Last year's Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 was dominated by Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin. The two drivers combined to lead 276 of the 301 laps and swapped the lead 13 times.
A unusually caution-strewn race kept much of the opposition close by. A couple of cautions just past the two-thirds mark of the race resulted in a split pit schedule. Hamlin and Keselowski pitted during a yellow for Matt Kenseth crashing in turn 3 with 95 laps to go. The last caution flew on lap 214 when John Hunter Nemechek crashed in turn 3. When that
happened, the second group of drivers pitted, putting Hamlin in the lead.
Two laps after the restart, Keselowski got a run on Hamlin exiting turn 4 and took the lead entering turn 1. From there, Keselowski was able to conserve his fuel and hold on for the win. Hamlin ended up 1.647 seconds back in second, then Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano and Kevin
Harvick.
Kevin Harvick has the most wins among active drivers at NHMS with four, including the last two races on the flat oval. Both of the Busch brothers, along with Hamlin and Ryan Newman, have three Loudon
victories.
All-time, Harvick and Jeff Burton are tied for the most victories at Loudon with four. In addition to the four
active drivers with three wins, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart also have three victories.
Track Facts
Track / Race Length: 1.058-mile oval, 301 laps (318.458 miles)
Banking: 2-7 degrees
Straightaways: 1,500 ft., banked 2 degrees
Grandstand Seating: 95,491
Pit Road Speed: 40 mph
Pace Car Speed: 50 mph
Opened: 1990, first Cup race in 1993
Website: http://www.nhms.com
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Twitter: http://twitter.com/NHMotorSpeedway
Say What?!
"New Hampshire is fairly difficult. I feel like it’s a track that, historically, the veteran drivers do really well at with their experience there. It’s just a tough racetrack. You have to have a lot of grip in your car to run well. And honestly, this is one of the
tracks that Rudy (Fugle) and I have done the best at in our careers. We have some testing notes there and know what works well and what the car needs to do. I’m honestly pretty excited about going to New Hampshire this weekend. It’s a track that Rudy and I have been looking forward to going to all season long." - William
Byron
"New Hampshire has been a really hit-or-miss place for us; it’s just a different track. It takes a different driving style, I feel like, than some of the other places. I look at Loudon at being more of its own animal. We’ve had a couple solid runs there, but never a
dominating performance." - Chase Elliott
"It honestly just feels like I haven’t really raced there before. I’ve only been to New Hampshire once in trucks and once in Xfinity. Neither went great and I just don’t have a lot of laps there. I’m interested to see how this weekend goes. I feel like a lot of the
tracks this year that I haven’t enjoyed in the past, like Phoenix, I’ve seemed to like more in the Cup car. I think it’s probably because we have more horsepower, and you can slip and slide around a lot more and manage it. So, I’m excited to get to New Hampshire this week. I don’t really know what I need in the car since I don’t have a lot of track time there, but we’ve got 301 laps to figure it out." - Chase
Briscoe
