(Aric Almirola stands on his car in front of the crowd after winning at New Hampshire) https://twitter.com/StewartHaasRcng/status/1416934640720486401?s=20
Aric Almirola shocked the world in what could be looked at as a controversial victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. In spite of weather causing the race to be shortened due to darkness, Almirola stormed by the competition and made it known that he deserves to be in the playoffs this season. Kyle Busch started on Pole for the 301 mile race and as to the surprise of many, no PJ1 traction compound was used for this race. On lap six the skies opened up and started raining causing multiple cars to spin and wreck including race leader Kyle Busch. Others involved in the incident included Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Martin Truex Jr and Denny Hamlin along with Ross Chastain. Under caution Busch would take out his frustrations by bumping and pushing the pace car, ultimately damaging it. As rain would continue to pour bringing the cars to pit road and under the red flag conditions, a crew member from Joey Logano's team tried to be sneaky and work on the car through the hood flap. The action was caught by the on board camera of the 22 car and was penalized two laps down when the race went back to green. Almost at that halfway mark in stage one, Anthony Alfredo would make contact with Bubba Wallace ultimately spinning out and causing damage to the rear of his 38 car. Ryan Blaney would cruise his way to victory in stage one. Quinn Houff would cause the fourth caution of the day as Kevin Harvick paced the field halfway through stage two, the caution would come out during a cycle of green flag pit stops as Austin Dillon would now be stuck one lap down because of being on pit road during it. Caution number five would come out for both Bubba Wallace and Chris Buescher as they get together spinning off of turn two almost hitting the inside wall. This caution would allow Logano to finally be back on the lead lap with the leaders. The end of stage two would be belong to Brad Keselowski picking up his second stage win of the year. Aric Almirola would have the better car at the end of the day, but as the race neared to close and with no lights on the track, NASCAR was forced to shorten the scheduled distance by 10 laps. With Christopher Bell gaining ground on leader Almirola, he would be a few laps too short as Aric Almirola would seal the deal to win his first race of the season and third of his entire career locking himself into the playoffs!
Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 Top 5:
1. Aric Almirola
2. Christopher Bell
3. Brad Keselowski
4. Joey Logano
5. Ryan Blaney
Honourable Mentions:
7. Kyle Larson 8. Ross Chastain 12. Martin Truex Jr 23. Corey Lajoie
Written By: Matt Marr