By: Cathy Brown
Twitter: @TheCathyBrown @PitOutsideBox
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After the race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway a couple things became clear. The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Championship is going to run through Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch is at a critical point in the season and Team Penske has been overlooked in the Championship discussion.
Yesterday, Hamlin and Harvick made it very clear – they are Championship contenders. Hamlin with a second-place finish and Harvick – bouncing back after a bad call by crew chief Rodney Childers crossing the stripe fifth. The perseverance of the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, climbing back after going a lap down to race back to a top-5 finish is what Champions and Championships are made of.
In a 2020 he would like to forget; Busch had his worst day yet. Only completing 15 laps, the No. 18 blew a tire and hit the wall hard – ending his day and posting a last lace finish. With an average finish this year of 14.42, Busch has made it clear that having no practice is hurting him and it shows.
It’s crunch time for the driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, he’s teetering in the owner points – where if he loses any more spots he runs the risk of being in the second draw for a starting spot, that’s something that Busch, nor his fans want to see.
How NASCAR has it set up now is, if you are outside the top-12 in owner points you go into the second group – Busch sits in 10th, but it’s not a comfortable 10th and with his on-track performance – if he doesn’t figure it out soon and quickly, he will find himself in the second round of the draw for starting spots.
The surprise of the day goes to Team Penske. Brad Keselowski put on a clinic yesterday – dominating the race and cruising to his second victory of the year. His teammate Ryan Blaney flexed his muscles yesterday too, running upfront early – until a questionable call by his crew chief mired him back in the field and the driver of the No. 12 was not able to recover – bringing his car home 20th.
Keselowski’s other teammate Joey Logano put in a solid performance, crossing the stripe fourth. Team Penske is quietly making their presence known and after their overall showing yesterday at NHMS – these three drivers need to be in the Championship discussion.
The dark horse lurking is Matt DiBenedetto, he’s a hit or miss – but he’s been strong enough all year to be sitting 13th in the owner points. DiBenedetto drove his No. 21 to a sixth-place finish yesterday and he’s shown he’s able to run upfront. As a satellite team of Team Penske, Wood Brothers Racing is maximizing the data they receive and on the track it shows. Will DiBenedetto score his first career win in 2020? There’s a pretty good chance of it and when it does happen it will not only be a very popular win; it will be Wood Brothers Racing 100th win.
All in all, it was a surprisingly good day of racing at NHMS. There were 12 changes for the lead between Hamlin and Keselowski and there were plenty of battles for position happening all over the track – what more could a fan ask for?
The next stop is Michigan International Speedway a place where out of everyone mentioned here – Harvick has been the strongest of recent – with two wins. Will next weekend be another battle between Hamlin and Harvick? Or will Michigan native Keselowski carry yesterday’s momentum into another win – right in his backyard?
Whatever happens, there will be two opportunities to do so, the NCS races twice this coming weekend.
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