Crowd favourite, Mark Martin, won today’s Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway ahead of Denny Hamlin and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Martin survived a strong challenge from early pacesetter Montoya to start the chase for his first NASCAR driver’s title with best result.
Montoya challenged hard from the inside row at the late race restart without success and it ended up opening the door for Hamlin to steal second place from Montoya.
Greg Biffle drives his Ford Fusion around the New Hampshire Motor Speedway (pic Tyler Barrick Autostock)
The raced ended under yellow after A J Allmendinger ended up in a spin near the finish line. NASCAR held off on the yellow until the last moment but in the end the raced finished under yellow.
On a tight flat circuit track position is important and Martin and his crew played the strategy game to stay out in a late race caution to gain the all important spots. Montoya went for tyres and could not quite get him back to the front.
The Roush chase contenders once again struggled to find form.
“I really thought I could run up front with those guys. All I needed to do was get track position and I could have been there,” said Greg Biffle after finishing ninth.
“That was it – track position all day. I fought to get up there. I knew that once I got up there I could run with them, but I could just never get there.”
Teammate Carl Edwards fared worse and slipped to 16th after starting from 5th spot.
“Our car just struggled all day and I couldn’t go fast. Once I got strung out I could hold my own and I could run well, but on those restarts I just got killed on the short run. That’s gonna be important in the chase,” said Edwards.
Marcos Ambrose leads at Loudon (LAT Photographic)
Marcos Ambrose finished in 20th position and the result is Ambrose’s 15th top 20 finish from 27 Sprint Cup races this season. The Tasmanian stays in 17th place in the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points standings.
Ambrose led two laps late in the race at the one-mile oval as the pit stop sequence played out, the third time in the last seven Sprint Cup races that he has led laps aboard the #47 entry of JTG Daugherty Racing.
“Track position was so important here in this race and we tried to make the right moves at the right times to get up the front of the pack.
Ambrose gained track position at his final stop by only changing two tyres, but ultimately lacked car speed as other cars with four fresh tyres used their speed advantage to rise up the order.
NASCAR is in action next weekend for the AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway.
RESULTS: Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Race 27 in the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
1. #5 Mark Martin 300 laps
2. #11 Denny Hamlin
3. #42 Juan Pablo Montoya
4. #48 Jimmie Johnson
5. #18 Kyle Busch
6. #2 Kurt Busch
7. #39 Ryan Newman
8. #19 Elliott Sadler
9. #16 Greg Biffle
10. #33 Clint Bowyer
20. #47 Marcos Ambrose
2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Driver’s Standings – After Race 27 of 36
1. Mark Martin 5230
2. Jimmie Johnson 5195
3. Denny Hamlin 5195
4. Juan Pablo Montoya 5175
5. Kurt Busch 5165
6. Tony Stewart 5156
7. Ryan Newman 5151
8. Brian Vickers 5140
9. Greg Biffle 5138
10. Jeff Gordon 5128
11. Carl Edwards 5117
12. Kasey Kahne 5069
CHASE FOR THE SPRINT CUP CUT-OFF
13. Kyle Busch 3350
14. Matt Kenseth 3259
15. Clint Bowyer 3193
16. David Reutimann 3175
17. Marcos Ambrose 2938
AUSTRALIAN TV SCHEDULE
Sylvania 300 (Replay)
Monday 21 September 2009
FOX Sports 3
10:00pm AEST
Sylvania with Intro from Marcos Ambrose
Tuesday 22 September 2009
ONE
7:30pm AEST
Please check local television guides to confirm times and see scheduled replays.
