Posted on by Pat DeCola

LOUDON, N.H. – Daniel Suarez isn’t quite where he thought he’d be.

Just past the halfway mark of his sophomore Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series campaign, the Joe Gibbs Racing product sits 20th in points – exactly where he finished a season ago – on pace to fall below his 2017 figures in top 10s, laps led, average start and average finish. In his 19 starts this year, Suarez has finished off the lead lap in 10 of them – the same amount from his entire 36-race rookie season.

Thrust into the seat of his No. 19 JGR Toyota after the sudden departure of the incumbent Carl Edwards, Suarez performed admirably in his rookie season. He finished just shy of Joey Logano, Clint Bowyer and Erik Jones, and ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the standings.

RELATED: Who’s on the playoff bubble? | Playoff outsiders look to break through

A step forward in Year Two – especially given how strong the organization is overall, and how fast his mentor and teammate, Kyle Busch, has shown to be this season – would have thought to be in store for the 26 year old.

It has yet to unfold, but hope remains.

With a shot at the final seven checkered flags of the regular season to clinch his spot in the 2018 NASCAR Playoffs, Suarez and Co. have more questions than answers at this point – the focus is clear, however, and dead-set on this one, tiny thing.

“We just need speed,” Suarez told NASCAR.com Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. “We’re not exactly where we wanted to be. Our expectations were much higher than this, but this is where we’re at right now and we have to work from this.

” … When things are going well, everything is good. But when things are going bad is when the experience has to come to the table to put everything under control. I feel like this year so far, I have had rough weeks and I don’t feel like I have done a good job moving forward quickly and fixing the problems quickly. But that’s part of racing.”

It’s also part of the process of a driver earning his stripes at the premier series level, arguably the most challenging undertaking across motorsports’ rich history.

Easy to forget, it is, how far Suarez has come in such a short amount of time – the Monterrey, Mexico, native was racing full-time in the NASCAR Peak Mexico Series and K&N Pro Series East a mere four years ago. For reference, Jones, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney were all racing full-time or close to it at the national series level that year, soaking in knowledge from veteran teammates and gleaning track data at the same venues they race at now.

RELATED: Young drivers that could win next | Suarez’s rise to NASCAR

If anything, Suarez might actually be overperforming based on how traditional models of drivers with his experience level suggest he should be performing.

So, of course there are going to be bumps in the road. Teams seem to be favoring youth over experience to a degree these days, so there’s an understanding that dips like this and unmet personal expectations are going to happen.

What sets these drivers apart is how they respond.

“Last year, we had a lot of issues as well, a lot of changes, but even with that we were extremely strong and we never had the speed problem,” he said. “This year, we’ve had that problem sometimes. It’s just experience. I’ve never been in this situation before, where I’m struggling to find speed for so long. I’m sure I’m going to figure it out, it’s just going to take some time.

“It’s not one thing (we’re missing), it’s a combination of things. But we have a great group of guys and I feel like I can drive and I’m sure I can figure it out.”

Perhaps New Hampshire is where Suarez finds his magic: In two 2017 races at the “Magic Mile,” he placed sixth and eighth. Combine that with the fact that he’s finished outside the top 10 at Dover and Phoenix (NHMS’ two closest tracks in comparison) just once in six races at those two tracks, and everything certainly seems to be lining up as a striking opportunity for him.

Two weeks after seeing his teammate Jones unexpectedly break through for his first Monster Energy Series win in his 57th start, could Sunday mark Suarez’s signature moment, in his 56th?

RELATED: Suarez makes bold statement on playoffs: ‘We’re going to make it’

“New Hampshire actually is one of the few places on the NASCAR schedule that I’ve been racing in everything – K&N, Trucks, Xfinity, Cup. It’s one of the few race tracks that I have more than three years of experience at. I feel comfortable at this place for whatever reason. We had a strong performance here last year and we’re not expecting anything less on Sunday,” said Suarez, who will line up ninth in Sunday’s Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 (1 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“There’s been a little bit of ups and downs lately so I feel like this place could be a good one to turn it around and start beating some people. … We just have to make it happen, have some fun and go out and do our thing.”

It’s one thing to be in a slump. It’s another to acknowledge it. But it’s only in the latter that changes can be sought, forward progress can be made and success can be celebrated.

Joe Gibbs Racing has the right driver to accomplish this.

“Mentally, actually, I feel like for whatever reason in my background I have had a lot of tough situations in my career very early when I was young. And I feel like I taught myself how to be in these situations, so mentally I feel like I’m very strong. I could say that I’m one of the strongest guys in the garage area, mentally. I just feel that way. It’s very hard for me to be down. I’m very confident in myself and what I’m capable of. And when I’m not, I know how to fix it.

“But sometimes in racing, things depend on a lot of factors. It’s not like biking, where it’s just one guy and that’s it,” Suarez said, gesturing at NBCSN’s television coverage of the Tour de France on the TV in his hauler.

“Sometimes you have to have confidence in yourself and be smart enough to manage everything else. I feel like I’ve been missing some of that, but I’ve been learning and I’m sure we’re going to be where we deserve to be, soon.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Martin Truex Jr. popped up to the top of the leaderboard late to lead final practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series on Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Truex, who won last weekend at Kentucky Speedway, turned a lap of 131.624 mph in the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota.

Kevin Harvick, who drove 92 laps combined in Saturday’s two practice sessions, finished second at 131.556 mph in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top five. Pole-sitter Kurt Busch was 12th in final practice in the No. 41 SHR Ford.

RELATED: Final practice results | Best 10-lap averages | Fantasy advice

Michael McDowell brought out a red flag midway through the session when he wrecked the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford. McDowell was treated and released from the infield care center, and he told NBCSN that the team would move to a backup car for Sunday.

Late in practice, Landon Cassill crashed the No. 00 StarCom Racing Chevrolet, and that team also rolled out its backup car. Cassill also was treated and released from the infield care center.

The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and the No. 95 Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet both served 15-minute penalties for failing pre-qualifying inspection twice — the No. 11 at Kentucky and the No. 95 at New Hampshire.

The start time for Sunday’s race, the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301, was moved up to 1 p.m. ET because of rain in the forecast, with coverage on NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and the NBC Sports App.

Practice 2

Defending race winner Denny Hamlin put down the fastest lap in Saturday morning’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota circled the 1.058-mile track at a speed of 132.942 mph, edging Ryan Blaney in the Team Penske No. 12 Ford at 132.526 mph.

RELATED: Practice 2 results | 10-lap averages

Martin Truex Jr., in the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota, was third at 132.462 mph, Kyle Busch was fourth in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and Kevin Harvick was fifth in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.

Kasey Kahne, in the No. 95 for Leavine Family Racing, was the top Chevrolet driver in eighth place. Pole-sitter Kurt Busch was ninth in the No. 41 SHR Ford.

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR and track officials have moved up the start time for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to 1 p.m. ET (NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) because of the potential of wet weather.

RELATED: Weekend schedule | Lineup in photos

The Monster Energy Series race was originally set for 2 p.m. ET. That start time — and all pre-race ceremonies — have been moved up to one hour earlier.

Officials reached that decision Saturday morning, faced with a chance of precipitation in the race-day forecast at the 1.058-mile track.

Kurt Busch will start on the pole for the race while Martin Truex Jr. rolls off second. Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney round out the top five starters.

MORE: Photos from Loudon | Paint schemes

Posted on by Staff Report

LOUDON, N.H. — Early bird Kurt Busch ran his best lap of the day in the final round of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series knockout qualifying at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to earn the top starting spot for Sunday’s Foxwoods 301 (1 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The first driver on the track for decisive Round 3, Busch covered the one-mile distance in 28.511 seconds (133.591 mph) to edge reigning series champion Martin Turex Jr. by .019 seconds. Truex will start from the front row for the seventh time this season.

RELATED: Qualifying results | Weekend schedule

“I don’t want to second-guess anything, so when the crew chief (Billy Scott) says ‘Go,’ you just go,” said Busch, who won his first Busch Pole Award in 35 races at the Magic Mile, his third of the season and the 25th of his career. “I like the way we made the right changes through each of the rounds, and we stuck to a game plan.

“That’s exactly what you hope to have each time you go to qualifying, where you don’t have to deviate away from the plan you set in place.”

In fact, the three rounds of qualifying for Busch followed a script that had been written before the first round began.

“We discussed it, and the call was made back at the hauler before the qualifying session started,” Busch said. “It was almost like a non-discussion. It was, ‘This is what’s going to happen in Round 1, this is what’s going to happen in Round 2, and here’s what’s going to happen in Round 3’—and we stuck to our plan.”

Truex felt he lost what could have been a pole-winning run in the first corner.

“I just missed Turn 1 just slightly there in that last run on the first lap, but overall it was a solid day,” Truex said. “We had a decent practice – a short practice, you know, because we waited a little bit for the VHT (traction compound) to kind of get run in, and we went out there and ran and were probably a little bit off further on balance more than we needed to be at the end of practice.

“So made some changes for qualifying, and the guys did a good job of getting it right and we were close. So couple thousandths, a few inches here or there in a different spot on the race track and might have been able to make it up, but a solid effort for us, and we can go get them on Sunday from second.”

Led by his brother, Kyle Busch, Toyota drivers occupied the top five positions in Round 2, but Kurt Busch broke the monopoly in the round that counted in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Kyle Busch ended up third, followed by Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin, as Camry drivers claimed positions two through four on the grid.

Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman earned the eighth starting position in the fastest Chevrolet.

“To come here and qualify a solid top 10 means the car is probably a whole lot better than that, which is a good thing for me come Sunday,” said Bowman, who entered this race weekend with an average starting position at Loudon of 30.8 and previous best qualifying effort of 18th.

With Erik Jones earning the seventh position and Daniel Suarez qualifying ninth, JGR drivers placed all four cars in the top 10. Surprisingly, Busch was the only Stewart Haas driver to make the cut for the 12-driver final round.

The Team Penske Fords of Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski will start fifth and sixth, respectively, on Sunday.

 

 

Posted on by Holly Cain

Defending New Hampshire Motor Speedway race winner Denny Hamlin is hoping that the good vibes and his excellent record at the track will translate into a positive season turnaround this weekend.

The perennial Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship player is smarting from a rough month of competition – multiple races starting from the rear of the grid and misses at the checkered flag. Disappointing for this No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team that is far more accustomed to hoisting trophies and challenging in the playoffs than overcoming the kind of early season start he’s had this season.

“The last month has probably been one of the toughest in my years (at the Cup level),’’ Hamlin, 37, said Friday afternoon. “It’s just been really bad results. Not that we’ve necessarily run bad or had bad speed, just terrible results. … We need to start winning right now, running the top five, leading more laps and get to work on this season and try to make sure that we put ourselves in contention at the end.’’

RELATED: Hamlin a part of most memorable moments at Loudon

His confidence – in himself and veteran team – still remains high, no matter the frustrating summer showings. He’s started 36th or worse in two of the last four races – and racing from the rear of the field automatically creates a daunting challenge. Yet his talent and the team’s effort has kept him solidly among the playoff field. He’s ranked ninth heading into Sunday’s race.

Hamlin has a healthy 10 top-10 finishes through the opening 19 races – a better than 50 percent yield. He has six top fives as well – including a season-best three third-place efforts (Daytona, Richmond and Charlotte). He’s had only two top 10s in the last six races, however.

“It doesn’t matter how many points those other guys accrue,’’ Hamlin said. “If we can win at Texas, Phoenix or Martinsville – we’re part of the Championship Four and could easily knock one of those guys out and all the hard work that they’ve put in through the entire year.’’

Sunday’s Foxwoods Casino 301 (1 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) is prime opportunity. And Hamlin knows it.

He is in elite company as a three-time race winner (2017, 2012, 2007) at the “Magic Mile.” No active driver has won at the track more. He has three top-10 finishes in the last five races and hasn’t started worse than seventh since 2013.

But Hamlin comes into the race feeling understandably a bit behind on the season. Three drivers – Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch (five wins), Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick (five wins) and fellow Toyota driver Martin Truex Jr. (four wins) have won 14 of the 19 races thus far.

MORE: Is Hamlin a must in your Fantasy Live lineup for New Hampshire? 

Truex, in particular, has been brilliant at New Hampshire, but winless despite leading a series-best 513 laps in the last four races here. Hamlin knows he’s got to step up his game — and step it up now.

He admits he’s ready to have his name thrown into the championship favorite mix – the party crasher to the “Big Three” getting all the early season attention.

“I don’t think we’ve been at that level to even be talked about at this point,’’ he said. “I think we’ve got to get better in a lot of different aspects. It’s agitating knowing that we’re capable of doing that if we put everything together, but until we do it, they deserve all the press they’ve gotten.”

And this could be the week Hamlin inserts himself in the mix.

“Certainly when you come to these race tracks, for us personally, it feels like this is a track that we certainly can win at and I’ve got a great feel for it no matter where we’re running or what cars that we’re running,’’ Hamlin said. “Certainly from my aspect, there’s not an advantage, but there’s certainly a level of comfort.

“When you come here, you know exactly what you’re looking for.’’

Posted on by Reid Spencer

What Ryan Preece accomplished last year at New Hampshire Motor Speedway helped propel him to unqualified success in a limited run in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Preece didn’t win last year’s race, but his second-place finish opened eyes throughout the sport. And on his very next run, the modified ace won from the pole at Iowa to score his first series victory in his second trip in a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

The victory was the payoff from an enormous gamble. Backed by a group of investors, Preece opted for a few races in top-of-the-line JGR equipment versus a full Xfinity schedule in lesser-quality machinery. In four 2017 races with Gibbs, Preece finished second, first, fourth and fifth.

Back in April, Preece scored his second victory, this time in a Dash 4 Cash race at Bristol. In eight Xfinity starts in the past two seasons, he has posted top 10s in all but one. The exception came in his last outing, in July at Daytona, where an overheating issue knocked him out of the race after 51 of 105 laps.

MORE: Ryan Preece’s career stats

Now Preece returns to New Hampshire for Saturday’s Lakes Region 200 (4 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Originally, the race wasn’t on Preece’s schedule with JGR.

“A lot of the people that supported me last year to do those two races (New Hampshire and Iowa), they wanted to get involved and do it again,” Preece said on Friday at NHMS. “And so we put it together so we can come back and race here in New Hampshire in front of all their friends and family and my friends and family.

“It was a really big deal last year, so we ended up putting it together, and hopefully we can do one spot better.”

Though it hasn’t happened yet, Preece hopes continued success will lead to sponsorship money and a full-time stint in NASCAR racing.

“Of course I do (want a full-time ride), but I think what needs to be said is sponsors need to come to the team and say we need Ryan Preece or something like that,” Preece said. “So I’m just going to keep doing my job, and that’s trying to win races, and hopefully the sponsors will come.”

Posted on by Pat DeCola

LOUDON, N.H. — Joey Logano isn’t a part of NASCAR’s current “Big Three” of Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. — but he may be close.

The Team Penske driver has rebounded rather buoyantly this season, a year removed from missing the 2017 Playoffs amid his worst season with the Ford-backed organization. Logano is on pace for the second-best average finish of his career (10.4) and is just three top-10 finishes short of matching his ’17 total of 17, with a win (Talladega), to boot.

That’s quite plentiful, given the aforementioned trio hasn’t allowed much room at the head of the table for its competitors. Fourteen of the season’s 19 races have been won by Busch, Harvick or defending series champ Truex, with track history pointing to one of them likely landing in Victory Lane again on Sunday in the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 (1 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio).

MORE: Full New Hampshire schedule | Practice 1 speeds

Logano’s one of a small handful of drivers who could find his way to hurriedly sitting down in that fourth seat in what’s shaping up to be a rather interesting game of musical chairs that will culminate in the season-ending finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

But it’s still going to take some time.

“We’re not quite at that point yet as a race team,” Logano said Friday at the ‘Magic Mile.’ “We’re not far from it. … We can run in the top 10 about anywhere right now. We can make some top-five finishes every now and again, but we have to have a perfect day to win a race at this point. We have to have the perfect strategy; a great car that’s maximized to the best handling we can possibly make it.

“There’s just no margin for error throughout the whole event for us right now. We just have to be on our game right now to be able to win races and I’m not saying we can’t, we just have to be perfect and it’s not easy — not that it’s ever easy to win a race, but the margin that we’re working with right now isn’t as big as what you see those top three cars at that are able to be consistently fast even if their car may not be quite perfect.”

That margin is something every championship hopeful team – not just Logano’s – will need to find, hastily, if they’re to compete with the “Big Three.” Each of those drivers has a championship and multiple Championship 4 appearances since the revamped playoff format debuted in 2014. Barring unforeseen circumstances, they’ll be there again.

RELATED: Playoffs standings | Logano’s career statistics

Busch, Harvick and Truex have been the gold standard at the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series level the whole season. With that territory, however, comes along the fact that teams are anxiously searching for ways to specifically beat them.

They’re still coming up short … for now.

“I’m surprised by it because we haven’t seen this in a long time to where three cars are that dominant and being able to win races,” Logano said. “There are other cars that can lead laps, but it doesn’t seem like the right ones. It seems like (the “Big Three”) always find a way to prevail at the end, whether it’s the speed in their car or their pit stops or restarts, whatever it may be they find themselves up front when it matters the most. Obviously, they can recover from mistakes pretty well because of their speed, so they’re just able to be there at the right times.”

Logano and the No. 22 crew are already provisionally locked into the 2018 NASCAR Playoffs, so the desperation the team faced at this point last year – in need of a win to qualify – is a distant memory.

With seven races left in the regular season it allows the 28-year-old and his longtime crew chief Todd Gordon to tinker with things and try to manufacture ways to close that margin and pick up the speed to compete with NASCAR’s elite on the grandest stage. It isn’t just about improving from last year and still being in contention come Las Vegas, the playoff opener.

He wants to take his talents to South Beach and make it count.

“The fact that we’re locked in the playoffs is great, but that’s only one part of it. That’s not what the goal is. The goal isn’t to make the playoffs. The goal is to win the championship,” Logano continued. ” … We’re not quite at that level yet to make that happen. We can make that happen this year, we’ve just got to make some gains here and we’ve got to make them pretty quick because the playoffs are right down the road from where we are right now.

“I think the mindset is always, ‘How can we be better? How can we work harder to find that advantage?’ That’s always a constant.”

From the sounds of it, Logano’s focus, headspace and determination are in order.

Now it all comes down to horsepower.

Posted on by Holly Cain

Less than 48 hours after being honored with the ESPY Award for Best Driver, Martin Truex Jr. was still smiling about the national recognition before Friday’s opening practice at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The reigning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion won the award on a high-profile, super-achieving ballot that also included three other 2017 racing champions: Formula One’s Lewis Hamilton, IndyCar’s Josef Newgarden and NHRA’s Top Fuel champion Brittany Force.

RELATED: Truex wins Best Driver ESPY | Truex on contract extension 

It marked the third time in the last four years that a NASCAR champion has won the Best Driver category. Kyle Busch won in 2016 and Kevin Harvick in 2015. And it speaks volumes about the 2017 title chase and Truex’s own story of perseverance — a theme that has boosted him and the small Denver-based Furniture Row Racing team from underdog to championship caliber.

“It was a big surprise,’’ Truex said of the ESPY. “I didn’t have any expectations. I thought it was cool to be nominated and I really didn’t think about it much more after that. … I was definitely really surprised (to win) and it was pretty cool. Obviously, like I said, a great honor.

“A lot of great drivers on that list, so a lot of people I respect and enjoy watching and pretty cool to be able to win that.’’

Certainly Truex’s amazing 2017 title run made him fully deserving of the ESPN nod. He won a series best eight races — a single season record for himself. And he looked absolutely dominant doing so — ultimately winning the Homestead-Miami season finale to earn his shot to hoist NASCAR’s most sought-after hardware.

By all accounts, he’s followed up this year with a similar show of force. His win last weekend at Kentucky Speedway was his fourth of the year — elevating him to championship form again —  the third member of a season power trio that also includes five-time winners Harvick and Kyle Busch.

The New Jersey native arrives in New Hampshire for Sunday’s Foxwoods Casino 301 (1 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) ready to make good on an especially personal pursuit: finally winning a Monster Energy Series race at the one-mile New England oval where he and his father have raced for decades.

Truex has led 513 laps in the last four Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races here only to come up short of victory. He has three top-10 finishes in the last three years. In this race last year, he finished third after earning the pole position and leading a race best 137 of the 301 laps. He has 10 top-10 finishes in 21 Cup starts and scored two of his five top-five efforts in the last two races. That history at the track and his current string of success gives him and the team great hope for the weekend.

MORE: Ryan Truex on brother winning ESPY

“We’ve been so strong here the past few seasons,’’ Truex said. “It’s always been a really good track for me over the years and, you know, winning K&N races here, winning Xfinity in ’05 and I really want to get that Cup win because this is a special place for me.

“I’ve been coming here a long time since I was a teenager and this place was really a big springboard for my career, you know? Winning here in front of the Cup and Xfinity guys really was a big part of the reason I got an opportunity to drive cars for a living, so it’s a special place for me. I really love coming up here and really just trying to figure out how to get that Cup win.

“Led the most laps a few times in this race the last few seasons and it seems like the last 75 or so we’ve not been able to somehow be in the front, so try to figure that out this weekend hopefully. It’s time.”

A win on the challenging 1-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway would only add to his diverse resume, putting him on equal standing with five-time winners Harvick and Busch. And it would be a big personal boost to score a trophy at a track especially dear to his heart.

“I don’t know that it’s crucial for our team or our season, but I think for me it’s such a big one,’’ Truex acknowledged. “It’s one I want so bad. Winning here would be for me like winning at Daytona. I mean, it truly is.

“I know the team’s fired up and ready to go and worked hard to be prepared to come here like they always do and they’re excited and optimistic, so that always makes me feel good and feel like we’ll have a shot at it and certainly we have a lot of momentum right now so hopefully we can take advantage of it.”

Truex smiled, acknowledging the frustration at New Hampshire, but insisting that would only make a win this weekend all the sweeter.

“Sometimes the biggest ones are the hardest ones and I guess for me this is a big one, so it’s been difficult, but look forward to the challenge this weekend of trying to finish the deal,” he said.

Posted on by Staff Report

Kyle Busch showed early speed in Friday’s opening practice at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, topping the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series leaderboard with a best lap of 134.292 mph.

Busch is a three-time winner at the 1.058-mile track. He is also the series’ most recent New Hampshire winner, prevailing from the pole in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota.

RELATED: Practice 1 results | Weekend schedule

Kyle Larson was second-fastest at 133.788 mph in the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet. Denny Hamlin, the race’s defending winner, turned in the third-best lap in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota with JGR teammate Erik Jones fourth on the leaderboard.

JGR completed a season sweep at New Hampshire last season, part of the organization’s recent run of five wins in the last six Loudon races.

Ryan Blaney rounded out the top five as the fastest Ford driver in the 50-minute session ahead of Sunday’s Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 (1 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM).

Martin Truex Jr., last week’s winner at Kentucky Speedway, was ninth-fastest in the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota.

An incident involving the Front Row Motorsports No. 38 Ford of David Ragan caused the only stoppage in opening practice at the 32-minute mark. Ragan slid out of the racing groove entering Turn 3 and scraped the outside retaining wall.

VIDEO: Watch Ragan’s hit

Six teams had 15 minutes deducted from their practice time because of infractions during inspection last weekend at Kentucky Speedway. The affected teams:

• 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Daniel Suarez
• 23 BK Racing Toyota of Blake Jones
• 47 JTG Daugherty Chevrolet of AJ Allmendinger
• 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Jimmie Johnson
• 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet of BJ McLeod
• 99 StarCom Racing Chevrolet of Kyle Weatherman