2020 NASCAR Preview: Week 20 – New Hampshire

Over a week ago, on a Thursday, we saw Denny Hamlin with a night race at Kansas. Today, it is very much daytime, on a Sunday afternoon, in the cozy confines of New Hampshire Motor Speedway. We’re in Week 20 (can you believe it?), and this race was scheduled for here. Wow! Just a few races left to break into the playoffs, and this time we do it with one of NASCAR’s shortest races.

Here’s what to look for:

We’re counting down the top 10 #NHMS moments as we count down to the #Foxwoods301. @KevinHarvick’s 2019 Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 win tied him with Jeff Burton as the winningest Cup Series drivers at Loudon. #NHMS30th pic.twitter.com/s1X8KFX83T

— New Hampshire Motor Speedway (@NHMS) August 2, 2020

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–Kevin Harvick has won each of the last two races here, and sports a 10.5 average finish. That actually seems kinda low considering his recent success, but a 36th in the Fall of ’17 (this is now a one race a year track), and a 30th in the Spring of ’14 sour the mix. Let’s forget about those, Happy will probably do awesome today.

He’s got two victories at @NHMS. That four-leaf clover luck just might help him get to three. 🍀@mattkenseth | @clovercommerce pic.twitter.com/P7kTP6Ka55

— Chip Ganassi Racing (@CGRTeams) August 2, 2020

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–Matt Kenseth is actually our best active driver over the last ten races here, a 6.3 in that span. A little wrinkle here, however..he didn’t run in 2019! He’s now two years removed since a 15th place finish with a completely different team/manufacturer, but he had a 6-1-1-2-4-3 in the six previous races. Wow!

I’ve been craving lobster lately… 🦞😎

Starting from the pole tomorrow. #Foxwoods301, 3p ET on NBCSN. pic.twitter.com/a3a4QcQIve

— Aric Almirola (@Aric_Almirola) August 1, 2020

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–Aric Almirola is on the Pole today, and we usually cover those guys, but this is not one of his best tacks. Just an 18.7 for A2, who has been on a tear since the return. He’s had a wicked streak of Top 10s Almirollin’, we’ll see if he can keep his good finishes in order today.

Loudon has been good to me, the past three years I’ve left with a 🏆 . I’m excited to try for my first Cup win this weekend. #TeamToyota #TBT #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/1jENUkMwbf

— Christopher Bell (@CBellRacing) July 30, 2020

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–Christopher Bell has yet to run in Loudon in the Cup Series, but in two Xfinity starts..he’s won twice, leading 279 of the combined 400 laps! Amazing! Not often do we see a 1.0 average for anybody on these tracks that we visit. I’ll be watching this one closely today, will you?

We feel like a kid waking up on Christmas 🙌 #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/UIfr5nKrbX

— New Hampshire Motor Speedway (@NHMS) July 31, 2020

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–Brennan Poole doesn’t make it onto this site often, or probably any Fantasy-type talks, but if you’re in a league/whatever with some sort of salary system, or points for position differential (ie: they start poor, finish well), this could be a guy to consider. He’ll start towards the back of the pack today, as he does every week, but in the Xfinity series he has an 8.7 average finish with three Top 10s in each of his runs. Again, not expecting Wins here today, but is a Top 20 out of the question? Absolutely not.

It originally started as a peasant food, but today..we eat like kings!

Lobster Roll w/ hot sauce (Photo: Lisa Kuhmann)

New England-style Lobster Roll w/ celery and green onion (Photo: Lisa Kuhmann)

Lobster Rolls! Yep! They hand out a gigantic lobster to the winner at the end of the race, we’re eating not-so-tiny lobster rolls today. They’re packed pretty tight! My gal Lisa went with a celery and onion-laden option while I skipped the greens and opted for some hot sauce. Both are acceptable in the New England-style Lobster Roll, and that is what we’ll eat. Great job!