr. David Hall

— Ms. Kelly Housby

Posted on July 29, 2020 by Staff Report

Cole Pearn is returning to the racing world for the month of August.

Ed Carpenter Racing announced Wednesday the NASCAR Cup Series championship-winning crew chief will join its NTT IndyCar Series engineering staff for the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The team has pegged Pearn as the lead engineer on Conor Daly’s No. 47 U.S. Air Force Chevrolet.

“I am super excited to get a chance to compete in the Indy 500 with Conor Daly and Ed Carpenter Racing,” Pearn said in the news release. “I wasn’t sure when I would want to get back to racing, but this is a great opportunity to do so. To be able to do it at a high level was too hard to pass up. Obviously, it will be a steep learning curve but getting to work with (No. 20 engineer) Pete Craik again and the rest of the ECR team is about the best situation I could hope for!”

Pearn retired from full-time NASCAR duties at the end of the 2019 season after working atop Martin Truex Jr.’s pit box for five years. Over the course of 179 starts together, the two won the 2017 championship and 24 races overall.

This will mark Pearn’s first Indianapolis 500 experience as an engineer.

Ed Carpenter Racing has two full-time IndyCar entries but will enter a third car for the Indianapolis 500 driven by Daly. Pearn has a tie to the organization as well in Pete Craik — the lead engineer for Carpenter’s No. 20 — who also worked with Pearn at Furniture Row Racing and was part of the 2017 championship team.

The 2020 Indianapolis 500 was originally scheduled for May 24, but COVID-19 forced the postponement of the event. The 104th running will now take place Aug. 23. Unlike in NASCAR, there will also be IndyCar practice and qualifying for this race.

Posted on July 29, 2020 by Staff Report

NASCAR revealed Tuesday it has modified the pit-stop procedure for the stand-alone race in the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series at World Wide Technology Raceway this season on Aug. 30. Meanwhile, for the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ stand-alone event at Road America on Aug. 8, a modified version of the pit-road procedures announced in January will be used.

Here’s how the Gander Trucks procedure works: There will be three stages in the race with Stage 1 ending at Lap 55, Stage 2 ending at Lap 110 and the final stage scheduled to end on Lap 160. Teams may choose to pit, or not, during the stage breaks, and the field is frozen during that time.

Those who do pit will have three minutes to complete their work during the stage breaks. If a team goes over that time, they will be sent to the rear on the ensuing restart. The order drivers enter pit road is the order they will line up off pit road. Trucks that elected to pit will line up behind those trucks remaining on track — lead-lap trucks followed by lap-down trucks, the free-pass, waive-around trucks and any penalty trucks.

Additionally, all caution periods will be quickie yellows, meaning there will be one opportunity to add fuel and/or make adjustments. There will be no changing of tires except during stage breaks. NASCAR will work with teams on flat tires or damaged rims.

The new rules for Gander Trucks are meant to provide more green-flag racing in the final race of the 2020 Triple Truck Challenge as drivers compete for the cash bonus. The Gander Trucks used a similar procedure at Eldora Speedway in recent years.

“We believe these updated procedures are the best fit for the lone NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series standalone race of 2020,” said Brad Moran, Gander Trucks managing director. “Given the importance of this race in the Triple Truck Challenge and the Gander Trucks playoffs, we wanted to provide our fans with more green-flag racing and place the fate of the bonus in the drivers’ hands.”

For the Xfinity Series, the new rules include the field will be frozen at the time of caution. When pit road opens, all cars may pit and teams may add fuel or change up to four tires. (Four tires and fuel would require two pit stops to complete a full pit cycle.)

Stage breaks will consist of a full pit cycle, meaning two opportunities to pit to add fuel or change tires while pit road is open.

NASCAR has the discretion to call a quickie yellow during non-stage breaks, giving drivers the chance to pit to add fuel or change tires. Fuel only may be added during green-flag stops, with pit stops for tire changes on green-flag stop only being permitted by NASCAR for flat tires, significant damage, etc.

There’s a minimum 60-second time limit for teams making green-flag stops and an 80-second maximum time for teams making yellow-flag stops.

In the case of inclement weather, teams will be permitted to change from dry-weather tires to wet tires (or vice versa) under yellow- or green-flag conditions.

Posted on July 29, 2020 by Staff Report

The NASCAR Cup Series makes its lone trip to the Granite State for Sunday’s Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

With the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series taking the weekend off, the NASCAR Cup Series will be the only national series in action for the 301-lap, 318.46-mile event.

Before we get set to race at the “Magic Mile,” here’s a primer for the 20th race of the NASCAR Cup Series season with just seven races remaining in the regular season.

TRACK DETAILS

New Hampshire Motor Speedway, located in Loudon and about an hour north of Boston, is a 1.058-mile asphalt oval that opened in 1990. The speedway was built by the late Bob Bahre, who passed away earlier this month at the age of 93, as well as his brother, Gary. The turns have 2-7 degrees of variable banking, while the 1,500-foot long straightaways have 1 degree of banking.

Rusty Wallace beat Mark Martin by a margin of 1.31 seconds in the inaugural race. (ISC Archives/CQ-Roll Call Group via Getty Images)

Rusty Wallace won the first NASCAR Cup Series race held at the track coined the “Magic Mile” on July 11, 1993 while driving the No. 2 Team Penske Pontiac. Forty-eight Cup Series races have been held at the facility in total.

The Cup Series experimented with restrictor plates at New Hampshire in second event held in 2000. Jeff Burton led all 300 laps in the race, the third time in Cup Series history where a driver led every circuit of an event. Cale Yarborough accomplished the feat at Bristol Motor Speedway in 1973 and Nashville Speedway in 1978.

The track, originally named New Hampshire International Speedway, was officially purchased by Bruton Smith and Speedway Motorsports, Inc. on Jan. 11, 2008.

STAGE LENGTHS

Stage 1 is set to end at Lap 75, Stage 2 at Lap 185, and the final stage is slated to conclude on Lap 301.

STARTING LINEUP

The NASCAR Cup Series race will again be structured without practice and qualifying as the sanctioning body attempts to limit exposure for on-site personnel to control COVID-19’s spread. Sunday’s starting lineup will be determined by a random draw among groups in the team owner standings:

Positions 1-12: Random draw from charter teams in those positions in owner points
Positions 13-24: Random draw from charter teams in those positions in owner points
Positions 25-36: Random draw from charter teams in those positions in owner points
Positions 37-40: Open teams in order of owners points

Pit-stall selection is based on the finishing order from the July 23 race at Kansas Speedway. See where drivers will pit.

RULES PACKAGE

The 2020 NASCAR rules package for short tracks and road courses will be in effect, a reduced downforce package that features a 1.17-inch tapered spacer used to achieve a target of 750 horsepower, significantly smaller rear spoiler at 2.75 inches, a quarter-inch front splitter overhang with approximately 2-inch wings and alterations to the radiator pan and the removal of its vertical fencing to reduce front-end downforce.

GOODYEAR TIRES

Since it is relatively flat, New Hampshire Motor Speedway produces minimal load compared to more high-banked tracks. Grip is therefore generated through the compounds Goodyear selects for its tire setup. Both the left- and right-side compounds have changed since last year’s race and will add grip. Teams will also try to gain grip by going below the recommended air pressures. Low left-side pressures, which some teams run down into the single digits, can cause the sidewall to over-deflect and damage the tire carcass to the point of air loss.

“We have a different tire setup at New Hampshire this year, and it is the same as what we run at Phoenix (Raceway),” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “This setup has different tread compounds than we ran at Loudon last year, and teams should see a grip enhancement as a result. The real benefit is that Loudon and Phoenix are now aligned once again, which is how it had been in the past until Phoenix was repaved about a decade ago. This will give playoff teams another race with this setup and will help them as they build their notebook for championship weekend in November.”

Teams will be allowed seven sets of tires.

STATS TO KNOW

— Kevin Harvick has won three out of the last five New Hampshire races, while the last eight events have either been won by Harvick or a Joe Gibbs Racing driver. Denny Hamlin, the other heavy championship favorite this season, has earned one win in that eight-race span.

— Are a couple of rookies set to heat up as the playoffs inch closer? With a win at Kentucky Speedway under his belt, Cole Custer has finished in the top 10 in three of the last four races in 2020 as has Tyler Reddick. Christopher Bell is no stranger to Victory Lane at New Hampshire, winning in both Xfinity Series starts and one of two Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series starts.

— Aric Almirola enters Sunday with an eight-race string of top-10 finishes, best in the Cup Series, but the Stewart-Haas Racing driver only has one top 10 in the last eight races at New Hampshire.

— Brad Keselowski is quietly enjoying his career-best Cup Series season. Keselowski’s 14 top-10 finishes so far this season are his best all time through 19 races. For the No. 2 Team Penske driver, New Hampshire ranks third among most top 10s in his career, owning 12 top 10s in 19 starts.

— Martin Truex Jr. owns top 10s in the last five races at New Hampshire, but he leads the all-time list when it comes to laps led in Loudon without a victory, pacing the field for 744 laps in 26 starts. Truex’s best finish is third.

Source: NASCAR statistics, Racing Insights

LIVE COVERAGE

Tune in to television coverage Sunday on NBCSN (3 p.m. ET) or on the NBC Sports App. For full radio coverage from New Hampshire Motor Speedway, listen in to PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Channel 90.

RELATED: Ways to follow the races

For a more interactive experience, steer over to NASCAR.com or the NASCAR app to check out an enhanced Race Center, live Lap-by-Lap coverage, the customizable live leaderboard with Scanner and the return of Drive (featuring in-car cameras).

Be sure to set your lineup in Fantasy Live and make your picks in the NASCAR Finish Line App!

2019 RACE WINNER

Riding a 21-race winless streak that continued through the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season up to this point, Kevin Harvick reversed the tide by earning victory in the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire. Harvick scored his fourth career victory at the track by holding off a hard-charging Denny Hamlin on older tires in the closing laps. The year prior, Harvick nudged Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Kyle Busch, out of the way in the final circuits to record the first of two consecutive triumphs in Loudon.

ACTIVE NEW HAMPSHIRE WINNERS

Kevin Harvick (four); Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman (three); Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano (two); Brad Keselowski (one)