NEW HAMPSHIRE
Through the Gears
CHARLIE RIEDEL/AP
First gear: If there was any doubt the 2020 Cup Series is a two-man race, look no further than last week’s race at Kansas Speedway. Denny Hamlin took the checkers and now leads the series in wins (five) and playoff points (28), edging ahead of Kevin Harvick, who has four victories and leads the overall points standings. Hamlin passed Harvick for the lead with 14 laps to go, making that win all the more sweeter. “(Harvick) got loose there, and when you get in clean air, I think it was probably the first time he was in clean air all day,” said Hamlin, who emerged from a rough patch of finishes. “I saw him get loose and I saw kind of blood in the water there, so we just ran him down.” Harvick, 44, is having one of his best seasons and running his No. 4 Ford with swagger. He finished fourth at Kansas.
Second gear: NASCAR ran four Cup Series races before the coronavirus shut everything down in March. Since racing resumed May 17 at Darlington Raceway, the series has staged in 15 points races and the All-Star Race. Competitors have run back-to-back races at Darlington, Charlotte Motor Speedway and Pocono Raceway to sync up to its original schedule heading into the playoffs. In Pocono’s case, those races were held on consecutive days in order to help accommodate NBC and its planned Summer Olympics coverage. The Olympics were postponed to next year. This is a quiet week. There is only one NASCAR race this weekend, The Foxwood’s Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire. Exhale.
Third gear: Ryan Preece is having a bad run of luck that actually transcends bad luck. In his last four starts, he has finished last three times and has been involved in three wrecks. His crash at Kansas looked horrifying, but he escaped unscathed. “It’s frustrating for all of us at JTG Daugherty because we’ve been working really hard and probably had a top-10 car there at the end,” he said after emerging from the care center. “I’m all right, just ready for this year to turn around.”
Fourth gear: Two passings to note. Master motor builder Maurice Petty, 81, the brother of Richard Petty, died Saturday. Maurice built the crazy horsepower engines that Richard enjoyed during his heyday in NASCAR. A few days earlier, Bob Bahre, who founded New Hampshire Motor Speedway, died at 93.