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| New Hampshire Motor Speedway |
Aric Almirola has won the “Foxwoods Resort Casino” 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, scoring only his 3rd victory in the NASCAR Cup Series, and his first at a non-superspeedway track.
In undoubtedly one of the most wild, unpredictable, and exciting races of the 2021 season, Stewart-Haas Racing has redeemed itself by scoring their first win of 2021. Tonight’s race was cut short due to darkness at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which was made possible by another issue; rain. Today’s race started off after a morning of perception, but the track had finally dried. After only 6 laps of the race rain began to pick up, and cars began to slide. On laps 7, several race cars entered turn one and lost all control, some of these drivers include the leader Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin and Ross Chastain. This perception triggered NASCAR to bring the field down pit road, and bring out the red flag. This red flag lasted approximately an hour and a half, and delayed the race significantly. This delay created a race for daylight, since New Hampshire Motor Speedway DOES NOT have adequate track lights.
While the Toyotas like Kyle Busch (who did not finish), Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin were simply non factors in this race, it was not the Chevys who dominated, the Fords were fast! Team Penske and Stewart Haas Racing saw speed as all of the Penske Mustangs and two of Stewart-Haas’ Mustangs found themselves in the Top-6. The lone Toyota in that mix was Christopher Bell, who won the NASCAR Xfinity Series at this track the day prior. Christopher Bell had very similar speed to Almirola, and had the race been run to it’s original length, it is almost certain that Bell would have come out victorious.
Many drivers were hoping for NASCAR to give the 10 lap notice due to the dark conditions, but no team was bidding on this more than Matt DiBenedetto and Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 team. Matt DiBenedetto, who it was announced this week is a free agent and looking for a ride, stayed out on track while nearly the entire field had pitted. DiBenedetto held the lead as long as he could hoping for the 10 lap notice, but eventually had to pit. Fortunately the struggling team scored an 11th place finish.
During this race Ryan Blaney won stage 1, and teammate Brad Keselowski won Stage 2.
The following are the complete race results:
1. Aric Almirola- No. 10
2. Christopher Bell- No. 20
3. Brad Keselowski- No. 2
4. Joey Logano- No. 22
5. Ryan Blaney- No 12
6. Kevin Harvick- No. 4
7. Kyle Larson- No. 5
8. Ross Chastain- No. 42
9. Alex Bowman- No. 48
10. Denny Hamlin- No. 11
11. Matt DiBenedetto- No. 21
12. Martin Truex Jr.- No. 19
13. Tyler Reddick- No. 8
14. Cole Custer- No. 41
15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.- No. 47
16. Kurt Busch- No. 1
17. Austin Dillon- No. 3
18. Chase Elliott- No. 9
19. Erik Jones- No. 43
20. Daniel Suárez- No. 99
21. William Byron- No. 24
22. Ryan Preece- No. 37
23. Corey LaJoie- No. 7
24. Ryan Newman- No. 6
25. Michael McDowell- No. 34
26. Bubba Wallace- No. 23
27. Chase Briscoe- No. 14
28. Justin Haley- No. 77
29. Chris Buescher- No. 17
30. BJ McLeod- No. 78
31. Cody Ware- No. 51
32. Anthony Alfredo- No. 38
33. Garrett Smithley- No. 53
34. Josh Bilicki- No. 15
35. Quin Houff- No. 00 - DNF
36. James Davison- No. 15 - DNF
37. Kyle Busch- No. 18 - DNF
RETWEET to congratulate @Aric_Almirola on his WIN at @NHMS!
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 19, 2021
The third win of his career puts him in the @NASCAR Playoffs! pic.twitter.com/nXa5Y64kdZ
Christopher Bell was closing in on Aric Almirola, but ran out of daylight on Sunday at @NHMS.
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 19, 2021
Hear from the @JoeGibbsRacing driver after his runner-up finish. pic.twitter.com/XIonepCUNn
WHAT A BATTLE!
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 18, 2021
Ryan Blaney hangs on as teammate Brad Keselowski gives him a nudge. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/di9Qq8UAjd
A shocking turn of events at @NHMS!
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 18, 2021
Rain starts to fall, and race leader Kyle Busch along with many others crash entering Turn 1! #NASCAR // NBCSN pic.twitter.com/yFhmesSge3
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