Event statistics following the 20th race of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire.
Kevin Harvick nudged Kyle Busch while battling for the lead in Turn 1 with seven laps remaining en route to his series-leading sixth win of the season, holding off Busch’s car by 1.877 seconds. It marked the four time the pair has finished first and second, with Harvick winning three of those races (Las Vegas, ISM Raceway and New Hampshire; Busch led Harvick at Texas). Aric Almirola, Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, was third, followed by Martin Truex Jr. and Chase Elliott.
Race Statistics
Foxwoods Resort Casino 301
New Hampshire Motor Speedway – Loudon, New Hampshire
- Winner (starting position): Kevin Harvick (14th)
- Top Five: Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Aric Almirola, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott
- Full Results: Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Aric Almirola, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott, Ryan Newman, Ryan Blaney, Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson, Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Matt Kenseth, Erik Jones, Paul Menard, Jamie McMurray, Kasey Kahne, Chris Buescher, Austin Dillon, Daniel Suarez, Ty Dillon, Darrell Wallace Jr., Ross Chastain, Michael McDowell, Corey LaJoie, Matt DiBenedetto, David Ragan, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Weatherman, Brad Keselowski, Blake Jones, B.J. McLeod, Clint Bowyer, A.J. Allmendinger, Landon Cassill
- Average Speed: 109.690 mph
- Laps Completed: 301
- Race Leaders: 7
- Laps Led: Kurt Busch (94), Martin Truex Jr. (83), Aric Almirola (42), Kyle Busch (36), Chase Elliott (23), Kevin Harvick (12), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (11)
- Pole Position: Kurt Busch (133.591 mph; 28.511 seconds)
- Hard Charger: Matt Kenseth (+16; 31st to 15th)
- Margin of Victory: 1.877 seconds
- Car Count: 37
- Cars Entered: 37
- Cars Running at Finish: 34 (of 37; or 92 percent of the field)
- Drivers to Finish on Lead Lap: 19
- Cautions: 7
- Lead Changes: 10
- Stage Winners: Martin Truex Jr. (1), Chase Elliott (2)
- Manufacturer Breakdown: Chevrolet (18); Ford (13); Toyota (6)
- Weather at Start of Race: 70 degrees Fahrenheit, cloudy, winds E 6 mph
- Weather at End of Race: 72 degrees Fahrenheit, overcast, winds 0 mph
Notes of Interest – Race/Weekend Recap (New Hampshire Motor Speedway)
- This marked the 47th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
- This is Kevin Harvick’s season-leading sixth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2018 season and the 43rd of his career. This marked Harvick’s third series victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and second in the last four races at the track (also won the 2016 fall race at NHMS).
- Harvick now has 104 victories in NASCAR’s three national series.
- Harvick is the 18th driver to record at least 43 Cup Series victories. He is now one win behind Bill Elliott (44 wins) for a tie for 17th all-time.
- Harvick now has six victories, one more than Kyle Busch. Martin Truex Jr. has four, while Clint Bowyer has two. Austin Dillon, Joey Logano and Erik Jones each have one victory.
- Harvick’s six wins are the most of any season in his career. He had a season-best five wins in 2006 and his 2014 championship-winning campaign.
- This is Harvick’s 10th top-three, 15th top-five and 16th top-10 finish in 20 races this season. He has finished in the top five in seven of the last eight races. His 10 top threes are one behind Kyle Busch; his 15 top fives are a series-high; and his 16 top 10s are tied for the most in the series with Busch. His average race finish of 8.5 is second best to Busch’s 7.75.
- Fourteen of Harvick’s 43 career wins – and three of his six wins this season – have come on tracks measuring approximately or exactly one mile in length. He has also wins this year at ISM Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, and Dover International Speedway. Overall, he has nine wins at ISM, three at New Hampshire and two at Dover.
- Harvick is the oldest driver to win this season, with all of his wins coming at the age of 42. The last driver to win six or more races in a season in their 40s was Matt Kenseth in 2013. All seven of Kenseth’s wins that year came at the age of 41, including his first win of the season, on his 41st birthday March 10 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
- Twelve of Harvick’s 43 Cup Series wins have come since he’s turned 40 (following 2015 season). He is the 11th driver with 12 or more victories after turning 40.
- Harvick’s victory came from the 14th starting position, marking the second time a driver has won after starting 14th this season. Austin Dillon started 14th en route to winning the Daytona 500.
- This is Harvick’s first career victory from the 14th starting position. His last win from the seventh row came in the second race of the 2014 season, when he won at ISM Raceway from the 13th starting position.
- Harvick’s 14th-place starting position marks the fourth time in the last six races at New Hampshire in which the winner came from 13th or worse. Harvick’s most recent victory at New Hampshire came from 19th in the starting field in the 2016 fall race.
- This is the second time a race winner at New Hampshire has come from the 14th starting position. Mark Martin won his 40th and final Cup Series race of his career in the 2009 fall race from the 14th starting spot.
- This is Harvick’s 20th victory with Stewart-Haas Racing, adding to his record of most Cup Series victories on the team.
- This is Harvick’s eighth victory driving a Ford.
- Harvick led 12 laps, the fewest he’s led in a race victory this season (previous low was 38 laps en route to winning at ISM Raceway). Harvick has led 14 races this season for a total of 1,052 laps; both marks are the best in series competition in 2018. Harvick has also led the most laps in five races this year, which is tops among all drivers. Three of those five races (Atlanta, Las Vegas and Dover) have resulted in victories.
- In addition to his 43rd career Cup Series victory, Harvick also now has 183 top fives and 323 top 10s.
- Harvick has finished on the lead lap in 16 of 20 races this season. Despite leading all drivers in victories, he is only 26th in laps completed with 5,274 out of 5,708 (92.4 percent).
- This is Stewart-Haas Racing’s eighth victory of the season, which leads all teams (Harvick with six wins and Clint Bowyer with two).
- Ford has nine victories after Harvick’s win. That’s one behind Toyota’s series-leading 10 wins.
- Kyle Busch finished second, the highest-finishing Toyota driver. Busch has four times this season (most recently at Martinsville Speedway, which preceded a three-race winning streak). Busch has 11 top threes, 14 top fives and 16 top 10s, with a series-best average race finish of 7.75.
- Busch and Harvick have finished 1-2 in four races this season, with Busch winning once in those four – at Texas Motor Speedway in April.
- Busch led 36 laps at New Hampshire, and has now led 13 races this season for 984 laps. Both of those marks are second to Kevin Harvick.
- Aric Almirola finished a season-best third, marking his first top-five finish of the season and ninth top-10 of 2018 (despite only one top five, has sixth best average race finish at 12.55).
- Almirola led 42 laps, marking only the third race this season Almirola has led. He also led one lap of the Daytona 500 and a race-high 70 laps at Chicagoland Speedway in June.
- Almirola’s third-place effort marked the fifth time this season Stewart-Haas Racing had two drivers in the top-three (Atlanta, Dover, Michigan, Sonoma and New Hampshire). At least two SHR cars have finished in the top five in eight races.
- Defending series champion Martin Truex Jr. finished fourth, after leading 83 laps, second most behind Kurt Busch’s 94 laps led. Truex now has five consecutive finishes of fourth or better, as well as 14 top fives and 14 top 10s, including nine in the last 10 races. Truex is also averaging a top-10 finish in 2018, which now stands at 9.15.
- Truex won the first stage, the second consecutive race in which he’s won a stage (swept the stages and the race in most previous race at Kentucky Speedway), and now has six stage wins on the season, second to Kevin Harvick’s nine.
- Truex has led 13 races for a total of 647 laps this season.
- Between Harvick, Kyle Busch and Truex, the three have accounted for 47 percent of laps led this season (2,683 out of 5,708) and all three have top-10 average finishes.
- Chase Elliott finished fifth, his fifth top five of the season and first since a fourth-place result at Sonoma Raceway in June. Elliott won the second stage, his first of the season and only the third for a Chevrolet in 2018. In total, 14 drivers have won at least one stage this season.
- Elliott also led 23 laps, more than doubling his season total prior to the race. He had led only three races for 19 laps heading into New Hampshire, with his previous best 11 laps led coming earlier this month at Daytona International Speedway.
Additional notes forthcoming.
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