NASCAR: Five Lessons Learned From New Hamsphire

Here are five lessons learned from New Hampshire. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports
The second race of the round of 16 is over and another Chase driver is moving to the round of 12. Before NASCAR heads to the final race of the Round of 16 at Dover, here are 5 Lessons Learned From New Hampshire.
The race at the track known as the Paper Clip is over, and Kevin Harvick is the second Chase driver moving to the Round of 12.
Harvick won the race with a little help from late cautions, but Toyota drivers dominated the Bad Body Off Road 300, specifically Martin Truex Jr. and Matt Kenseth.
The Round of 16 hasn’t had thrilling moments so far, with Martin Truex Jr. winning the mostly green flag race at Chicagoland last weekend.
New Hampshire this past Sunday looked like it was going to be another long race as the first half was mostly run under green. But as the race started to come to an end, several cautions came out to change up what looked to be another Toyota victory.
Post-race penalties were a big topic heading into New Hampshire after NASCAR took a stand on what it would do to those who failed the LIS inspection, and unlike Chicago it seems as though no Chase drivers were caught failing post-race inspection.
Now, as we get closer to the final race of the Round of 16, several drivers are sitting on the Chase bubble and will need to win if they hope to keep their championship hopes alive. Dover could make drivers desperate enough to try anything to win, and we could see tempers flare next week.
Before we head to the Monster Mile though, here are five lessons learned from New Hampshire.
Austin Dillon is in a bad spot heading into Dover. Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
McMurray, Dillon, Stewart And Buescher Need Help To Move On
This shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone, but Jamie McMurray, Austin Dillon, Tony Stewart and Chris Buescher need help and a little bit of luck if they hope to make it out of the Round of 16.
Chris Buescher specifically is in the worst spot of these three drivers and will need to pull off a win at Dover next week if he hopes to continue competing in the Chase.
McMurray, Dillon and Stewart aren’t too far off the Chase cut off line but these three drivers have not been running well and Dillon barely made it in the Chase on points, so unless he can completely change how he’s been running, he won’t be moving on to the next round.
He finished 33rd earlier this year at Dover, and if he struggles again his Chase hopes will be over.
Tony Stewart is a little further behind than Dillon but let’s be honest here; Smoke ran well for one part of the regular season, earning a victory at Sonoma, but he’s been so unimpressive in the Chase that it’s unlikely he’ll be able to pull off a win on Sunday.
McMurray is probably in the best spot of all these drivers to be able to move onto the next round, but he’ll be competing against his teammate Kyle Larson who is just one spot above him in the standings.
The problem McMurray faces is that Larson has a solid chance of out-running him next weekend as he almost won the Dover race earlier this year. If Larson puts on a similar performance McMurray won’t be able to make the next round unless someone above Larson takes a major hit.
Will luck be on their side? We’ll find out next week at Dover, but these four drivers are not where they want to be coming out of New Hampshire.
The 78 team has been fantastic in the first round of the Chase. Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports
The 78 Team is The Group to Beat
Martin Truex Jr. and the 78 team won the first race of the Round of 16 at Chicagoland and went on to prove that it was no fluke at New Hampshire.
He finished the Bad Boy Off Road 300 in 7th, but Truex led laps and was battling Matt Kenseth for the lead throughout a majority of the second half of the race. Bad restarts pushed him back to 7th, but Truex and the 78 pit crew were almost flawless throughout the day.
It’s not become clear that the 78 team has went from one of the underdogs to the top team to beat in the Chase.
It might be hard to call them underdogs, they won two races before heading into the Chase, but wins aside this team struggled. There were several times Truex was in a good spot to contest for a win, but bad luck or mistakes on pit road cost him.
To enter this first round of the Chase and show that those things are completely behind them changes the complex of this team and gives them momentum heading into the rest of the Chase.
The real question now is can any team step up and compete against the 78?
Ryan Newman failed to make the Chase and is now irrelevant for the rest of the post-season. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports
Non-Chase Drivers Are Irrelevant
As we continue to move through the Chase, it’s already becoming apparent that drivers who aren’t competing in the post-season aren’t getting the same attention as those in the Chase.
This is arguebly one of the biggest flaws with the post-season; why should drivers like A.J. Allemdinger try everything they can to win a race? Of course anyone would love to end up in Victory Lane, but at the end of the season there is no reward for it, no chance to win a championship.
Realistically though, the drivers who aren’t in the Chase weren’t relevant in the regular season anyway.
The drivers in the Chase were the ones with the most attention in the regular season and even though only 16 drivers have a shot at the championship, not much has changed as far as which drivers are talked about as potential winners at each race NASCAR goes to.
The bottom line is that drivers who were favorites in the regular season are still favorites in the Chase.
Other drivers, like Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman and the Roush-Fenway drivers saw a bit of attention from race coverage as the Chase grew closer,but the focus is once again on the drivers who were winning and competing at a higher level during the regular season.
NASCAR issued a warning to drivers who might try to take advantage of the new standings on post-race inspection. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports
NASCAR May Have Gotten Their Point Across About Post-Race Penalties
As it stands right now, NASCAR hasn’t announced if any driver failed post-race inspection after New Hampshire.
This is somewhat of a surprise, given how NASCAR recently took a stand on what it would do to drivers who did fail the LIS post-race inspection, and how only a P4-level failure would draw any sort of penalty.
There is also the issue of drivers swerving after the race, something NASCAR noticed and would be looking into if it happened again, but it looks like the organization was able to get its point across to drivers, as there seems to be no post-race issues coming out of Loudon.
NASCAR VP Steve O-Donnell was recently quoted by USA Today as saying:
“I want to make clear to everybody here that if in NASCAR’s judgment (there are) any measures to circumvent what happens in post-race inspection, we’re going to react. We know that’s subjective, but ask all of you not to put it in our hands, because we will react if we have to. I think everybody knows what that means.”
The way NASCAR is going to handle post-race issues moving forward is still a little hazy, but the organization is watching drivers and after this warning at New Hampshire, teams may have been scared just enough to prevent any post-race issues moving forward in the Chase.
Kevin Harvick and the 4 team are headed to the Round of 12. Will they be able to carry this momentum all the way to Homestead? Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Kevin Harvick and The 4 Team Finally Show Up
Last week at Chicagoland Harvick ran into bad luck and struggled for the rest of the race. This weekend at New Hampshire, he bounced back and ended up in Victory Lane.
Heading into the Chase the 4 team was one group that had the most to prove. Harvick’s pit crew struggled throughout the season and even though he won two races, Harvick wasn’t as successful during the regular season because of it.
The pit crew struggled so much that they swapped some members with those from the 10 team.
It seems to have finally paid off, as the Closer ran well throughout the Bad Boy Off Road 300, but late race cautions put him in a position to be out in front.
And once he was out in font there was no catching the 4 car.
It wasn’t just Harvick’s ability to get out in front right when he needed to that got the 4 team the win though. The pit stops were flawless and the pit crew of the 4 team managed to avoid running into the same type of issues that they struggled with all season.
The 4 group is now moving onto the next round, and not only did they answer any doubts about how good they are, they were also the first team to challenge a Toyota driver so far in the Chase.
After New Hampshire was dominated by Toyota drivers, Harvick and the 4 team put Chevrolet in Victory Lane and will be moving onto the Round of 12.
What did you learn from New Hampshire? Is the 4 team back on track with their win this past Sunday? Let us know in the comments below. For even more NASCAR Chase news, head over to BeyondTheFlag.com.
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