Tag Archives: New Hampshire Motor Speedway

NASCAR’s K&N West, Whelen Modified & Canadian Tire Series’ Back in Action

Posted on by

PrintWith a Saturday date at Colorado National Speedway in Dacono, CO, the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West is back in action for the first time since June 22 at Sonoma, CA. NASCAR Next driver Michael Self has won three of the last four series events, but Derek Thorn – a two-time winner this season – has a slim three-point advantage over Self in the season standings. Cameron Hayley, also a participant in the NASCAR Next program, looks to score his first championship-event victory after starting the season off with a non-points triumph in the inaugural UNOH Battle At The Beach in Daytona. Hayley, who just celebrated his 17th birthday, has scored top-five finishes in five of six K&N West starts this season.

 

 

whelen-modified-tour4c1The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returns to Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, NH., for a make-up date after rain doused the originally scheduled date on May 11. Defending tour champion Doug Coby collected his first win of the season in the last event on July 13 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. NASCAR Next driver Ryan Preece has a commanding 44-point lead in the standings powered by wins in three of the last four races. The 22-year-old Preece led wire-to-wire a season ago at Monadnock.

 

 

260862The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1, on the heels of its two-race swing through Western Canada, heads to Autodrome St. Eustache (Quebec). It’s the series’ first visit to the .4-mile oval since July 2010.

 

 

Enhanced by Zemanta

Jason’s Journey: Missing the Track

Posted on by

JasonJourneylogo400x300For the most part, the media workers within NASCAR get to travel to the track every weekend. They get to take in the sights, take in the views, and have the track feeling week after week. I have always wanted to travel the NASCAR circuit and something struck me after New Hampshire. I found myself disappointed that I wasn’t traveling to the next race when the weekend came around, and that proved to myself that traveling the circus show called NASCAR is something I could do.

After sitting home and reflecting on my weekend at New Hampshire, I thought about how everyone I met there would be going to the next track soon and that sadly, I would not be part of the entourage. I know that I could be doing that one day, but all I wanted at that moment was to do it now. Getting the chance to visit cities across the country every weekend seems like an awesome thing to do and it’s something I hope to do someday.

By traveling with the sport, I would be able to smell the rubber, fuel, and so much more, every week. Those aren’t just the smells of NASCAR; they’re the smells that inspire me to keep chasing my dream so I can come home to those smells at the race track every weekend.

What I really proved to myself after New Hampshire was that traveling the schedule is something I would want as part of my life. Since I desperately missed it after doing it once, I knew at that point, that doing it for about 36 weeks can be done and comfortable for me. That eagerness of being at the track will return in three short weeks when I go to Watkins Glen, but between now and then, all I want to do is be at my home away from home, the race track.

 

Enhanced by Zemanta

Burton Capable of Making the Chase

Posted on by
Jeff Burton, driver of the #31 Caterpillar Chevrolet, waits on the grid during qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Camping World RV Sales 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 12, 2013 Photo - Jerry Markland/Getty Images

Jeff Burton, driver of the #31 Caterpillar Chevrolet, waits on the grid during qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Camping World RV Sales 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 12, 2013
Photo – Jerry Markland/Getty Images

After two disappointing seasons and a slow start to the 2013 Sprint Cup season, veteran driver Jeff Burton is showing he can still compete at a high level. In a weekend that started out with news that Burton will compete for Richard Childress Racing once again in 2014 in the Sprint Cup Series, ending speculation that he’d be replaced, the 31 team put together easily its best performance of the season at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The Luke Lambert led team spent the majority of the race inside the top-ten with, at many times, the fastest car on track, and worked their way into the top-five where Burton would remain to score a third place finish. The finish was big because it was the first top-three finish at a non-restrictor plate event since 2010. However, the performance shouldn’t come as a huge surprise as the Burton-Lambert pairing has been successful in the past.

Going back to 2011, RCR opted to replace veteran crew chief Todd Berrier with the young engineer Lambert for the seasons’ last 17 races, a span that included five top-tens. Of those top-tens, Burton scored four of them in the seasons’ final five races and the team was able to work their way to 20th place in the final season standings. Despite the strong end to what had been a disappointing 2011 season, it was decided, that given the limited experience as a crew chief, Lambert would spend 2012 working as a Nationwide Series crew chief. In that move, Lambert worked with veteran Elliot Sadler on RCR’s No. 2 Nationwide team. The pair went on to win several races enroute to a runner-up finish in the point standings, and giving Lambert valuable experience working as a crew chief. Things were different for Burton.  Continue reading →

Going All-Access with the MWR Girls

Posted on by

new-hampshire-july-2013-c-331My magical weekend at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway had way more than I thought it would. For example, Sunday at the track was drastically better than I was expecting when one tweet changed my day that morning. That was the tweet that gave me some unprecedented access to the garage area during the pre-race hours. When the Michael Waltrip Racing girls “MWR Girls” had a morning contest for some garage tour passes, I jumped right on for the experience of a lifetime. Continue reading →

Unforgettable Experiences Made Up My Weekend at New Hampshire

Posted on by

new-hampshire-july-2013-c-075When I left for the New Hampshire Motor Speedway last week, I had no idea what was to come. I was hoping for some good racing and to meet a few people. I really didn’t expect anything more than that, but what I ultimately left the track with, were memories that would last a lifetime. These memories will forever be special to me and what’s special about them is that they all came as surprises. Continue reading →