2021 New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Foxwoods Resort Casino 301

The weeks are slowly winding down towards the playoffs. For some drivers without a win yet they might be winding down quite quickly though. Nobody wants to make the playoffs without a win under their belt. It’s hard to just turn it on all of a sudden and start winning races, which is what you need to do during the playoffs to win a championship.

FOXWOODS RESORT CASINO 301

This week the drivers head to the New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the running of the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301. This track is slightly longer than a mile and doesn’t have the banking we see at other tracks that are considered intermediate tracks on the circuit. What surprised me was that there are only seven active drivers who have won at this track. The question now is will one of these seven repeat again, or will we see a first time winner this week?

Denny Hamlin: I’m going to go out on a limb and say Denny wins this week. He has three career wins at Loudon and this is the type of track where he doesn’t need all the speed the Hendrick drivers have shown all year as the straightaways aren’t quite that long. It’s more about getting through the corners and getting back into the throttle early when exiting. I think Denny can do that this weekend and pick up the win.

Kyle Larson: None of the active Hendrick drivers have a win at this track. That is something that very well could change this week with the way they have run all year long. Of those four drivers I think Kyle has the best chance of winning this week. He’s been the most consistent of them week in and week out. He has also finished runner-up three times in his ten starts at this track. This might be the week he improves on that statistic.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin has the most wins at this track among all active drivers with four. I still don’t know what’s wrong with this team. It’s true they don’t seem to have the speed the other teams have, but they usually have a better handling car than they have shown for most of the year. I don’t think they’re far off and they have run into their share of bad luck this season. This could be one of those races where they can get the car handling the way they like and do some damage.

Martin Truex Jr.: Martin is another driver looking for his first win at this track. He has had some dominant cars here only to see his hopes dashed away by some late race issue. In fact, Martin hasn’t finished outside of the top twenty here in his last eighteen starts and has finished in the top ten in six of his last seven starts at Loudon. He has lead around six hundred laps in his last seven starts here too. Could this be the week he wins for the first time here?

Brad Keselowski: Brad won this race last year and that was the second time he visited victory lane here. The Penske teams have shown some speed this year and the handling is the key in this race. They should have a fast car right off the truck this week with the notes they have from last year’s race and that is always a plus. If they have enough adjustment built into the car they will be a contender come the end of this year’s race.

Kyle Busch: Kyle has three wins and four runner-up finishes at New Hampshire. He has also been running much better recently than he did all of last season and at the beginning of this season. I think this team is so close to breaking out of a small slump and going on a tear where they can win multiple races in a row no matter what type of track they’re racing on. I look for him to run towards the front in this race and contend for the win at the end.

William Byron: William has only run three races here and has finished in the top fifteen in each of them. He has yet to finish in the top ten though. That could very well come to an end this week as he has shown a lot of improvement this season and we have all seen how fast the Hendrick cars are every week. I look for William to finish at least top ten this week and he could move into the top five too.

Aric Almirola: Aric has shown a lot of improvement over the past month or so. He has run pretty well here the past three races which are the only three he’s run for Stewart-Haas Racing. I don’t think he’ll win this race, but another top fifteen isn’t out of the question for this team. He could be a driver you might want to consider if you’re trying to make up some ground in your league. You never know when one of the top drivers is going to have an issue.

Joey Logano: Joey has eight top ten finishes in his last ten starts at New Hampshire. I think he and Paul Wolff are really working well together and communicating so they make the changes the driver is looking for. This could be the deciding factor on whether or not he wins this race. One bad decision coming from the pits could make of break a driver this weekend. We also know that this team isn’t afraid to do something outside the box to try and win a race.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Denny Hamlin

Driver Group Game Group B

• William Byron
• Aric Almirola

Driver Group Game Group C

• Bubba Wallace

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY

1. Denny Hamlin
2. Kyle Larson
3. Martin Truex Jr.
4. Kyle Busch
5. Kevin Harvick

Dark Horse: Ryan Newman

Stay Away From: Alex Bowman

Big 18: Kyle Busch