Martin Truex Jr. claimed the win and his first Loudon Lobster on Monday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The NASCAR Cup Series would have to wait a day to race at New Hampshire after rain fell on Sunday. Christopher Bell would lead the field to the green flag to start the Crayon 301. On the second lap of the race Martin Truex would take the lead. AJ Allmendinger spun out two laps prior to the competition caution setting up pitstops for most.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. would stay out to lead the field on the restart but was a sitting duck for the rest of the field. William Byron would assume the lead as Stenhouse found himself in danger of being at the back of the field. Truex reassumed the lead on lap 43.
Truex would win the first stage as Kyle Busch hit the wall. Busch’s contact with the wall would end his day. During pitstops Christopher Bell would have to pit a second time due to a loose wheel while Tyler Reddick who had been running in the top-five got caught speeding on pit exit.
Bell would work his way up to seventh and Reddick to 12th before Erik Jones went around on lap 167. A dozen car took the wave around, which would prove beneficial when then leader Aric Almirola crashed due to a loose wheel on the restart. Truex would win the second stage and opted not to pit.
Second place Ryan Blaney would pit with 66 laps to go starting what was expected to be the final round of pit stops. A lap later Truex pitted. Austin Dillion would put with 44 laps to go turning the race lead back over to Truex.
An issue on the right front of Noah Gragon’s car brought out the caution on lap 271. On the ensuing pitstops Blaney would get a penalty for running over his air hose. Alex Bowman would spin on the restart after contact with Erik Jones placing the field back under yellow. Laps into the restart Bell would get into the wall after getting loose.
Truex would lead them away on the restart and begin to click off the final 10 laps. In total Truex led 254 laps claiming the win. Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top-five.
The win is the third of the season for Truex and the 34th in the career of Truex.
New Hampshire Cup Series Crayon 301
July 17, 2023
|
POSITION
|
START
|
LED
|
BEHIND
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
M. Truex Jr#19
|
2
|
254
|
Winner
|
|
2 |
J. Logano#22
|
4
|
2
|
0.394
|
|
3 |
K. Larson#5
|
15
|
6
|
1.509
|
|
4 |
K. Harvick#4
|
13
|
10
|
2.118
|
|
5 |
B. Keselowski#6
|
9
|
0
|
2.623
|
|
6 |
T. Reddick#45
|
6
|
0
|
4.541
|
|
7 |
D. Hamlin#11
|
20
|
0
|
4.792
|
|
8 |
B. Wallace#23
|
8
|
0
|
5.747
|
|
9 |
A. Dillon#3
|
11
|
12
|
6.244
|
|
10 |
C. Briscoe#14
|
27
|
0
|
6.607
|
|
11 |
E. Jones#43
|
30
|
0
|
7.127
|
|
12 |
C. Elliott#9
|
18
|
0
|
7.202
|
|
13 |
M. McDowell#34
|
17
|
0
|
7.883
|
|
14 |
A. Bowman#48
|
25
|
0
|
8.471
|
|
15 |
C. Buescher#17
|
26
|
0
|
8.775
|
|
16 |
D. Suárez#99
|
12
|
0
|
8.787
|
|
17 |
J. Haley#31
|
19
|
0
|
9.251
|
|
18 |
R. Stenhouse Jr#47
|
16
|
3
|
9.650
|
|
19 |
A. Allmendinger#16
|
14
|
0
|
9.857
|
|
20 |
H. Burton#21
|
28
|
0
|
10.223
|
|
21 |
T. Gilliland#38
|
23
|
0
|
10.451
|
|
22 |
R. Blaney#12
|
5
|
0
|
10.868
|
|
23 |
R. Chastain#1
|
31
|
0
|
11.138
|
|
24 |
W. Byron#24
|
7
|
9
|
11.379
|
|
25 |
A. Cindric#2
|
22
|
0
|
11.574
|
|
26 |
T. Dillon#77
|
35
|
0
|
12.472
|
|
27 |
T. Gibbs#54
|
36
|
0
|
12.874
|
|
28 |
R. Preece#41
|
21
|
0
|
1 Lap
|
|
29 |
C. Bell#20
|
1
|
2
|
2 Laps
|
|
30 |
R. Newman#15
|
33
|
0
|
2 Laps
|
|
31 |
B. McLeod#78
|
32
|
0
|
6 Laps
|
|
32 |
N. Gragson#42
|
29
|
0
|
|
|
33 |
C. LaJoie#7
|
24
|
0
|
125 Laps
|
|
34 |
A. Almirola#10
|
3
|
4
|
|
|
35 |
C. Custer#51
|
34
|
0
|
|
|
36 |
K. Busch#8
|
10
|
0
|
|
