New Hampshire Motor Speedway Hosts Start to The Chase
Copyright © 2008 Bench Racing Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
If you are not reading this article in a news reader, the website you are viewing it on is guilty of copyright infringement.
Please report this site through the contact link on OnPitRow.com.
(digital signature: 0cfdbe0a46fcc45c1d0ce390e8adfabc)
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
New Hampshire Motor Speedway is one of the most storied tracks on the Sprint Cup Series.
It has been described as “Martinsville on steroids”; because of its long straights and rather flat turns. Brakes are a big story at New Hampshire. Those drivers that have brakes at the end of the race will have a decided advantage over drivers that have used them up early on.
Efforts to bring a major racing facility took off in 1989 when ground was broken for New Hampshire International Speedway on a site about 10 miles north of New Hampshire’s capital city, Concord. The track opened for the first time in June 1990 and hosted its first NASCAR touring series event, the Budweiser 300 for the Busch Series. The Cup Series followed in July 1993, with Rusty Wallace getting the victory.
NHMS is just over one mile in length; officially measured at 1.058 miles with 1 degree of banking on the straights and new progressive banking in the corners that ranges from two to seven degrees. The ninety-two foot wide turns were reconfigured in 2002 to incorporate the variable banking angle thus making the racetrack more driveable. Drivers like the sixty-five foot wide staights which lends itself to passing anywhere on the race track.
In 2000, the track was the site of a pair of fatal accidents which took the lives of two young drivers. In May, while practicing for a Busch Series race, Adam Petty’s throttle stuck exiting turn two. The result was a full speed, head-on crash in turns three and four. When the Winston Cup Series made their Spring appearance, a similar accident occurred to 1998 Rookie of the Year Kenny Irwin, Jr.
NASCAR with track owner, Bill Baird, decided to run restrictor plates on the cars during the Fall race, making it the first track outside of Daytona and Talladega to use them. Jeff Burton led flag to flag; resulting in the quick demise of restrictor plate racing at New Hampshire.
Track safety was put front and center starting in 2003, as the track was an early adopter of the SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) Barrier technology; outfitting its turns with the soft walls. In 2005 a new infield care center was built, followed in 2006 by a new heliport.
In 2004, the track hosted the first race in the inaugural Chase for the Nextel Cup. As it turned out, that race played a big role in how the battle for the championship played out. Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman and Jeremy Mayfield were involved in a wreck that stymied their championship hopes, while Kurt Busch, who had won the July race, completed a season’s sweep that started him toward the 2004 Nextel Cup championship.
NHMS not only hosts the first race in The Chase for the Sprint Cup; but it is also the first race in the ten races leading up to The Chase, known as the “Race to The Chase.”
Speedway Motorsports Inc. owner, Bruton Smith, announced on November 2, 2007 that his company had purchased the speedway from the Baird family for $340 million dollars cash and the track would be renamed New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Ryan Newman holds the current track qualifying record of 28.561 sec. (133.357 mph) set September 12, 2003, while Jeff Burton set the race record in July of 1997 with an average speed of 117.134 mph.
photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
