As competitive as the Toyota Camrys were at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Monday, the rest of the field was fighting for second.
Certainly, no one had a car capable of outrunning race winner Martin Truex Jr., but the Ford drivers could keep pace.
Over the course of the Crayon 301, Ryan Blaney, Aric Almirola and Joey Logano took their shots, only to fall short.
“They were fast,” said Logano, who finished second. “Gosh, I thought I had a shot to beat him right before the first caution after we put tires on—so two cautions to the end. I had a chance to roll to his outside there, right before the caution came out. That would have been my chance—if I got in front of him, I think I had him beat.”
Almirola started the race in third and, like Logano, could set his sights on Truex. Almirola actually had the race lead for the Lap 170 restart when the right rear wheel came off of his No. 10 Ford to trigger the fourth caution. What was likely Almirola’s best opportunity for his first top five of the season, or his first top 10 since Martinsville in April, faded away as soon as his Mustang crashed into the Turn 2 wall. He finished 34th.
Unlike most of the 36-car field, Blaney could see Truex out of his windshield for most of the race. The No. 12 Team Penske Ford started fifth. He finished fifth and fourth in the first two stages behind the No. 19 Toyota. Blaney was second when he pitted on Lap 273. The No. 12 Ford ran over the team’s air hose in the pits and went to the rear under penalty. Blaney restarted 26th and finished 22nd.
Despite the loss of Almirola and Blaney, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Chase Briscoe came to the Blue Oval’s rescue. Keselowski qualified ninth and remained in the top 10 for most of the day. Following the second stage, Keselowski joined Logano and Blaney in the top five until a rash of late-race cautions left him sixth.
“There were a handful of cars that were really just good on the short runs—we were one of them—and some that were really good on the long run than the short run,” Keselowski said. “Just have to capitalize.
“The restarts, where they got really wild–three and four wide—we were able to capitalize. We’re clawing—just clawing. We know we’re not fast enough on these types of tracks to win, but we’re getting everything we can out of these days.”
That’s precisely what Harvick did. Although he didn’t appear to have the speed that the other Mustangs exhibited early on, Harvick fought his way into the top 10 on Lap 105 when he passed Daniel Suarez. A two-tire stop on Lap 164 elevated the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford to fourth. On four tires, Truex passed Harvick quickly, but Almirola’s misfortunes enabled the No. 4 car to hold position on the Lap 175 restart.
Crew chief Rodney Childers left his driver out to maintain track position and Harvick took the lead on Lap 239 during green flag stops. But when he finally came to the pits, the stop mired him in traffic. On relatively fresh tires, Childers left Harvick on track during the sixth caution and the No. 4 returned to the lead on Lap 274. Truex checked out on the restart, but Harvick held on to a fifth-place result for his final run at Loudon.
“We knew we just had to get rolling on the old tires,” Harvick said. “Just rolled the bottom. Probably should have rolled the fourth lane instead of the third lane, but still a decent day. We’ll keep plugging along.
“This had just been a great race track for us—another top-five. These tracks and these fans here, especially, have been so good to me throughout the years. It’s always fun to come here.”
If any Ford driver deserves a participation trophy for his effort at Loudon, it would be Briscoe. After qualifying 27th, he simply couldn’t gain any ground. By the end of the first stage on Lap 70, the driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford had gained just four positions. Crew chief Richard Boswell came over the radio midway through the second stage and offered a pep talk.
“C’mon, bud, move around, something,” Boswell said. “We’ve lost a ton here.”
After Briscoe finished 21st in the second stage, Boswell elected not to pit and gained track position. Briscoe lined up sixth on old tires for the Lap 191 restart. He was ninth on Lap 272—the first of the final three restarts—and with attrition gained his first top 10 since Talladega in April.
“Out of the last two or three months, it feels like a win—truthfully,” Briscoe said. “At the start of the race, we weren’t really great by any means. I said a couple of weeks ago, coming over here that it’s going to take a while to figure out these cars, to learn these cars, what adjustments make the most sense and kind of what my baseline is.
“I felt like right there at the end, we were a seventh-place car, but if we could have started the weekend there, then maybe we could have been battling for the win. So, we’re just making small steps right now and honestly to run 10th, it feels like a win—especially here. This is by far my worst race track. Hopefully, we can continue on this. We just needed something good to happen to us so we can get some momentum. Hopefully, this will kind of kickstart us in the right direction.”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
