Rarely does a NASCAR team dominate the way Stewart-Haas Racing did at New Hampshire Motor Speedway this weekend.
Ryan Newman, in the U.S. Army Chevrolet, was fastest in qualifying and fastest on race day. He led the final 71 laps to win Sunday’s Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and end a victory drought spanning 48 races.
In the closing laps, only his teammate, team co-owner Tony Stewart, was gaining. Stewart finished second, giving Stewart-Haas the first one-two finish by teammates who started on the front row of a Sprint Cup race since Darrell Waltrip and Ken Schrader did it for Hendrick Motorsports in the 1989 Daytona 500. (Waltrip started second and Schrader first.) USA Today
“This is huge for our team, even bigger for our organization,” Newman said.
Even the usually gruff Stewart, his dark humor still on display, enjoyed this celebration.
“This was a perfect weekend,” he said.
It was needed, too.
Newman won for the first time since April 2010 in Phoenix and Stewart earned only his second top-five of the season. It was a pair of near-flawless runs for the drivers as they gear up for a championship run.
Stewart joked that he asked for just one day where something didn’t go wrong with the race teams. They got it on a day when only four of the top-10 drivers in the points standings had a top-10 finish.
“It’s no secret we’ve been struggling this year,” Stewart said. “But it really shows me the depth of the people we got in our organization. It’s been one of the weirdest years as far as weird things and bad luck happening to both of us.” MiamiHerald.com
Newman crew chief Tony Gibson said SHR is reverting back to the synergy between its two teams that proved successful from the start in 2009.
“We’re trying to make our company better,” he said. “We had a pretty strong start in ‘09. The teams were working really close together. We were doing a lot of the same things. Then we kind of got off track a little bit this year. I think we’re just trying to make sure we head back in the right direction.
“Grab everybody by the arms, tug ‘em, bring ‘em in, head down that road instead of going down two roads.”
Stewart, with a laugh after today’s race, left no doubt that his ownership role is still rewarding.
“By the way, yes, I’m still happy to be a car owner now, in case you had any questions about that,” he said. Scene Daily
Denny Hamlin came home third, followed by Joey Logano and Jimmie Johnson. Kasey Kahne, Bobby Labonte, Martin Truex Jr., Marcos Ambrose and Kurt Busch completed the top 10.
Newman is the 13th different winner in 19 Cup races this season. Last year, there were 13 different winners in the full 36-race season.
Kyle Busch finished 36th after blowing a tire, slamming into the Turn 2 wall and losing 76 laps while his car was repaired. Busch dropped from first to fifth in the series standings, 20 behind leader Carl Edwards, who ran 13th Sunday. NASCAR.com
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NASCAR Sprint Cup: Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire - Race Results
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