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Who’s hot, who’s not heading into New Hampshire

By Daniel McFadinJul 17, 2018, 2:00 PM EDT

NASCAR heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for its only Cup race weekend of the year at the “Magic Mile.”

Thanks to Racing Insights, here’s a look at who is hot and not entering the 20th race of the season.

Who is Hot

Kevin Harvick
• Finished 5th at Kentucky (2nd in Stage 1, 4th in Stage 2)
• Finished in Top 5 in 5 of last 6 races
• In 19 races in 2018, 15 finishes of 7th or better (including 5 wins) & 4 finishes of 19th or worse
• Finished in the Top 5 in 18 of last 22 races, dating back to last season
• Finished in Top 5 in 5 of the last 7 New Hampshire races, including win in Sept. 2016
• In last year’s race: Started 12th, 13th in Stage 1, 3rd in Stage 2, finished 5th.

Kyle Busch
• Finished 4th at Kentucky (3rd in Stage 1, 2nd in Stage 2)
• Finished in top 5 in 6 of last 7 races
• Finished in the top 10 in 7 of last 8 races
• Finished in the top 5 in 13 of 19 races this season
• Finished 8th or better in 8 of last 10 New Hampshire races
• Finished in top 3 in 6 of last 10 New Hampshire races, including wins in July 2015 & Sept. 2017
• Led 749 laps in last 12 New Hampshire races
• Last year’s race: Started 7th, 5th in Stage 1, 1st in Stage 2, 95 laps led, finished 12th after two speeding penalties

Erik Jones
• Finished 7th at Kentucky (11th in Stage 1, 9th in Stage 2)
• Finished top 10 in 4 straight races
• Finished 39th (July) and 6th (Sept.) at New Hampshire in 2017, his only starts at the track
• Last year’s race: Started 6th, 39th in Stages 1 & 2, finished 39th: DNF – lost left-rear tire on restart on Lap
41 while running 7th (cut due to contact on pit road under caution)

Martin Truex Jr.
• Won at Kentucky (1st in Stage 1, 1st in Stage 2, 174 laps led)
• Won 3 of last 6 races
• Finished 4th or better in 4 straight races
• Finished in the top 5 in 8 of last 9 races
• Finished top 10 in 4 of last 5 New Hampshire races
• Led over 100 laps in the last four New Hampshire races
• Hasn’t finished worse than 17th in last 14 New Hampshire races
• Last year’s race: Started 1st, 1st in Stage 1, 6th in Stage 2; 137 laps led, finished 3rd in this race one year ago; pit from lead with flat right-front tire on lap 218

Who is Not

Jamie McMurray
• Finished 17th at Kentucky (12th in Stage 1, 20th in Stage 2)
• Finished 12th or worse in 4 straight races
• Finished 15th or worse in 15 of 19 races this season
• One finish better than 14th in last 6 New Hampshire races (6th – July 2016)
• Last year’s race: Started 4th, 4th in Stage 1, 14th in Stage 2, finished 17th

Austin Dillon
• Finished 22nd at Kentucky (22nd in Stage 1, 21st in Stage 2); pit on Lap 22 to address vibration
• Finished 12th or worse in 13 of last 14 races
• Finished outside top 10 in 16 of 18 races since Daytona 500 win
• One top 10 in 8 career starts at New Hampshire (8th – July 2015)
• Last year’s race: Started 26th, 23rd in Stage 1, 24th in Stage 2, finished 15th in this race one year ago; spun in Turn 4 after contact with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on lap 88 while running 15th

Matt Kenseth
• Finished 19th at Kentucky (16th in Stage 1, 19th in Stage 2)
• Finished 13th or worse in 5 starts in 2018
• Finished 6th or better in 6 straight New Hampshire races, including wins in Sept. 2015 & July 2016
• Finished in top 10 in 9 of last 10 New Hampshire races (all with JGR)
• Last year’s race: Started 3rd, 2nd in Stage 1, 7th in Stage 2, 4 laps led, finished 4th.

Chase Elliott
• Finished 13th at Kentucky (10th in Stage 1, 13th in Stage 2)
• Finished 13th or worse in last 3 races
• Finished 11th or worse in 6 of last 9 races
• Never finished better than 11th in 4 career starts at New Hampshire
• Last year’s race: Started 11th, 10th in Stage 1, 12th in Stage 2, finished 11th.

Denny Hamlin
• Finished 16th at Kentucky (13th in Stage 1, 16th in Stage 2); started 36th after not making a qualifying
attempt (inspection issues); reported brake issues on Lap 30
• Finished 16th or worse in last two races
• Finished 12th or worse in 4 of last 6 races
• Finished 9th or better in 3 of last 5 New Hampshire races, including win in July 2017
• Finished in top 10 in 14 of 24 career starts at New Hampshire
• Last year’s race: Started 8th, 9th in Stage 1, 2nd in Stage 2, 54 laps led, won; went to a backup car after hitting inside wall in practice

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Cup teams to test Charlotte road course today

By Dustin LongJul 17, 2018, 7:00 AM EDT

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The second half of Cup tests on Charlotte’s road course will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET today. It is open to the public.

Testing today are: Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, Clint Bowyer, Aric Almirola, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Jamie McMurray, Alex Bowman, William Byron, Austin Dillon, AJ Allmendinger, Trevor Bayne and Ty Dillon. Chris Buescher is in a Chevy wheelforce car.

Last week, several Cup drivers tested on the course for a day. Bubba Wallace crashed early and left the test because his team did not have a backup car.

Jimmie Johnson had the fastest lap in last week’s session, according to NASCAR timing and scoring. Johnson had a lap at 1 minute, 17.4 seconds. Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin each had a lap at 1:17.5 last week.

Erik Jones, Martin Truex Jr. benefitting from surviving Daytona

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By Daniel McFadinJul 16, 2018, 5:10 PM EDT

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It took until July, but it seems Erik Jones has finally found his footing at Joe Gibbs Racing.

And the 22-year-old driver is somewhat keeping pace with one of the members of the “Big Three.”

Thanks to them surviving the carnage at Daytona, Jones – who won the race – and Martin Truex Jr. are the only Cup drives enjoying active streaks of top-10 finishes.

With Truex’s win and Jones’ seventh-place finish on Saturday at Kentucky Speedway, they each have four consecutive top 10s.

The streaks began with the June 24 race at Sonoma, which Truex also won.

Jones’ Kentucky finish came after he radioed his team multiple times during the race about his concerns that his engine might blow up.

Jones needs two more top 10s to match his streak of six last season during his rookie campaign at Furniture Row Racing. That streak started at the July race at Pocono and ended with the regular-season finale at Richmond.

Here’s a look at the best top 10 streaks this season among drivers with nine or more top 10s (Jones and Ryan Blaney have nine).

Kyle Busch (15 top 10s) – Steaks of eight and six consecutive top 10s; current streak: one top 10

Kevin Harvick (15 top 10s) – Streaks of three, seven and four top 10s; current streak: one top 10

Joey Logano (14 top 10s) – Streaks of three, six and two top 10s; Currents streak: one top 10

Martin Truex Jr. (13 top 10s) – Steaks of five and four (twice) top 10s; Current streak: four top 10s

Kyle Larson (11 tops 10s) – Streaks of four and two (twice) top 10s; Current streak: one top 10

Brad Keselowski (11 top 10s) – Steaks of three and two (twice) top 10s; Current streak: one top 10

Clint Bowyer (10 top 10s) – Streaks of four and three top 10s; Current streak: none

Kurt Busch (10 top 10s) – Streaks of four and two top 10s; Current streak: one top 10

Denny Hamlin (10 top 10s) – Streaks of three and two (three times) top 10; Current streak: none

Erik Jones (nine top 10s) – Streaks of four and three tops 10s; Current streak: four top 10s

Ryan Blaney (nine top 10s) – Streaks of three and two tops 10s; Current streak: one top 10.

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Martin Truex Jr. wins pole for Quaker State 400

By Daniel McFadinJul 13, 2018, 7:35 PM EDT

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Martin Truex Jr. won the pole for Saturday’s Cup race at Kentucky Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN), claiming his series-best fourth pole of the season.

Truex, the defending winner of the Quaker State 400, posted a top speed of 188.890 mph. It’s his 19th career pole.

He is joined on the front row by Erik Jones (188.739 mph), who is coming off his first career Cup win last week.

The top five is completed by Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch.

“It’s Turn 3, man. That sucker will get you every time,” Truex told NBCSN. “If you want to go fast you’ve got to put it on the edge. I’m talkin’ a half a MPH going into (Turn) 3 from over rolling the speed and just missing the bottom. It’s a treacherous corner but it’s a lot of fun when you get it right.”

Austin Dillon qualified 13th and was followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Matt Kenseth and Kyle Larson.

Larson has started 11th or worse in seven of the last nine races.

Bubba Wallace qualified 25th followed by AJ Allmendinger and Jimmie Johnson.

Johnson has started 27th or worse four times this season.

Four drivers, including Denny Hamlin, Jesse Little, Timmy Hill and Matt DiBenedetto, did not make qualifying attempts after their cars failed to pass inspection in time.

Click here for the starting lineup.

Erik Jones tops final Cup practice at Kentucky Speedway

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By Daniel McFadinJul 13, 2018, 3:05 PM EDT

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Erik Jones, who earned his first Cup win last weekend at Daytona, was fastest in the final practice session at Kentucky Speedway on Friday.

Jones posted a top speed of187.748 mph around the 1.5-mile speedway. He only recorded five laps in the session.

Jones was followed by Ryan Blaney (187.311 mph), Kyle Busch (186.503), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (185.982) and Austin Dillon (185.714).

Kyle Larson, who was fastest in the first practice, was 25th on the speed chart (181.616) and recorded the most laps with 48.

Denny Hamlin had the best 10-lap average at 180.939 mph.

Click here for the speed chart.