Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Full schedule for Dover and Las Vegas


Jeff Gordon isn’t the only member of Hendrick Motorsports returning to the track this weekend. Dale Earnhardt Jr. will also be at Dover International Speedway, but in a much different capacity.


Earnhardt Jr. said Monday on “The Dale Jr. Download” podcast on Dirty Mo Radio that he would be at Dover on Saturday and Sunday, and would sit on the No. 88 pit box on race day. Gordon returns as the substitute driver.


“It’s going to be kind of different, tough, maybe not a ton of fun,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “It’s a bit weird to be not in the car but at the track when you’re a driver. You don’t know what to do with yourself. But I’m going to try to support the guys and maybe learn a thing or two.


“It’s going to be different, but we’ll see how it goes.”


Gordon, who retired following the 2015 season, has driven in six races this year in place of Earnhardt Jr. The four-time premier series champion will split time with Alex Bowman in the No. 88 for the remainder of the season.


Earnhardt Jr. also provided an update on his recovery from a concussion. He said he had another evaluation with his doctor last week and continues to make progress.


“The only thing that triggers the symptoms is going somewhere I’m unfamiliar, somewhere I’ve never been … somewhere where it’s busy,” Earnhardt said. “If I can find a busy place, if I go with (fiancée) Amy (Reimann) to the grocery store … that’s basically rehab.


“(But) it’s getting better. My doctors talk about getting me back to where I can be a normal person, and then there’s getting me back to being a race car driver. I’m almost back … to being a normal, functioning person with no issues. To become that guy I need to be inside the car, we really have to train my senses to be perfect.”

Posted on by Pat DeCola

RELATED: Full race results | Series standings | Chase Grid
SHOP: Keselowski gear | Chase gear

LOUDON, N.H. — As one of the resident wizards of the “Magic Mile” over the past five years, it was a little curious to see Brad Keselowski — who sports a 6.27 average finish at the track since the fall race of 2011 – come out a little flat in Sunday’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
 
For his latest trick, the Team Penske driver entered the top 10 for good at Lap 270 of 300 and continued to rise from there, sticking the landing with a fourth-place finish that was nearly a third, save for a late pass from Kyle Busch.
 
“We caught a couple breaks on the restarts that helped out. Pleasantly surprised (at how this race turned out),” Keselowski said on pit road following the race. ” … It was just a good call there towards the end to put tires on and then just being smooth and keeping it in one piece driving through traffic. … Sometimes you catch some good breaks in this sport. … It was just a really great finish to kind of just a so-so day.”
 
While the recovery portends well for Keselowski’s hopes of advancing into the Round of 12, the speed that his car lacked at New Hampshire should be of some concern for the 2 team as the Chase continues.
 
The 2012 champ pins it on this week’s rules update for post-race inspection that eliminated P2 and P3-level penalties for infractions resulting from the laser inspection system.
 
“I think that rules change at the last minute was certainly not very favorable to our team,” said Keselowski, in search of his first win since early July at Kentucky. “We’ve got to work to find a little more speed for sure.”
 
The No. 2 crew chief, Paul Wolfe, pins the lack of performance on a swing-and-a-miss setup after they couldn’t quite nail down what they were looking for in Saturday’s practice sessions.
 
“The car never drove like what we’ve had here in the past. We were kind of on the fence about where we wanted to be today as far as set-up wise. There were a couple things we went through in practice yesterday and we picked a direction that obviously wasn’t good,” Wolfe told NASCAR.com.

“So we just really struggled to get any speed out of the car all day. Just tried to stay calm, get what we could and not get in trouble. Brad was doing a good job of that. There at the end, the position we were in I felt it was worth putting tires on it and it was really the new tires and a couple of good restarts that got us to the front.
 
“Definitely not the performance or the speed in the car that we were hoping for today, but we were able to get a good finish out of it and at this point of the Chase, that’s obviously the important part.”
 
Keselowski now heads to the Dover International Speedway with a little more of a cushion — he’s the overall points leader, though second and sixth-place (in the point standings) drivers Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick, respectively, have clinched their Round of 12 berths — than it looked like he’d have for most of the race, and should be a lock to advance save for a major, catastrophic mishap.
 
“It feels good to go to Dover and be able to sleep easy knowing that if you have a part failure or get caught up in a wreck or any of those silly things that can happen that aren’t you fault, you don’t have to worry about them so that’s good,” he said.
 
“But we still have some work to do to get a little faster.”

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: Results | Chase Grid | Standings

MORE: Watch the incident | Dillon talks about the wreck


SPARTA, Ky. — Erik Jones looked every bit the part of a pre-Chase favorite Saturday at Kentucky Speedway until a crash with barely more than 10 laps remaining took the Joe Gibbs Racing driver out of contention.


Jones led exactly one-half of the 200 laps that made up the VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300. But the field had barely gone back to green-flag racing on Lap 188 when the back end of Jones’ No. 20 Toyota came around as he found himself three-wide in Turn 3 with Ty Dillon (Richard Childress Racing) on his outside and JGR teammate Daniel Suarez underneath.


“I got sucked around,” a disappointed Jones said after exiting the infield care center. “I slammed on the brakes trying to slow down but Ty had been holding me really tight there on the restart, slamming doors in (Turns) 1 and 2. He was on me pretty tight down there.


“It was my fault, but it’s tough when you’re in that situation.”


The pole winner for the NASCAR XFINITY Series’ inaugural opening Chase race, Jones came into the race as the No. 1 seed thanks to four wins during the regular season. The 28th-place finish dropped him from first to ninth in the standings with two races remaining in the opening Chase segment.


“It definitely looks like we’re going to have to run really well at Dover and Charlotte, if not get a win,” jones said. “Getting knocked out there is not a good situation for us. I thought we could probably get a win tonight and get locked in (to the next round), but we’ll have to do pretty good here the next two (races) to move on.”


The race, won by JR Motorsports driver Elliott Sadler, was slowed by a track-record 12 cautions for 64 laps. Aggressive maneuvers saw the field flare out three-and four-wide on numerous restarts.


“I was definitely playing more defense on restarts than I ever have been in my career, just trying to guard and make sure I was in one piece,” Jones said, “but there’s only so much you can do before one of those times you run out of luck.”


Dillon, who led 47 laps around the 1.5-mile track, finished one positon ahead of Jones in 27th and fell eight spots, from fourth to 12th in points, with the setback. Only eight of the 12 Chase drivers will advance to the second round.


“I had a pretty good restart there and had a good run on the 20,” Dillon said of the incident with Jones. “I heard him get loose and he had to lift and there was nowhere I can go.


“It just sucks to start off the Chase like that we’re in a hole but we had speed tonight so we can win races. It just hurts and then you see the 1 (Sadler) win; we were better than him all night.”


“It’s so fast around here but one groove and things like that are going to happen, especially when everybody is trying to get locked into that Chase.”


Jones and Dillon weren’t the only Chase drivers to find themselves involved in on-track incidents — toss Justin Allgaier (P9), Ryan Sieg (P16), runner-up Daniel Suarez (P2) into the mix as well. Most, if not all, were able to recover, however.


“I think we can win anytime we come to the race track,” Jones said, “but we beat ourselves a lot this year and we did it again tonight and that’s unfortunate.”

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Full race results | Series standings | Chase Grid
SHOP: Chase gear

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Matt Kenseth put the blame squarely on his own shoulders after his second-place finish Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Kenseth — who led 105 of 300 laps, including from Laps 243-294 — ceded the lead on the final restart to eventual race winner Kevin Harvick. Kenseth held on for second place, .442 seconds behind at the checkered flag, but expressed regret as he emerged from his No. 20 Toyota post-race.

“The last restart was my fault,” said Kenseth, who had his modest win streak at the 1.058-mile track snapped at two. “The one before that I thought I did right and we heard from the (race control) tower down that they thought I slowed up before I restarted or something. So the last one I let Kevin lay back on me, which we’re supposed to be side-by-side.

“I should have known better. I should have just went really late in the (restart) zone and waited until he had to get up to my nose because he anticipated it just right and laid back. Plus, I spun the tires and I got beat through (Turns) 1 and 2 and then it was over.”

The late-race slip-up paralleled a restart miscue by Martin Truex Jr., last week’s winner and the driver of the JGR-affiliated Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota. Truex lost ground with a sluggish jump on the next-to-last restart after leading a race-high 141 laps. He wound up seventh.

Kenseth sits fourth in the 16-driver Chase standings with one race remaining until the Round of 12 is set. A New Hampshire win would have removed any guesswork for the 44-year-old driver ahead of next Sunday’s Citizen Soldier 400 (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Dover International Speedway.

“You always want to win,” Kenseth said. “I thought we had a top-two or -three car today, but we didn’t win. They put me in position to do that and I let them down there so I feel bad about that. We ran good last week and we ran decent today, too, so we’ll just go to Dover and try to race them there.”

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Find NBCSN in your area | Watch live online at NBCSports.com

The NASCAR Sprint Cup and XFINITY Series will gather for a doubleheader showing at Dover International Speedway this weekend. The Camping World Truck Series will race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Check out the full schedule below.


Note: All times are ET


SUNDAY, OCT. 2:


ON TRACK: XFINITY Series at Dover

— 10 a.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Drive Sober 200 (200 laps, 200 miles), CNBC (Results)

ON TRACK: Sprint Cup Series at Dover

–1:30 p.m.: NCSC Driver Introductions with NASCAR Special Awards

–2:00 p.m.: Presentation of Colors by Dover Air Force Base Color Guard

–2:00:20 p.m.: Invocation by Pastor Dan Schafer, Calvary Assembly of God in Heightstown, NJ

–2:01 p.m.: National Anthem by Easton Corbin

–2:02:30 p.m.: (2) F-16’s of the 149th Fighter Wing of the Texas Air National Guard (Turns 3 – 2)

–2:07:30 p.m.: “Drivers, Start Your Engines” by Grammy Award Winner & Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, Joe Walsh

— 2:15 p.m.: Start of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Citizen Soldier 400 (400 laps, 400 miles), NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Results)


PRESS CONFERENCES (Watch live)
— 5:30 p.m. approx.: Post-NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race


DAILY ROUNDUP

— Suarez wins delayed Dover race

— At-track photos: Sunday, Dover

— Larson, McMurray in Chase trouble

— Chase Round of 12: Who’s in, who’s out

— Truex scores second win of Chase; Round of 12 set

— As career winds down, Stewart eliminated from Chase

— Dillon on Chase advancement: ‘Man, we got it done’ 

— Before and after photos: Dover


FRIDAY, SEPT. 30:

ON TRACK: Dover

— 10-11:25 a.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series first practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Results)

— 11:30 a.m.-12:25 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series first practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Results)

— 1:30-2:55 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series final practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Results)

— 3:40 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, NBCSN/NBC Sports App ***CANCELED DUE TO RAIN***  (Results)

GARAGECAM (Watch live)
— 1 p.m. NASCAR XFINITY Series


PRESS CONFERENCES (Watch live)
— 8:30 a.m.: Chris Buescher
— 8:45 a.m.: Chase Elliott
— 9 a.m.: Jamie McMurray
— 9:15 a.m.: Jimmie Johnson
— 9:45 a.m.: Erik Jones
— 12:30 p.m.: Martin Truex Jr.
— 12:45 p.m.: Regan Smith
— 4:40 p.m. approx.: Post-NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying


DAILY ROUNDUP
— Larson tops practice speeds in opening round at Dover
— Hendrick Chase surge a group effort


SATURDAY, OCT. 1:

ON TRACK: Dover

— 10:30-11:25 a.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series second practice, CNBC/NBC Sports App (Results)

— 11:45 a.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, CNBC/NBC Sports App (Results)

— 1:30-2:20 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series final practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App  ***CANCELED DUE TO RAIN***

— 3 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Drive Sober 200 (200 laps, 200 miles), NBCSN/NBC Sports App ***POSTPONED DUE TO RAIN***

GARAGECAM (Watch live)
— 10 a.m.: NASCAR 
Sprint Cup Series



PRESS CONFERENCES (
Watch live
)

— 5 p.m. approx.: Post-NASCAR
XFINITY Series race


ON TRACK: Las Vegas

— 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series first practice (Results) 

— 1-2 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series final practice (Results)

— 6:10 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying, FS2 (Results)

— 8:30 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series DC Solar 350 (146 laps, 219 miles), FS1 (Results)


DAILY ROUNDUP

— Johnson on Dover: You can’t take a track for granted

— Gordon tops rain-shortened practice

— Dale Jr. returns to Dover

— Jones tops rain-shortened qualifying at Dover

— Weather delays Saturday’s action

— Chase challenge? Lack of practice time could impact the field

— At-track photos: Dover and Las Vegas

— Weather cancels on-track events

— Snapshot: Dover

— Peters on the pole at Las Vegas

— Reddick captures first win of season

— Fear, faith and racing: How NASCAR began to heal in September 2001

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Find NBCSN in your area

All times ET

Monday, September 26
1 a.m., NASCAR Victory Lane, FS1
Noon, NASCAR 120, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Tuesday, September 27
5 p.m., NASCAR Scan All Special: Charlotte, Pocono, Michigan (re-air), NBCSN
5:30 p.m., NASCAR Scan All Special:Sonoma, Daytona, Kentucky (re-air), NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Wednesday, September 28
6 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Thursday, September 29
6 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
7 p.m., NASCAR Whelen Series: New Hampshire Motor Speedway (taped), NBCSN

Friday, September 30
10 a.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, NBCSN
11:30 a.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series practice, NBCSN
12:30 p.m., NASCAR K&N Pro Series Race: Meridian Speedway (taped), NBCSN
1:30 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series final practice, NBCSN
3 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
3:30 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, NBCSN
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR K&N Pro Series Race: Meridian Speedway (re-air), NBCSN
11 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying (re-air), NBCSN

Saturday, October 1
12:30 a.m., NASCAR The List: Memorable Moments (re-air), NBCSN
2 a.m., NASCAR K&N Pro Series Race: Meridian Speedway (re-air), NBCSN
10:30 a.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, CNBC
11 a.m., WeatherTech SportsCar Championship: Road America, FS1
11:30 a.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, CNBC
1:30 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series final practice, NBCSN
2 p.m., WeatherTech SportsCar Championship: Road America, FS2
2:30 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series Countdown to Green, NBCSN
3 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series Drive Sober 200, NBCSN POSTPONED
5 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series Post-Race, NBCSN
6 p.m, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying, FS2
8 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series SetUp, FS1
8:30 p.m, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series DC Solar 350, FS1

Sunday, October 2
10 a.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series Drive Sober 200, CNBC
11:30 a.m., NASCAR RaceDay, FS1
1:30 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Countdown to Green, NBCSN
2 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Citizen Soldier 400, NBCSN
5 p.m., WeatherTech SportsCar Championship: Road America (re-air), FS1
5:30 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Post-Race Show, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Victory Lap, NBCSN
7 p.m., Kyle & Rut’s Racing Roots featuring Kevin Harvick, NBCSN
1:30 a.m., NASCAR Victory Lane, FS1

 



Posted on by Zack Albert

WATCH LIVE: Inspection from the R&D Center at 8 a.m. ET

RELATED: Full race results


LOUDON, N.H. — Only Kevin Harvick emerged victorious Sunday afternoon at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but his other 15 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoff foes salvaged some shred of consolation alongside him.

All 16 championship-eligible cars won the race after the race Sunday, clearing without issue through the Laser Inspection Station (LIS) platform after the Bad Boy Off Road 300. Those cleared included the winning Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet driven by Harvick, who damaged his car’s left-rear fender with a smoky, tire-ripping burnout after his third victory of the season.

Only the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota of third-place finisher Kyle Busch went through the inspection bay a second time, and that was due to the car failing to meet the weight limit by a nominal amount. After topping off fluids as permitted in the rules, the No. 18 also was cleared.

Scrutiny for the post-race inspection process rose after last weekend’s Chase opener at Chicagoland Speedway, leading to midweek rules updates from NASCAR’s competition department. Last weekend, the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 of race winner Martin Truex Jr. and the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 for Jimmie Johnson both were flagged for being outside of the allowable measurements at the LIS station.

NASCAR officials responded by scratching penalties for minor infractions. But they also required the full Chase field to make its way through the LIS inspection bay, a process that added a sidelight to the usual busy atmosphere in the post-race garage area.

Following stern warnings in the pre-race drivers’ and crew chiefs’ meeting against circumventing the LIS platform, the new post-race check was largely a breeze. All 16 cars received a thumbs up from competition officials in a tidy span of roughly 45 minutes.

As is customary, race officials announced that they would take a handful of cars back to the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina, for further inspection. Those are:

— Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet driven by race winner Kevin Harvick
— Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota driven by runner-up Matt Kenseth
— Team Penske No. 2 Ford driven by fourth-place finisher Brad Keselowski

That process will be live streamed on NASCAR.com on Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. ET. 

RELATED: Watch live inspection here

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Full race results | Series standings | Updated Chase Grid
SHOP: Harvick gear | Chase gear

 

LOUDON, N.H. — Remember last week, when Kevin Harvick was trapped a lap down at Chicagoland Speedway, finished 20th and fell out of the top 12 in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings?

 

Remember last year, when Harvick crashed at Chicagoland and ran out of fuel while leading at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and had to win at Dover to advance in the Chase?

 

That’s all moot, now that Harvick redeemed himself with a victory in Sunday’s Bad Boy Off Road 300 at New Hampshire, the second race in the Chase.

 

Surging ahead of Matt Kenseth after a restart with six laps left in the 300-lap event at the 1.058-mile track, Harvick pulled away to win by .442 seconds and joined Chicagoland winner Martin Truex Jr. in the Chase’s Round of 12.

 

“One of our main goals this year was to not stress ourselves out so bad,” said Harvick, who won last year’s Dover race to escape the Round of 16 in his last opportunity. “I feel like the performance of the car and the things that we’re doing are good enough to be competitive, and we just need to not make mistakes and go from there.”

 

Harvick got his opportunity to win the race when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Reed Sorenson collided on the backstretch on Lap 291 to bring out the sixth and final caution of the race.

 

Starting on the inside lane and timing the restart perfectly, Harvick stayed side-by-side with Kenseth entering the first corner and cleared Kenseth’s No. 20 Toyota through Turn 2. Kenseth was unable to get back to the rear bumper of Harvick’s No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet over the final six laps.

 

“Man, that worked out really good,” said Harvick, who won for the second time at the Magic Mile, the third time this season and the 34th time in his career. “The car was pretty good on the restarts. Once we got clean air there at the end, it wound up being really good up front. I’m just really proud of our team. They did a great job.”

 

NASCAR admonished Kenseth before the final restart not to slow down in the restart zone, as the sanctioning body believed he had done on the previous restart, when Kenseth held off Truex for the lead.

 

“They made it sound like I slowed down the last time,” Kenseth said. “But in my opinion, the leader is always supposed to have the advantage. He’s the leader. He earned that advantage. They said I slowed down a little bit last time, which I’ve got to re-watch it. 

 

“I don’t really think I did, but if I did at all, it’s because the inside car (Truex) was laying back a little bit, and you want to make sure he gets up to your nose so it’s a fair restart. If he’s back at your door and anticipates a little bit, it’s not a fair restart. He’s going to be equal to you or a little bit better.”

 

Then Kenseth second-guessed the way he handled the final restart with Harvick beside him.

 

“I saw Kevin at my door, and I should have known better,” Kenseth said. “I should have went deep in the box and waited, and the acceleration was probably better down there anyway, but I didn’t. I went right at the first line, and he anticipated a little bit of that and got rolling good through the gears, and then I got through the gears bad. I spun the tires in second (gear), I spun the tires in third, so I had a really bad restart besides all that.”

 

Kyle Busch finished third behind Harvick and Kenseth after pitting for fresh tires under caution on Lap 265 and charging through the field. Brad Keselowski ran fourth and took over the Chase points lead by one point over Truex, who led a race-high 141 laps in a seventh-place run but wore out his tires trying to pass Kenseth after a restart on Lap 269.

 

Kurt Busch came home fifth, followed by polesitter Carl Edwards, Truex, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne and Kyle Larson.

 

Harvick escaped the bottom four in the standings, and that left Jamie McMurray, Austin Dillon, Tony Stewart and Chris Buescher all needing to improve their positions to avoid elimination next Sunday at Dover International Speedway.

 

McMurray and Dillon (19th and 16th, respectively, at New Hampshire) are five points behind Larson in 12th place. Stewart is 11 points back of Larson after a 23rd-place run on Sunday, and Buescher trails by 30 points, needing a Dover miracle.

Posted on by Pat DeCola

RELATED: Results | Chase Grid | Standings

WATCH: Edwards receives penalty


LOUDON, N.H. – Coors Light Pole Award winner Carl Edwards hovered in and around the top five for nearly all of Sunday’s Bad Boy Off Road 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway but nearly had his afternoon derailed due to a costly penalty with less than 40 laps remaining.


During the fourth caution of the day, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver came to pit road and incurred a commitment line violation, sinking his running position all the way back to 19th on the ensuing restart on Lap 268.

For a minute there, it certainly appeared Edwards would be fighting for Chase for the Sprint Cup survival next week at Dover International Speedway in the final race of the Round of 16. But Edwards rallied hard over the final 30-plus laps to salvage a sixth-place finish and now holds a 16-point cushion over the cutoff line.

He’ll need to avoid similar gaffes moving forward — though he doesn’t necessarily agree he even made a gaffe — and realizes he may have gotten away with one here.

“I gotta see the replay, but I was pretty sure I made it onto pit road. I felt pretty comfortable,” Edwards said on pit road after the race. “I don’t know about that (penalty), but we still recovered well. I think we could’ve been top three or four because we got off sequence, but as it turned out to finish sixth with that penalty is pretty much a gift. My guys didn’t quit, I’m proud of them.

“Now we head to Dover with a little bit of a point cushion, and Dover is one of my favorite race tracks, one of my best tracks and this team should have won this race in the spring so hopefully we can go there and lock ourselves into the next round. … Anything can happen, but there’s no better race for us to be a cutoff race.”

Following the race, Edwards’ crew chief Dave Rogers had a discussion with NASCAR officials to get clarity on the penalty.

“Yeah, NASCAR showed me the notes, and the notes that they had were all four tires below the orange box and our right-rear (tire) touched it,” Rogers told NASCAR.com. “So it’s one of those deals where we knew it was close, and we didn’t intentionally drive over the box, first of all. It was a last-minute call to pit. We thought the rule was all four on or below and it wasn’t. The rule’s all four under, so hence the penalty.”


Edwards’ teammate Denny Hamlin also was victim to a pit road penalty on the same stop, as an errant tire got away from his No. 11 Toyota crew. Hamlin, however, was not as fortunate as Edwards and finished 15th. The 2016 Daytona 500 winner declined post-race interviews and sits seventh on the Chase Grid, still higher than Edwards despite the worse finish.

“Unfortunately, we had a pit road penalty; two stops in the end that got us really far behind and just got kind of shuffled out of the mix on a couple restarts and finished about five to 10 spots worse than we should have, but still alive,” said Hamlin’s crew chief Mike Wheeler. “Hit the restart button and try again. Dover is a decent track for Denny. He hasn’t had a win there yet, but has had some good runs and hopefully we can have another good run there.”

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Full results for final practice | Fastest 10-lap averages

 

Kyle Larson made it a perfect sweep of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practices, as his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Chevrolet flew to the top of the leaderboard at 132.577 mph in Saturday’s final practice session at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Larson paced the field in Friday’s lone session and tied Martin Truex Jr. for the fastest speed/time in Saturday’s morning practice.

Joe Gibbs Racing‘s Denny Hamlin made a late surge to nab the second spot on the speed charts, wheeling his No. 11 Toyota at 132.549 mph.

Hendrick Motorsports‘ Kasey Kahne laid down the third-fastest speed, his No. 5 Chevrolet peaking at 132.489 mph. Kahne and teammate Alex Bowman (10th), who is driving the No. 88 Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Jr. this weekend, were the only non-Chase drivers to record top-15 speeds in the final session.

Pole sitter Carl Edwards came up fourth in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (132.420 mph), while Hendrick Motorsports‘ Jimmie Johnson completed the top five with a fast speed of 132.255 mph from his No. 48 Chevrolet.

Points leader Truex Jr. — who tied Larson for the fastest speed in practice earlier today — ranked sixth in the field this session, propelling his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota at 132.250 mph.

Reigning race winner Matt Kenseth was seventh-fastest, his No. 20 JGR Toyota topping out at 132.222 mph.

Jamie McMurray (18th), Austin Dillon (22nd) and Chris Buescher (28th) were the only Chase drivers to record practice speeds outside the top 15.

The Sprint Cup Series returns to the track Sunday for the Bad Boy Off Road 300 (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

RELATED: Full results for Practice 2

 

Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr. both reached 132.186 mph early in the second Sprint Cup Series practice at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday morning.

The Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates driver also paced the field during Friday’s lone Sprint Cup practice session in his No. 42 Chevrolet.

Last weekend’s Chicagoland winner, Truex Jr. in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota laid down the exact same speed (132.186 mph) and lap time (28.814 seconds) as Larson in the 55-minute session.

Reigning race winner Matt Kenseth was third-fastest, his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota reaching a top speed of 132.085 mph, while his JGR teammate Denny Hamlin came up fourth in the field (132.030 mph). Hendrick Motorsports‘ Chase Elliott rounded out the top five with a top speed of 131.980 mph in his No. 24 Chevrolet.

Coors Light Pole winner Carl Edwards was sixth-fastest in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

The top-nine performers in the second session were all Chase drivers and Chasers made up 11 of the top-15; Brad Keselowski (18th), Tony Stewart (19th), Austin Dillon (23rd) and Chris Buescher (33rd) were the outlying Chase competitors.