Today’s Cup race at New Hampshire: Start time, lineup and more

By Nate RyanJul 21, 2019, 6:00 AM EDT

After a harrowing series of practice sessions for some teams at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, NASCAR’s premier series is scheduled for 301 laps Sunday at the Magic Mile.

Five drivers — Alex Bowman, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin — will start from the rear in backup cars after crashes the past two days.

Brad Keselowski will start first after capturing his first pole position since October 2017.

Here’s all the info for today’s event:

(All times are Eastern)

START: The green flag is scheduled for 3:15 p.m.

PRERACE: The garage will open at 9:30 a.m. The driver/crew chief meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. Driver introductions will begin at 2:30 p.m. The national anthem will be performed by Whitney Doucet at 3:01 p.m.

DISTANCE: The race is 301 laps (318.46 miles) around the 1.058-mile speedway.

STAGES: Stage 1 ends on Lap 75. Stage 2 ends on Lap 150.

TV/RADIO: Prerace coverage will begin at 1:30 p.m. with NASCAR America on NBCSN, followed by Countdown to Green at 2:30 on NBCSN and the race broadcast at 3 on NBCSN. Performance Racing Network will broadcast the race. PRN’s coverage begins at 2 p.m. SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will carry PRN’s broadcast, which is also available at goprn.com.

FORECAST: wunderground.com calls for mostly cloudy skies with a high of 90 degrees and a 24% chance of scattered thunderstorms for the start of the race.

LAST TIME: Kevin Harvick bumped Kyle Busch from the lead on Lap 295 of 301. Aric Almirola finished third.

TO THE REAR: Alex Bowman, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin will drop to the back because they are in backup cars.

STARTING LINEUP: Click here for the starting lineup.

Ryan Blaney fastest in final Cup practice at New Hampshire

By Daniel McFadinJul 20, 2019, 1:42 PM EDT

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Ryan Blaney was fastest in the Cup Series’ final practice session at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Blaney posted a top speed of 133.572 mph.

He was followed by Denny Hamlin (133.226 mph), Kyle Busch (132.739), Kevin Harvick (132.688) and Martin Truex Jr. (132.646).

Brad Keselowski (sixth) and Kurt Busch (14th) each recorded the most laps in the session with 61.

Blaney also had the best 10-lap average.

Click here for the speed chart.

Alex Bowman wrecked in Turns 1 and 2 in the middle of the session.

Bowman, who was already in a backup car after he had a driveshaft failure in qualifying Friday, will now go to a second backup car. The No. 88 team will use Jimmie Johnson‘s backup car.

Matt DiBenedetto‘s left-rear tire shredded twice during the session.

“Not a lot of warning, I’ll tell you that,” DiBenedetto told NBCSN after the first tire problem. “I went down into (Turn) 1 and I was passing (Landon Cassill), as soon as we got down into the corner I don’t know if we ran over something or what but the left rear went down in a hurry.”

DiBenedetto, who qualified seventh for Sunday’s race, was able return to the track to make a lap right before the session ended.

We’re out of tires so we had to put on a left front from a previous set. Team wants to check for any tire rub issue

— LeavineFamilyRacing (@LFR95) July 20, 2019

Today’s Xfinity race at New Hampshire: Start time, lineup and more

Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images

By Dustin LongJul 20, 2019, 12:30 PM EDT

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Cole Custer, Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick have combined to win 10 of the last 11 Xfinity Series races heading into today’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Bell won this race a year ago. Will the dominance of the Xfinity Series’ Big 3 continue or will a new winner emerge?

Here is all the info you need for today’s race:

(All times are Eastern)

START: The command to start engines will be given at 4:07 p.m. The green flag is scheduled to wave at 4:16 p.m.

PRERACE: Garage opens at 7:30 a.m. Qualifying is at 11:05 a.m. Driver/crew chief meeting is at 1:30 p.m. Driver introductions are at 3:30 p.m. The invocation will be given at 4 p.m. by Pastor Mark Warren. Ellen Kane will perform the National Anthem at 4:01 p.m.

DISTANCE: The race is 200 laps (211.6 miles) around the 1.058-mile track.

STAGES: Stage 1 ends on Lap 45. Stage 2 ends on Lap 90.

TV/RADIO: NBCSN will televise the race. Coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. with Countdown to Green on NBCSN. The Performance Racing Network’s radio broadcast begins at 3:30 p.m. and also can be heard at goprn.com. SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will carry PRN’s broadcast.

FORECAST: wunderground.com calls for mostly sunny skies and a temperature of 94 degrees and a 2% chance of rain at the start of the race.

LAST TIME: Christopher Bell beat Brad Keselowski and Ryan Preece to win his second of three consecutive Xfinity races.

STARTING LINEUP: Click here for the starting lineup.

Erik Jones tops secind Cup practice; William Byron, Kyle Larson to backup cars after wall contact

By Daniel McFadinJul 20, 2019, 11:07 AM EDT

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Erik Jones was fastest in Saturday’s first Cup Series practice session at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, posting a top speed of 133.427 mph.

The top five was completed by pole-sitter Brad Keselowski (133.394 mph), Aric Almirola (133.366), Kyle Busch (133.240) and Ryan Blaney (133.138).

Joey Logano was sixth fastest, putting all three Team Penske cars in the top six.

Blaney recorded the most laps in the session with 54. Blaney is among five drivers who will be docked 15 minutes in the final practice.

Jones had the best 10-lap average at 132.854 mph. He was followed by Blaney (132.635 mph), Busch (132.332), Martin Truex Jr. (132.283) and Keselowski (132.227).

William Byron and Kyle Larson will go to backups cars after incidents in the session. Byron hit the wall in Turn 1 with about 45 minutes left in the session. He was 16th on the speed chart at the time of the incident.

“We have just been really loose and I tried to drive through it and see if it would come to me better and it didn’t,” Byron said. “It was even looser yet, and that was kind of the story, just got loose. Hopefully tomorrow we can have a good, solid day and go from there.”

Larson scraped the Turn 2 wall at about the same time as Byron’s wreck.

“I just locked up the brakes,” Larson said. “Simple as that, locked them up.”

Byron and Larson make it five drivers who will have backup cars this weekend, following Denny Hamlin (wreck), Ryan Newman (wreck) and Alex Bowman (drive shaft failure in qualifying). All will have to start from the rear of the field. Byron had qualified 22nd. Larson qualified 15th.

Click here for the speed chart.

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