2016 New Hampshire 301
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 19 of 36 in the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series | |||
 |
|||
| Date | July 17, 2016 | ||
| Location | New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 1.058 mi (1.703 km) |
||
| Distance | 301 laps, 318.458 mi (512.603 km) | ||
| Average speed | 108.416 mph (174.479 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Hendrick Motorsports | ||
| Time | 28.430 seconds | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | |
| Laps | 133 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 20 | Matt Kenseth | Joe Gibbs Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | NBCSN | ||
| Announcers | Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte | ||
| Nielsen Ratings | 2.0/4 (Overnight) 2.1/4 (Final) 3.3 million viewers |
||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | PRN | ||
| Booth Announcers | Doug Rice, Mark Garrow and Wendy Venturini | ||
| Turn Announcers | Rob Albright (1 & 2) and Pat Patterson (3 & 4) | ||
The 2016 New Hampshire 301 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on July 17, 2016 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. Contested over 301 laps on the 1.058-mile (1.703 km) speedway, it was the 19th race of the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Matt Kenseth won the race, his second win of the season, and Tony Stewart finished second. Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick and Greg Biffle rounded out the top-five, The race had 13 lead changes among 8 drivers and seven cautions for 36 laps.
New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a 1.058-mile (1.703 km) oval speedway located in Loudon, New Hampshire, which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since the early 1990s, as well as the longest-running motorcycle race in North America, the Loudon Classic. Nicknamed "The Magic Mile", the speedway is often converted into a 1.6-mile (2.6 km) road course, which includes much of the oval.
The track was originally the site of Bryar Motorsports Park before being purchased and redeveloped by Bob Bahre. The track is currently one of eight major NASCAR tracks owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports.
The preliminary entry list for the race included 40 cars and was released on July 11, 2016 at 10:12 a.m. Eastern time. Among the changes is Alex Bowman subbing for Dale Earnhardt Jr. who'll sit out this race due to concussion symptoms.
Martin Truex Jr. was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 28.517 and a speed of 133.562 mph (214.947 km/h).
Jimmie Johnson scored the pole for the race with a time of 28.430 and a speed of 133.971 mph (215.605 km/h). He said afterwards that his car "had a really weird set of tires or something odd go on on our mock run at the end of practice," Johnson said. "It felt like something was broken on the car. So to come back and have good speed in the car and advance, I knew after round two we would have a shot at the pole, because we were able to keep our lap count down and advance to the next round on our first lap in each session. And then put together a smooth lap. I felt like it could have been faster, but certainly a good smooth one, and it was enough." He commented further that he has "had, as everybody knows, a tough month or two. To be back in the media center is a nice feeling. I even forgot that I had to come here. It’s amazing how fast things change." He also added that qualifying at New Hampshire is important because it's "the most important track for track position. It’s a short race, very difficult to pass. You need track position. The key is to keep it, but at least we’re starting with it.”
...
Wikipedia