NASCAR Preview — New Hampshire Motor Speedway

Blake Smith is here and ready to fill you in on the NASCAR Spring Cup Series action for Sunday.

WBKR NASCAR Preview: Lenox Industrial Tools 301

Following an exciting weekend of racing in Daytona, the Sprint Cup Series will trek northeast for this weekend’s event at New Hampshire Speedway. The track was constructed in 1989, even though the first Sprint Cup race was held in 1993 at the track nicknamed “The Magic Mile.” Don’t get confused, this track has nothing to do with Channing Tatum.

One NASCAR star who will not be in this weekend’s race is A.J. Allmendinger. Allmendinger was suspended just hours prior to last Saturday’s Coke Zero 400 for not complying with NASCAR’s substance abuse policy. Like last week, he will again be replaced by Roger Penske’s Nationwide Series driver Sam Hornish Jr. Allmendinger’s “B” sample will be tested next week. He has requested to include his own team of professionals including a toxicologist and attorney for the testing of the “B” sample.

There have been 34 races held at New Hampshire Speedway. There have been 20 different winners, lead by Jeff Burton with 4 wins at the mile speedway. Burton also holds the record for the furthest back any winner has started with his 38^th to 1^st drive in 1999. He followed up the next season with another win, in which he lead all 300 laps. After a strong 2^nd place finish last week in Daytona and bringing a proven chassis this weekend, Jeff Burton is my pick for victory lane this weekend.

Points leader Matt Kenseth will be bringing the chassis that he last utilized at Dover. Crew Chief Jimmy Fennig plans to focus on qualifying during the weekend’s practice sessions. The New Hampshire track is one that is hard to pass on, so track position is key. Another key to this weekend’s race is pit strategy. This includes fuel mileage and utilizing 2 tires to gain track position.

Tune into Sunday’s Lenox Industrial Tools 301 beginning at 11AM on WBKR and WBKR.com!

-- Blake Smith