Tire blows Truex’ bid
Lost track position after flat
LOUDON, N.H. — A blown tire and an unscheduled pit stop midway through Stage Three probably cost Martin Truex Jr. a victory in yesterday’s Overton’s 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Truex was comfortably in command of the race with a full fuel tank and four fresh tires while enjoying an extended stretch of green flag racing when his effort collapsed on Lap 218.
His No. 78 WIX Filters Toyota blew out the right front tire. The bare metal wheel had sparks flying and he limped onto pit road. Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson capitalized on the situation while Truex stewed on pit road.
“We had a really good WIX Filters Toyota for most of the race and led a bunch of laps until we got that flat tire and went off sequence,” said Truex. “We just didn’t quite have the speed at the end of the race that we had the first 200 laps.
“All in all, it was a hardfought day and good job by everybody for a solid thirdplace effort.”
Truex took third behind Hamlin and Larson, but it wasn’t a costly setback. Truex was the Stage 1 winner and was able to add to his lead in the Monster Energy Cup standings. He is tied with reigning Monster Energy Cup champion Jimmie Johnson with three wins and now leads the heap with 758 cup points, 38 ahead of Larson.
Truex owns 14 stage wins and 29 playoff points on the season — both tops in the field.
Speed trap
Kyle Busch in his No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota made two costly errors on pit road that caused him to finish 12th.
Busch led for 75 laps and was enjoying an extended run of clean-air racing when he was tagged with a speeding violation on pit road on Lap 238. He was penalized twice for going 50 in the 45mph zone and now has five violations on the season.
Early exit
Top rookie Erik Jones started the race in sixth but was out of contention before the end of the first stage. He got mixed up with Kasey Kahne and Hamlin and hit the wall on Turn 3 of the 42nd lap.
Jones was evaluated in the medical area and released.
“I thought we probably had an easy top-10 car,” said Jones. “I really didn’t need a day like this trying to make the playoffs.”
Jones will take Matt Kenseth’s place with the Joe Gibbs Racing team next season.
Pats and pits
Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels was the honorary pace car driver.
The other members of the Pats organization to pace the race included wide receiver Julian Edelman, defensive end Rob Ninkovich and former offensive tackle Matt Light. McDaniels suggested that quarterback Tom Brady has the makings of a competitive driver and that tight end Rob Gronkowski would be a menace.
Bruins center Tim Schaller and defenseman Brandon Carlo were guests at the drivers meetings. Schaller is a native of Manchester, N.H.