It’s a cloudy afternoon when the Cup Series drivers take to the track at Loudon, New Hampshire for a 20 minute practice session and qualifying; but there is a chance of inclement weather on Sunday…and the chance of the drivers racing with the wet weather package.

Thirty-six teams brought cars to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the Canyon 301 and the battle for the big lobster.

Cole Custer is driving the Rick Ware Racing number 51 car this week as RWR continues the revolving driver format for the 51.  And The Rocketman Ryan Newman is driving the RWR number 15 car this week.

Kyle Busch gets into the wall and the crew has some major repair work to repair the car.  While he will get the chance to qualify for the race, the repairs are considered unapproved adjustments; as a result Busch will end up starting the race from the back of the field.

Noah Gragson is the first driver on the track to make a qualifying run and posts a time of 30.931 seconds around “The Magic Mile”.

And the sun has come out!

The drivers have been divided into two groups with the top five drivers from each group moving on to a second round to determine the pole for the race.

From Group A; Martin Truex Jr, Bubba Wallace, Brad Keselowski, Tyler Reddick, and Kyle Busch will move on to round two.

Out of Group B; Joey Logano, Aric Almirola, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, and William Byron will move on to round tow.

William Byron ran practice and qualifying without any power steering.

Kyle Busch is the first of the top 10 drivers out on the track and gets loose and gets it into the wall.  He has even more damage to his car.

With a time of 30.524 seconds Christopher Bell puts his number 20 car on the pole for his fifth career pole.  Martin Truex Jr will start on the front row alongside Bell.  Christopher Bell was the winner of the race last year.

The starting lineup for the Canyon 301:
Christopher Bell
Martin Truex Jr
Aric Almirola
Joey Logano
Ryan Blaney
Tyler Reddick
William Byron
Bubba Wallace
Brad Keselowski
Kyle Busch
Austin Dillon
Daniel Suarez
Kevin Harvick
AJ Allmendinger
Kyle Larson
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
Michael McDowell
Chase Elliott
Justin Haley
Denny Hamlin
Ryan Preece
Austin Cindric
Todd Gilliland
Corey LaJoie
Alex Bowman
Chris Buescher
Chase Briscoe
Harrison Burton
Noah Gragson
Erik Jones
Ross Chastain
BJ McLeod
Ryan Newman
Cole Custer
Ty Dillon
Ty Gibbs


As predicted, the rains came with torrential downpours and brought high winds and tornado warnings along.  As a result, the Sunday race has been postponed until Monday at noon.


Stages one is 70 laps long, stage two is 115 laps long, and stage three is 116 laps long for a total of 301 laps around the one mile track.

Martin Truex Jr has led nearly 1,000 laps at New Hampshire…but never the last one. 

Former driver and NBC broadcaster Jeff Burton was originally scheduled to drive the pace car for the race but with the change in schedule, he is not in the car.

Kyle Busch crashed his car during qualifying and will have to start the race from the back of the field with a repaired car.

Christopher Bell brings the field down for the green flag start of the race from the outside lane and edges out in front of Martin Truex Jr for the lead.

Drivers are three wide in the field.

Lap two, Martin Truex Jr passes Christopher Bell for the lead but Bell comes back to battle for the lead.

Lap three, the top five are Martin Truex Jr, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Aric Almirola, and Ryan Blaney.

Lap five, Kyle Busch has moved up five spots to 31st.

NASCAR has called for a competition caution on lap 30.

Lap six, Martin Truex Jr has pulled out to a lead of over a half a second on Christopher Bell; Joey Logano, Aric Almirola, and Ryan Blaney round out the top five.

Lap nine, Martin Truex Jr has a lead of just under a second on Christopher Bell; Joey Logano, Aric Almirola, and Ryan Blaney continue to round out the top five.  There has been little movement among the drivers so far on a very green track after the rains have washed all of the  rubber away.

Lap12, Martin Truex’s lead on Christopher Bell has dropped to just over half a second.

Goodyear has brought a new softer tire to New Hampshire for the race.

Lap 15, Martin Truex Jr holds a lead of just over half a second on Christopher Bell; Joey Logano, Aric Almirola, and Ryan Blaney round out the top five.

Lap 22, Martin Truex Jr now has a lead of over a second on Christopher Bell; Joey Logano, Aric Almirola, and Ryan Blaney round out the top five.

Lap 26, Martin Truex Jr holds a lead of over a second on Christopher Bell; Joey Logano, Aric Almirola, and Ryan Blaney round out the top five.

BJ McLeod and Noah Gragson are the only drivers not on the lead lap.

The first caution flag of the race comes out on lap 29 for AJ Allmendinger who spins out.

Drivers come down pit road for service.  Several of the drivers took only two tires.  William Byron wins the race off of pit road after taking two tires.  This will also serve as the competition caution.

After staying out on the track, Ricky Stenhouse Jr brings the field down for the green flag restart on lap 34,  but it is William Byron who gets out in front for the lead with Martin Truex Jr in second; Aric Almirola, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, and Tyler Reddick round out the top five.

On old tires, Ricky Stenhouse Jr is dropping through the field as drivers on fresher tires pass him.

Kevin Harvick gets loose but saves the car and the track stays green.

Lap 37, William Byron has a half second lead on Martin Truex Jr; Tyler Reddick, Aric Almirola, and Denny Hamlin round out the top five.

Lap 40, Martin Truex Jr has caught up to leader William Byron and is beginning to challenge for the lead.

Lap 42, Ricky Stenhouse jr hits the wall but the track stays green; he has fallen all the way back to 25th on old tires.

Lap 44, Martin Truex Jr passes William Byron for the lead.

Austin Dillon and Corey LaJoie were caught speeding on pit road and had to restart the race form the back of the field.

Lap 47, Martin Truex Jr has pulled out to a one second lead on William Byron.

Lap 51, the top five are Martin Turex Jr, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Aric Almirola, and Denny Hamlin.

Lap 52, Martin Truex Jr now has a lead of over two seconds on William Byron.

Kyle Busch reports that he has trouble “staying on top of the track” and is still mired back in the field in 28th.

Lap 57, Martin Truex Jr is driving away from the field and now has a three second lead on William Byron; Tyler Reddick, Aric Almirola, and Denny Hamlin round out the top five. 

Ryan Blaney passes Denny Hamlin for fifth.

Lap 60, leader Martin Truex Jr passes Ricky Stenhouse Jr to put Stenhouse a lap down.

Lap 64, Martin Truex Jr has a near four second lead on William Byron; Tyler Reddick, Aric Almirola, and Ryan Blaney round out the top five.

Aric Almirola reports he has an ill handling car with everything needing help.

Martin Truex Jr wins stage one.

The top 10 at the end of stage one:
Martin Truex Jr
William Byron
Tyler Reddick
Aric Almirola
Ryan Blaney
Christopher Bell
Denny Hamlin
Daniel Suarez
Joey Logano
Michael McDowell

Kyle Busch has a heavily smoking car and reports that “it’s killed”. 

Drivers come down pit road for service with Martin Truex Jr winning the race off of pit road.  Even after dominating the race and leading 59 laps, Truex reports that he is still loose.

Kyle Busch’s damage is due to him hitting the wall.  Corey LaJoie also got into the wall on the last lap of stage one.

Christopher Bell had to make a second trip down pit road to tighten up a loose wheel.

Kyle Busch is out of the race.

Tyler Reddick and BJ McLeod were caught speeding on pit road and will restart the race from the back of the field.

Martin Truex Jr brings the field down for the green flag start of stage two on lap 78 and holds on to the lead with Aric Almirola in second.

The top five are Martin Truex Jr, Aric Almirola, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, and Denny Hamin.

Ty Gibbs gets three wide and moves up the track but the track stays green.

Lap 80, drivers are getting four wide back in the field.

Lap 81, Martin Truex Jr has a half second lead on Aric Almirola; William Byron, Denny Hamlin, and Ryan Blaney round out the top five.

Corey LaJoie is off the track and out of the race after he could not make minimum speed.  This is his first DNF.

Lap 85, Martin Truex Jr has a lead of over a second on Aric Almirola; William Byron, Denny Hamlin, and Ryan Blaney round out the top five.

Lap 88, Martin Truex Jr has increased his lead of over a second and a half on Aric Almirola.

Seventy-six points below the cut line, Chase Elliott is back in 22nd with an ill handling car.  His chances of making the playoffs are increasingly getting harder.

Saying that his car was off this week, Kyle Busch noted that he has had issues with the car all weekend.

Lap 92, Martin Truex Jr has pulled out to a two and a half second lead on Aric Almirola; Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, and Kyle Larson round out the top five.

Lap99, with a four second lead, Martin Truex Jr has led all but eleven laps of the race.

William Byron says that his car is “awful” after that last pit stop.

Bubba Wallace is reporting “brake shake” in his car.

There are 31 cars on the lead lap with two drivers out of the race.

Christopher Bell has advanced 18 spots since the start of stage two and a bad pit stop.

Lap 105, Martine Truex Jr has a lead of over four seconds on Aric Almirola; Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, and Kyle Larson round out the top five.  Kevin Harvick has entered the top 10.

Some of the drivers are moving further up the track in a search for a better handling car.  Dale Earnhardt Jr reports that the higher line has some old “sticky stuff” on the track that has grip if they can get it warmed up.

Lap 111, Martin Truex Jr has a lead of over four seconds on Aric Almirola; Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, and Kyle Larson round out the top five. 

Christopher Bell is running the fastest laps on the track; is just outside of the top 10 in eleventh.

There are 29 cars on the lead lap.

Martin Truex Jr’s lead is down to under four seconds as he battles with slower traffic.

Tyler Reddick gets loose in turn four but saves the car and the track stays green.

Melon Man Ross Chastain is running the highest line of any driver, getting up near the wall.  He is in 19th.

Lap 124, Martin Truex Jr has a three and a half second lead on Aric Almirola; Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, and Kyle Larson round out the top five.  Christopher Bell has entered the top 10.  There are 27 cars on the lead lap.

Kevin Harvick passes Michael McDowell for eighth.

Lap 129, Tyler Reddick is the first driver to make a green flag pit stop and begins the cycle.

William Byron is reporting a bit of a brake issue.  He makes contact with Justin Haley exiting his pit stall.

Lap 131, pit road has gotten to be a very busy place as the drivers make their green flag pit stops.

Cole Custer hits the fence and barely makes it to pit road with a flat tire.

Lapa 132, leader Martin Truex Jr makes his green flag pit stop and gives the lead over to Daniel Suarez; who comes down pit road and gives the lead over to Chase Elliott.

Lap 134,Chase Elliott makes his green flag pit stop and gives the lead back to Martin Truex Jr.

Bubba Wallace overshot his pit box and had to backup before the crew could work on the car.

Lap 141, Martin Truex Jr has a lead of three and a half seconds on Aric Almirola; Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, and Ryan Blaney round out the top five with just 21 cars on the lead lap.

Lap 147, Martin Truex Jr continues to dominate the race and has a near four second lead on Aric Almirola; Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, and Ryan Blaney round out the top five.  Recovering from his two bad pit stops, Christopher Bell is in seventh place.

There are now just 19 cars on the lead lap.

Lap 150, Ryan Blaney passes Kyle Larson for fourth.

Lap 150, Martin Truex Jr has led 136 of them so far and now has a lead of over four seconds on Aric Almirola.

Lap 153, Martin Truex Jr is on Bubba Wallace’s bumper; Wallace is the last car on the lead lap in 19th.

Lap 159, Martin Truex Jr has a lead of over four seconds on Aric Almirola.  He is on Bubba Wallace’s bumper who is the last car on the lead lap.  There are only 18 cars on the lead lap after Austin Dillon finally makes his green flag pit stop.

Chase Briscoe and Harrison Burton are currently in a battle to be the first car one lap down.

Erik Jones gets sideways and brings out the caution flag on lap 163.  Chase Briscoe is the “lucky dog”.

Some of the drivers come down pit road for fresh tires with Aric Almirola winning the race off of pit road after taking only two tires.

There was a fire in Christopher Bell’s pit after he pulled out.

Several of the lap down cars stayed out on the track and took the wave around.

Aric Almirola brings the field down for the green flag restart on lap 169 and jumps out for the lead.  Almirola brings out the caution flag when he gets into the wall.  He had a loose right rear tire.  On the hook, Almirola is out of the race.

The top four drivers took only two tires, fifth place driver Martin Truex Jr is the first car on four fresh tires.

Kyle Larson is the new leader.

Kyle Larson brings the field down for the green flag restart with eleven laps remaining in stage two and gets out in front for the lead but Martin Truex Jr comes up to battle for the lead.

Truex holds on to the lead with Kyle Larson in second; Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, and Denny Hamlin round out the top five.

Brad Keselowski and Tyler Reddick make contact but the track stays green.  Ty Gibbs comes up to make it a three wide battle.

After battling to stay on the lead lap, Bubba Wallace is in seventh place just seven laps before the end of stage two.

With six laps remaining in stage two, Martin Truex Jr has a near one second lead on Kyle Larson; Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, and Denny Hamlin round out the top five.

The beginning of the race was fairly quiet with little movement among the drivers; but as stage two comes to an end, the drivers are getting very aggressive with lots of battles and contact.

Martin Truex Jr wins stage two for the stage sweep.

The top 10 at the end of stage two:
Martin Truex Jr
Kyle Larson
Joey Logano
Ryan Blaney
Denny Hamlin
Kevin Harvick
Alex Bowman
Brad Keselowski
Tyler Reddick
Christopher Bell

Drivers come down pit road for service but some of the drivers stay out on the track including leader Martin Truex Jr.

Aric Almirola noted that his car felt a little weird when he left pit road but was not concerned when he came to the restart.

Martin Truex Jr brings the field down for the green flag start of stage three on lap 192 after staying out on the track.  Truex holds on to the lead with Ryan Blaney in second; Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, and Denny Hamlin round out the top five.

There are 29 cars on the lead lap.

After taking the wave around, Austin Dillon, Harrison Burton, and Chase Elliott are all in the top 10.

Lap 195, Martin Truex Jr has a half second lead on Ryan Blaney; Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, and Denny Hamlin round out the top five.

Brad Keselowski battles with Denny Hamlin for fifth.

Erik Jones gets into the wall but the track stays green as Jones recovers.

Lap 199, Martin Truex Jr has a lead of over half a second on Ryan Blaney; Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, and Denny Hamlin round out the top five.

Kyle Larson passes Denny Hamlin for fifth.

With 97 laps remaining in the race, Martin Truex Jr has a near one second lead on Ryan Blaney; Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, and Kyle Larson round out the top five.

Corey LaJoie returns to the track 124 laps down after making repairs to his car.

Lap 213, Martin Truex Jr has led 188 laps so far and is less than half a second in front of Ryan Blaney; Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, and Kyle Larson round out the top five.

With 85 laps remaining in the race, Ryan Blaney is slowly closing the gap on leader Martin Truex Jr.

Leading 193 laps so far, Martin Truex Jr has led more laps today then he did all of last year.

There are 79 laps remaining in the race with Martin Truex Jr less than half a second in front of Ryan Blaney; Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, and Kyle Larson round out the top five.

Lap 228, Kyle Larson begins to challenge Brad Keselowski for fourth.

There are 71 laps to go, leader Martin Truex Jr reports a loose condition in his car. 

The top five are Martin Truex Jr, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, and Kyle Larson.

With 67 laps to go, Kyle Larson and Brad Keselowski battle for fourth.

Lap 236, Ryan Blaney comes down pit road to begin the cycle of green flag pit stops.

Lap 237, leader Martin Truex Jr comes down pit road and gives the lead over to Joey Logano as green flag pit stops continue.

Lap 239, Joey Logano comes down pit road and gives the lead over to Kevin Harvick.

Kyle Larson passes Joey Logano for 10th.

The top five are Kevin Harvick, Austin Dillon, William Byron, Daniel Surez, and Martin Truex Jr.

Ryan Preece reports handling issues saying that the car is bucking like a bull.

Lap 245 Kevin Harvick comes down pit road for his green flag pit stop and gives the lead over to Austin Dillon.

Christopher Bell and Brad Keselowski battle for seventh.

Fifty to go, Austin Dillon leads the race but has yet to make his pit stop with Martin Truex Jr is in second; Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, and Daniel Suarez round out the top five.

Lap 257 Austin Dillon makes his green flag pit stop and gives the lead back to Martin Truex Jr with Ryan Blaney in second; Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, and Christopher Bell round out the top five.

With only 42 laps remaining in the race, Martin Truex Jr has a near three second lead on Ryan Blaney.

There is a great deal of traffic in front of Martin Truex Jr as the laps count down.

Lap 265, Martin Truex Jr has a lead of less than two seconds on Ryan Blaney; Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, and Christopher Bell round out the top five with 24 cars on the lead lap.

With 34 laps to go, Martin Truex Jr has gotten through the slower traffic and has pulled out to a near three second lead on Ryan Blaney.

Noah Gragson brings out the caution flag with 31 laps to go; reporting that something broke.  His right front tire is severely askew.  He suspects a possible brake rotor or tire issue.  The wheel nut is lying on the track.

Kyle Larson had just passed Ryan Blaney when the caution flag came out.

Several drivers come down pit road for fresh tires with a number of teams taking only two tires including the leader Martin Truex Jr.

Ryan Blaney ran over the air hose leaving pit road and will have to serve a penalty.

Kevin Harvick brings the field down for the green flag restart with 24 laps to go after staying out on the track.  Martin Truex Jr comes up to pass Harvick to retake the lead.  Joey Logano takes second; Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson, and Austin Dillon round out the top five.

Crash brings out the seventh caution flag of the race with 22 laps to go. Alex Bowman, Ty Gibbs, and Erik Jones were all involved after on track contract.

Martin Truex Jr brings the field down for the green flag restart with just 16 laps remaining in the race.  Truex jumps out in front for the lead.  Drivers are three wide across sthe track.

The top five are Martin tReux Jr, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson, and Tyler Reddick.

Christopher Bell brings out the caution flag when he gets into the wall hard with 13 laps to go.  Bell was in the top 10 at the time of the crash.

A teammate of Christopher Bell, leader Martin Truex Jr noted over the radio that it should be company policy that if a teammate is leading then a teammate shouldn’t have a single car wreck.

Martin Truex Jr brings the field down for the green flag restart with just nine laps to go.  Truex jumps out in front as drivers get three wide through the field.

Martin Truex Jr leads the race with Joey Logano in second; Kyle Larson, Kevin Harvick, and Brad Keselowski rounding out the top five.

Drivers are three and four wide in a battle for position with just seven laps to go.

Martin Truex Jr has pulled out to a lead of over half a second on Joey Logano.

Four to go, Martin Truex Jr has a one second led on Joey Logano with Kyle Larson in third.

Ty Gibbs gets high up against the wall but the track stays green.

With a lead of nearly a second, Martin Truex Jr takes the white flag.

In dominating fashion, Martin Truex Jr wins at The Magic Mile for the first time and will hoist the giant lobster.  This is Truex’s third win this season.

Truex burned it down the entire front stretch of the track.

The unofficial results of the Crayon 301:
Martin Truex Jr
Joey Logano
Kyle Larson
Kevin Harvick
Brad Keselowski
Tyler Reddick
Denny Hamlin
Bubba Wallace
Austin Dillon
Chase Briscoe
Erik Jones
Chase Elliott
Michael McDowell
Alex Bowman
Chris Buescher
Daniel Suarez
Justin Haley
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
AJ Allmendinger
Harrison Burton
Todd Gilliland
Ryan Blaney
Ross Chastain
William Byron
Austin Cindric
Ty Dillon
Ty Gibbs
Ryan Preece
Christopher Bell
Ryan Newman
BJ McLeod
Noah Gragson
Corey LaJoie
Aric Almirola
Cole Custer
Kyle Busch  

Onlysix races remain in the regular season.