New Hampshire Fantasy NASCAR Asterisk Report
New Hampshire is called the “Magic Mile” but last fall a more appropriate nick name would’ve been the “Mayhem Mile”. There was lots of on track action and self-inflicted mistakes that led to several drivers walking away with an asterisk mark result .
The first driver who’s afternoon went down hill was Denny Hamlin. He had a great car and through the first third of the event it appeared to be one of the strongest. Unfortunately for him his team had some sort of issue fueling his car up and on lap 96 he pitted all by himself under green because he needed more fuel. Shortly after that a caution came out for debris and his team then decided to repair the problem and it dropped him down four laps!
During the debris caution when the #11 team made repairs Kurt Busch also had a problem and made two pit stops because of a loose wheel. That dropped him from 14th to 24th in the running order. Fortunately for him it was under yellow.
On lap 120 Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a problem. He was running in 7th at the time but he made an unexpected pit stop because of a loose wheel. That dropped him one lap down back to 24th.
On lap 180 Denny Hamlin’s race got even worse. On that lap he was involved in a multi-car accident which essentially ended his afternoon. The other drivers who were involved were Martin Truex Jr. and David Ragan. Following this caution Dale Earnhardt Jr. got back on the lead lap.
There’s a saying in NASCAR that cautions breed cautions. After the prior “Big One” more on track metal crushing attrition occurred. On lap 188 another multi-car accident ensued. What happened is that Kenseth (running in 8th at the time) got loose and Kyle Busch ran into the back of him which caused an accordion effect. Other drivers who were involved were Kasey Kahne and Ryan Newman. Kyle Busch’s car looked DNF worthy but he manged to walk away with a top ten. Both Kahne and Newman cars were pretty beat up and they were no longer competitive after that.
If you like this post you’ll probably like our Indepth Scouting Report of what happened last fall.
Shortly after the two multi-car wrecks on lap 194 Brad Keselowski had a solo spin and backed his car into the wall. He was running in 7th at the time. That dropped him back in the running order but he was still strong and 7th is where he finished when the checkered flag waved.
It wasn’t a big moment in the race but it was a notable moment when on lap 200 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun and didn’t sustain any damage. He was running in 17th at the time. Here’s a little spoiler on him, it’s not the last you’ll read about him in this post.
With 80 laps to go Kurt Busch had another problem and this one was bigger than a loose wheel. At that time he was running in 15th but got into the wall.
Danica Patrick had a pretty good afternoon but with 60 laps to go she had contact with Marcos Ambrose. Shortly after the contact her car just wasn’t the same. At the time of the incident she was running around 13th.
With 39 laps to go Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got into the wall and then with 37 laps to go he got into the wall again, but this time much harder. His car was so damaged he couldn’t even steer back to the garage area. Just prior to his issue he was running around 14th.
With 31 laps to go Matt Kenseth’s and Paul Menard’s afternoon took a turn for the worst. They were battling for 6th place but they spun together. Kenseth went on to finish 21st and Paul Menard was denied of his first New Hampshire top ten and finished 15th. Kenseth got the worse end of the deal because his damage was heavier.
Jeff Gordon had a good afternoon but it unraveled late. With 9 laps to go he was running in 6th but he had a tire go down and nailed the wall. That led to his misleading 26th place finish.
Tony Stewart didn’t have a good afternoon but it went downhill a little more at the end. With 3 laps to go when he was running in 27th he got into the wall and brought out the final caution. When the checkered flag waved he finished 30th.
