Aric Almirola surprises with Foxwoods 301 victory

A race that started disastrously for NASCAR ended with the Cup Series playoff picture being turned on its head. Sunday’s Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway began with chaos as the race proceeded despite obvious rain conditions, resulting in the leader wrecking and a red flag. The lengthy delay from waiting out the weather led to the distance being shortened by ten laps as the track does not have lights, which bought Aric Almirola enough time to find a glimmer in what has been a difficult season by scoring his and Stewart-Haas Racing‘s first wins of the year.

Kyle Busch started on the pole and led the first six laps before Mother Nature kicked off the turmoil. The ensuing rain resulted in Busch and Joe Gibbs Racing team-mates Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin spinning, with Busch hitting the wall and ending his race to give him the dubious honour of being a last-place-finishing pole-sitter. Busch made his frustrations known by bumping the pace car multiple times during the ensuing caution, an action that NASCAR’s Senior Vice President of Competition Scott Miller said would not result in punishment as Busch was already retired from the race.

The decision to keep the race going despite the weather was slammed by many, who drew comparisons to the 2001 All-Star Race and IndyCar’s 2011 New Hampshire race as both sanctioning bodies elected to proceed in wet conditions. NASCAR had experimented with wet tyres on ovals in April, but opted not to bring them to the race. Truex said during the ensuing red flag that “slicks don’t stick to water. […]

“The lap before I went into (turn) one and about did the same thing and I hollered on the radio that the track is wet, like wet, wet. I tried to back it down and I got in there and it just kept going. I couldn’t even slow it down. At some point you have to turn the wheel and that’s when it spins out.”

“We started the race under a mist. It never should have gone green to begin with, but then it kept getting worse and worse lap over lap,” commented Bsuch. “The lap before I went into (turn) one and it shoved the nose really bad and I was able to keep it under control. It wasn’t bad enough. The next time I went down there, I lifted at the flag stand—maybe a little past the flag stand, don’t get too dramatic—and just backed it in. We’ve been talking about it for two laps that it was raining. There’s no sense in saying what I want to say, it doesn’t do you any good.”

The race resumed over an hour and forty minutes later with Chase Elliott as the new leader. Ryan Blaney would take the stage win ahead of Team Penske team-mate Brad Keselowski, Elliott, Kevin Harvick, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Hamlin, Ross Chastain, Matt DiBenedetto, and Kyle Larson.

The second stage was dominated by the Fords of Keselowski and Harvick, who would finish 1–2. Two wrecks took place beginning with Ryan Newman turning Quin Houff, prompting an exchange of words on Twitter between the latter and Newman’s Roush Fenway Racing team. After RFR responded to Houff’s radio threats of going after Newman with “ok have fun with that”, Houff answered, “I have respect for equipment and those that work on the cars. I have lost respect for the driver. Look forward to hearing your announcement on Tuesday!”

The announcement in question almost certainly refers to Keselowski’s plans to join Roush as co-owner and driver, with speculation suggesting he will replace Newman in the #6.

Another accident came on lap 140 between Newman’s team-mate Chris Buescher and Bubba Wallace, incidentally a former RFR driver himself. By the end of Stage #2, Keselowski led Harvick, Blaney, Hamlin, Almirola, Elliott, Larson, Reddick, Chastain, and Kurt Busch.

The final stage ran completely green with Keselowski continuing to lead at thee start. Blaney, Almirola, Chastain, and DiBenedetto would also trade spots as the lack of cautions meant pit strategy played a role. Almirola took the lead on lap 274 but faced pressure from Bell—winner of the Xfinity Series event on Saturday—and lapped traffic, with a particular skirmish taking place between Almirola and Austin Dillon as both were fighting for the final playoff spots. Although Dillon’s blocking impeded Almirola’s momentum and allowed Bell to catch up, the leader was able to get by.

Impending darkness prompted NASCAR to shorten the race by ten laps as New Hampshire Motor Speedway does not have lights. Despite Bell closing the margin, he could not catch Almirola as he kept him at bay for his third career win, first since Talladega 2018, first at the Cup level not at a superspeedway, and first in any NASCAR series not at Talladega or Daytona since the 2010 Camping World Truck Series at Michigan.

The victory also comes with great relief for Almirola and SHR as the two have endured a challenging season. Entering Loudon, Almirola was twenty-seventh in points while he and his team-mates had failed to score a win.

“This is by far one of my favorite race tracks,” Almirola stated in a post-race interview. “I love coming up to the New England area and racing. I love this race track. I had this race won a couple years ago and I gave it away. I lost it, and I am so glad to win a race here with this race team.

“God is so good. We’ve been through so much and I’ve just stood the test and kept the faith. The team, everybody, they’ve just been working so hard.”

Almirola’s starting position of twenty-second is the worst for a Loudon Cup winner since Hamlin won in 2012 from thirty-second. The win also secures Ford’s fourth straight at the mile-long track.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	22	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	293	Running
2	9	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	293	Running
3	11	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	293	Running
4	15	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	293	Running
5	7	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	293	Running
6	12	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	293	Running
7	10	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	293	Running
8	20	42	Ross Chastain	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	293	Running
9	5	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	293	Running
10	6	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	293	Running
11	14	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	293	Running
12	2	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	293	Running
13	8	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	293	Running
14	21	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	293	Running
15	29	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	293	Running
16	4	1	Kurt Busch	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	292	Running
17	13	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	292	Running
18	3	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	292	Running
19	24	43	Erik Jones	Richard Petty Motorsports	Chevrolet	292	Running
20	31	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	292	Running
21	16	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	292	Running
22	25	37	Ryan Preece	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	292	Running
23	26	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	292	Running
24	28	6	Ryan Newman	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	292	Running
25	23	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	292	Running
26	18	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	292	Running
27	19	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	291	Running
28	30	77	Justin Haley*	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	291	Running
29	17	17	Chris Buescher	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	290	Running
30	32	78	B.J. McLeod*	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	288	Running
31	34	51	Cody Ware*	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	285	Running
32	27	38	Anthony Alfredo	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	285	Running
33	33	53	Garrett Smithley*	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	283	Running
34	35	52	Josh Bilicki	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	280	Running
35	36	00	Quin Houff	StarCom Racing	Chevrolet	187	Accident
36	37	15	James Davison	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	40	Clutch
37	1	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	8	Accident

Source link