STEWART-HAAS RACING
Crayon 301
Date: July 17, 2023
Event: Crayon 301 (Round 20 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon (1.058-mile oval)
Format: 301 laps, broken into three stages (70 laps/115 laps/116 laps)
Race Winner: Martin Truex Jr., of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Martin Truex Jr., of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Martin Truex Jr., of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
SHR Race Finish:
● Kevin Harvick (Started 13th, Finished 4th / Running, completed 301 of 301 laps)
● Chase Briscoe (Started 27th, Finished 10th / Running, completed 301 of 301 laps)
● Ryan Preece (Started 21st, Finished 28th / Running, completed 300 of 301 laps)
● Aric Almirola (Started 3rd, Finished 34th / Accident, completed 168 of 301 laps)
SHR Points:
● Kevin Harvick (9th with 568 points, 99 out of first)
● Ryan Preece (26th with 335 points, 332 out of first)
● Aric Almirola (27th with 327 points, 340 out of first)
● Chase Briscoe (31st with 249 points, 418 out of first)
Harvick Notes:
● Harvick earned his fifth top-five and eighth top-10 of the season. It was his series-leading 15th top-five and 24th top-10 in 40 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at New Hampshire.
● This was Harvick’s sixth straight top-10 at New Hampshire, and it was the 11th time in the last 13 NASCAR Cup Series races at the track where he has finished sixth or better.
● Since joining SHR in 2014, Harvick has only finished outside the top-10 at New Hampshire three times.
● Harvick finished sixth in Stage 2 to earn five bonus points.
● Harvick led twice for 10 laps, increasing his laps led total at New Hampshire to 841.
● Harvick has now led 11,594 laps since joining SHR in 2014. He has led 16,009 laps in his entire NASCAR Cup Series career and is one of just 11 drivers who have surpassed 16,000 laps led.
● Harvick made his 810th career NASCAR Cup Series start when he took the green flag at New Hampshire, surpassing NASCAR Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip for eighth all-time. Harvick is on track to finish the year with 826 career starts. He’s part of an impressive lineup that includes Richard Petty (1,185 starts), Ricky Rudd (906), Terry Labonte (890), Dave Marcis (883), Mark Martin (882), Kyle Petty (829), Bill Elliott (828), Waltrip (809) and Jeff Gordon (805). At age 47, Harvick was the fifth-youngest driver to make 800 starts.
Briscoe Notes:
● Briscoe earned his fifth top-10 of the season and his first top-10 in three career NASCAR Cup Series starts at New Hampshire.
● Briscoe’s 10th-place result bettered his previous best finish at New Hampshire – 15th, earned last year.
● Briscoe leaves New Hampshire a winner despite his 10th-place finish. He won the Sprint Cars of New England (SCoNE) 30-lap feature Friday night at The Flat Track at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, a quarter-mile dirt track on the outskirts of the 1.058-mile oval that hosted the Crayon 301.
Preece Notes:
● Preece is a past winner at New Hampshire, having won a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour feature on July 17, 2021. It’s one of eight top-fives and 14 top-10s Preece has earned in 26 Modified Tour starts at New Hampshire.
Almirola Notes:
● Almirola finished fourth in Stage 1 to earn seven bonus points.
● Almirola led once for four laps, increasing his laps led total at New Hampshire to 85. He was running second on lap 169 when a loose right-rear wheel came off his racecar and sent him into the turn two wall, ending his day.
Race Notes:
● Martin Truex Jr., won the Crayon 301 to score his 34th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his third of the season and his first at New Hampshire. His margin over second-place Joey Logano was .396 of a second.
● There were eight caution periods for a total of 41 laps.
● Twenty-seven of the 36 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Truex leaves New Hampshire as the new championship leader with a 17-point advantage over second-place William Byron.
Sound Bites:
“We knew we just had to get rolling on the old tires. Just rolled the bottom. Probably should’ve rolled the fourth lane instead of the third lane, but still a decent day. We’ll keep plugging along. This had just been a great racetrack for us – another top-five. These tracks and these fans here, especially, have been so good to me throughout the years. It’s always fun to come here.” – Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang
“Out of the last two or three months, it feels like a win – truthfully. At the start of the race, we weren’t really great, by any means. But I said a couple of weeks ago coming over here that it’s going to take a while to figure out these cars – to learn these cars, what adjustments make the most sense and kind of what my baseline is. I felt like right there at the end, we were a seventh-place car, but if we could’ve started the weekend there, then maybe we could’ve been battling for the win. So, we’re just making small steps right now and, honestly, to run 10th, it feels like a win – especially here. This is, by far, my worst racetrack. Hopefully, we can continue on this. We just needed it, honestly – something good to happen to us so we can get some momentum. Hopefully, this will kind of kickstart us in the right direction. Pocono is kind of the question mark just for how we’ve been running on the big tracks. Hopefully, we can go there and have a good run.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Mobil 1 Gen G Ford Mustang
“I thought it (the right-rear) felt a little bit awkward leaving pit road, but then after that, working my tires in and going through the gears before the restart, you know… I spun the tires a few times – everything felt normal. I didn’t really have any concerns going into the restart, and then, obviously, the right-rear wheel came off. So, just really, really disappointed. This race team has been working so hard to bring fast race cars to the track. I’m so proud of everybody – Drew (Blickensderfer, crew chief) and all the guys on our team. We’re not capitalizing when we have cars capable of running up front. Just frustrating… disappointing… all the words you can use to describe being upset is certainly where we are. I hate it. I hate it for Smithfield. I hate it for Ford… Mobil 1, HighPoint.com, Go Bowling – everybody that puts so much into this program that we can’t get results.” – Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the HighPoint.com 400 on Sunday, July 23 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway. The race begins at 2:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by USA and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
