NASCAR at New Hampshire 2015: Race Schedule, Live Stream Info, Drivers to Watch
It's now or never for drivers in NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup Challenger Round ahead of Sunday's event in New Hampshire.
The Sylvania 300 is the second of three races in the round and perhaps the most important of all. Denny Hamlin stole the win last weekend at Chicagoland Speedway, a shocking result given his torn ACL. Also shocking was the general layout of the field in the aftermath, perhaps highlighted by former series leader Kevin Harvick sitting in 15th place.
Everything comes to a head Sunday, with the last four names on the leaderboard in danger of elimination when the round concludes. Here's a look at everything to know about the event.
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Viewing Details
Where: New Hampshire Motor Speedway
When: Sunday, Sept. 27, at 2 p.m. ET
Watch: NBC Sports Network
Live Stream: NBC Live Extra
Tickets: ScoreBig.com
Sprint Cup Standings
| 1 | Matt Kenseth | 2,052 |
| 2 | Denny Hamlin | 2,050 |
| 3 | Carl Edwards | 2,049 |
| 4 | Kyle Busch | 2,049 |
| 5 | Kurt Busch | 2,048 |
| 6 | Joey Logano | 2,048 |
| 7 | Jimmie Johnson | 2,045 |
| 8 | Ryan Newman | 2,040 |
| 9 | Brad Keselowski | 2,039 |
| 10 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 2,038 |
| 11 | Martin Truex Jr. | 2,035 |
| 12 | Jeff Gordon | 2,031 |
| 13 | Jamie McMurray | 2,028 |
| 14 | Paul Menard | 2,027 |
| 15 | Kevin Harvick | 2,009 |
| 16 | Clint Bowyer | 2,000 |
Drivers to Watch
It's that time of week again, folks.
Jeff Gordon's farewell tour may come to an end earlier than most could have anticipated given his lackluster season. The iffy performances continued last weekend at Chicagoland, where No. 24 finished 14th despite starting 10th and leading 41 laps.
Gordon might be set to break NASCAR's record for consecutive starts with No. 789 this weekend, but if he doesn't post a strong performance in the process, he might bow out of the Chase.
Just three points ahead of Jamie McMurray in 12th place, Gordon sits dangerously close to the cutoff line heading into an event he finished 26th at last season. All year, the globe has waited to see if he could get everything to come together well in just one race.
If New Hampshire isn't it, the one race may never come.
It's easy to think of Dale Earnhardt Jr. as in contention and call it a day.
Except it's not so simple for Earnhardt, who sits in 10th place after one race but just 10 points ahead of McMurray and the cutoff line. To make matters more complicated, he has yet to seize a checkered flag at New Hampshire.
Earnhardt finished 12th last weekend, suffering from a late yellow. He didn't sound too pleased with the circumstances afterward, per Sporting News' Jeff Owens: “When you have a late yellow, it takes all the damn work you did all day out of it. A little frustrated, but we were only running ninth or 10th.”
Despite the late struggles, it's hard to envision a race this weekend without Earnhardt in contention late. He finished in the top 10 at the event last year and had a string of four top-10 performances going into Chicagoland last weekend.
Either way, it's a critical race for Earnhardt, who needs to set himself up well for the final race of the first round.
Matt Kenseth
It seems the epic run of Matt Kenseth is over.
For now.
Kenseth watched as his teammate, Hamlin, stole the checkered flag last weekend, while he finished fifth. Still, he remains one of the hottest drivers around considering he touts three victories dating back to the beginning of August.
It wouldn't be a shock to see Kenseth join his teammate with a win and automatic bid given his history at New Hampshire—one win, seven top-fives and 16 top-10 finishes.
Really, Kenseth looks good either way considering he enters the weekend in first place when things get sorted by points. At a track he considers a strength, look for Kenseth to turn in another strong performance as Mr. Consistency does it once again when it matters most.
Stats and info courtesy of ESPN.com unless otherwise specified.
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